Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Indiana school districts could be forced to make their underused buildings available to charter schools under a bill that advanced Wednesday to the full Senate.
The state’s existing “$1 Law” already requires districts to sell or lease vacant or unused instructional buildings to charter schools for a single dollar.
Senate Bill 391, authored by Sen. Linda Rogers, R-Granger, clarifies that the law additionally applies to “underutilized” buildings. If 60% of a school’s space is not dedicated to classroom instruction, that building could be offered up to a charter school, higher education institution, or a not-for-profit educational program, according to the proposal.
Buildings used for offices or storage must dedicate at least 50% of space for those purposes.
The bill passed out of the Senate Education Committee 8-4, along party lines.
Rogers said she filed the bill in response to some Hoosier school districts dodging current law by keeping school buildings open “just for storage or offices.”
“Taxpayers paid for that building to be used for public education,” Rogers said. “All too often, buildings are being kept open to use for storage or offices, when there are much less expensive options available.”
The bill applies only to school districts where enrollment has dropped by at least 10% over five years and where there is another suitable building serving the same grades located within 20 minutes of the specific building.
Qualifying districts would have to compile an annual report of instructional buildings to determine if any are underused. Any such facilities would then have to close and charter schools would be notified.
The Indiana Department of Education would be the final arbiter on which school buildings will be available to charter schools. The Indiana Attorney General’s Office is in charge of that process now.
Critics of the bill previously testified that it would limit a local school board’s authority to decide what to do with its buildings.
Those in support of the measure maintained charter schools don’t have access to property tax revenue like traditional public schools do. State lawmakers are currently considering separate bills to require school districts to share property tax dollars with charters.
Holcomb signs first bill of the session
Hoosiers have their first new law for the year—and it’s a retroactive business tax deduction in time for tax season.
Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a bill on Wednesday, according to his office, letting certain pass-through entities deduct all state tax payments on their federal tax returns. Senate Enrolled Act 2 is Indiana’s workaround to a federal cap.
“I am really appreciative of the effort that went into passing this piece of bipartisan legislation,” bill author Sen. Scott Baldwin, R-Noblesville, said. “Seeing the commitment to moving this forward in a timely manner reinforces the legislature’s and state’s commitment to helping Hoosier small businesses. This new law builds on our already strong business climate and continues to make Indiana a great place to live and work.”
Businesses that pay income tax as a corporation can get unlimited deductions already. But businesses whose owners or shareholders pay individual income taxes—like limited-liability corporations and S Corporations — can only deduct up to $10,000.
Both chambers passed the bill unanimously earlier this month.
Bringing cursive writing back to Hoosier schools?
Meanwhile, a bill that seeks to get Hoosier schools one step closer to bringing back cursive writing was unanimously approved Wednesday by the Senate Education Committee. The bill now heads to the full chamber.
Senate bill 72 originally required traditional public and charter elementary schools to include some form of cursive writing curriculum for the state’s younger students.
Bill author Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg—who has filed similar bills in the last decade to no avail—said the amended version of her bill would instead require schools to report to the state education department about whether cursive writing is part of the curriculum there. The IDOE is then tasked with creating a report with that information.
Leising said she hopes the bill will see success with the new language, instead.
“A lot of our younger people can’t read cursive now, because they were never taught cursive. Not that they have to use it in their real life, but it certainly would be helpful to them in their adult lives to be able to read cursive,” Leising said Wednesday, adding that many young adults today even struggle to sign their names. “I think that there’s really a reason that we need to rethink Indiana’s policy on not mandating cursive.”
Cursive writing hasn’t been required in the state’s public schools since 2010.
At least 21 states currently require cursive to be taught as part of the public school curriculum, according to the National Education Association.
Leising said many private schools in Indiana are teaching the writing style, but the majority of public schools are not. That creates a disparity between students, she said.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, not-for-profit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
So, the legislature is advocating theft. A school district buys, builds, and maintains a property using tax dollars that, in many cases, the taxpayers specifically voted on. The legislature advocates taking that property — and its value — away from the district and giving it to a third party. If people are upset when land is taken for eminent domain, they should be outraged by this.
+1
Total BS to make schools sell buildings for $1!! I completely agree they should not keep buildings they don’t use or underutilize. But if we expect them to learn to be fiscally responsible, they should expect to get at least something close to fair market value when selling.
+1
Sen. Jean Leising, a Republican from Oldenburg (an ironic place given this topic), stated, “A lot of our younger people can’t read cursive now, because they were never taught cursive. Not that they have to use it in their real life, but it certainly would be helpful to them in their adult lives to be able to read cursive.”
What does she mean by “real life” and “adult lives”? If there a difference between the two? In the 21st century, cursive is an obsolete form of writing – and is hardly something that will lead to a higher paying job in real life.
That last things to be written in cursive was a signature on a legal document or a check. Now even those accept digital signatures. If Sen. Leising wants to prepare our kids for a better adult life, she should advocate for universal Pre-K education and a stronger emphasis on STEM subjects.
cursive is such a waste
“All too often, buildings are being kept open to use for storage or offices, when there are much less expensive options available.”
Maybe if school districts could sell buildings for $1, they could afford the up-front costs of moving offices & storage to smaller buildings.
I think that having a process by which charters can get closed schools is good, but even that should probably have provision that allows school districts to sell to a charter school OR to a private party for 110% of the land market value. Then there is this proposal, which goes too far.
To add on to Brent’s comment, Jean Leising’s obsession with cursive is insane. I was taught it back in the early 2000s, but I’ve not needed to use it a single time and have since forgotten it.
Wasting resources to teach kids cursive in 2023 would be like teaching kids how to use vacuum tube computers, except without a physics lesson to take home. It’s not just impractical; it’s pointless.
Cursive is an art and an advanced form of written communication that every student should have the opportunity to learn. Like many other subjects taught, not everyone is going to become proficient at it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important. Society, and employers, judge people by many things – appearances, stature, communication skills, etc., being able, or not, to read and write in cursive will impact a person’s life, whether they want to believe it or not. Personally, I don’t know any successful person that can’t read and write in cursive.
So when Intel passed on Indiana to build in Ohio, they did it because we don’t mandate cursive?
Why don’t we also mandate how to use a rotary dial telephone too?
The state legislature does not own these buildings. The tax payers do. Stop stealing taxpayer money to had to your lobbyist friends!!!
Cursive isn’t a waste for kids to learn. I learned it and I have to read and write it every day at my workplace. Cursive is critically important to a first-rate education. Just the ability to read notes from other people, sign legal documents that require a signature, as well as a printed name, or the ability to read letters from other people. There are so many everyday reasons why a child needs to learn cursive. Being able to read and write is empowerment. Don’t we want our kids to be competitive in the world and have skills that match up with previous generations, and their current peers in other states and around the world? Since when is requiring the bare minimum from kids a sign of a superior, first-rate state or country? Enough with mediocrity. Let’s bring back cursive and be a competitive state, with good education for our kids.