The Interim Study Committees of the Indiana General Assembly
are now in full swing. MCCOY has been
following a few and provided testimony at the Safe Schools Interim Committee
hearing on August 29. The following is a
brief summary of the meetings to date:
Commission on
Improving the Status of Children
The Commission met for the first time on August 21. This meeting served as the introductory
meeting where each commission member gave an update on the services their
agency provides and then provided a list of priorities that they would like to
see the commission address, which include:
o
Improve health care policy and access
o
Address gaps in services to children
o
Increase mental health services for children
o
Juvenile justice reform
o
Increase substance abuse treatment for youth
o
Address staff recruitment and retention
o
Increase communication and collaboration among
agencies
o
Many other topics were proposed and cover the
continuum of prevention and intervention
The Commission’s next meeting is on October 16 and is open
to public. Location to be determined.
Commission on
Education
The Commission on Education has held four meetings since
June. The June and July meetings focused
on examining the causes for the ISTEP technical issues that arose with testing
in May and proposing next steps for how to prevent those issues from occurring
in the future. In August, the committee examined
how withholding Temporary Assistance to Needy Families benefits is used to
address truancy and how certain school corporations are dealing with the issue
of absenteeism. The committee also
debated whether to establish uniform definitions for excused and unexcused
absences and heard testimony on the high performing school designation and how
schools that are not considered high performing could be granted a waiver to
allow flexibility in innovative solutions to improve their status. The next meeting is scheduled for September
13.
Committee on Child
Care
The Committee on Child Care met for the first time on August
27. Bureau of Child Care director
Melanie Brizzi provided an annual update on child care in the state and the
committee also hear reports from the groups representing licensed centers,
licensed homes and registered ministries.
The next meeting is scheduled for October 1.
Child Services
Oversight Committee
The Child Services Oversight Committee met on July 31 and
heard updates and presentations from the Department of Child Services (DCS) and
the new DCS Ombudsman Alfreda Singleton-Smith was introduced. The next meeting is October 23.
Commission on
Mental Health and Addiction
The Commission on Mental Health and Addiction met on August
7 and reviewed progress of Children's Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Health Plan
and heard testimony regarding Crisis Intervention Teams. The next meeting is scheduled for September
9.
School Safety
Interim Study Committee
The School Safety Interim Study Committee held its first
meeting on August 29. This meeting
focused on issues related to use of
School Resource Officers (SROs). Testimony
was provided on the grant funding process for schools, what state agency should
certify SROs, and the role of an SRO including the importance of training and
clear delineation of purpose in school policies. MCCOY and its partners provided testimony on
the importance of training, use of caution related to criminalizing behaviors,
ensuring students’ Miranda rights, issues related to disproportionality in
education and juvenile justice, mental health of students and data related to
school violence. The second meeting will
be held on September 24 and will focus on issues related to guns in schools.
Central Indiana Transit
Study Committee
The Central Indiana Transit Study Committee met on August 8
and received updates on transit in central Indiana and municipal transit
issues. The next meeting will be held on
September 10.
For more information about the committees, visit the General
Assembly’s website: http://www.in.gov/legislative/interim/committee/index.html
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