House Bill 1002 passed through the Indiana General Assembly after lengthy public testimony and debate. The House passed the legislation by a concurrence vote of 61-37 after the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 29-20.
"Our overriding goal for this session has been to give more educational opportunities to every Hoosier family," said Speaker Bosma.
House Bill 1003 also passed on a concurrence vote in the Indiana House of Representatives by a vote of 56-43.
The main provisions of House Bill 1003 include providing families, who do not have the financial means, a scholarship to pay the cost of tuition and fees at a public or private school that charges tuition. In addition, the bill establishes a tax deduction for individual taxpayers who make expenditures for enrollment of a dependent child in a private school or to home school a dependent child. Finally, the bill increases the aggregate cap on credits from $2.5 M to $5 M beginning in FY 2012 for the education scholarship tax credit.
From Tory Flynn, Media Director & Press Secretary to Speaker Bosma
Indiana House of Representatives; House Republican Caucus
HOUSE REPUBLICAN POLICY DIVISION
HB 1002 – CHARTER SCHOOLS (AUTHOR: BOSMA; COAUTHORS: BEHNING, SULLIVAN, NOE)
HOUSE THIRD READING ROLL CALL: 59‐37
SENATE THIRD READING ROLL CALL: 29‐20
HOUSE CONCURRENCE: 61‐37
Summary of Legislation:
Charter School Board
• Establishes the Charter School Board (CSB) as a statewide sponsor of charter schools.
o Members are appointed by the Governor, State Superintendent and the General Assembly.
o Senate amendment specifies that legislators cannot serve as appointments on the CSB.
o Senate amendment provides that the Department of Education (DOE) shall provide staff to the CSB until the board begins receiving administrative fees.
o The CSB will serve as a sponsor, but will not have the ability to monitor and hold accountable other charter school sponsors since they are in direct competition.
Sponsors
• Adds 4‐year non‐profit private universities and colleges to serve as a sponsor upon approval by the State Board of Education.
• Requires the State Board of Education to establish procedures to monitor all charter school sponsors in Indiana.
• A charter school may not be required to purchase services from its sponsors as a condition of charter approval.
Accountability – State Board of Education Role
o If a charter school has been placed in the lowest category or designation under the state school
accountability system (PL221) for at least five consecutive years and the school has been in operation for
more than five years then the state board shall hold a hearing and can take any of the following actions:
Transfer the sponsorship of the school to another sponsor;
Order the closure of the school; or
Order the reduction of any administrative fee collected by the school’s sponsor;
(House language had stricter accountability standards by applying to schools in the lowest two
categories for three consecutive years.)
Permits the SBOE to suspend the authority of a sponsor if at least 25% of the sponsor’s charter
schools have been subject to an accountability action.
The bill does allow the SBOE some discretion if it finds sufficient justification for the school’s
performance (example: charter school serves students who are recovering from substance
addiction or other mental/physical health issues like Hope Academy).
Charter School Charters
• Adds student academic growth, financial performance and stability, and board performance and stewardship to the list of items to be included in a charter school’s charter.
• If more student applications are received than charter building space, then the charter organizer must conduct a random drawing in a public meeting to determine which students are accepted.
• Reiterates that charter schools must be open to all and may not discriminate based on race, disability or language.
• Allows a charter school to operate as a single gender school if approved by the sponsor.
• Senate amendment removes language that required a charter school to conduct a conference if a student is expelled with the student’s parents and resident school corporation personnel regarding the reason for the expulsion.
Charter School Teachers
• Senate amendments inserted a provision that requires only 90% of teachers to hold a teaching license. (Current law requires 100% of teachers in traditional public schools and charter schools to hold a license.) Teachers who do nothave a license must be in the process of obtaining a license. Senate amendments also allow for a charter school to petition the SBOE to request a lower percentage.
Transparency
• Senate committee amendment added language that requires a public hearing before a charter may be issued. The governing body of a school corporation in which the proposed charter will be located must have an opportunity to comment at a public hearing.
• Charter schools already disclose substantial information in their charters, but the following additional transparency measures are now included in the bill.
o DOE must maintain a charter school webpage detailing all approved sponsors, pending applications for a
charter, approved applications, rejected applications and annual performance data.
o To prevent sponsor shopping, organizer is required to list any applications submitted in the last 5 years in
their charter proposal.
o Sponsor must notify DOE of the length of time of the charter, school goals and educational program design and name, address and chief operating officer of the education management organization.
Conversion Charter Employees
• Stipulates that a teacher in a conversion charter school may be an employee of just the charter school or of the charter school and the school corporation as determined in a charter school’s charter.
Conversion Charter Schools
• Multiple Senate amendments altered the procedural requirements for converting a public school into a charter school. The bill currently allows a school to convert to a charter only if all of the following conditions apply:
o 51% of parents of students who attend the school sign a petition to convert.
o The school is in the lowest 2 designations for 2 or more consecutive years.
o The governing body votes to convert the school.
If the school has been placed in the 2 lowest designations for 4 consecutive years, the governing
body is not allowed to act as the conversion charter’s sponsor.
• The current law requires approval by at least 60% of the teachers and 51% of the parents.
• Senate amendment deleted House language that would have allowed a reverse trigger to convert a conversion charter school back into a traditional public school after 5 years of operation.
• Senate amendment ensures that triggers cannot be used if a school is already scheduled to close.
• Teachers in a conversion charter school may choose to collectively bargain but are not required to do so.
Fees
• The bill sets out the conditions, accounting process, and reporting procedures for a charter school sponsor concerning the collection of fees from its sponsored charter schools.
Buildings
• Senate committee amendment removed House language pertaining to buildings and inserted SB446 which includes the following:
o Requires schools to provide a list of unused buildings to DOE and requires DOE to maintain a list of unused school buildings on their website.
o Permits school corporations to designate an unused building on the list as “unavailable” for two years.
o Requires charter schools to notify DOE of its intent to use a building on the list.
o Requires a school corporation to lease the unused building to the charter school for $1 per year for the term of the lease or sell the building to the charter school for $1.
o Provides the charter school is responsible for the direct expenses associated with the leased building.
o Permits a school corporation to sell an unused building after it has been on the list for four years.
Virtual Charters
• Requires by January 1, 2012, all virtual charter schools to be sponsored by the CSB or any other sponsor.
The House passed version would have increased funding for virtual charters from 80% of the statewide average basic tuition support to 90%. However, Senate committee amendments changed this language to 85% of a school’s target revenue (which takes into account the complexity index) plus special education grants in the same manner as other public schools.
Senate amendments require that 60% of the students enrolled in a virtual charter school for the first year, must have been included in the state’s ADM count for the previous school year. Similar language (75%) exists in current law for the pilot program, but was originally removed in the House version.
In real dollars currently, virtual charters receive on average $4,600 per student.
Transfer of Credits
• Requires uniform and consistent transfer of credits for students who transfer from a charter school to another public school.
Transportation
• Senate committee amendments stripped all transportation related language. Under the Senate version, traditional public schools will not have to work with the charter school to arrange transportation and will instead keep all transportation dollars for the traditional public school district.
Common School Fund Loans
• Senate committee amendment removed language that would have canceled interest payments on advances made to charter schools from the common school fund.
• Extends two year moratorium in place currently on payment of principal on any charter school loan.
Grant and Loan Program
• Senate committee amendment deleted House language that established the Charter School Facilities Aid Program and the Charter School Facilities Revolving Loan Program.
• The amendment establishes the Charter School Facilities Assistance Program and Fund which consists of:
o money appropriated or authorized by the General Assembly
o loan repayments received from charter schools
o gifts, grants, federal funds and earnings on fund balances
• Senate amendment provides that fund balances may be used to:
o Pay for 1st semester costs of charter schools;
o Repay advances made to charter schools from the Common School Fund
o Match federal grants
o Make loans or grants to charter schools to construct or improve school facilities.
• Senate committee amendments removed provisions that would have allowed for bonding by the Indiana Finance Authority (IFA).
Health Insurance
• Allows charter schools to opt into the state health insurance plans.
Repealers
• Repeals provisions concerning the number of charter schools an executive of a consolidated city may sponsor
• Eliminates the cap on virtual charters.
Limitation on Severance Packages
• Senate committee amendments removed language that would have placed limitations on severance packages of any traditional public or charter school employee.
Summary of Issue:
If Indiana wants to have a 21st century economy that can compete with the world then we must offer an education system that prepares students for that economy and give parents the ability to chose what education is best for their child.
• We must implement changes that support an ever‐improving education infrastructure for Hoosier families.
• Charter schools disproportionately serve low‐income and minority children – those most often failed by traditional public schools.
Background:
• Indiana passed charter school legislation in 2001.
• Sixty‐six percent (66%) of charter school students qualify for federal Free/Reduced lunch program.
• Seventy‐one percent (71%) of the state’s charter school students are members of an ethnic minority.
• Overall Indiana’s 60 public charter schools serve more than 22,000 students.
o 2,530 of these students are students with special needs.
• More than 3,500 students sit on waiting lists to attend a charter school.
• Even those who may question the empirical data on student achievement must recognize more options for Hoosier students and families will result in greater education opportunities and accountability.
• In the 2009 State Budget, a pilot program was included for virtual charter schools at the insistence of House Republicans. The DOE selected Hoosier Academies to operate a two‐year virtual pilot charter school.
o For the 2009‐2010 school year, the pilot school served 200 children in grades K‐5. For the 2010‐2011 school year, the Indiana Virtual Pilot School (IVPS) included funding for up to 220 students, equally distributed across grades 1 through 6. Many more students desire to participate in this program.
• The Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation is the only public school corporation in the state to seek and successfully implement a charter conversion. Signature Schools is now rated as one of the top high schools in the country.
Statistics:
• According to the Ball State University study titled, “Charter School Funding, Inequity Persists” (2010), Indiana continues to treat charter schools differently than traditional public schools even though charters are public schools and comply with all facets of PL 221 pertaining to accountability measures.
• Average per pupil expenditure in 2006‐2007 (most recent year available): $9,136 for charters and $10,978 for traditional public schools. (A Comparison of Student Academic Growth between Indiana Charter Schools and Traditional Public Schools.” Center for Excellence in Leadership of Learning(CELL), University of Indianapolis, 2009)
• In 2006, a study conducted by Dr. Susan Aud found that all the school choice programs around the country saved $444 million annually from 1990 to 2006.
• ISTEP data from the past six years for each of the charter schools in Indiana reveals that in their first year of operation the majority of charter school enrolled students who came to them with ISTEP pass rates that were below the traditional public school, underscoring the importance of focusing on student achievement growth. (“A Comparison of Student Academic Growth between Indiana Charter Schools and Traditional Public Schools.” CELL, University of Indianapolis, 2009)
• Indiana charter school students evidence greater academic growth than their traditional public school counterparts in Reading (charter school students experienced 22% more growth), Math (charter school students experienced 18% more growth), and Language Usage (charter school students experienced 25% more growth). (Source: A Comparison of Student Academic Growth between Indiana Charter Schools and Traditional Public Schools.” CELL, University of Indianapolis, 2009)
• Nearly six out of seven parents (85%) report being “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their child’s public charter school. (“Study of Effectiveness and Efficiency of Charter Schools in Indiana.” CEEP, Indiana University, 2008)
• The “Indiana K‐12 & School Choice Survey” findings:
o 51% of Hoosier voters think K‐12 education is on the “wrong track”
o 31% of Hoosier voters think K‐12 education is moving in the “right direction”
o 66% of Hoosier voters favor charter schools
o Only 16% oppose charter schools
HOUSE REPUBLICAN POLICY DIVISION
HB 1003 – SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIPS (AUTHOR: BEHNING; COAUTHOR: BOSMA)
HOUSE THIRD READING ROLL CALL: 56‐42
SENATE THIRD READING ROLL CALL: 28‐22
HOUSE CONCURRENCE: 56‐43
Summary of Legislation:
School Scholarship Tax Credit
• Under the current Senate language, an individual can receive a tax credit percentage of 50% (this is current law).
• Senate committee amendment capped the program at $5 million.
• Current law allows 200%, which will remain in place under the current bill.
• Senate amendment added a provision that allows an individual who makes an education related expenditure for a dependent, eligible to receive a tax deduction. This deduction applies only to expenditures made for private or home‐schooled students.
School Scholarship Program
• Scholarship Amounts
o Targets the majority of scholarships to low‐income students to pay the cost of tuition and fees at a public or private elementary school or high school that charges tuition.
o The maximum scholarship that an eligible student could receive is the lesser of: (1) the sum of the tuition, transfer tuition, and fees required for the student to attend the nonpublic school or alternative public school; or (2) an amount equal to one of the following:
• 90% of the state tuition support amount per student of the school corporation where the student has
legal settlement, if the student is a member of a household with an annual income not exceeding the
amount required to qualify for the federal free or reduced price lunch program. For a family of four,
that is an income level up to $40,793;
• 50% of the state tuition support amount per student of the school corporation where the student has
legal settlement, if the student is a member of a household with an annual income not exceeding 150%
of the amount required to qualify for the federal free or reduced price lunch program. For a family of
four, that is an income level up to $61,189.
• For students in grades 1‐8, the maximum amount of dollars in which a family can be rewarded is capped
at $4,500.
o Caps student participation at 7,500 students for the first year, 15,000 students in the second year, and no cap in the third year.
o Scholarships must be endorsed by the individual and the eligible school for a distribution to be valid.
• Student Eligibility
o Among income requirements listed above, any Indiana resident who meets the following requirements is eligible for a choice scholarship:
• Students between the ages of 5 and 18.
• Students that had been enrolled in a public school corporation for the 2 previous semesters.
(Kindergarten cannot count towards satisfying the 2 semester requirement.)
• The student may escape the 2 semester rule if the student had received a scholarship
under the Scholarship Tax Credit and was enrolled in an eligible school.
• Students may only receive one choice scholarship each school year.
• School Eligibility
o Schools that receive choice scholarship students must be accredited by the State Board of Education (SBOE) or a national or regional accreditation agency recognized by the SBOE.
o Schools that receive choice scholarship students must fall under the state’s accountability standards and administer ISTEP.
o If an eligible school has more applicants than available seats, the school must hold a public hearing and conduct a random drawing.
o Eligible schools must adhere to state teacher evaluation requirements under state and administrative law.
Senate amendment inserted numerous provisions ensuring that all eligible schools will teach American history and respect the US Government. It also requires DOE to visit schools once a year to ensure they meet the new requirement. Some of the provisions included:
Must maintain a copy of the Federalist Papers
Require every classroom to display the American Flag
Prohibit the teaching of overthrowing the U.S. Government
