We Hoosiers are starting to treat education with a sense of urgency and as something
worth achieving. This response to our city’s, state’s and country’s education crisis is reassuring, because the
stakes couldn’t be higher.
The Safe Routes to School program “aims to influence a new generation of healthy, sustainable travel
behavior,” says INDOT.
It’s vitally important to have innovative, competitive and successful
school options available to attract and retain middle-class families in the neighborhoods.
The state has altered some education rules to get in line with the federal Department of Education’s $4 billion “Race to the
Top” grant program.
At a time when we are desperate for science and math teachers, and when several big firms are laying off scientists, we should
be jumping at the chance to get them into the classroom.
Voters in the Hamilton Southeastern school district on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a bump to their property taxes to provide
the growing system an extra $5.5 million in funding each year for the next seven years.
Indiana voters seem willing to pay more in property taxes to help school districts cover operating costs. The results of last
week’s referendums, however, continue the trend against supporting plans for bigger, better schools during tough economic
times.
Indiana’s school chief warned school superintendents Thursday that declining state revenues could force cuts in public education
spending, education officials said.
Across Indiana, in more than a dozen different school districts over the past year, taxpayers have sent a message to administrators:
We are no longer giving you a blank check.
Indiana schools chief Tony Bennett on Tuesday dismissed criticism of his plan to revamp the state’s teacher licensing standards,
saying some in higher education oppose it because they fear how they eventually could be affected.
Voters in Beech Grove on Tuesday endorsed a tax increase to keep school buses operating, while other education-related measures in two Marion County townships failed.
A proposed revamping of Indiana’s teacher licensing standards that would reduce the amount of required courses on how to teach
drew sharp criticism from educators Monday, with one teacher at the last of three public hearings on the plan calling it a
“slap in the face.”
Nearly 60 of Indiana’s 354 public school districts now require administrators to pay more than $1 for their health insurance.
That’s a big shift from a decade ago.
The proposal has sparked fierce opposition and created a turf battle that could come to a head Monday when the state holds its final public hearing on the issue in Indianapolis.
Indiana schools are making huge strides in teaching students math required for careers in science, engineering and information technology jobs. But education experts point to stagnant test scores on national math exams as confirmation that many students still are not excelling, or are not even proficient, in the subject.
A legislative study committee declined Monday to endorse the idea of a uniform, later start date for Indiana schools, voting
instead to send the issue back to fellow lawmakers for more debate and study.
Indiana wants to apply for controversial funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to seek federal education grants.
One proposal would prohibit schools from starting earlier than the fourth Monday in August, and the other would require school
to start after Labor Day.
Indiana’s students outscored the national average in mathematics on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress,
but the results show little improvement over previous years.
Indiana schools are finding creative ways to squeeze in parent-teacher conferences after the state ruled that the sessions
could no longer count toward instructional time.
