Licensing Advisor Weekly Newsletter
June 30, 2006

Additions and Professionalizations to a Licenses Under Previous Rules, Exceptional Needs Licensure

We have good news. The Attorney General's Office has signed the proposed rule for additions and professionalizations of licenses under Rules 46-47, Bulletin 400, and Bulletin 192 and the rule for exceptional needs. This now moves to the Governor's Office, which has already indicated approval for the rule. This means that for all practical purposes, it has been approved. It may still take the normal amount of time, but I feel that I can now safely tell you it will pass. I will keep you updated when the rule becomes "official."

Mentor Stipends

There is also news on this issue. Below, I have included the memorandum that was sent out yesterday to superintendents and principals. I should add (because this was inadvertently left out of the memo) that mentors of beginning administrators are also eligible for this stipend.

MEMORANDUM
TO: Superintendents and Principals
FROM: Shawn Sriver, Director, Division of Professional Standards
DATE: June 29, 2006
RE: Update on Mentor Stipends for 2005-2006 School Year

The current state budget, as originally enacted, prohibited the Indiana Department of Education from paying stipends to mentor teachers. We were successful in working with the Indiana General Assembly to remove that prohibition during the 2006 legislative session, but no funds were provided. Any distribution must come from money appropriated to the Division of Professional Standards. Based on available funds, the Department will pay a stipend of $336 to teachers who served as mentors during the 2005-2006 school year. We understand this is not the full $600 stipend that has been provided in previous years, but the Department is limited to paying the stipend out of funds in the Division of Professional Standards budget.

As in the past, funds will be distributed to public schools based on the number of mentor teachers who enrolled during the 2005-06 school year. Mentors in nonpublic schools will receive payments directly, and the stipends must be transferred directly into their bank accounts according to state policy. Because the Division was not able to verify the amount of the stipend until close to the deadline for submitting claims, we were unable to obtain W-9 and Direct Deposit forms from a number of nonpublic school mentors. Teachers who fall into this category will be contacted by the Division throughout the summer. We will obtain the necessary forms and pay the stipend near the end of August.

Please know that the Department of Education recognizes the important role mentor teachers play in developing and retaining high-quality professionals in Indiana classrooms, and we remain committed to pursuing options that would fully restore the mentor stipends in the future. While the Department expects to pay mentors a stipend during the 2006-07 school year, we will not be able to determine the amount of the stipend until near the end of the fiscal year (June 30, 2007).

Should you have any questions, please contact Brad Yoder at byoder@doe.in.gov or Shawn Sriver at ssriver@doe.in.gov.