Indiana Assembly passes budget bill

Over the weekend the Indiana General Assembly finished its annual Chinese Fire Drill called passing the budget bill.

Know one really knows who is sitting where or what actually got passed, but something did.

According to a report I received this weekend, here are the budget highlights affecting education.

§ The tax credit provision is not a part of the budget.
§ There will be no state funding of virtual charter schools in the next two years. Other types of charter schools can be approved; however, the funding available is specified.
§ Funding for the principals’ leadership academy goes forward at $462,832 annually.
§ Education service centers are to be funded at $2,321,287 annually.
§ The House indicates that tuition support has been increased at 3.7% in 2008 and 3.6% in 2009. I believe the Senate states that the increase is 3.8% and 3.8%.
§ Summer school distribution remains at $18,360,000 annually.
§ The early intervention program including reading recovery and the Waterford method and a voluntary reading assessment program in grades one and two is funded at $4,720,000 annually.
§ Free textbook funding has been increased to $39,000,000 annually with the intent being full funding.
§ Full-day kindergarten is funded by expanding the current grant program to $33,500,000 in 2008 and $58,500,000 in 2009. Participation is voluntary with the dollar amount per pupil dependent on the number of corporations and students participating.
§ The funding for testing and remediation is increased to $41,000,000 annually. The Democrats believe they have increased remediation funding by $19,000,000 annually.
§ Non-English speaking funding is increased to $6,929,246 annually with the intent of increasing the per pupil grant from $20 per student to $200 per student.
§ The educational technology program is funded at $5,000,000 for the biennium with the intent of continuing the buddy system and K-12 programs carried out by the department while supporting the office of special assistant to the superintendent of public instruction.
§ Funding for a school business officials academy of $150,000 annually is provided.
§ The proposal to have the state assume that part of the general fund expenditures paid from the property tax is not part of the budget.

More later as the smoke settles.

General Assembly

The Indiana General Assembly closes in on the legislative session deadline.

Indy Star discusses three bills here.

Indiana Senate OK's shift away from property tax

The Indiana Senate has approved a bill that would shift taxes away from property and over to income.

There are positives and negatives to such a switch - but in recent years the state legislature has pushed more and more funding responsibilities to local governments making the property tax increasingly unpopular.

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette article here.

Kill Bills, Shill for Bills, or maybe you've had your Fill of Bills

Some people hate legislative gridlock when political parties are split in the state and federal legislatures. Their complaint is that nothing gets done. Others breathe a huge sigh of relief and say, "Whew - at least if there is gridlock they will kill each other's bills. At least then they can't screw it up any worse than it is!"

No matter what your position is on political gridlock, this is your monthly reminder to keep track of what your Indiana General Assembly is up to. Here is the complete list of bills still alive in the Indiana General Assembly. The bills listed in gray have already been dropped. (Gridlock at its finest.)

The bolder type lists bills that are still alive.

Remember to put your zip code in the little red, white and blue box on the Wawascene sidebar and click "GO." You will be prompted for your address and then your personal legislator's email address will pop up. You will be able to give your representative your personal opinion on one of those bills. (Tip #1: Once you fill out the address form, you shouldn't have to fill it out again the next time you want to send them an email. Tip #2: After you send them a message, you will be given an option of providing 6 friend's email addresses so you can let them know what you sent to your legislator.)

Doc Stock's rule for the day is, "If you haven't sent your legislator an email about something this session, then you are hereby forbidden to complain about a political issue until you do!" So there! :-)

I have made it as easy as click click click.

Doc Stock's short list of education related bills of interest:

SB 0567: Full Day Kindergarten
HB 1304: Requires state to tell teachers what standards are to be tested (imagine that!)
SB 0262: Public School Choice
HB 1581: Allows schools to use 3 full days for professional training instead of only 6 half days

NCLB losing steam?

Are conservative Republicans starting to abandon the president in his support for NCLB? Some seem to think so.

Remember when conservatives used to be the party advocating for a limited federal government? I know - it's been awhile - but in the not so distant past - that is what conservatives supposedly stood for. But when Teddy Kennedy and George Bush found themselves mysteriously aligned behind NCLB, you knew we were about to see the biggest federal intrusion into education seen to date.

Are conservatives heading back to their roots - at least on educational issues?

Article here.

NCLB target out of reach?

The Washington Post discusses the federal debates over NCLB targets.

"There is a zero percent chance that we will ever reach a 100 percent target," said Robert L. Linn, co-director of the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing at UCLA. "But because the title of the law is so rhetorically brilliant, politicians are afraid to change this completely unrealistic standard. They don't want to be accused of leaving some children behind."

Editorials for Today

Here is the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette's editorial on charter schools and charter school funding.

Meanwhile the Star's voice on public education, RiShawn Biddle, teed off on ISTA and all the other educational lobbying groups again. (Note: this is a re post from 2006)

More interesting than RiShawn's daily rant are a few of the comments that explain the figures tossed around in his blog.

School Funding Dilemma

The Indy Star yesterday posted this editorial regarding the Democrats' plan for education funding.

The solutions are not simple. Even with increases in the last few years, growing suburban schools are hurting because their student populations are growing faster than their revenue is growing. On the other hand, declining enrollment schools struggle with declining revenue under the school funding plan the Republicans put through in recent years.

Hence, you see in the Star article that rural districts could receive $500 extra per student in the proposed plan. This is because economies of scale work against small districts.

Here are the comments from readers at the Star.

As you can see, there are also a variety of opinions on charter schools.

What do you think of this proposed law?

Here is a bill that would take take away the Indiana driver's license of any minor that was caught smoking.

DIGEST OF INTRODUCED BILL
Driver's license suspension for minors who smoke. Permits a court to order a: (1) one year suspension of a driver's license of; or (2) a six month delay in the issuance of a driver's license to; a minor who violates tobacco laws.

Authored by Senator(s) Boots

Hmmm. Is this a good idea or not?

If you have an opinion - just put your zip code in the blue box labeled "Write your legislators." Enter your address and your legislator's email address will come up. You can let your representatives know what you think.

Here is a list of all proposed legislation. Scroll through them and see what your legislators are up to!

Shocking!

OK - so maybe it's not shocking, but it's at least surprising to see a bill going through the legislature that repeals a duty that was handed off to public schools. This may be the first time I can recall a law change that didn't add a new requirement for public schools.

Senate Bill 0010 would repeal the public school requirement to test all students in grades 5, 7 and 9 for scoliosis.

Speaking of Bills - here is the entire list of bills introduced into the Indiana General Assembly.

If you have an opinion on one of them, go to the blue sticker on the sidebar where it says "Write Your Legislator." Put in your zip code and then your address, click "GO" and you will be given the email addresses of your representatives. In 60 seconds you can tell them what you think.

One legislator told me privately, that he puts far more weight behind the personal emails and letters from constituents than he does the form letters from professional lobbying organizations.

One of the first reasons I started blogging was to try to make it easier for patrons to not only know how laws affected their local schools but to make it easier for patrons to let their own personal opinions be known to their representatives.