SB 538: Is this what they really meant by the 'education session'?
01/26/2015

 

Please tell your senators, “Just say no!”

 

ACTION: Tell senators to focus their attention on issues that will improve student learning and outcomes—not an agenda that divides and disrupts.

Before the start of the legislative session, the rhetoric from the top has been, “This will be the education session.” This Wednesday morning, Sen. Carlin Yoder (R-Middlebury) will be presenting SB 538 to Senate Pensions and Labor (chaired by Sen. Phil Boots; R-Crawfordsville). SB 538 does nothing to improve public education.

 

SB 538 creates a landscape of chaos within our public schools and school districts at a time when both teachers and administrators are strapped for time to complete their current responsibilities and to improve student learning.

 

SB 538 divides teachers and administrators at a time everyone should be encouraged to work together and improve both student learning and outcomes.

 

There is no data to support any of these changes.

 

SB 538 does nothing to improve school boards, administrators, teachers, parents, and most importantly, the education of Hoosier children.

 

Have Hoosiers yet seen or heard a bill in committee that encourages good teaching, provides targeted resources to students who need help or increases teacher compensation?

 

ISTA’s legislative program deals with these important issues, because children are at the center of everything our members do.

 

Here is a quick glance at what SB 538 does:

• In a move that would regress Indiana law back to 1973, the bill eliminates existing local teachers associations by requiring new local association determination elections to be conducted statewide in the next two years.
• Literally, creates thousands of new Professional Employee Organizations (PEO) with a new, open-ended definition of PEO that includes any individual, group, committee, conglomeration of special interests, any individual or body—that purports to engage, in whole or in part, in negotiations with a school board regarding the terms or conditions of employment, in providing professional development, or in providing liability insurance. 
• Requires school boards to provide “equal access” to each of these PEOs that show up at the door.
• Gives the Indiana Education Employment Relations Board (IEERB)—an agency of the governor—all kinds of new authority, not only over collective bargaining agreements, but in challenging the state level local association representation. 
  • Sets up a new avenue through IEERB to challenge the existing exclusive representative.  There are already laws that afford schools, administrators and competing groups the ability to challenge (if they do not believe the existing exclusive representative represents a majority) school employees.
  • Requires IEERB to review each Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) which will come at huge financial costs and result in more litigation, if parties disagree with IEERB’s interpretation.