State Senator ensuring you know about school performance
A bill, co-authored by State Rep. Tony Cook (R-Cicero), seeking to remove publication of school districts’ Annual Performance Reports from newspapers has been amended to protect your right to government transparency, thanks to State Sen. Victoria Spartz (R-Noblesville).
Spartz
House Bill 1003 (HB 1003) was originally written so school districts would only be required to publish a summary of the performance report with an explanation on how the report can be found on the Department of Education’s website. This week the bill was amended in the State Senate to remove the portion that would push school performance reports onto state websites exclusively.
“We amended the bill and took out the language that would eliminate the notice requirements and use just a summary,” Spartz told The Reporter.
Spartz said the definition of the summary in the original bill was “convoluted” and it would not be transparent enough. She said it effectively eliminated the requirement for informing the public.
Spartz said there are several reasons this amendment was necessary.
“Some of the areas [of the state] don’t even have broadband internet, so they do not even have access to the state website,” Spartz said. “Second of all, everything is so buried on this website that you can’t even find it. We can never have enough transparency with taxpayers, and I think it should be available by every means, not just by one means. The more transparency we have the better off we are.”
According to Reporter Publisher Jeff Jellison, “The Annual School Performance Report is arguably the most important report produced by school districts. The report includes information such as student enrollment, number of certified teachers, teacher salary ranges, attendance rates, A-F ratings, percentages of students passing standardized tests, and school suspensions including suspensions and expulsions for weapons, drugs and alcohol.”
Spartz credits State Sen. Jim Raatz (R-Richmond) with helping push this amendment through the committee. At Spartz’s behest, Raatz added the amendment himself. Because Raatz is a sponsor of bill and the Chairman of the Senate Education and Career Development Committee, Spartz told The Reporter she believes this amended version will pass in the House.
Now that the amended version of HB 1003 has passed through committee, it will go before the entire Senate for a vote. Assuming it passes the Senate as Spartz predicts, it will then go back to the House of Representatives, where members can either accept or reject the amended version.
Spartz told The Reporter she is confident this new version of HB 1003 will ultimately become law.
Daniel Bragg, a Republican candidate for Indiana House District 32, which is currently represented by Rep. Tony Cook, recently wrote a column in The Reporter about how the original language of HB 1003 was a mistake.
When Bragg learned HB 1003 had been amended to protect public notices, he told The Reporter, “This is a victory for government transparency in Indiana. Our government should not be seeking out ways to limit the public’s ability to see important information. Being able to see the performance of their local school systems should be important to people of the communities, and by amending HB 1003, the General Assembly is protecting that right.”
Spartz sees this amendment as an aspect of government transparency.
“It is always important to have oversight and transparency,” Spartz said. “We need to have more transparency and simplicity in the government.”
Editor’s note: While State Rep. Tony Cook (R-Cicero) co-authored the original version of the bill, it was supported by State Representatives Goodrich, Schaibley, Huston and Torr, all of whom represent portions of Hamilton County.