AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning education.
corporation are unable to reach an agreement under subsection
(b), the responsibility for transporting the homeless student to the
school of origin is shared equally between both school
corporations, and the cost of transporting the homeless student to
the school of origin is apportioned equally between both school
corporations.
Sec. 5. (a) A school corporation may use the following types of
vehicles in transporting a homeless student to a school of origin:
(1) If at least four (4) homeless students are being transported
to schools in the same school corporation, a special purpose
bus must be used to transport the students.
(2) If three (3) or fewer students are being transported to
schools in the same school corporation, an appropriate vehicle
owned by the school corporation may be used to transport the
students.
(b) The driver of a vehicle used to transport homeless students
to a school of origin under subsection (a) must meet the
qualifications set forth in IC 20-27-9-5(c).
SECTION 3. IC 21-10 IS ADDED TO THE INDIANA CODE AS
A NEW ARTICLE TO READ AS FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE JULY 1,
2006]:
ARTICLE 10. ALLOCATION OF EXPENDITURES TO
STUDENT INSTRUCTION AND LEARNING
Chapter 1. Purposes and General Provisions
Sec. 1. This article has the following purposes:
(1) To maximize the allocation and use of taxpayer provided
resources by school corporations and schools for student
instruction and learning.
(2) To confirm the authority of school corporations to use a
variety of methods to reduce the costs of acquisition of
products and services.
(3) To instruct the state board to oversee the consideration of
statewide means to acquire products and services.
(4) To provide a means for school corporations to access
technical assistance and other support in the consideration of
means to increase the allocation of resources to student
instruction and learning.
(5) To recognize school corporations that achieve effective
allocation of resources to student instruction and learning.
Sec. 2. This article is supplemental to and does not abrogate the
powers given to school corporations under the home rule
provisions of IC 20-26-3, and those powers remain in full effect.
department of insurance. All costs associated with an
examination shall be borne by the program.
(ix)
The department of insurance may deny, suspend, or
revoke the registration of a program if the commissioner
finds that the program is in a hazardous financial
condition, the program refuses to be examined or
produce records for examination, or the program has
failed to pay a final judgment rendered against the trust
by a court within thirty (30) days.
(B) The department of insurance may adopt rules under
IC 4-22-2 to implement this subdivision.
(2) Each school corporation, and more than one (1) school
corporation acting jointly, may elect to aggregate purchases
of natural gas commodity supply from any available natural
gas commodity seller for all schools included in the
aggregated purchases. A rate schedule that is:
(A) filed by a natural gas utility; and
(B)
approved by the Indiana utility regulatory commission;
must include provisions that allow a school corporation or
school corporations acting jointly to elect to make aggregated
purchases of natural gas commodity supply. Upon request
from a school corporation, a natural gas utility shall
summarize the rates and charges for providing services to
each school in the school corporation on one (1) summary bill
for remitting payment to the utility.
(3) Consolidating purchases with other school corporations or
units of government of the following:
(A) School buses and other vehicles and vehicle fleets.
(B) Fuel, maintenance, or other services for vehicles or
vehicle fleets.
(C) Food services.
(D) Facilities management services.
(E) Transportation management services.
(F)
Textbooks, technology, and other school materials and
supplies.
(G)
Any other purchases a school corporation may require.
Purchases may be made by contiguous school corporations, as
part of regional consolidated purchasing arrangements, or
from consolidated sources under multistate cooperative
bidding arrangements.
Sec. 2. A school corporation may use shared services
arrangements with other school corporations and units of
government, including:
(1) the use of shared administrative services overseeing
transportation, food service, facilities, or other operations;
(2) the use of shared administrative services to manage
finance, payroll, human resources, information technology,
purchasing, or other administrative services; and
(3) the use of shared resources to provide instruction,
supplemental services, extracurricular activities, or other
student services.
School corporations are not required to merge schools, consolidate,
or otherwise relinquish control of curriculum, instruction, or
student activities to use shared services arrangements.
Sec. 3. A school corporation may collaborate with contiguous
school corporations to explore the use of cooperatives among
school corporations, commonly managed school corporations, or
the consolidation of school corporations to provide effective and
efficient management of the school corporations or functions of the
school corporations.
Sec. 4. (a) Educational service centers established under
IC 20-20-1 shall support and facilitate actions by school
corporations under this article, including by the use of an
educational service center's existing cooperative agreements.
(b) School corporations and educational service centers may use
the division of finance of the department and the office of
management and budget to provide technical assistance under this
article.
(c) Not later than August 31 of each year, the educational
service centers shall report to the state board the results of the
efforts of the educational service centers under this article during
the preceding school year.
Chapter 3. State Board Action
Sec. 1. The state board shall explore methods, including
statewide purchases, to reduce the expense to school corporations
for the purchase of the following:
(1) Textbooks.
(2) Technology.
(3) School buses and other vehicles.
(4) Other areas of expenses as determined by the state board.
Sec. 2. The state board, assisted by the educational service
centers, the division of finance of the department, and the office of
management and budget, shall survey annually the school
corporations to determine actions taken by the school corporations
to allocate resources to student instruction and learning. The state
board shall issue an annual report of actions taken to:
(1) each school corporation;
(2) the public; and
(3) the general assembly.
The report to the general assembly must be submitted to the
executive director of the legislative services agency in an electronic
format under IC 5-14-6.
Sec. 3. Not later than November 1 of each year, the state board,
assisted by the office of management and budget and school
corporation officials, shall submit a report to the state
superintendent, the governor, and the general assembly concerning
the following:
(1) Consolidated purchasing arrangements used by multiple
school corporations, through educational services, and
throughout Indiana.
(2) Shared services arrangements used by multiple school
corporations, through educational service centers, and in the
state as a whole.
(3) The efforts of school corporations to explore cooperatives,
common management, or consolidations.
The report to the general assembly must be submitted to the
executive director of the legislative services agency in an electronic
format under IC 5-14-6.
Sec. 4. (a) The state board, assisted by the office of management
and budget, the division of finance of the department, and school
corporation officials, shall analyze each school corporation's
expenses for the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 school years to
determine how much each school corporation spent, from whatever
source, directly or indirectly, on the following categories of
expenditures:
(1) Student academic achievement expenditures.
(2) Student instructional support expenditures.
(3) Overhead and operational expenditures.
(4) Nonoperational expenditures.
The state board shall determine the types of expenses that are
included in each category set forth in subdivisions (1) through (4).
The sum of all expenditures under subdivisions (1) through (4) by
a school corporation must equal the total amount of expenditures
by the school corporation for the year being analyzed.
(b) The state board's analysis under subsection (a) may include
relevant trend line data for school years before the 2004-2005
school year.
(c) Not later than June 30, 2007, the state board shall report the
results of the analysis under subsection (a) to the state
superintendent, the governor, and the general assembly. The
report to the general assembly must be submitted to the executive
director of the legislative services agency in an electronic format
under IC 5-14-6.
Sec. 5. (a) Beginning with the 2006-2007 school year, and using
the 2005-2006 school year as a baseline:
(1) the office of management and budget shall analyze and
report to the state board, the governor, and the general
assembly concerning the progress or lack of progress of each
school corporation, all school corporations in each
educational service center's area, and in the state as a whole
in improving the ratio of student instructional expenditure to
all other expenditures for the previous school year;
(2) the state board shall recognize publicly each school
corporation and educational service center that has an
improved ratio of student instructional expenditures to all
other expenditures during the previous school year;
(3) the office of management and budget and the division of
finance of the department shall be available to consult with
and provide technical assistance to each school corporation
that did not have an improved ratio of student instructional
expenditures to all other expenditures during the previous
school year; and
(4) each school corporation shall report to the public in the
school corporation's annual performance report and to the
members of the general assembly whose districts include the
school corporation:
(A) the percentage of resources spent by the school
corporation during the previous school year on each
category of expenditures set forth in section 4 of this
chapter and whether the school corporation met the goals
established for the previous school year under section 6 of
this chapter;
(B) the trend line for each category of expenditures set
forth in section 4 of this chapter for the school corporation
during the previous school year;
(C) whether the school corporation did or did not make
progress in improving the ratio of student instructional
expenditures to all other expenditures during the previous
school year; and
(D)
the goals established under section 6 of this chapter for
the current school year.
(b) The reports to the general assembly under subdivision (a)(1)
and to individual members of the general assembly under
subdivision (a)(4) must be submitted to the executive director of
the legislative services agency in an electronic format under
IC 5-14-6.
Sec. 6. (a) Beginning with the 2007-2008 school year, each
governing body shall establish goals for each category of
expenditures set forth in section 4 of this chapter that will increase
the school corporation's allocation of taxpayer resources directly
to student instruction and learning, in light of the unique
circumstances present in the school corporation.
(b) The state board shall recognize and reward the school
corporations that have met the goals described in subsection (a).
SECTION 4. [EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2006] (a) The definitions in
IC 20 apply to this SECTION.
(b) Not later than August 31, 2006:
(1) the department shall develop; and
(2) the state board shall review and may modify before
approving;
a plan to upgrade the financial management, analysis, and
reporting system for school corporations and schools.
(c) The plan developed under subsection (b) must:
(1) provide the use of generally accepted accounting principles
based on the system of accounting used by school corporations
and schools on June 30, 2006, and a unified income and
expense statement and balance sheet;
(2) provide school corporations and schools the ability to
track expenditures individually and according to the
expenditure category under IC 21-10-3-4, as added by this act,
the program under which the expense was incurred, and the
school building where the expense was incurred;
(3) provide real time or other timely access to expenditures,
and across functions, schools, and school corporations; and
(4) enable periodic and annual analysis and reporting to the
leadership of a school, the superintendent and governing body
of a school corporation, the general public, the department,
the state board, the governor, and the general assembly.
(d) In developing the plan under subsection (b), the department,
following approval by and under the direction of the state board,
shall:
(1) use the assistance of the state board of accounts, the
division of finance of the department, the division of
technology of the department, the office of management and
budget, and external consultants and advisers the state board
determines are necessary;
(2) provide the opportunity for input from governing bodies,
superintendents, and other interested parties;
(3) consider existing financial management, analysis, and
reporting systems and technology in use in school
corporations and in other states;
(4) take into account the need for training personnel in school
corporations in the use of the system, including a plan for the
department to work with the officials in each school
corporation who are responsible for the management of the
school corporation's finances, organizations, and other
resources to create programs and curricula to develop the
officials' financial management skills and abilities as well as
train them in the use of the system; and
(5) identify any amendments to the Indiana Code that are
necessary to implement specific provisions of the plan.
(e) Not later than October 1, 2006, the department and the state
board shall submit the plan developed under subsection (b) to the
governor and the general assembly. The report to the general
assembly must be submitted to the executive director of the
legislative services agency in an electronic format under IC 5-14-6.
(f) This SECTION expires December 31, 2009.
SECTION 5. An emergency is declared for this act.