By Paige Clark
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS – A bill intended to attract teachers to underperforming public and charter schools passed a Senate committee Wednesday.

Senate Bill 264 – authored by Sen. Jim Banks, R-Columbia City – creates a program to provide a $10,000 annual stipend to teachers for the first two years the teacher is employed at a school meeting certain criteria. However, the Senate Education Committee stripped the funding from the bill.

“Teachers should get paid more,” said Claire Fiddian-Green, special assistant to the governor for education innovation. “They do some of the hardest work.”

The schools must have received a D or F grade two consecutive years or have a population with 50 percent of students at or below the federal free or reduced lunch guidelines.

“I’m trying to make sure that the devil is not in the details,” said Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary. “I wish there was something other than money.”

To qualify for the stipend, teachers must qualify as “effective” or “highly effective” on their teacher evaluations.

“Why aren’t the teachers already there being rewarded,” said Sally Sloan, a lobbyist for the Indiana Federation of Teachers. “If we just funded schools adequately this probably wouldn’t be a problem.”

John Barnes, director of legislative affairs for the Department of Education, said this bill focuses more on retraction instead of retention.

“We think right now that retention is the bigger issue,” Barnes said.

Fiddian-Green said Gov. Mike Pence supports the bill and is committed to finding innovative ways to support Indiana’s teachers.

But, John O’Neil, a lobbyist for the Indiana State Teacher’s Association, said the legislation is “unfair to other priorities in a non-budget year.”

An amendment passed that would remove funding of the bill until a later, to-be-determined date.

Paige Clark is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

The City County Observer requested a copy of the check or other instrument of payment that led to the changing of the name of The Centre to the Old National Bank Events Plaza.  Joe Gries, the Vanderburgh County Auditor supplied us with the agreement signed by all three Vanderburgh County Commissioners and ONB President Bob Jones.  Links to those documents are at the end of this article.

Mr. Gries included the following paragraph with his response which pretty much sums up the content of the agreement quite tightly.

“It appears that in the agreement signed by the Commissioners in section 4.1 Old National has committed to an investment for economic development in the downtown area, specifically for the convention hotel project. It does not appear that the county will be receiving a check with an amount for the naming rights of the Centre. This was also discussed during the meeting in December and we have included the minutes from that meeting. I hope this helps and let me know if you need anything further. Thanks.”

Joe Gries

Vanderburgh County Auditor

Centre_Naming_Rights_Agreement.pdf

ONB_Events_Plaza_Commission_Minutes_Excerpt

(Washington, DC) – Congressman Larry Bucshon, a physician from southern Indiana, released the following statement regarding the passage of the Agriculture Act of 2014 by a vote of 251-166.

Dr. Bucshon stated:

“As I keep in constant contact with my Agriculture Advisory Committee, I consistently hear from them that the status quo is inefficient and unacceptable.  The bottom line is that the agriculture community needs a farm bill and I’m pleased that the House approved this agreement. 

“While it is not perfect, this five year comprehensive bill provides the much needed certainty for Hoosier family farmers.  We save $16.6 billion, end direct payments, increase accountability within federal programs, and provide regulatory relief.  We also renew funds that support rural communities with large amounts of federal lands, which is vitally important for Southern Indiana counties to provide critical services to their citizens. Overall, this bill simply makes sense for the Hoosier state, our agriculture community, and our economy.”

BACKGROUND: 

 

The Agriculture Act of 2014 renews full funding for the Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program:

PILT was created by Congress in 1976 to support rural communities who could not tax federal lands within their jurisdiction. These payments go toward building and maintaining roads, hiring teachers, paying police officers and supplying emergency services, and other vital services that communities would otherwise not have the revenues to support.