Dear Friends,
Much like the teams catching fire at the right time in the “NCAA March Madness,” the state of Indiana has been on a major roll to improve our education system. The 2013 session of the Indiana General Assembly presents us, however, with a fork in the road at which we face two choices: (1) We can enact legislation that would benefit the state’s students by strengthening rigor, empowering families and teachers, and emphasizing smarter investments in teacher preparation and support. Or, (2) We can pass legislation that retreats on the very policies that put us at the top in the first place. The choice seems obvious to me.
These two diverging paths became readily apparent when we began work on what we’re calling our DFER-Intake – a mid-term assessment of education-related bills advancing in the legislative process.
We call this our DFER-INtake since it is our “take” on the bills we found to be most relevant to our principles and policy priorities. DFER-IN is a policy and political advocacy organization, and analyzing legislation definitely speaks to the policy-side of our work. From that perspective, it is important for us to determine if the policies being introduced and progressing towards becoming law support or detract from our ultimate goal of ensuring every Hoosier student has a quality education. Undoubtedly, that goal should be one that everybody wants for our children and the state; so for that reason, we are sharing our assessments of the bills we found to be most significant. We hope these documents will be a resource to the public, and also enable legislators to view key legislative provisions through a different lens.
This INtake consists of an analysis of 14 education bills, which contain summaries of the good, bad, and otherwise in the legislation. It also includes a synopsis and status report of each bill. Once the legislative session has concluded, DFER-IN will again analyze the bills and issue an updated report supplying our “take” on how legislators performed relative to championing and supporting bills and policies serving the best interests of students, parents/families, and their respective communities. You can read the assessments along with our Executive Summary here.
All the Best,
Larry Grau
DFER-IN State Director