State panel backs giving school boards more fiscal control

INDIANAPOLIS -- A state government efficiency group has recommended moving student testing to the spring, simplifying the school funding formula and giving local school boards more flexibility and control over spending.\nThe Government Efficiency Commission, which was created by the General Assembly last year at the urging of Indiana House Republicans, said Monday that lawmakers should stop burdening schools with restrictions. Members said well-meaning intentions pile up over the years into mounds of red tape prohibiting schools from making decisions on their own.\nFor example, instead of having separate funds for teacher salaries and building construction, the commission recommended pooling all the money and letting school districts decide how to divvy it up.\nThat would force districts to look closely at whether they want to build extravagant schools or pay more for qualified teachers, said David Shane, chairman of the group's K-12 subcommittee.\n"We're putting a lot of faith in school boards," Shane said.\nShane said too much money is being shifted away from instruction. In 1993, instructional spending made up 41 percent of the state's K-12 spending. Last year that number was down to 35 percent, he said.\n"It is particularly troubling that the emphasis seems to be away from the student, the teacher and the instruction necessary for achievement," he said.\nThe commission also recommended simplifying the complex statewide funding formula. It suggested using a per-student funding amount with adjustments for socio-economic differences in different areas of the state.\nDennis Costerison, executive director of the Indiana Association of School Business Officials, said his group would support giving local districts more control over spending and agreed reforms were needed in the funding formula.\n"The formula is so complex now," he said.\nThe efficiency commission also said rigid teacher contracts over the years have restricted school flexibility. The report says restrictions on the school year and school day mean that the only way to have professional development days for teachers is to remove them from the classroom.\nThe proposal to reduce collective bargaining came under fire by the Indiana State Teachers Association, which said the recommendation is not credible and that it is based on opinion, not research.\n"Obviously we don't think it should pass," said Dan Clark, deputy direct or of ISTA. "Even if it did, it wouldn't do anything to help students learn more."\nThe efficiency commission suggests moving ISTEP testing to the end of the school year, rather than its current fall dates.\nGov.-elect Mitch Daniels, a Republican, said he looked forward to studying the commission's full report, and has said in the past that he suported moving the ISTEP test to the spring.\nISTA opposes moving the testing dates, Clark said.\nMany of the commission's recommendations would need to be approved by the General Assembly and the governor. The members said that specific decisions would be left up to lawmakers.\nSome say some of the commission's ideas, like reducing collective bargaining, would be hard to get past teachers unions and the Legislature.\n"We're not trying to have a popularity contest here," said commission co-chairman John Hillenbrand, a former executive of Batesville-based Hillenbrand Industries and the 1980 Democratic nominee for governor.\nThe group will issue other recommendations over the next two weeks, including reports on higher education, general government and Medicaid.