Granger Republican Sen. Linda Rogers today (Thursday) announced she has pulled her bill to replace South Bend Community Schools’ elected board with a state-appointed board.
At an Education and Career Development Committee hearing Wednesday, where testimony was overwhelmingly negative, Rogers said she planned to make big changes to the bill. She said she would still bring it up for a vote in its initial form at Thursday morning’s hearing to move it out of committee, and then amend it at its next stop, the Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee.
Rogers Wednesday said she’d learned at the last minute that it also had to clear the tax committee. That’s because it would give an appointed body, rather than an elected one, the power to set a property tax rate.
But as it turned out, Rogers did not bring the bill for an education committee vote Thursday morning. And later in the day she said she was pulling it altogether.
In a statement, she said, “After hearing the testimony this week, I agree that this is not the right solution at this time. I am grateful to all of those who shared their thoughts on this bill, and I hope that even though this piece of legislation is not moving forward, I was able to garner some thoughtful conversation on the significant issues the South Bend Community Schools are facing."
