INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -
A bill sparing Indiana schools from a drop in A-F grades resulting from this
year’s sharp decline in student ISTEP scores now goes to the full House for
consideration after the chamber’s education committee approved it Thursday.
The measure passed
without opposition and was previously passed by the full Senate. The bill is
widely supported by lawmakers as well as both Republican Gov. Mike Pence and
Democratic state schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz.
Under the bill,
schools and school districts cannot receive a lower A-F grade this year than
what they received last year. If this year’s grade is lower, the school or
school district would receive last year’s grade instead.
“In order to
prevent this flawed test from having an unfair impact on schools, state
leaders felt that the best action is to hold schools harmless for one year
on their A-F grades and teacher pay related to ISTEP,” Senate education
committee Chairman Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, said in a statement.
Democratic Rep. Sue
Errington of Muncie voted for the bill during Thursday’s committee meeting,
but said she’s concerned that applying the “hold harmless” measure for just
one year might not be enough time for schools to adjust to the new, tougher
ISTEP standards.
The standards were
put in place after Republican majorities in the Legislature pulled Indiana
from national Common Core standards in 2014.
But GOP lawmakers
have also attempted to spread some of the blame onto Ritz and the State
Board of Education, claiming a lack of oversight of the test’s
administration.
House education
committee Chairman Robert Behning, R-Indianapolis, has filed a bill that
calls for rescoring the ISTEP tests following recent discoveries of problems
with the test’s administration and scoring. The proposal also sets a
deadline for future ISTEP scores to be reported to the State Board of
Education as results of the spring 2015 tests were released nearly five
months later than the 2014 results.
Both bills are part
of a handful of proposals that lawmakers are putting forth to rectify the
effect that the changed standards and resulting test scores had on schools
and teacher compensation.
Another bill,
approved by the House and pending in the Senate, would spare teachers from
having merit pay withheld due to student scores.
Legislators aim to
have this bill and the Senate bill on Gov. Pence’s desk as early as next
week.