Capitol Insider

March 30, 2024

Bill Numbers May Die; Language Lives On

In an insidious move during a House Education Committee hearing on HB 1304, Rep. Behning offered Amendment #7. Proudly he said the amendment would define literacy coaches and create a mastery-based education program that would allow a school corporation or charter school selected by the DOE to implement mastery-based education. He failed to mention to the committee that if a school were selected to participate in the mastery-based program that the local administration could decide to opt-out of collective bargaining!

The proverbial camel’s nose was under the tent. AFT Indiana along with our national AFT, Indiana AFL-CIO, national AFL-CIO, ISTA and many of our brother/sister unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO joined in the session-long battle to kill the language in HB 1304. Republican legislators then let HB 1304 die – just the bill number, however. The language moved around to different bills and at the 11th hour appeared in HB 1243.

This is where the coalition of unions kicked in. Calls, messages, and visits to legislators garnered enough support on both sides of the aisle that at 9:13 PM on March 8th, HB 1243 passed without the treacherous anti-collective bargaining language. Finally, even the language died. At least for the 2024 session.

You Did It

And it all happened because YOU, your family, your friends made those important phone calls, sent emails, and even visited with legislators. YOU did it with much support from our affiliate unions.

We can thank certain legislators for their persistent support for us to keep our collective bargaining for another year. I hesitate to name some for fear of leaving out others who were critical to the effort. A voice vote rather than a roll call vote was taken, in some cases, maybe to protect the Republicans who were with us. There is no paper trail in a voice vote. For roll call votes that were taken, you can see who supported our issues in the tallies in this newsletter.

Now What?

Elections. That’s what.

First make sure you and every friend of public education you know is registered to vote.
Educate yourself and others about candidate positions and support of our issues.

Know who has supported us (tallies that follow),
talk to candidates,
host a forum for candidates to speak,
ask your union, and of course,

check social media pages. Most candidates, it seems, have a Facebook page.

Support the candidates.

Work for their campaigns.
Circulate information.
And really important is to donate – no matter what amount you can give, its’ important. Fundraising is hard for candidates. Give what you can. One easy way to donate is through ActBlue. Check and cash work, too.

Vote – and help get others to the poll.

Primary Election – May 7, 2024
General Election – November 5, 2024

Ways to Vote

At the polls on Election Day
Early voting (times and locations vary)
Absentee ballot (vote by mail)

Other Bills We Watched

SB 185 - Student use of wireless communication device. This bill went around and around, too. Ultimately it requires school boards to adopt and implement a policy regarding use of these devices during “instructional time,” except if a teacher allows a student to use such device for educational purposes, a student emergency or health care matter, or it use is included in a student’s IEP. That pretty much overs everything.

SB 282 - Absenteeism and school attendance. Perhaps the most significant part of this bill is incorporating parent responsibility. The bill goes so far as to notifying the prosecuting attorney. It even provides that the “parent of the student may be subject to prosecution.” There are other provisions such as having truancy prevention measures, to address absences before they become habitual, and requirements for attendance officers.

This chart is referenced in regard to vote tallies. Whether a vote on an important amendment or final bill/conference committee report, this will help highlight those who have worked for teachers and public education and those who don’t.

Bill #	Roll Call #	Amendment #/Other	Bill Title
HB 1001	246	Senate Amend #1	Reading
HB 1001	271	Senate 3rd reading	Reading
HB 1004	247	Senate Amend #1	Pension Matters
HB 1093	46	House Amend #1	Employment of Minors
HB 1093	47	House Amend #2	“
HB 1093	248	Senate Amend #1	“
HB 1137	180	Senate Amend #2	Religious instructions & school chaplains
HB1137	208	Senate 3rd Reading	“
HB 1137	314	Senate CCR*	“
SB 1	81	Senate 3rd reading	Reading skills
SB 1	238	Senate CCR*	“
SB 1	192	House Amend #8	“
SB 1	193	House Amend #3	“
SB 1	195	House Amend #4	“
SB 1	197	House Amend #11	“
SB 1	208	House 3rd reading	“
SB 202	201	House Amend #4	State Educational Institution Matters
SB 270	141	Senate 3rd reading	Various Education matters
SB 270	156	House Amend #1	“
SB 270	180	House 3rd reading	“

Blue = Senate Vote

Yellow = House Vote

*CCR – Conference Committee Report

Bill #/ Roll Call Explanations of roll calls used in the vote tallies that follow

HB1001/246 Education and higher ed matters. Currently students with a disability are eligible for vouchers (Education Scholarship Account/ESA). This bill would now open up access to siblings of eligible students. Sen. Qaddoura’s Amendment #1 deleted the siblings as eligible students. The amendment failed.
HB1001/271 This roll call is for the 3rd reading in the Senate, again who opposed the expansion of vouchers and those who supported the expansion of vouchers.
HB1004/247 Pension matters. Senate amendment #1, offered by Sen. Qaddoura, called for a “supplemental allowance reserve account” that would serve as an ongoing funding source for the so-called 13th check. It also laid out specific amounts based on a member’s creditable service for all public employees in the INPRS system. The amendment included a COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment). The motion was defeated. Bill failed, but when 1004 passed it included 13th check and COLA.
HB1093/46 Employment of minors. Indiana’s child labor laws were some of the best in the country in protecting school-aged children from harmful employment practices. HB 1093 would jeopardize that. And does. Rep. Garcia-Wilburn’s Amendment #1 proposed to roll back the changes in age expansion regarding working in an occupation designated as hazardous. The amendment failed.
HB1093/47 Likewise, her Amendment #2 would limit employment of students younger than 16 during the school day. It failed
HB1093/297 The bill passed the House on 3rd reading.
HB1093/248 In the Senate, Sen. Hunley offered an amendment to change language that provided for students to work June 1 through Labor Day. Hunley’s change removed “Labor Day” and inserted until “the first day of school.” It failed.
HB1137/180 Release for religious instruction. In a bill that provided for more parental input by changing a “principal may” allow a student to be released for religious instruction to a “principal shall” release was amended along the way to allow school chaplains to serve in all important school social worker roles. Early in the bill’s actions, Sen. J.D. Ford’s Amendment #2 deleted the school chaplain language throughout the bill. The amendment was defeated. See the next bullet.
HB1137/208 The bill with school chaplains passed the Senate 3rd reading. The House filed a dissent and the bill was sent to Conference Committee. Keep reading.
HB1137/314 Perhaps not so amazingly to those who follow how legislators work, the Senate Republican supermajority removed “school chaplains” in the Conference Committee Report and passed it.
SB1/192 Reading skills. In the original mandated retention bill, there was little room for options. Rep. DeLaney offered Amendment #8 that would have expanded options to “use other methods” rather than the few exceptions in the bill. The amendment failed.
SB1/193 One exception in the bill was for an English learner students who’d received services for less than 2 years. A 3rd grade student who had 2 years of services could be retained. Rep. Andrade offered Amendment #3 that would have deleted retention for an ELL students based on language services. Amendment failed.
SB1/195 Another pro-active effort at actually helping a student learn (since data proves retention is not effective), Rep. Smith’s Amendment #4 called for a tutor trained in the science of reading to the student for the entirety of fourth grade. His amendment failed.
SB1/197 In funding, the bill would give “priority reimbursement” to be distributed by a formula. Amendment #11, Rep. DeLaney’s, would have secured 100% funding for public schools including charter schools for costs incurred in providing services.

SB1/208 With all the solutions offered in amendments in the House that didn’t pass, check out how your represented voted in the 3rd reading.
SB202/201 State educational institution matters. While this bill wasn’t directed at K-12 schools and teachers, this contentious bill certainly drew our attention as it moved along. The bill spoke to “free inquiry,” “free expression,” and “intellectual diversity.” It was the Indiana GOP answer to national news about more prestigious universities. What seems threatening to me, a non-higher ed lobbyist, is the state legislature’s insertion of itself in to tenure matters. Scary. In an effort to assess how this would work, Rep. DeLaney offered motion #4 that would have required “each state educational institution [to] submit a report to the legislative council concerning the effect of [this new law] on recruitment.” It failed.
SB270/141 Various education matters. Bet you could guess the Senate’s 3rd reading vote.
SB270/156 Included in the bill is a provision to expand charter authorizers to have statewide, regional, or local chartering authority. Rep. Hamilton’s Amendment #1 proposed striking statewide and regional leaving the ability of charter authorizers with local charting authority as is current. Her amendment would have also required more accountability of charter authorizers. Also failed.
SB270/180 The House 3rd reading roll call is not much different than the Senate one.

Capitol Insider

Share This