As we all are aware, 2021 is an odd year, so it is a budget session. Bills are numbered in order of priority, so in both the House and Senate, the budget bill is number one (HB 1001, SB 1). This will obviously be an area we are all watching. The budget bill has not been proposed yet as they have until the end of this week to submit any bills for this year's session.
Currently, there is a bill in both houses in regards to Tuition Support. Last spring when the pandemic hit, the Governor was able to get passed that virtual students would receive full funding (prior to the pandemic, full virtual students - 100% Apex students for us - would only receive 85% of student funding). The emergency bill passed in the spring only affected last spring and this fall's tuition count. HB 1003 and SB 2 are two bills that have been presented that would continue to allow for virtual students to receive 100% of the funding for this spring's semester. This is a good bill for all schools as it would allow our funding sources not to change. These bills only affect this spring semester. It is predicted there will be a provision in the Budget Bill to offer some long-term changes to the definition of a virtual student.
Other Proposed Education Focused Bills:
House
HB 1027 and 1124 - both want to provide hand-gun training to teachers
HB 1093 - Choice Scholarship Bill that proposes expansion of vouchers
HB 1189 - Would allow for schools to receive full funding for students who graduate early (This would be beneficial to us!)
Senate
SB 52 - Cursive Writing - would bring cursive writing back to the elementary
SB 54 - FAFSA - Would require that all students fill out the FAFSA as a graduation requirement. (This bill has good intentions but is a concern because currently it is hard to get information from parents. It is a focus of the Governor's Workforce Cabinet. I think the benefits to our students outweigh the stress to get it accomplished.)
SB 56, SB 85 - Both focus on Collective Bargaining
SB 64 - Anther School Safety Bill - focused on teacher training for hand-guns
SB 97 - Indiana Popcorn Bill - would designate Indiana Popcorn as the official snack of Indiana! (Fun
Agriculture Fact: Indiana is the leading state in the production of popcorn - Orville Redenbacher graduated from Purdue University!)
It is important that we are all involved in the process of creating legislative bills as they affect our lives. I will occasionally give you updates as I receive them.
Important Information:
Hybrid Schedule: Our Admin Team, in conjunction with the Perry County Health Department, will be making a decision early in the week about what kind of school schedule we will have after January 15th. We will make sure to keep you in the loop as this decision is made. It will be a difficult one.
Teaching Observations: Just a reminder you are welcome to send your evaluator one of your classroom videos for us to use for your observations. I received several before Winter Break. I really enjoyed watching the videos and teachers learned a lot about themselves as they reflected on their own work. I appreciate how everyone in our building works hard to improve their craft. Phil and I will be getting into classroom starting this next week. If you have a lesson in the next months you would like us to observe please reach out and invite us!
Reminder, we are focusing on Domains 2.1, 2.2 and 2.5 as an effort to lesson the stress of evaluations. Our lens is always continual improvement and growth!
Mental Health Update: This week, Tara met with the CEO of the Perry County Hospital to share some of the alarming numbers around mental health and the lack of providers we have in our community. As I listened to her share the following statics about Perry County, it reminded me of the heavy needs of our students. Here are some statistics she shared:
* 20% of Perry County children face food insecurities
* 48% of children live in abusive homes
* In the last year, there were 209 CHINS (Children in Needs of Services - because they live in abused or negligent homes) cases in Perry County/ in the previous 9 years there were only 68 cases
* 25% of our students reported they have had a parent in jail
* 10% of students in the 12th grade made a plan to commit suicide (last year's data)
*Data sources: Indiana Youth Institute Kids County Data; and IU student surveys)
Thank you to Tara for leading the county's Sources of Strength Organization that advocates for mental health resources and thanks to Perry County Memorial Hospital for coming to the table. Also, a HUGE thanks to all of you for providing a loving, caring, safe and encouraging place for our children to learn and develop. Our job as educators is not easy - but nothing that truly makes a difference is ever easy.
Have a great week!
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