Indiana educators will have more legal protection to maintain discipline and a good learning environment in their classrooms with a measure signed into law recently by Gov. Mitch Daniels.

The House Enrolled Act 1462 will grant educators legal immunity from lawsuits related to disciplinary action. The act creates the first-in-thenation notification process to ensure teachers are afforded state legal defense when sued. It expands the authority of teachers to remove disruptive students from their classrooms and creates a rigorous process to return a student to a classroom that includes a teacher and parents.

"Quality education cannot start until order prevails. As of today, Indiana has the nation's strongest law protecting teachers against unruly students, unreasonable parents and lawyers of all kinds," Daniels said. "But the new law is just a start, we need to change old habits and liberate teachers from a culture of resignation to unacceptable student behavior."

Several educators, legislative sponsors of the measure, Attorney General Greg Zoeller and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett joined the governor for the bill signing.

The Attorney General's office will offer a hotline number for teachers to use to ask for assistance on legal matters and will send a letter to teachers annually to advise and remind them of their rights under the new law.

"This new statute is the first step to end frivolous threats of litigation. We are prepared to defend teachers and the vital public interest they serve in ensuring the best environment in our schools for a world-class education," Zoeller said.

The law also requires schools to expand criminal history background checks before employing any staff member. It also adds possession of child pornography to the list of felonies for which teachers will lose their license and requires the Department of Education to develop and maintain a database of former school employees with certain felony convictions.

"Our expanded criminal background checks for new school employees moves Indiana from a chair in the back of the room to the head of the class nationally when it comes to taking significant steps to protect our students," Bennett said.