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TO:	Members, Indiana Professional Standards Board
FROM:	Thomas D. Hansen, Director of Legal and External Affairs
DATE:	June 17, 1999
SUBJECT:	Report on Legislative Session and Biennium Budget

This report summarizes the impact of the 1999 session of the Indiana General Assembly on the Indiana Professional Standards Board (IPSB), and notes work to be done toward the 2000 session.

1. Goals for the 1999 session

The IPSB sought no statutory changes in 1999. The goal for the session was to secure adequate funding to allow continued progress on implementation of IPSB's new system of performance-based preparation and licensing of educators, particularly to expand implementation of the Beginning Teacher Induction Performance Assessment Program (BTIPAP).

2. Budget results

The IPSB budget request and outcome are summarized in the following table (in dollars):

	IPSB Requested	Governor  Recommended	House  Approved	Senate  Approved	Final  Budget
1999-2000	5,406,467	5,406,467	5,406,467	4,458,024	4,458,024
2000-2001	7,356,458	7,356,458	7,356,458	4,458,024	4,458,024
Total	12,762,925	12,762,925	12,762,925	8,916,048	8,916,048

While educational issues were highlighted as the main goal of the Governor and of many in the General Assembly, funding increases in education were limited primarily to existing operations, while new programs were not funded. Among those gaining sizeable increases were K-12 school funding and general funding of higher education. The major new program funded was an expansion of Indiana's community college system. Among the major educational initiatives not funded were full- day kindergarten, early kindergarten start date, charter schools, reading diagnostics, professional development programs, and IPSB's expanded induction assessment program.

As discussed below, a major piece of legislation which did pass (and which had minimal budget impact) is a new accountability system for K-12 schools. The bill will allow IPSB to gather valuable data regarding teacher licensing and qualifications. This data will be very helpful in shaping IPSB programs related to support of beginning teachers and professional growth activities needed for educator license renewal and in ascertaining the extent of out-of-field teacher placement.

Negotiations late in the session regarding all new education initiatives reached an impasse between the Governor's support for full-day kindergarten, and the Senate's support for funding of a combination of programs to be determined by local school districts (known as the "cafeteria plan"). In the Senate, key members did not support the funds IPSB sought for the expanded induction assessment program, and efforts to have the funds restored in the budget bill were unsuccessful.

The result of the biennial budget is that full implementation of BTIPAP is delayed by a year until the 2001-02 academic year and that IPSB staff is working on reallocation of resources to achieve as much progress as possible during the `99-`01 biennium.

3. Reading instruction legislation

As Board members will recall, a bill introduced by Senator Murray Clark of Indianapolis would have doubled the number of credit hours required in instruction related to the teaching of reading, and required instruction in phonics. The bill was approved by the Senate Education Committee, but after further discussions with Senator Clark, the bill was not called for a second reading vote on the Senate floor and thus did not pass the Senate.

Instead, Senator Clark proposed an interim study committee on the teaching of reading and the roles of teacher preparation institutions and the IPSB in reading instruction. Staff suggested some changes in the resolution to recommend the study committee, which were incorporated. Ironically, the resolution was never called down for vote by the Senate and thus no recommendation about an interim study committee was made.

There was similar legislation regarding reading instruction in the House. It did not receive a hearing in the House Education Committee, although the Committee did engage in a discussion on the issue during debate on another bill.

4. School Accountability

The major new legislation related to K-12 was the school accountability bill. Closely paralleling IPSB's work, it sets standards and accountability for public schools with an eye toward improvement, not punishment. But it does contain measures which can force schools to merge or be taken over by the state if low achievement is not corrected.

The provisions of interest to IPSB include:

• Under Section 2 of the bill, new I.C. 20-1-1-6.5 requires each school to develop a professional development program. While it does not specifically mention either beginning teacher support programs or continuing education, the bill is consistent with the present internship and continuing education requirements, and will be consistent with the IPSB's new induction assessment and professional growth requirements for licensing. The state Board of Education must approve an evaluation system for professional development based on IPSB and state Department of Education recommendations. Therefore, the IPSB should recommend ways to evaluate professional development, and to inform schools how to plan for professional development which also meets their educators' needs for licensing under both present and new systems of the IPSB.
• Under Section 12 of the bill, the annual school reporting requirement under I.C. 20-1-21 will now include additional "indicators of performance." Among them is information about "teacher licensing, certification, and preparation, including the number of teachers with national board certification." Under I.C. 20-1-21-8, the state Superintendent of Public Instruction and the state Board of Education must consult with appropriate state agencies to develop reporting procedures and definitions for the performance indicators. This means IPSB should recommend what specific information should be reported by schools related to licensing, certification and preparation. The bill can be viewed at www.state.in.us/legislative/bills.html by entering bill numbers 1750 and 235.

5. Other legislative developments

Staff spent some time working with Senator Teresa Lubbers on the charter school bill, SB 457. Although it died in the session's final days, the final version was consistent with present and future licensing requirements of the IPSB. A specific change requested on behalf of the IPSB was to retain the applicability of IPSB rules to charter schools. This would mean that beginning teachers in an induction program, and any educators renewing licenses, would see no difference in the role of their school or administrators in providing needed support, such as scheduling time to work with mentors or on an induction portfolio, allowing time for profession growth teams to meet, etc.

A bill was introduced in the House which would have required certain hours of instruction on cultural diversity in teacher preparation programs. Staff consulted with the sponsor and demonstrated how present teacher education requirements surpassed what would have been required in the bill, and the sponsor agreed to withdraw the bill.