Timely words from a school board president

At a time of overheated rhetoric about education reform, here’s a reminder from Mark GiaQuinta, president of the Fort Wayne Community Schools board, that the important stuff is what happens in the schoolhouse, not the Statehouse. GiaQuinta sent this message last week to Fort Wayne public education supporters, responding to efforts in the Indiana legislature [...]

Referendum spending a challenge and opportunity for MCCSC

Some initial thoughts on the Monroe County Community School Corp. budget committee recommendations on how to use $7.5 million a year from the recent property-tax referendum. 1 — This is an opportunity for the school board to get the process right. That means having all its discussions in public, however difficult and messy they may [...]

Indiana school voucher bill – more radical than expected

Taxpayers would subsidize private-school tuition for families that make more than $100,000 a year under school-voucher legislation introduced in the Indiana House of Representatives. The bill would award “choice scholarships” to help pay tuition for just about any student who moves from a public to a private school, except for those from the wealthiest families, [...]

‘Dems for Education Reform’ wade into state debates

A new organization called Indiana Democrats for Education Reform says it’s taking a bipartisan approach to the school-reform debate playing out at the Statehouse. Like Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels and state Superintendent Tony Bennett, Indiana DFER backs more charter schools, radical turn-around efforts for low-performing public schools, and performance-based evaluation of teachers. But it parts [...]

Charter schools legislation moving through Indiana House

Give some credit to Speaker Brian Bosma for keeping a partially open mind on the charter-schools bill that he’s pushing through the Indiana House of Representatives. Bosma, R-Indianapolis, is co-author of the legislation, which expands sponsors of charter schools to include private colleges and universities, a statewide charter schools board, and mayors of cities of [...]

Proposed rule would retain third-graders if they fail state reading test?

Last year the Indiana legislature considered a proposal to retain students in third grade if they failed the reading section of the ISTEP-Plus exam. But lawmakers decided not to approve the proposal, citing cost concerns. Now the State Board of Education is about to adopt the same requirement as an administrative rule. If there are [...]

Indiana education legislation is available online

The Daniels-Bennett education agenda is showing up in bills posted to the Indiana General Assembly’s website, and so are other school-related measures. Here’s a preliminary look, starting with the proposals backed by the governor and state superintendent: – HB 1337, teacher contracts: rewrites the collective bargaining law; creates a new system for evaluating teachers, including [...]

Pre-kindergarten: the missing piece in Indiana education reform

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and state Superintendent Tony Bennett have proposed varied and aggressive education reforms for the state legislature to consider. One thing that’s missing: Any mention of early childhood education. As the Indianapolis Star reported last week, Indiana trails most other states when it comes to including young children in its education system. [...]

There he goes again

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels gives an inspirational speech, and you almost want to believe him when he says his call for school reform is rooted in “a love for the children whose very lives and futures depend on the quality of the learning they either do or do not acquire while in our schools.” The [...]

Public support for vouchers in Indiana? Look again

The Indianapolis-based Foundation for Educational Choice is pulling out the stops to convince the state legislature to approve a school voucher program. The program would provide taxpayer money for parents to send their kids to private schools. On Monday, the foundation (formerly the Milton and Rose Friedman Foundation) released results from a public-opinion survey purporting [...]