2004 Legislative Agenda

Dr. Reed Releases DOE’s 2004 Legislative Agenda
Bullying prevention tops list

Superintendent of Public Instruction Suellen Reed announced the 2004 legislative agenda of the Department of Education for the second regular session of Indiana’s 113th General Assembly.

“We have a modest, yet targeted, agenda that is respective of the short session and the funding shortfalls the state still faces,” said Dr. Reed.

The Department of Education’s legislative agenda includes four points that call for:

• A bullying prevention and awareness initiative.
• Resolving transfer tuition funding for students in group homes, foster homes, etc.
• An initiative of the Indiana Promise Consortium supporting teacher and principal recruitment and retention in hard-to-staff schools.
• A resolution urging the legislature to become familiar with the components of Indiana’s P-16 Plan for Improving Student Achievement and its blueprint for K-12 education in Indiana.

*These issues are new initiatives. As in the past, the Department will continue to support funding for optional full-day Kindergarten and a Kindergarten entrance cut-off date of September 1.

Click here for video of Dr. Reed's 1/6/04 press conference

BULLYING PREVENTION AND AWARENESS BILL (SENATE BILL 231)
The consequences of bullying are far reaching, ranging from lower attendance and student achievement to increased incidence of violence and juvenile crime. Children who bully are more likely to become violent adults, while victims of bullying often suffer from anxiety, low self-esteem, and depression well into adulthood (Banks, 2000, NRCSS, 1999).

The financial (and psychological) costs of bullying and violence to victims are staggering:

• Kids who are bullied are five times more likely to be depressed than other kids, and also far more likely to be suicidal (Fight Crime: Invest in Kids).
• Sixty percent of boys classified as bullies in Grades 6-9 were convicted of at least one crime by age 24; 40 percent have three or more convictions by age 24.
• For each bully prevented from adopting a life of crime, the nation could save between $1.7 million and $2.3 million (Vanderbilt University Study, 1998).

The Department will support Senate Bill 231 authored by Senators Tom Wyss, Connie Sipes, Teresa Lubbers, and Earline Rogers to create: 1) a statutory definition of bullying; 2) an education outreach and training initiative under the Indiana Safe School Fund; 3) a prohibition of the act of bullying in the discipline policies and procedures guidelines issued by school corporations; and 4) Safe School Committees in all public schools (these can be established as a subcommittee of the P.L. 221 school improvement committee).

“Statistics show that bullying is becoming a national epidemic. In Indiana, we must send a strong message that this behavior will not be tolerated in our classrooms and there will be consequences for this misdeed,” said Senator Wyss.

“Bullying is a type of aggression and part of a broad spectrum of violence,” said Dr. Reed. “This legislation would allow our schools to be proactive with their efforts to control bullying, rather than reactive.”

Dr. Reed was joined by Senator Wyss (Senate District 15), Senator Sipes (Senate District 46), Senator Lubbers (Senate District 30), Senator Rogers (Senate District 3), Representative Sue Scholer (House District 26), Representative Greg Porter (House District 96), Dr. Steven Yager (Superintendent, Northwest Allen County Schools), Dr. Kathy Steele (Superintendent, Crawfordsville Community Schools), Steve Garner (Chief of School Police, Indianapolis Public Schools), Scott Eales (retired Senior Special Agent, U.S. Secret Service), and Dr. Russell Skiba (Associate Professor, IU—Bloomington, Counseling and Educational Psychology, and the director of the Safe and Responsive Schools Project) at the announcement.

Children must feel safe and be safe in school in order to learn and achieve high standards and become competent, resilient adults and citizens. This legislation would aid in keeping Indiana’s educational environment conducive to the learning process, and would make Indiana only the 18th state to have an anti-bullying law.

This legislative initiative is consistent and supportive of the State Board of Education’s aim of providing students with “Safe and Caring Schools.” The aim is one of five adopted by the Board and endorsed by the Indiana Education Roundtable.

Click here for more information on bullying

TRANSFER TUITION FOR STUDENTS IN GROUP HOMES, FOSTER HOMES, ETC.
This proposal would provide state-paid transfer tuition for students residing in group homes, foster homes, or other child-care facilities, who have parents that are unknown or—more likely—who have had their parental rights terminated. These students have no “legal settlement” in any identifiable school corporation and the school corporation providing educational services typically does not recoup the excess educational expenses for the student.

INDIANA PROMISE CONSORTIUM INITIATIVE
This initiative would aid in the recruitment and retention of principals and teachers in hard-to-staff schools by providing funding in the amount of $5,000 per teacher in a “high priority/academic probation” school for additional instructional days and/or professional development days aligned with the technical assistance of efforts through the Department of Education.

The state’s accountability law and rule requires all schools to be placed in categories of performance during the 2005-06 school year. Placement in one of the five categories will be based on ISTEP+ scores between 2003-05. Attendance and graduation rate information also are considered. This proposal provides a means of technical assistance to the schools in the lowest category of performance. Since there is a fiscal impact with this proposal, the Department will ask the General Assembly to begin deliberation on this issue in the short session but delay final action on the proposal to the 2005 session.

Click here for more information on the Promise Consortium initiative

P-16 PLAN FOR IMPROVING STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
The complexity of today’s world calls for an education system where the vast majority of students will be expected to complete education beyond high school. Even students who go directly into the workforce after high school will need additional training and education at some point in their working lives if they are to be successful.

Providing all Indiana children with the academic foundation necessary to become active and productive citizens is the basis of the P-16 Plan for Improving Student Achievement. The Department will call for a resolution to be offered urging the legislature to become more familiar with the components of the P-16 Plan and to support the recommendations of Indiana’s Education Roundtable that require legislative action as they are identified in Phase II of the Plan.

Click here for more information on the P-16 Plan