Education Reform in Indiana

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Attorney Kevin Riley

Over the past few weeks, the Governor has signed into law House Bill 575 (“HB575”) and Senate Bill1 (“SB1”) which substantially alter the landscape of collective bargaining and the manner in which teachers are classified, evaluated, and terminated.

HB575 – Collective Bargaining
Under the former statute, school corporations and bargaining units were free to bargain collectively over any subject of their choosing, with the obligation to bargaining collectively over the subjects of salary, wages, salary and wage related fringe benefits, and hours.  As of April 20, 2011, the bargaining parties were no longer permitted to bargain over teacher evaluation procedures, criteria, and plans.  Beginning July 1, 2011, the subjects over which school corporations and bargaining units the subjects are permitted to bargain collectively will be whittled down to include only salary, wages, and fringe benefits relating to salary and wages.  Gone will be the days of bargaining over hours, reduction in force, and the process afforded teachers whose contracts are subject to cancellation or nonrenewal.

SB1 – Classification and Evaluation of Teachers
Under the former statute, teachers were classified as nonpermanent, semi-permanent, and permanent.  SB1 abandoned these classifications in favor of the following designations in ascending order: probationary; professional; and established.  Established teachers are those teachers who are under contract as a teacher in a public school corporation before July 1, 2012 and at any time before that date enter into a contract for future services with a school corporation.  Therefore, it appears that any teacher, regardless of tenure and experience, under contract for the 2011-2012 school year who signs a contract for further services prior to July 1, 2012 would be deemed an established teacher.  As such, a nonpermanent teacher hired for the 2011-2012 school year would be elevated to the status of an established teacher upon executing a contract for the 2012-2013 school year.

In addition to revising the classifications for teachers, SB1 has created new designations for teachers based upon staff performance evaluations.  Each year, based upon these evaluations, teachers will be classified as Highly Effective, Effective, Improvement Necessary, or Ineffective.  A teacher’s classification will factor into reduction in force and compensation matters.   Under SB1, school corporations are charged with adopting an evaluation plan for the 2012-2013 school year.  Any such plan must require annual performance evaluations, utilize and consider objective measures of student achievement and growth including results of student assessments, and incorporate “rigorous measures of effectiveness” that include observations. The criteria used to define these classifications and the criteria for the various required components of the evaluation plan may not be established by the State Board of Education until January 30, 2012.

The classification of teachers based on performance will, in many corporations, significantly alter the manner in which teachers are lost as a result of reduction in force.  Under the new statute, after June 30, 2012, reduction in force will no longer be based on seniority, but rather on performance.  For those teachers who reside within the same performance classification, the governing body of the corporation will have the power to decide which of the statutory factors (and to what extent) will be used to make decisions regarding reduction in force.  These factors may include experience, additional content area degrees, evaluation results, instructional leadership roles, and the academic needs of the students in the corporation; however, the governing body is not obligated by statute to require each of these factors or attribute a percentage of importance to any particular factor.

Conclusion
HB575 and SB1 have effected sweeping changes in education law that will have an impact on administrators, teachers, and the persons served by public school corporations.  If you require guidance or advice regarding the new education laws, you should contact an experienced education law attorney.

Reiling Teder & Schrier, LLC is an Indiana Limited Liability Company.  The information contained in this website has been prepared by Reiling Teder & Schrier, LLC for informational purposes only, and is not legal advice.  The information on this website should not be relied upon to make any decision, legal or otherwise.  If you have any specific questions or inquiries regarding any of the information contained in this website, you should consult with an attorney licensed in your state.  The information contained in this website pertains only to matters of Indiana law and the laws of other states may be completely different from the laws of the State of Indiana.