03/30/2009 - Rep. Dennie Oxley pleased by bipartisan effort in legislature (Louisville Courier-Journal)

Rep. Dennie Oxley pleased by bipartisan effort in legislature

By Lesley Stedman Weidenbener
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This is the eighth in a series of question-and-answer interviews with Southern Indiana legislators.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Rep. Dennie Oxley, D-Taswell, is in his first legislative session after succeeding his son as the representative for District 73, one of the state's largest by area, covering all or parts of eight counties.

Oxley, a teacher, has focused much of his energy on education and labor issues as he's become acquainted with the way the General Assembly works. It's been an especially difficult session, given the state's economic woes, problems with the unemployment insurance system and how to spend federal stimulus dollars.

But Oxley said he's been particularly pleased to see that so many issues aren't contentious and that Republicans and Democrats work together regularly.

"Most of the bills we vote on are bipartisan," Oxley said last week. "It's been a good experience. I've really enjoyed myself."

Here's what else Oxley had to say:

Question: How is your first session going?

Answer: It's going very well. As someone being newly elected, I'm really pleased with all the cooperation I've got from everyone -- and when I say everyone, I mean both sides of the aisle, Democrats and Republicans. They've really been good to me.

Q: What's been the biggest surprise since you arrived?

A: The amount of debate, which is great, in committee and how much research goes into these bills. There's a lot of work that probably people don't understand that goes into preparing these bills and getting them even heard in committee.

I understood bills had to go through a committee but I didn't understand how much debate and how much work there is to even get the bill heard by the chairman of that committee and to get all your witnesses in there.

It's been a learning experience. I've enjoyed it.

Q: You authored a bill that would have made textbooks free for all students. What happened to that proposal?

A: Well, it's not the first time that bill has been filed. And I truly believe the state needs to make that commitment.

Our state constitution says that we shall provide a free public education, and when parents have to buy textbooks for their children that's certainly not a free education. I'd say that's one of the more important things we can do is to get this in the code.

I'm sure (House Ways and Means Committee) Chairman (Bill) Crawford didn't hear the bill this year because of the current financial conditions the state is in. But we're one of the few states that don't already offer it.

Q: You mentioned the current financial situation and that affects the budget. What are you hoping that that this budget can achieve, particularly for schools?

A: We (House Democrats) passed a bill that was for one year (of funding), instead of the usual two-year budget. We thought that was the prudent thing to do because of the uncertainty of the economy.

Our local government and all the school corporations already work on a one-year budget. There's nothing magical about a two-year budget. We just hope the Senate will agree.

My priority -- and certainly the Democratic caucus priority -- is to provide adequate funding for every public school in Indiana and that's what we're trying to do with this one-year budget. These are uncertain times and we need to move carefully.

Q: Last week, you voted for a bill that would allow parent conferences and teacher training to be counted as instructional time in schools. Why did you want to support that bill?

A: That will not reduce any time in the classroom. We'll spend as much time in the classroom under this bill as they did every year the last 20 years.

Over 90 percent of the schools now spend more time in class right now than is required by law. All we're doing is preserving the ability for schools to schedule parent-teacher conferences during the hours that parents can come, to be convenient for working parents, and also those teacher development days. They are very vital to teachers.

Reporter Lesley Stedman Weidenbener can be reached at (317) 444-2780.
Additional Facts
Rep. Dennie Oxley

Party: Democrat.
Hometown: Taswell.
Years in the legislature: 1.
District: All of Crawford County, most of Washington and much of Perry counties, northwest Clark, southern Jackson, western Scott, southeast Dubois and the northwest tip of Harrison counties.
Legislative interests: Rural issues, natural resources, finances.
Committees: Education (vice chair); Financial Institutions; Labor & Employment.
Occupation: Teacher.
Hobbies: Walking, golfing, reading.
Family: Wife Beverly, four adult children, six grandchildren.
E-mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).