02/17/2009 - Sen. Sipes taking higher profile (Louisville Courier-Journal)

Sen. Sipes taking higher profile

She'll help set Democratic agenda

By Lesley Stedman Weidenbener
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

This is the third in a series of question-and-answer interviews with Southern Indiana legislators.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Sen. Connie Sipes, D-New Albany, came into the 2009 session with a new leadership position: Minority Caucus leader.

It's a job that puts her more out front in the Senate, where she's served for a dozen years, and means she is part of a team that plans the Democrats' agenda in the chamber.

"It provides an opportunity for me to help with organizational things in our caucus," Sipes said last week.

That means Sipes is working on budget and jobs issues and is integral in caucus discussions about bills and amendments.

But that hasn't stopped Sipes from working on her passion -- education.

Here's some of what Sipes had to say last week about the session so far:

Question: How has your new position in the Senate Democratic caucus changed the way you've approached the session?

Answer: It really hasn't changed the way I approach the session, except I have a new office -- literally a new office, a new office space. I also now have a task, I guess you would say, in helping with the organization of the caucus.

But it doesn't do anything to how I've approached what I do for my constituents.

Q: What are the highlights of the Senate Democratic agenda for this session?

A: Every caucus member -- of which we have 17 -- has initiatives they're interested in, individual initiatives. But our major goal is to help craft a budget that is effective for the citizens of Indiana.

Also, our caucus is really concerned about jobs, getting some jobs for the people of the state of Indiana.

Q: You are the author of an education bill that would appropriate $3 million to provide books to young children through the Imagination Library. Tell me about that bill.

A: Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is a program she started in her home county in Tennessee.

What I hoped to do was see if we could have matching grants throughout the state for school corporations to provide books for children zero months to 5 years old. Through the program, they would get a book every month. It's mailed to them and it's an age-appropriate book.

With the younger children, the books and reading are about bonding and their parents being very involved. It's also about creating vocabulary, helping children be ready for school.

Q: Where is the bill in the legislative process?

A: (Education Committee Chairwoman Teresa Lubbers, R-Indianapolis) has chosen not to hear that bill. But what we are going to do is study it in an interim committee. Sen. Vaneta Becker (of Evansville) has a bill to study early childhood literacy and so I've asked her if that could be one of the programs we study.

Her bill is concentrating on the disparity between school corporations. Some school corporations appear to have quite a bit of early literacy and others do not.

Q: You are also a co-sponsor of a bill that calls for the Indiana Board of Education to create a new financial responsibility curriculum for schools. Why is that bill important?

A: I think we're doing a lot of this already in the schools. But with the economy the way it is and credit card debt, I think we want to re-emphasize the importance of all students learning about financial responsibility.

Especially our students in the secondary (education) world need to understand some of the pitfalls out there for them. They absolutely need to take responsibility for their own finances.

Q: You talked earlier about the state budget. How do you think the budget will come out this year, given what a difficult economy this is?

A: You're absolutely right -- this is a difficult economy. The budget is going to be as bare-bones as possible and rightly so. We need to be very careful about what we do.

I'm particularly concerned about education -- K-12 as well as higher ed. But I do think it will be bare bones.

Q: Do you think you'll be able to provide any increase in funding for schools?

A: If that opportunity becomes available, I would look at it.

I also am very aware of the state of the economy. I hope we can come up with something for more funding, because flat-lining education is really a decrease -- as it is for everything -- because every spectrum of the economy has fixed costs that keep increasing.

But I know that people are hurting right now so we have to be very, very careful.

Reporter Lesley Stedman Weidenbener can be reached at (317) 444-2780.
Additional Facts
Sen. Connie Sipes

• Party: Democrat.
• Hometown: New Albany.
• Years in the legislature: 12.
• District: All of Floyd County and southern tip of Clark County.
• Legislative interests: Education, tax and fiscal policy, elections.
• Committees: Education & Career Development; Tax & Fiscal Policy, Rules & Legislative Procedure, Appointments & Claims (ranking minority member), Elections.
• Occupation: Retired teacher and elementary school principal.
• Hobbies: Exercising, reading.
• Family: Husband Steve, two adult children.
• E-mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).