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INDIANAPOLIS – Lost in the battle over school funding and a possible state shutdown, a number of policy shifts were inserted in the new state budget that state officials say represent major education reform in Indiana.
Turning back caps on charter school growth and authorizing a pilot program for virtual online charter schools are getting the most attention.
But legislators also allowed the use of ISTEP+ scores in teacher evaluations and passed a provision that strongly encourages - some even say forces - school districts to use the state health insurance plan to provide coverage for current and former employees.
"While it was a tremendous victory for taxpayers, it was also a huge step forward for education reform in this state," Gov. Mitch Daniels said. "I heard it said in floor debate, I think in overheated fashion, that this budget means the end of public education as we have known it, to which I say, 'Thank goodness.'
"We have to have change in public education. We had to end these stone-age policies."
The governor especially supported ending the "ridiculous prohibition" of looking at student achievement when evaluating teachers. Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett said the practical reason for repealing this law was to ensure the state is eligible to compete for billions in federal education grants from President Obama's administration.
But he said it is important for other reasons.
"Why wouldn't we utilize how students are doing to evaluate the effectiveness of teachers? It doesn't make sense. It is the most objective measure," Bennett said. "It's the right thing to do for Indiana children to ensure that our teachers are effectively moving students in a manner that we need to move them."
The measure states that test results cannot be the sole factor involved in a teacher's evaluation.
Northwest Allen County Schools' Superintendent Steve Yager - who will soon become superintendent of Southwest Allen County Schools - said the idea makes a great sound bite, but it's not that simple. And he used a sports metaphor to get his point across.
"A coach might have the worst record they ever had, but given the players and skills they had, they might have done the best coaching job they had ever done," he said.
Yager said it's hard to distinguish who in an entire school system is having an effect on a student. And many teachers handle courses that aren't covered by a standardized test, including art, home economics and journalism.
"The ability and quality of students academically fluctuates from year to year. Teachers do not have control over what students are placed in their room," Yager said. "I think this is a disservice to the instructor and students in the classroom."
Steve Brace, executive director of the Fort Wayne Education Association, said the change might be significant statewide but would not affect Fort Wayne Community Schools' teachers, because their contract prohibits the use of standardized test scores in grading performance.
"There is a lot that plays into test scores, including what kind of support is coming from home," he said. "This is just a way for legislators to try to come up with something that sounds good to the public but is practically impossible."
Local school officials are also hesitant about moving to the state's health insurance plan.
Wording in the budget bill allows school districts to choose state coverage to provide insurance for active and retired employees. But after 2010 - as contracts are renegotiated and renewed - if a district is paying more for an outside plan than the state coverage costs, then the employees, not taxpayers, must make up the difference.
The Daniels administration originally sought a complete mandate as teacher contracts expired, claiming it would save $100 million statewide.
The move is a result of some districts paying higher amounts for health care coverage while employees pay small premiums. The language is meant to force them inside the larger state insurance pool to even out the burden for taxpayers.
"Schools are paying too much for health insurance around the state, and we are doing something here to respond to the obvious economic times," Bennett said. "If the state health plan provides an effective and cheaper option, they can spend less on benefits and drive more money to the classroom."
But Kathy Friend, chief financial officer for Fort Wayne Community Schools, said health insurance is part of the total benefit package for schools. It might look in some districts like the coverage is generous, but she said that might be because the school district couldn't afford salary increases.
"It's difficult to make a blanket statement about whether that is the right thing," Friend said.
She said FWCS is able to get competitive health insurance rates because it has a large number of employees, but the district will evaluate the state health plan this year as part of a regular review.
Yager acknowledged some smaller districts have sought the ability to join the health plan to bring costs down, but he thinks it should be an option.
He said NACS' premium increases have been small largely because the district has a younger teaching staff with a better claims history.
"I would be troubled to be forced to use somebody else's insurance plan when ours is working fine," Yager said. "It's kind of taking away the local decisions, and that's offensive to us at the local level."
One change that educators and state officials agree on is a new date by which schools must notify teachers of possible layoffs.
Currently, reduction-in-force notices must be issued by May 1. Since the state budget traditionally isn't adopted until April 29, schools often send out more notices than end up being necessary.
The budget bill moves that notice date to June 1.
"That's a better date, because it gives schools a few more weeks to make decisions," Brace said, though he joked it wouldn't have helped this year because the budget wasn't passed until June 30.
