Two pieces of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels' sweeping education plan, a voucher plan that would direct taxpayer money to private schools and a merit pay bill that links teacher pay to student performance, cleared key legislative hurdles Wednesday.
Teacher pay would be linked to student performance under a merit pay bill that has cleared an Indiana House committee.
The Indiana Senate has approved Gov. Mitch Daniels' proposal aimed at expanding charter schools, marking the first piece of the governor's sweeping education agenda to clear both the House and Senate.
Indianapolis Public Schools notified employees last week during spring break that they will begin cutting 271 teaching positions and 37 non-teaching positions to trim its $20 million budget deficit.
All school board elections across Indiana would be moved to the November ballot under bills advancing in the state Legislature.
Education advocates told hundreds of cheering supporters at a Statehouse rally Wednesday that Indiana could lead the nation in overhauling schools.
Indiana's Republican leadership is pushing ahead with a proposal that would be the nation's broadest use of school vouchers, allowing even middle-class families to use taxpayer money to send their kids to private schools.
State-funded vouchers for private schools and a shift of money to charter schools are necessary steps in the effort to improve Indiana's education system, the state schools superintendent said Tuesday.
Franklin Community Schools officials say they don't want to be in the same situation they were last year, when the state forced the district to eliminate $3 million from its budget.
The decision to close Fountain Square Academy, announced Friday morning at a press conference, marks the first time Mayor Greg Ballard has chosen to shut down a charter school.
An Indiana Senate committee plans to vote Wednesday on a proposal aimed at expanding charter schools after hearing from the public on the bill last week.
The Senate Education Committee heard hours of testimony about the bill and details of a new study that found Indiana students who transferred to charter schools showed greater learning gains than their peers who stayed in traditional public schools.
The Anderson School Board voted 6-1 Tuesday to shutter the 9,000-seat Wigwam gym complex at the end of current school year as part of a wider budget-cutting plan that includes cutting 65 teachers' jobs.
As a Danville school board member and superintendent of Indianapolis Metropolitan High, Scott Bess is straddling the increasingly contentious chasm between traditional public schools and privately operated charters.
A contentious proposal to use taxpayer money to help Indiana parents send their children to private schools cleared its first legislative hurdle Wednesday.
Indiana lawmakers will start the debate Tuesday on the most controversial plank of Gov. Mitch Daniels' sweeping education platform: a plan to use taxpayer money to help parents send their children to private schools
Sweeping education changes called for by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels have spurred angry protests and some of the harshest rhetoric the Statehouse has heard in years.
Indiana lawmakers have started work on one of the more controversial aspects of Gov. Mitch Daniels' sweeping education agenda: a plan to tie teacher pay to student performance.
A proposal to give Indiana high school seniors a $3,500 college scholarship if they graduate a year early has cleared its first legislative hurdle.
The Wigwam at Anderson High School is the second-largest high school gymnasium in the world, second only to the Fieldhouse in New Castle.
