Schools being told to be ready for longer ISTEP exam
Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction Danielle Shockey said it wasn’t clear what changes could be made before the first possible day of the testing period arrives on Feb. 25.
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UPDATE: Senate panel OKs bill to let education board elect leader
The legislation would overturn the current law in which the state's elected superintendent of public instruction – now Democrat Glenda Ritz – automatically chairs the board.
Ritz requests special meeting on length of ISTEP test
Department of Education data show the total time for administering the ISTEP+ test will more than double for all grades, topping out at 12 hours, 30 minutes for third-graders.
House, Senate continue push to revamp education governance
Majority Republicans in the House and Senate are pushing forward with bills to revamp the Indiana Board of Education and strip power from the state superintendent even as Democrats complain the GOP is only playing politics.
Lawmakers consider national test to replace ISTEP
Senate Bill 566, authored by Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, and Sen. Ryan Mishler, R-Bremen, would halt an effort to create a new ISTEP, instead directing the state to use a national test beginning in the 2016-17 school year.
Bill to revamp State Board of Education advances
Tensions continued to flare Monday as the Senate Rules Committee debated and then passed legislation to alter the composition of the Indiana State Board of Education and demote the superintendent as its chair.
Republicans marching toward curbs on Ritz’s authority
Glenda Ritz's supporters protest that Republicans are disenfranchising a state electorate that gave Ritz 57,000 more votes than GOP Gov. Mike Pence received in the same election.
Bills weakening school chief’s power advance in House
The elected state superintendent of public instruction would lose authority over several areas of education policy under Republican-backed proposals approved Thursday by an Indiana House committee.
Panel backs shifting power to Indiana state education board
An Indiana House committee has advanced a Republican-led proposal for shifting authority over education policy away from the elected state superintendent of public instruction.
Lawmakers consider shifting Ritz’s power to state board
A wide-ranging bill discussed Tuesday would give the Indiana State Board of Education authority over testing, standards, student data, state takeovers and teacher evaluation.
Lawmakers debate Pence plan to boost charter funding
The Senate Appropriations Committee heard almost two hours of testimony Thursday from representatives both for and against the governor’s suggested $1,500 per-student grant to the state’s public charter schools.
UPDATE: House education chairman seeks OK for lobbying
Rep. Robert Behning, R-Indianapolis, formed Berkshire Education Strategies last June to represent out-of-state clients in the education field.
State senators pushing for new Indiana standardized tests
A bill sponsored by three Republican senators calls for the State Board of Education to revise Indiana's K-12 academic standards and select a nationally recognized set of exams for testing students by July 2016.
Education officials’ plan for school money differs from Pence’s
Indiana Department of Education officials presented their two-year budget proposal to the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday. It includes large increases to the Non-English Speakers Fund, textbook relief funding, and tuition support.
Bill would create fund for teaching expelled students
A bill introduced in the Indiana General Assembly would divert $10 million or more in state education money into a new fund that would make grants to schools that focus on teaching expelled students.
IPS ends 2014 with $4.1M surplus despite less state aid
Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Lewis Ferebee said he is concerned that IPS could see even deeper cuts in state aid going forward.
Pence doesn’t push to expand preschool program
The governor said this will be an "education session" and said his priorities will include changes to the school funding formula and more money for school choice.
Bill would let state education board select its own chair
Democrats called the legislation a political attack that would let Gov. Mike Pence replace Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz, a Democrat, with his own leader.
Republicans nix separate charter school, voucher funding
Republicans have rejected Democrats' calls to specify in Indiana's state budget how much money is going toward traditional public schools, charter schools and the private school voucher program.
FEIGENBAUM: Expect more details of Pence agenda in coming days
The governor delivers his State of the State Address on Jan. 13. He will lay out his legislative agenda in greater detail than in December pronouncements that education would take precedence this session, in terms of both cash and policy.