It is strange that a school like CHS, with approximately a 96 percent attendance rate, 95 percent graduation rate and many students who enter senior year with most or all of the required credits for a Core 40 diploma completed, must abide by the same strict restrictions (such as the 180-day school year) as other schools that do not perform as well. This school has performed at a similar level over the past several years, clear proof that in the case of high performing schools, state micromanagement is ineffective. This school consistently demonstrates its ability to perform well and its ability to provide opportunities for students to further excel.

The “performance-qualified school districts bill,” Senate Bill 189, would not only grant schools greater academic freedom and creativity, but would also grant schools the power to reallocate finances to support extracurricular activities and the freedom to implement their own programs for gifted students or to create their own technical and career training programs. This bill would place performance-qualified school districts in a similar position to charter schools, both in terms of regulation and potential for academic excellence.

Education is clearly executed best when handled in a case-by-case manner. Throughout their lives, children are taught that each individual is unique. Yet, when it comes to high school education or education in general, current legislation mandates certain regulations and baselines for all publicly-funded schools to follow. Each school possesses a different set of problems and successes, and thus each school must be treated differently to best further education. Certainly schools that have proven their excellence should not be held down by blanket laws, which unfairly lump those schools with schools that do not perform as well.

Senate Bill 189, brought to Congress by Indiana Sen. Mike Delph (R), seeks to provide for “high-performing schools,” such as this school, greater autonomy with finances, calendars, education, evaluation and administration. This bill unanimously passed in the Senate Education Committee on Jan. 16. According to a tweet from the Indiana Senate’s Twitter account, the bill will “give high-performing schools greater flexibility.” Delph developed the legislature with input from Andrew Klein, Carmel Clay School Board member and Jeff Swensson, Superintendent of the Carmel Clay Schools. Delph said he saw the need for reduced state control to allow high performing schools to achieve greater potential.

The bill reduces state regulatory control over public high schools that meet certain requirements. These requirements, outlined in the bill, state that graduation rates must be above 90 percent, at least 25 percent of each graduating class must earn an academic or technical honors diploma and pass at least one AP exam and at least 85 percent of students must pass end-of-course assessments in English 10 and/or Algebra I. Designated schools would have the freedom to develop their own academic curriculum, design their own teacher and staff evaluations and organize classroom instruction time without the 180-day school year requirement. Certification to districts would be granted in four year terms, allowing the state to retract such freedom should a school eventually fail to meet the criteria, but also allowing performance-qualified schools that temporarily fail to meet the criteria time to readjust.

The bill provides incentives to low-performing schools by granting those who achieve certification more freedom in administration, whilst liberating high-performing schools. The bill generates a goal for low-performing schools to attain, rather than punishment for failing to improve. This is in contrast to the previous legislation, which punished low-performing schools while at the same time held down high-performing schools. Positive encouragement is often more effective than negative encouragement, and Senate Bill 189, should it be implemented, would likely testify that statement.

Delph’s beliefs, embodied in this bill, are exceedingly beneficial to this school district. This school’s ability to regularly attain the requirements outlined by Bill 189 is a testimony to the potential of growth for education, and the bill grants freedom to do so. It is a momentous step in improving education in Indiana and serves to better prepare students for future success in society and the global economy.