Legislative Policy Priorities
Teacher Conduct and Student Safety/House Enrolled Act 1202-2002 Veto
During the 2002 session of the Indiana General Assembly, a bill to enhance the safety of Hoosier students and address teacher misconduct issues passed through the House of Representatives and Senate by unanimous votes. This bill, House Enrolled Act 1202, was vetoed by the governor due to flaws in the bill that would increase the liability exposure of the state and local units of government to pay punitive damages in tort, contract, or civil rights cases. The Indiana Department of Education supports reintroduction of this legislation with corrections to the liability provisions of the bill.
House Enrolled Act 1202 contained many important revisions and improvements to current law intended to protect students. In summary, the key provisions of the bill included:
- A requirement that local prosecuting attorneys immediately notify the state superintendent of public instruction and the local school corporation superintendent of certain felony convictions such as child molestation and child seduction to begin the teacher/administrator license revocation process.
- An expansion of the list of felonies for which a teacher or an administrator license must be revoked to include kidnapping, criminal confinement, and dealing of controlled substances.
- A provision to provide the Superintendent of Public Instruction with the authority to initiate a suspension action against a teacher/administrator license for acts of immorality, incompetence, misconduct, and willful neglect of duties.
- A change to statute concerning seduction of a child at least 16 years of age to add behaviors that constitute the offense and to expand coverage to all employees of a child’s school corporation.
Under
present law (IC 20-6.1-3-7), the Superintendent of Public Instruction
may bring charges to the attention of the Indiana Professional
Standards Board which has the authority to permanently revoke
a license of certified school personnel when such a person has
been convicted of a limited list of felony crimes, generally heinous
crimes, against children. However, the Superintendent of Public
Instruction cannot initiate a license suspension action for lesser
offenses, or others acts of immorality, incompetence, misconduct,
or willful neglect of duties. In some situations a license suspension
is a more suitable penalty rather than license revocation. Due
to limitations of state law, individuals may face few consequences
professionally for acts of wrongdoing, misconduct, or immorality,
and continue to work in schools by resigning from their current
positions and seeking and securing employment in another school
district in a different community.
This legislation is needed to correct these problems and to protect
our children from those who would use their position of authority
as a school employee to prey upon the innocence of our youth.
School Corporation Annual Performance Report
In
1996, the Indiana General Assembly passed legislation that separated
school and student performance information from the annual financial
reports published by school districts in local newspapers, and
it established the school corporation annual performance report
law (IC 20-1-21). The format and content of the annual performance
reports have evolved since the passage of Public Law 34-1996.
To continue efforts to improve the reports, the Indiana Department
of Education recommends modifying the statutory provisions pertaining
to the time line for publication and the list of benchmark indicators
that must be included in the reports. The changes proposed by
the Department will further the utility and effectiveness of the
reports by ensuring the inclusion of the most current, complete,
and accurate data.
When the annual performance report law was established, a September
1 through September 15 publication period was selected in anticipation
that complete data would be available for the school year just
concluded. Many data items for the previous school year are not
available until after the reporting period. Dropout data, Core
40 completion, Academic Honors Diploma completion, and data about
the percentage of graduates who pursue higher education all are
reported on forms due on or around October 15. Information about
PSAT, SAT, ACT, and AP performance also is received in the fall.
This results in incomplete data items in the annual report, or
the data may be a year out of date.
To resolve this problem, the Department recommends changing the
publication period to January 1 through January 15. Changing the
publication period to January will allow for more complete data,
including the latest ISTEP+ scores from the fall.
In addition to changing the publication period, the Department
recommends changes to the list of benchmark indicators found in
IC 20-1-21-9. The proposed changes would provide uniformity in
the data school districts and the Department compile, with what
is reported in the annual performance reports. A few new indicators
will be added to provide meaningful information to the public
about student enrollment and the number and percentage of students
who have limited English proficiency. Finally, this proposal removes
statutory language concerning obsolete components of the performance-based
accreditation system and separates the quantifiable information
from that better reported in narrative form.
School Corporation Tax Anticipation Warrant Flexibility
Cash
flow will be a major concern for Indiana’s school corporations
for calendar year 2003 and beyond. Public school revenues will
be negatively impacted by the delay in state tuition support
payments (no January 2003 payment), and the delays in property
tax reassessment occurring in many counties that will delay property
tax distributions to schools.
Indiana Code 20-5-4-8 provides school corporations the opportunity
to issue tax anticipation warrants twice a year. School corporations
can borrow up to 80 percent of the amount of taxes and state tuition
support distributions estimated to be collected or received for
and distributed by the June property tax settlement, repayable
by June 30; and in the second six months for the December property
tax settlement, repayable by December 31. Due to the negative
cash flow issues facing school corporations, payroll for school
employees will be in jeopardy, employee withholding payments to
the Indiana Department of Revenue and the Internal Revenue Service
will be difficult, and payment of debt obligations could come
late forcing a default situation.
To address the cash flow issues, the Department of Education proposes
that the Indiana General Assembly consider providing school corporations
the flexibility to borrow 80 percent of anticipated revenue for
a 12 month period, with the payments due on or before December
31. This would be especially helpful to the corporations located
in counties where property tax reassessment is delayed, and June
property tax distributions are not received on time.
The Department of Education commends, among others, the Indiana
Bond Bank for identifying potential solutions (such as a short-term
loan program) to help school corporations with their cash flow
problems. If the Bond Bank has the capacity to assist all school
corporations that have temporary cash flow concerns, then the
need for modification to IC 20-5-4-8 diminishes. The Indiana
Department of Education will advise the legislature on this matter
as the 2003 session progresses.
Change Kindergarten Enrollment Date From July 1 to September 1
Although
the Indiana General Assembly adjusted the kindergarten entrance
date by one month during the 2001 session, Indiana’s July
1 date is still, by far, the earliest in the nation. The current
law establishing this date prevents thousands of children (whose
birthdays are in July and August) from having access to appropriate
learning opportunities at the most important time in their
development.
Changing the kindergarten entrance date to September 1 will
not force any children to attend school earlier but will welcome
children who turn 5 in July and August. Parents still will make
the decision about when to enroll their child in school. In Indiana,
compulsory education does not begin until the year of the child’s
seventh birthday.
Having disadvantaged children spend an extra year in environments
that do not promote their growth and learning will likely put
them even farther behind their peers who have access to quality
educational opportunities. Dr. Lilian Katz, Director of the ERIC
Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education and
Professor Emerita of Early Childhood Education at the University
of Illinois, writes:
I hope the legislators of Indiana keep in mind the number of Indiana
youngsters for whom public school kindergarten will likely be
their first opportunity for education . . . Indeed it is likely
that the current late entry age has its greatest impact on low-income
families and their children. In this way, the disparities among
children can only be exacerbated (letter to the Indiana Association
for the Education of Young Children, June 9, 1998).
Indiana’s July 1 kindergarten entrance date is inconsistent
with those of the rest of the states and current research. The
state with the closest kindergarten entrance date to Indiana is
Missouri with an August 1 date. The majority of states have a
date in September or later, with September 1 being the most common
date (17 states). Surrounding states’ entrance dates are:
Illinois, September 1; Ohio, September 30; Kentucky, October
1; Michigan, December 1.
Indiana’s July 1 date causes difficulties for many families
who move from other states to Indiana. Parents, who anticipate
a move from Indiana, also express concerns about their
children being so much older than classmates in their new state.
Recent research, published in The Journal of Pediatrics,
finds adolescents who are old-for-grade have higher rates of
behavior problems and of risky behaviors, including drug use.
The report also states that delaying school entry also may delay
detection and treatment of undiagnosed developmental delays or
learning disabilities. Such delays may predispose children to
later problems. (“Increased Behavior Problems Associated
with Delayed School Entry and Delayed School Progress,” The Journal of Pediatrics,
100(4), 659, 1997)
Additionally, the National Association of School Psychologists
reports the following research on delayed kindergarten entrance:
- Delaying kindergarten until the age of 6 has not resulted in improvement in reading, writing, or math skills.
- Delayed entrants 4 to 12 years after entering school were no more academically skilled, athletically involved, or socially successful than students who had entered kindergarten just after turning 5 years old.
- Students who are one year too old for a grade level are much more likely to drop out of high school.
(National Association of School Psychologists. School Entry Decisions: A Guide for Parents, 1, 1998)
Many
school corporations understand the implications of keeping children
out of kindergarten until they are 6 and have chosen to exercise
the appeal process [IC 20-8.1-3-17(e)] to allow children with
birth dates on or before September 1 to enter kindergarten,
provided that space is available. The Indiana Department of
Education applauds these corporations’ actions, even though,
once again Indiana is faced with a disparity in the entry date
between school corporations that the 1987 legislation addressed.
If a kindergarten curriculum does not meet the needs of five-year-olds,
then the appropriateness of the curriculum needs to be questioned.
A developmentally appropriate curriculum is based on research
of child development, how children learn, and the strengths and
needs of individual children.
Scientists are emphasizing how critical the first ten years of
life are in terms of brain development. The kindergarten entrance
date needs to be moved to September 1 to provide Indiana’s
children the opportunity for quality educational experiences
during this critical window of opportunity for learning.