The House has approved a bill that gives the state permission to take over control of Muncie Community Schools and its financial crisis.
Senate Bill 567 was originally designed to help Gary Community School Corporation come out of a $19 million budget deficit. This week, a House committee added Muncie Community Schools to the bill, saying a state report showed an $18.6 million deficit.
Local lawmakers and district Superintendent Steve Baule had asked the committee to be allowed to fix things themselves without state takeover. On the bill’s second reading on the House floor Wednesday night, an attempt to remove MCS from the bill led by Rep. Cherrish Pryor (D-Indianapolis) failed.
On the House floor Thursday, House bill sponsor Rep. Tim Brown (R-Crawfordsville) says he added Muncie to the bill because of its long-term debt.
The Indiana Statehouse. (Peter Balonon-Rosen/Indiana Public Broadcasting)
Colleges and universities across the country are tackling a big issue: Whether to officially adopt certain policies intended to protect people who entered the U.S. illegally.
In Indiana, that conversation could soon end.
Under a bill moving through the Indiana Legislature, lawmakers would outlaw so-called sanctuary campuses. They’re colleges that pledge they will not share anyone’s immigration status with federal authorities.
It’s using that word – sanctuary – and making that pledge, that’s the big deal.
The legislature is considering legislation that changes the standardized assessment students take, replacing the current ISTEP+. (photo credit: David Hartman/Flickr)
The proposal would require the test, for students in grades 3-8, be given on a computer and allow Indiana scores to be compared with scores nationally.
A craft project created by Pre-K students at Penny Lane West School in Bloomington. (photo credit: Sara Wittmeyer / WFIU)
The 2017 legislative session is winding down, and legislators have yet to decide on a final version of the pre-k expansion bill. Before the session started, Governor Eric Holcomb asked lawmakers to double funding for the state’s pre-K pilot program, which currently only serves children in five counties.
Senate Minority Leader Tim Lanane (D-Anderson) attempted to kill House Bill 1005 but narrowly lost when a vote was taken on the issue in the full Senate. (Brandon Smith/Indiana Public Broadcasting)
A bill that would make the state school superintendent a political appointee of the governor, passed the full Senate Tuesday despite attempts by Democrats to kill the proposal.
Sen. Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, led the charge to have House Bill 1005 pulled from consideration, arguing its intent was the same as Senate Bill 179. But his effort failed 26-24.
In February, the Senate voted down its own bill to make the state’s elected schools chief an appointed position. Around the same time, House lawmakers approved their version.
But Democrats say a chamber rule should have ended the issue this session. The rule says a bill similar in language to a defeated bill may not be heard again in the Senate.
Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R- Ft. Wayne, has said the bill was altered enough so the issue could be revived. Senate lawmakers amended HB1005 to add a state residency requirement for candidates and push back the year it would go into effect to 2024.
Muncie Central High School. The House Ways and Means committee voted Monday to include Muncie Community Schools in a bill that provides financial assistance for struggling districts. (Kyle Stokes/StateImpact Indiana)
An Indiana House committee has voted to amend a bill that if passed would allow a state takeover of Muncie Community Schools to right its financial crisis.
The House Ways and Means Committee added the Muncie school district to a bill that already passed the Senate. It would allow a state takeover of Gary Community School Corporation, for financial reasons, and Committee Chair Republican Tim Brown (R-Crawfordsville) extended it to include Muncie Community Schools.
“There are a lot of school corporations out there that concern me greatly,” Brown says. “But Muncie and Gary concern me the most.”
According to the State Board of Accounts, Gary’s deficit is nearly $20 million. Muncie’s, factoring in all debt obligation, is $18.6 million.
As the legislative session enters its last three weeks, lawmakers begin to wrap up, and many of the major education bills we’ve been following moved forward.
The Senate budget also reverses the House move to eliminate the teacher bonus program.
For state-funded pre-K, it expands the program from 5 to all 92 counties. In other way it is similar to the House plan and proposes investing the same $16 million per year for high quality pre-K programs and money for homeschool programs.
The Senate unveiled its budget proposal Thursday, showing an increase to K-12 funding. (photo credit: Peter Balonon-Rosen/Indiana Public Broadcasting)
The Senate unveiled its budget proposal for the next two years Thursday, showing higher increases for K-12 spending, compared to the House proposal. Increases include more money for English Language Learners and students living in poverty.
The budget that passed out of the House increased funding for K-12 by 2.8 percent over two years. The Senate proposal increased it by 3.4 percent, which shakes out to $358 million over two years.
A major change from the House budget is the addition of $40 million for complexity grants. Complexity is money calculated for students living in poverty, and during the last budget session, the General Assembly scaled it back so all schools would receive similar allocations. The proposed increase would provide more money to schools with more students living in poverty.
Another change from the House budget is money for teacher performance grants. The House voted to eliminate the program, and instead reinvest that money into general school funding, but the Senate wanted to make sure there was specific money for teacher bonuses.
“We think that extra pay for good teachers is a good thing,” says Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Luke Kenley (R-Noblesville). “We think having a performance funding model that makes sure that that money goes to the classroom teacher and is not swallowed up in the bureaucracy or the administration of the local school corporation is a good thing.”
The legislature is considering a bill that changes the future of the state assessment system. (photo credit: Fort Worth Squatch/flickr)
A bill to overhaul Indiana’s standardized testing system passed out of a Senate committee Wednesday, but some lawmakers say the legislation does little to clear up concerns with over testing.
House Bill 1003 sets up guidelines for a new state test that will replace the ISTEP+ and graduation requirement exams by 2019.
Senate Education Committee Chairman Dennis Kruse says the amended bill seeks to fix a few problems, such as reducing the time spent testing and speeding up reporting of scores.
The financial situation in the Gary Community School District has been dire. It is racking up debt and struggling to meet basic financial responsibilities, like payroll. The district currently has $100 million in debt and an operating deficit of $8.6 million.
A bipartisan bill in the legislature this session aims to improve the situation by creating a new position in the district. Sen. Eddie Melton (D-Merrillville) co-authored the bill with Sen. Luke Kenley (R-Noblesville).
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