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Just giving you an update on the first half of the session
where we've had bills that have passed the Senate,
and now they're getting ready to move to the House of Representatives.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has a stack of bills that they've passed that'll be
coming to the Senate for consideration.
So, I'll try to give you an update on where some of those bills are that have
passed the Senate.
I can talk a little bit about some of the education
reform bills that have been knocked back. For instance, there was a proposal to
cancel the
A-F grading system for public schools, which has been very
controversial.
It wasn't very well thought out and actually placed a number of schools in the failing
category that shouldn't have been.
Right now, it looks like
the legislature is happy to let Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz
decide how that
grading system for schools is going to proceed,
and I think that's a good thing.
We've also had discussions on the Common Core standards that have been a
little controversial for public schools,
and the Common Core standards I think
have some
good points and bad points. Common Core locks Indiana schools into a certain set
of criteria that have to be met
with the grading system, the assessment systems
and testing programs,
but also it doesn't allow a lot of flexibility for areas like
math and English that
I think Indiana would prefer a little more flexibility
We had a bill that
that was passed by the Senate,
mostly party-line vote, that would
make it illegal for anybody to take pictures
of agriculture
or industrial operations,
and the intent of that is
this is a bill that was originally prepared by
the American Legislative Exchange Council and passed on to legislatures in
different states that just its only purpose is really to protect the big
factory farms and industrial operations from being caught red-handed
on film
committing illegal activities.
It
violates First Amendment rights, it's definitely an example of big
government
telling
people what they can and cannot do and protecting
larger industries maybe at the expense of public health, and
so there is a vigorous debate on that bill, but unfortunately it's passed. It'll
move to the House. Hopefully, there'll be some amendments or that bill will be
stopped in the House as it moves
forward.
So I appreciate you
watching. If there's any issue that
you want to let me know of, you have a concern or question,
please feel free to contact my office, and
I'd be happy to look into it. I'm looking forward to hearing from you.