INDIANAPOLIS – After a whirlwind of activity on education in 2011, legislators are moving a bit slower in 2012 on bills affecting how K-12 schools operate.

With only about a month left in the session, a few education-related bills appear to have strong support while many others have dropped off the list.

Three bills that will be heading to the post involve making the state’s intervention law tougher; adding a virtual class requirement for schools; and changing how often students are counted for state funding purposes.

First up is accountability. The General Assembly passed the state’s original law in 1999.

Currently, schools rated in the lowest performance category (F) for six consecutive years can be taken over by state education officials, merged or face other options. Performance is based on annual student achievement test scores. This year was the first time takeover was implemented when the board voted in August to put private operators in charge of four schools in Indianapolis and one in Gary.

Some legislators and the Indiana Department of Education are looking to accelerate the accountability law so that any school receiving a combination of D’s or F’s four consecutive years is subject to takeover and other intervention.

“Six years is just too long to be an F school before there are any options,” said Rep. Robert Behning, R-Indianapolis. “It’s a moral obligation to these kids.”

He said that dozens more schools were initially in jeopardy of state takeover before they improved.

“They really focused their resources on trying to get off the list,” Behning said. “We are trying to keep their eye on the ball.”

The provision was placed in House Bill 1379, but it died without passing the House because of a number of amendments being filed by Democrats to slow it down.

Behning said he has identified a Senate education bill to amend the provision into.

Krista Stockman, spokeswoman for Fort Wayne Community Schools, said the corporation worked extensively for several years to get two high schools off the intervention list.

“It wasn’t that we all the sudden in the last year took it seriously,” she said. “Whether four years or six years, our goal is not to have any schools in the D or F category. To us, I don’t know that this really changes anything.”

Next up is virtual learning.

Senate Bill 179 requires a student pursuing a Core 40 high school diploma to complete at least one virtual instruction course. It starts with the class of students who enter ninth grade in 2013. Schools must fund the virtual instruction course with current resources, which means spending less money on some other priority.

Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, a co-author on the legislation, said he thinks the cost to districts is nothing.

“As far as I know, all public schools have access to online and a computer lab,” he said. “And we have libraries, and more and more people have computers at home.”

Kruse said that many districts are already offering online courses for Advanced Placement credit classes and that the delayed implementation date should be helpful.

Kathy Friend, chief financial officer for FWCS, said the corporation’s virtual courses right now are primarily for remediation and high ability. The district would have to design a few courses that could be taken more widely by students.

“This would definitely be an addition and we are concerned about the increased costs of technology,” she said. “We don’t have a 1-to-1 learning environment for our students, so we would have to expand computer labs and make a substantial purchase.”

She said that having students take the class from home could be problematic. “This is going to be something we have to monitor and control.”

The final major education bill is multiple count days.

Currently, students are counted on one day in September and then the state sends funding based on that count for the school year. But there is a lot of movement between charter schools and private schools.

So lawmakers – in keeping with the adage of having the money follow the child – want to have multiple counts.

“Everyone likes the concept,” Kruse said. “We are just trying to iron out the logistics.”

Two bills are moving on this subject, both having two count days. One would still be in September and the other would either be in January or March.

Friend said January makes more sense because a new semester starts.

Friend said Fort Wayne Community Schools likely would lose $300,000 to $500,000 a year on the second count.

She said student migration tends to even out in elementary and middle school, but that is not the same in high school where some students drop out altogether.

Friend said after a teacher has been in place for months, the district will not remove any teachers based on funding from the second count.

“That would be detrimental to the remaining students,” she said.

nkelly@jg.net