STRAIGHT FROM THE SENATE

REWARDING EFFECTIVE TEACHERS AND REFOCUSING COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

Indiana is blessed with many dedicated educators who drive student success. But unfortunately until now, teacher pay raises and layoffs were determined largely by seniority, not classroom effectiveness or academic growth.

That’s why lawmakers this year supported requiring robust, locally designed and administered performance evaluations of teachers and principals based in-part on student learning. Comprehensive evaluations will help identify and reward great educators and provide valuable feedback for those needing improvement. Current teachers will not lose pay as a result of the new plan, but future increases will rightly go to those who continue their educations, assume added responsibilities, positively engage parents and ultimately help students excel.

Another new measure will return collective bargaining for teachers to its original intent – salaries and wage-related benefits. This restored approach removes bureaucratic underbrush from labor contracts and gives local school leaders freedom to run schools more efficiently and effectively. Topics like textbook selections, student discipline and class sizes, must be discussed and may be detailed in other written school policies.

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New High-Quality Options For Hoosier Students and Parents

Indiana will for the first time allow qualifying families to use a portion of their child’s state tuition support to help pay costs at a participating non-governmental school. “Choice Scholarships” will be available to families who meet prescribed income guidelines. Hoosiers below free- and reduced-lunch income levels will be eligible for at least 50 percent and as much as 90 percent of state tuition support. A maximum scholarship amount is set at $4,500 for grades 1-8, with no specified limits for upper grades. Lawmakers capped the number of Choice Scholarships at 7,500 for the 2011-12 school year and 15,000 for 2012-13.

A separate reform will help ensure students and parents have access to other high-quality options by expanding authorizers of charter public schools statewide. This law specifies that all charters are to be open to any students living in Indiana and requires random drawings be conducted at public meetings if applicants outnumber openings. The enrolled act also gives parents more power in determining whether struggling, traditional public schools should be converted into less-regulated public charter schools in hopes of making innovative improvements. To assure quality, charters will be held to rigorous accountability standards like other public schools. Indiana’s virtual (online) charters will be granted more flexibility to function like bricks-and-mortar charters in terms of authorization, funding and accountability.

Scholarship Opportunities For Higher Ed, Technical Training

Hoosier students who study diligently to complete high school requirements one year early will be eligible for new $4,000 state-funded scholarships to attend Indiana colleges or technical schools. Students would be required to be enrolled at approved postsecondary education institutions within five months of graduating early from high school to receive the scholarships.

Lawmakers worked to preserve 100 percent college-tuition reimbursement for currently enrolled sons and daughters of deceased and disabled Indiana veterans. To ensure funds are available in the future for deserving children of those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, lawmakers reformed a few eligibility requirements. One change includes a provision to ensure an applicant’s mother or father was a resident of Indiana at the time of enlistment or had been a resident of Indiana for at least five years prior to applying for these scholarship benefits.

Despite tough economic times, Indiana legislators also fully funded the state’s popular 21st Century Scholarship program. Under the plan, low-income 7th and 8th grade students who stay out of trouble with the law, remain drug-free and perform well academically through high school graduation will continue to be eligible for these full college-tuition scholarships.