More bad education bills

I have some ideas for our politicians in Indianapolis; stop adding more school regulations. Schools are supposed to be run by local organizations. We need to get both Indianapolis and Washington out of our School District.

There is a 3” thick rule book (1370 pages) of rules that Indianapolis has decided to make our local school corporations deal with. Below are some of the additional laws that our politicians are considering passing this session:

HB 1072, this bill will add teaching students about the Holocaust.

I overall think that this subject should be taught in the Schools; however, I am against a law that dictates this for every school corporation in the State. Many children graduate without being able to read, write, or do math. Why are we adding to our curriculum?

HB 1047, this bill will add personal financial literacy to the curriculum.

Once again, I am overall in favor of this; however, let each school corporation teach what the parents and staff of that school corporation feels is important for their students. I also have to question whether we want the State Board of Education creating the curriculum for personal finance in the first place. The State of Indiana is in terrible debt already and I keep hearing that we need to spend more money…

SB 0111, student nutrition and physical activity. Requires school boards to establish a coordinated school health advisory council to develop a local wellness policy that complies with certain federal requirements. Requires the department of education to provide information concerning health, nutrition, and physical activity. Establishes requirements applying to food and beverage items that are available for sale to students outside the federal school meal programs, including a requirement that a certain percentage of the food and beverage items qualify as better choices. Provides that the requirements do not apply after school hours or to fundraisers. Requires daily physical activity for elementary school students in public schools, with certain exceptions. Allows a school to continue a vending machine contract in existence before the passage of this bill. (The introduced version of this bill was prepared by the health finance commission.)

Needless to say this is another bill that will allow the State to create more bureaucracy and dictate terms to local schools, not a good idea. We need less bureaucracy and more teaching!

SB 0045, fetal development curriculum. Requires each school corporation to include instruction regarding human fetal development in the school corporation's high school health education curriculum.

Needless to say this is more of the same. They are adding more to the curriculum and not removing anything from the curriculum.