The Daily Report Card: Tuition Caps, War On Teachers, And “Legislative Creep”

In The Classroom Today

Tuition caps likely issue at next General Assembly | Journal and Courier | jconline.com The national conversation over college tuition is rising after President Barack Obama called Friday on schools to be more affordable or face funding cuts. However, in Indiana, the debate is getting a reprieve. Proposed legislation to cap Indiana colleges’ tuition has been pulled back by its author after right-to-work legislation gummed up the House this month. (The Courier-Journal )

How the war on teachers is changing the profession – The Answer Sheet – The Washington Post As state after state rewrites their education laws in line with the mandates from Race to the Top and the No Child Left Behind state waiver process, the teaching profession is being redefined. Teachers will now pay the price: They will be declared successes or failures, depending on the rise or fall of their students’ test scores. Under NCLB, it was schools that were declared failures. In states being granted waivers from the most onerous requirements of NCLB, it is teachers who will be subjected to this ignominy. Of course we will still be required to label the bottom 5% of our schools as failures, but if the Department of Education has its way, soon every single teacher in the profession will be at risk for the label. (ashingtonpost.com)

Indiana battles ‘legislative creep’ in short session – Post-Tribune Gov. Mitch Daniels may be fighting the rising cost of a college education via “credit creep,” but he’s relying on Indiana’s “legislative creep” to get the job done. More than 40 years ago, lawmakers gathered at the Statehouse just once every two years. But in 1970, they amended the state constitution to begin meeting annually, adding a “short session” during even-numbered years to deal with “emergency” legislation. (posttrib.suntimes.com)