By LAURA HAMMACK, guest columnist
We have reached halftime of this year’s convening of the Indiana General Assembly. There has been a lot of action thus far and we expect more to come.
We believe that post-pandemic restoration should be grounded with a vision for our state as an education destination. As families across the nation experience disruption from an exponential increase in transition to remote work environments, the affordability and quality of life found in the Midwest will surely be attractive. By working now to ensure that Indiana provides the highest quality educators and educational environments through policies that support this condition, the economic vitality of our state will assuredly increase.
As we head into the second half of the legislative session, we have identified issues of ongoing interest for local application in our community. We believe that these matters of policy assist with the elevation of our state as an education destination and will simultaneously positively impact the economic prosperity of our state.
Broadband: We stand ready to support efforts to advance policy for the expansion of long-term solutions for broadband connectivity across our state. We appreciate the work of our local broadband task force to accelerate connectivity across our community and are anxious for additional opportunities to continue this work. Through grant support from CARES funding, we have connected over 100 families with hotspot devices and broadband access. We believe that our experiences working collaboratively with providers will add value to expansion of state level policies that work.
Civics education: Over the past year, I was honored to serve on Indiana’s Civic Education Task Force. Chaired by the lieutenant governor and facilitated by the Indiana Bar Foundation, it was a thrill to work collaboratively with task force members to set forth a vision for advancing civic education for our Hoosier youth. It is such an exciting time for civics education in our state. The work of the task force, evidenced through applicable policy, positions Indiana as a national leader in advancing our democracy.
Fiscal responsibility: Our school district has experienced declining student enrollment when Brown County experienced a demographic shift over the last 20 years. We have made significant reductions in expenditures ($4.5 million) since I began serving as superintendent of schools in 2016-2017 and we are in the process of closing an intermediate school for school year 2021-2022. Efforts to be responsive to these challenges, while simultaneously offering all-day, every-day instruction since Aug. 5, are models for operational efficiency and innovation. We stand ready to support efforts that reward districts for deploying fiscal responsibility during this challenging economic time.
Investment in public education: There are currently a number of bills that expand the state’s private voucher program and establish an “education scholarship” program where the dollars the state would be spending per student are loaded on a debit card for parents to use to pay for education-related expenses. The Next Level Teacher Compensation report recently identified that Indiana teachers are paid less than their regional colleagues. Allocations to these programs are estimated to cost an estimated $66 million to $144 million. Those dollars would serve our state well by beginning to solve Indiana’s teacher pay equity issue.
Vaccination: While not necessarily policy established by the General Assembly, we strongly support a position shift from state leadership regarding COVID-19 vaccinations for front-line employees serving in our schools.
It is inspiring to cast a vision for the great state of Indiana as a premiere education destination. This legislative session provides a number of opportunities for our legislators to position Indiana for a strong post-pandemic recovery.
We offer our support to our legislators and to our Secretary of Education, Dr. Katie Jenner’s administration, as we collectively seek to transition from the currently challenging conditions of the pandemic to optimistic conditions of recovery.
Laura Hammack is superintendent of Brown County schools. She can be reached at 812-988-6601 or [email protected].
