In Case You Missed It – April 17, 2023

Here are links to last week's^† articles receiving the most attention on NEIFPE's social media accounts. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column of our blog page to be informed when our blog posts are published.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"...Over the same time period as this stunning increase in voucher spending, Indiana decreased its per-pupil funding for public education by 1.5 percent...

"...Indiana retreated significantly in its commitment to public education at the same time it substantially increased its funding of private schooling..." -- PFPS Report: The Fiscal Consequences of Private School Vouchers

HOOSIER REPUBLICANS TAKE AIM AT LIBRARIANS AND LIBRARIES

Hoosier librarians step up

Indiana Republican legislative supermajority opened a new front in its apparent constant war against public education. This year they followed the lead of other Republican-led states and included censorship in their agenda. Fortunately, Indiana's librarians spoke up.

From School Matters

Hat’s off to Indiana’s librarians. They turned out in force last week when legislators considered making it easier to ban books and prosecute people who provide material that’s “harmful to minors.” And they pushed back when lawmakers suggested they didn’t know what they were saying.

But it may not matter. The legislation is on the agenda again today for a meeting of the House Education Committee, and Republicans on the panel seem determined to pass it into law.

...The amendment would require school libraries to compile lists of all their books and materials, post them online, and print them out for parents or others who request hard copies. They would also have to create and publicize a procedure for members of the public to seek to remove books from libraries. That seems heavy-handed and unnecessary, but school libraries can probably manage it. Most have computerized inventories that could be used to satisfy the law.

...But Cash’s amendment would remove the educational purpose defense. And it would eliminate the “scope of employment” defense for school and public libraries and their employees. It would retain the scope of employment defense for university, college and museum libraries.

In other words, it would make it easier for a politically ambitious prosecutor to convict a school or public librarian on a felony charge. No wonder librarians are alarmed.

Indiana House committee abandons contentious library materials amendment — for now

Rep. Bob Behning, former florist turned school choice entrepreneur, and no friend of public education made it clear that librarians and libraries are still not safe.

From the Indiana Capital Chronicle

A hotly-debated amendment that sought to ban materials deemed “harmful to minors” in school and public libraries stalled Monday, following hours of opposition testimony the week prior.

The House Education Committee did not vote on the amendment on Monday. Instead, lawmakers voted 12-0 to send the watered down bill, which deals with graduation rates, to the full House.

The amendment could still resurface on the House floor, however.

The proposal under consideration was similar to the controversial Senate Bill 12. But rather than hearing that measure, House lawmakers considered inserting similar provisions into Senate Bill 380.

Committee chairman Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis, did not comment directly when asked by the Indiana Capital Chronicle about the decision not to vote on the amendment, but he said such language will “likely” be up for debate again in the full chamber.

“The issue is not done yet,” he said.

THE TRUE COST OF VOUCHERS

The Fiscal Consequences of Private School Vouchers

This report focuses on the real impact that seven state voucher programs have on public education. The states highlighted are Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

From Public Funds Public Schools, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Education Law Center

Conclusion

The pattern of education spending in these seven voucher states is unmistakable. Private school voucher programs are initially proposed as limited in size and scope, then grow as existing programs are expanded, and/or additional voucher programs are established. This results in greater and greater amounts of public funding diverted to private educational institutions and private corporations. At the same time, as noted, funding for public schools in these states has largely decreased.

Although direct cause and effect is difficult to prove, the bottom line is clear: As states transfer millions of dollars to private hands, there are fewer available state resources for projects that serve the public good, from mass transit to public parks, libraries, and schools.

INDIANA'S REPUBLICAN-SPONSORED TEACHER SHORTAGE CONTINUES

Who will teach Indiana's children? Hard to attract, retain teachers in current climate

The shortsighted goal seems always to have been the destruction of public education and the teaching profession.

From the Indy Star

According to a Chalkbeat study analyzing teacher turnover data from eight states, the teacher shortage remains, and it is getting worse. Rising teacher turnover rates and growing shortages put the quality of our children’s education at risk.

The teaching profession is bleeding qualified teachers, and our children are suffering. If we want to save the teaching profession, and by extension, our children’s education, we need to reduce the bureaucratic workload on teachers, set aside damaging political battles and require all educators to come to the classroom with appropriate training and certification.

Legislators act to help schools find the right kinds of teachers, staff

We're glad that this Republican-sponsored bill makes sure that school children are safe from possibly dangerous adults, but taking credit for "broadening the pool of available teachers" after spending a decade trying to destroy the teaching profession strikes us as just a bit hypocritical.

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

State lawmakers have taken action on two education bills within the past week. One could broaden the pool of available teachers. The other is intended to restrict school districts from hiring instructors and other staff convicted of certain felonies.

House Bill 1528, authored by state Rep. Dave Heine, R-Fort Wayne, expands eligibility to the Next Generation Hoosier Educators Program to include those participating in transition-to-teaching programs and alternative teacher certification programs. It also moves the annual scholarship amount allowed to $10,000 per individual, with a maximum single- year state expenditure of $1 million.

Heine’s bill heads to Gov. Eric Holcomb’s desk after winning unanimous support from the full Senate on Tuesday.

Currently, high school and college students interested in a career in education may earn a renewable scholarship of up to $7,500 each academic year. In exchange, students agree to teach for five years at an eligible Indiana school or repay the scholarship.

In fiscal year 2022, there were around 650 scholarship recipients with a mean award of about $7,300 each, for a total annual expenditure of $4.8 million, according to the Legislative Services Agency.

Indiana State Teachers Association President Keith Gambill said the scholarship program is a justified measure for the legislature to pass to attract more people to the teaching profession.

NACS BUILDING PLANS

Architects shape Northwest Allen County Schools building plans with input, site visits

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Site visits and stakeholder meetings are helping officials shape plans for Northwest Allen County Schools building projects proposed as solutions to overcrowding, an administrator told the district’s elected leaders Monday.

“I really believe we’ve got three great architect firms working for us right now,” said Brandon Bitting, assistant superintendent for operations and safety.

The 8,200-student district is preparing to build a new middle school and to renovate and expand the high school because a demographer told NACS last fall to expect enrollment to increase by more than 800 in the next decade.

**Note: The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette is behind a paywall. Digital access, home delivery, or both are available with a subscription. Staying informed is important, and one way to do that is to support your local newspaper. For subscription information, go to fortwayne.com/subscriptions/ [NOTE: NEIFPE has no financial ties to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette]

^†Note: NEIFPE's In Case You Missed It is posted by the end of the day every Monday except after holiday weekends or as otherwise noted.

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In Case You Missed It – February 15, 2021

Here are links to last week's articles receiving the most attention on NEIFPE's social media accounts. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column to be informed when our blog posts are published.

INDIANA LEGISLATORS WANT TO EXPAND VOUCHERS

Indiana legislators are working overtime to privatize the state's public schools. The House votes Monday, Feb. 15, on a budget that will increase money for vouchers and charters while ignoring the increase in child poverty and its impact on public education. Public schools will get an increase of less than 3% each year for the next two years, while vouchers will increase by 20% and 23%. Despite promises over the last two years, there is no increase in teacher pay in the budget.

Once again, the Indiana General Assembly shows its preference for privatization.

House budget expands vouchers: Republican plan differs from governor's on key points

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

House Republicans unveiled a budget Thursday that would give less money to traditional public schools than Gov. Eric Holcomb's proposal, while also funding several one-time grant programs to energize the economy.

The governor proposed $377 million in tuition support – which is then distributed to school districts using a complex formula. The total equates to 2% growth in the first year and 1% in the second year of the biennial budget.

The House Republican budget has $378 million in new tuition support – 1.25% in the first year and 2.5% in the second year.

But their total includes an expansion of the voucher program that will send an additional $65 million to private schools over the biennium. That program would increase by 23% the first year and 20% in the second year.

Holcomb did not include a voucher expansion and, in his State of the State address, expressed concern about expanding choice at the expense of public schools.

Indiana House budget would expand vouchers, limit poverty aid for schools

From Chalkbeat*

At a time when many Hoosier families are in financial distress because of the pandemic, the Indiana House Republicans’ draft budget would cap the state aid for educating children in poverty and at the same time fund a significant expansion in private school vouchers for middle-class families.

The budget proposal, which was presented to and passed by the House Ways and Means Committee Thursday, would increase state funding for K-12 education by $378 million over the next two years — a 3.8% boost from this school year. The state would spread that increase across all Indiana public schools and a host of contentious education priorities while limiting funding to districts where poverty surges because of the pandemic.

The draft is an early step in the state’s budget development process. The Senate will produce its own budget proposal before the two chambers negotiate a final agreement.

Thursday’s proposal omits any substantial increase for teacher raises that a state panel recommended last year.

FWCS resolute against vouchers: Board, teachers oppose legislators' expansion bill

Kudos to FWCS Board of School Trustees and the Fort Wayne Educators Association for publicly coming out against the increase of vouchers. Public money should go to public schools.

Disclosure: FWCS school board President Anne Duff is a member of NEIFPE.

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Fort Wayne Community Schools leaders formalized Monday their opposition to proposed legislation that would expand Indiana's voucher program.

“The public schools educate 90% of the students, and why we are catering to the small 10% is beyond me,” school board President Anne Duff said.

Lawmakers are considering expanding the current Choice Scholarship program, in which the state pays vouchers for private education. They also are considering creating new Education Scholarship Accounts, giving parents control of schooling dollars. The latter is limited for special education students, foster children and children of active-duty military members.

FWCS and the Fort Wayne Education Association make clear their opposition to House Bill 1005 and Senate Bills 412 and 413 in a joint resolution to be shared with legislators.

“There is no urgency to pass this measure during a pandemic that is already imposing severe financial constraints on public schools, as parents in Indiana already have an array of state-funded options,” the resolution states.

Options for Hoosier families include traditional public schools, charter schools, virtual schools, Choice Scholarships and tax credits and deductions for private and home-school education, the resolution adds.

“What the General Assembly is considering is fiscally irresponsible,” board member Steve Corona said. “They have not demonstrated the oversight ability to follow the dollars that have been given previously.”

Corona had an example to support his claim – the alleged $68 million in fraudulent spending by virtual charter schools.

NO MORE SCHOOL GRADES?

Indiana lawmakers could overhaul accountability, end school takeovers

Now that private schools and charter schools have learned that high poverty is the major cause of low student test scores, the pro-privatization legislature is considering ending school takeovers and school grades. When the punishment was only for public schools, it wasn't a concern.

Note also that the Chair of the House Education Committee (and school privatization consultant), Bob Behning, no longer thinks "accountability" is necessary.

From Chalkbeat*

Indiana lawmakers are considering a plan that would put the final nail in the coffin of the state’s aggressive efforts to take over schools with chronically low test results.

A proposal winning early support in the House would eliminate many of the consequences for poor test performance that typically loom over Indiana public schools. District schools with failing grades would no longer face the threat of state seizure or the steps that precede it, such as a requirement that districts attempt to improve schools by replacing personnel, giving them new resources, or working with outside experts.

Under the proposed law, charter schools with low grades would be able to seek renewals without special permission from the state. And even if they receive low marks from the state, private schools would be able to receive vouchers for new students.

SMART ALEC

A Smart ALEC Threatens Public Education

This is an old article (2012) but a reminder that ALEC is knee-deep in voucher expansion

From Education Week

A legislative contagion seemed to sweep across the Midwest during the early months of 2011. First, Wisconsin legislators wanted to strip public employees of the right to bargain. Then, Indiana legislators got into the act. Then, it was Ohio. In each case, Republican governors and Republican-controlled state legislatures had introduced substantially similar bills that sought sweeping changes to each state’s collective bargaining statutes and various school funding provisions.

What was going on? How could elected officials in multiple states suddenly introduce essentially the same legislation?

The answer: The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Its self-described legislative approach to education reads:

Across the country for the past two decades, education reform efforts have popped up in legislatures at different times in different places. As a result, teachers’ unions have been playing something akin to “whack-a-mole”—you know the game—striking down as many education reform efforts as possible. Many times, the unions successfully “whack” the “mole,” i.e., the reform legislation. Sometimes, however, they miss. If all the moles pop up at once, there is no way the person with the mallet can get them all. Introduce comprehensive reform packages. (Ladner, LeFevre, & Lips, 2010, p. 108)

PUBLIC SCHOOLS LOSES LEADER

Legendary former Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis has died. ‘She was a fighter and a treasure for this city.’

Public schools lost a strong leader with the death of former Chicago Teachers Union President, Karen Lewis.

From the Chicago Tribune

Karen Lewis, the firebrand former Chicago Teachers Union president who led a seven-day strike and nearly ran for mayor, has died at 67.

Details of her death were not immediately available, but Lewis was diagnosed with cancer in October 2014. The news came a day after the union, whose current administrators have said “will always and forever be the house that Karen built,” announced a tentative reopening deal with Chicago Public Schools and Mayor Lori Lightfoot that, if approved through a union vote, would avert a strike.

Lewis’ tenure as CTU president was marked by an unprecedented number of school closings, teacher layoffs, charter school expansion, crumbling school finances and rancorous contract talks with the city’s Board of Education.

In September 2012, she led the city’s first teachers strike in a quarter-century and stood at the helm of demonstrations that underscored smoldering national debates over public education reform. That gave her the political muscle to consider a run for mayor against then-incumbent Rahm Emanuel, a man she once described as the “murder mayor.” Lewis said in a later interview that once doctors told her of a malignant brain tumor detected near the surface of her frontal lobe, she knew her plans to take over City Hall were finished.

TESTING DURING THE PANDEMIC: STILL A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY

A Teacher in California: The Madness of Test Obsession

From Diane Ravitch

A teacher in California, who must remain anonymous to protect her job, wrote this post. CAASP testing is the Common Core test produced by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC).

“We are 100% virtual, and teachers just had to sign an affidavit regarding CAASPP testing. I cannot believe they are STILL going forward with this. They expect that kids will 1) be in a quiet place with no distractions, 2) have their cameras on at all times, 3) not be using any other materials except pencil/paper, 4) that kids will have earbuds/headphones so they can hear the audio portion, 5) that kids won’t talk about the test content with ANYBODY.

And then, teachers are 1) supposed to simultaneously monitor 20+ students’ cameras and computer screens, 2) write down every time a student looks away or commits some other infraction, 3) keep every kid from unmuting their microphones (impossible).

*Note: Financial sponsors of Chalkbeat include pro-privatization foundations and individuals such as Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, EdChoice, Gates Family Foundation, The Walton Family Foundation, and others.

**Note: The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has changed its online access and is now behind a paywall. Digital access, home delivery, or both, are available with a subscription. Staying informed is important, and one way to do that is to support your local newspaper. For subscription information go to fortwayne.com/subscriptions/

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In Case You Missed It – Feb 4, 2019

Here are links to last week's articles receiving the most attention in NEIFPE's social media. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column to be informed when our blog posts are published.

LEGISLATORS RETALIATE AGAINST STRIKING TEACHERS

Remember the 2018 teachers strikes in Republican-led states? Now legislators in 3 states are trying to retaliate.

Will the legislators from these states understand the source of their states' teacher shortage?

From The Answer Sheet

Remember the 2018 teachers strikes in Republican-led states that captured the attention of the country?

The Red For Ed — or #RedForEd — movement started when West Virginia teachers who were sick and tired of working for low pay and in resource-starved schools walked out of class even though such labor action is illegal in the state. The teachers started the strikes, and their unions followed.

...Now, in three of those states, Republican-led legislatures are retaliating, trying to pass bills that would make teachers' working lives more difficult.

OK Legislator To Teachers: Shut The Hell Up

Pretty sure this OK legislator has legislator friends in Indiana.

From Curmudgucation

Oklahoma has worked hard to get itself in the front of the pack of States Most Hostile To Public Education. Maybe not number one (relax, Florida), but right up there. Ultra-low teacher pay. Slack charter rules. The kind of state where the idea for improving education is to gear it more toward providing meat widgets for employers. The kind of state where a serious idea about improving teacher pay is to fire half the teachers and give their money to the remaining teachers, who will all teach twice as many students.

So it wasn't a huge surprise last year when teachers in the state walked out. While they didn't get everything they wanted, they were still confident that they has sent a message to the legislature.

Apparently some legislators misunderstood the message.

SHOULD SCHOOLS KEEP STATE MONEY WHEN STUDENTS LEAVE?

School lost students but not funding

From School Matters

State Rep. Vernon Smith made a good point Thursday when the Indiana House was discussing legislation to regulate virtual charter schools. The Gary Democrat suggested state funding for the schools should be based on how many students they enroll throughout the school year, not just in the fall.

Indiana schools receive state funding according to the number of students they enroll on a designated count day in September. If students leave after that day, the schools keep the money but no longer incur the cost of serving the students. And that happens a lot – especially at some of the virtual schools.

BEHNING BILL GIVES AWAY MORE PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDS

Lawmakers Weigh Bill To Split Referendum Funds With Local Charter Schools

Once again Indiana State Representative Bob Behning shows his preference for privatization. Charter's get closed school buildings for a $1 and when the charter closes their state loans are forgiven. Now Behning wants to give charters money that public school districts collect through referenda.

Will charters be audited on expenses like public schools? Will charters be required to serve all children? Will charters be required to hire certified teachers? The 'playing field' is not level. Charters don't deserve public school referenda funds.

From WFYI, Indianapolis

Traditional public schools might have to split their voter-approved referenda funding with nearby charter schools under a bill in the House.

House Education Committee chair Bob Behning (R-Indianapolis) is proposing a bill that would require any districts that pass funding referenda to share those dollars with local charter schools.

...executive director of the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents J.T. Coopman says the bill is just another way to strap districts for cash even further, as the state tries to figure out how to boost teacher pay.

If Indiana districts convince voters to boost their funding, should charter schools get a cut?

From Chalkbeat

Some Republican lawmakers want district schools to share extra tax dollars approved by voters for buildings and facilities with nearby charter schools — but the idea is falling flat with some educators and Democrats.

THE VIRTUAL CHARTER FAIL

House lawmakers make minor changes to online schools bill, but stricter plans remain up in the air

Too little is being done by the majority of our legislators to check the issues with virtual charter schools.

From Chalkbeat

House lawmakers have added three new amendments to a bill designed to rein in online schools: measures targeting student residency, absences, and teacher training.

The new amendments unanimously passed Thursday and represented some of the few areas of bipartisan agreement over how Indiana should handle the troubled schools. Tougher proposals and amendments introduced this year and earlier have not gained traction with Republicans, who have been loathe to add regulations for charter schools in general.

WE'RE STILL TESTING, TESTING, TESTING

Bob Shepherd: How Long Will the Love Affair with Standardized Testing Go On?

From Diane Ravitch

As a nation, we are hypnotized by standardized tests and the scores they produce. We forget that the tests and the answers are written by human beings. The tests are not objective, except for the scoring, which is done by machine. Giving the same bad questions to all students does not reveal who learned the most or who is smartest. They do reveal who is best at figuring out what the person who wrote the question wants them to answer.

Bob Shepherd, who has written about curriculum, assessment, and is now teaching in Florida, writes:

“the field testing that ensued laid bare the intellectual bankruptcy of the testing”

ESA BILL THREATENS TO STEAL MORE PUBLIC FUNDS FROM PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Education savings accounts would be costly, wasteful

From School Matters

Hats off to Indiana’s nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency. Thanks to it, we can put a price tag on a proposal for a private-school voucher program open to all students, regardless of family income:

At least $170 million a year.

House Bill 1675, sponsored by Columbus Republican Ryan Lauer, would create what’s called an education savings account program. Students who attend accredited private schools could set up the accounts, and the state would deposit funds that they could use to pay tuition and other expenses.

Indiana can't afford voucher money-grab

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Southwest Allen County Schools Superintendent Phil Downs, who has closely tracked the financial effects of the voucher program on Indiana school districts, points out the cost of HB 1675 could double the cost of the state's voucher program.

“I would like to have it explained to me how this is fiscally conservative or responsible – at a time when per-student funding in the state has only grown at 10 percent over 10 years,” Downs said, noting a proposal to weaken the pension program for newly hired teachers. “I want to know how any of this shows that they value teachers at the level they claim they do.”

SCHOOLS MIRROR SOCIETY

2019 Medley #2: False Promises

From Live Long and Prosper

We keep looking for ways to fix public schools, but it's just as important for us look for ways to fix inequity and poverty. Our schools are just a mirror, reflecting the societal conditions our policy-makers, and we the voters, are unable or unwilling to correct. Until we focus on the source of the problem -- that some people are given rights and privileges denied to others -- we'll continue to fail.

"Students who enter charter school lotteries are not equivalent to students who don't. Plenty of research backs this up (see the lit review in this paper for a good summary of this research). Combine this with the high attrition rates in many "successful" charters, and the high suspension rates at many more, and you have a system designed to separate students by critical family characteristics that do not show up in student enrollment data." -- Jersey Jazzman

TEACHER DISRESPECT HAS CAUSED TEACHER SHORTAGE

There Is No Teacher Shortage

Attention Hoosier Legislators! There is NO teacher shortage!

From Curmudgucation

For almost twenty years (at least) the profession has been insulted and downgraded. Reformy idea after reformy idea has been based on the notion that teachers can't be trusted, that teachers can't do their job, that teachers won't do their jobs unless threatened. Teachers have been straining to lift the huge weight of education, and instead of showing up to help, wave after wave of policy maker, politician and wealthy dilettante have shown up to holler, "What's wrong with you, slacker! Let me tell you how it's supposed to be done." And in the meantime, teachers have seen their job defined down to Get These Kids Ready For A Bad Standardized Test.

And pay has stagnated or, in some states, been inching backwards. And not just pay, but financial support for schools themselves so that teachers must not only make do with low pay, but they must also make do with bare bones support for their workplace.

KOCHS PLAN TO END PUBLIC ED

Koch Brothers Plan to Disrupt Public Education, the “Lowest Hanging Fruit”

From Diane Ravitch

This is a shocking development: The infamous billionaire Koch brothers have a plan to disrupt American education, beginning with five states.

Their goal is to break up the public education system and enable public funding to flow to every kind of school, whether religious, private, homeschooling, for-profit, anything and everything. They call it “educational pluralism.” At the Koch Conference last year (700 people who paid $100,000 to attend), they declared that K-12 schooling was “the lowest hanging fruit,” and they planned to enter the field to disrupt public schools. Their ally Betsy DeVos paved the way.

The Koch brothers are living proof that this country needs a new tax structure to disrupt their billions, which they use to destroy whatever belongs to the public.

WHERE WILL TEACHERS STRIKE NEXT?

Where else teachers are primed to strike in 2019 — and why

From The Answer Sheet

In Indiana, where pay for teachers is below the national average, educators have pushed for lawmakers to increase salaries and school funding during the 2019 legislative session. Union leaders are not ruling out a strike. Last year, they decided not to join the strikes that spread from West Virginia to other states, including Oklahoma, Arizona and Kentucky.

The Indianapolis Star quoted union leaders as saying they would monitor the legislative session before deciding what to do. It said that although Indiana ranks about in the middle of states for teacher pay and class size, inflation-adjusted salaries for Indiana teachers dropped by more than 13 percentage points over the past 15 years. Indiana has one of the lowest per-pupil funding levels in the nation.

INDIANA VOTERS LOSE VOICE IN ED POLICY

Bill gives governor unusual power over schools

From School Matters

Legislators are fast-tracking a bill to give Indiana’s governor unusual power over education. If House Bill 1005 becomes law, the governor will soon be one of only five in the United States with total control over who serves as chief state school officer and on the state board of education.

The legislation would move up the effective date for having the governor appoint the chief state school officer. Current law gives the governor the appointment in January 2025; the bill moves the date to 2021.

The measure also changes the name Indiana’s chief state school officer from superintendent of public instruction to secretary of education. It was approved last week by the House and sent on to the Senate.

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #283 – March 6, 2017

Dear Friends,

A major expansion of K-12 vouchers is included in the pre-kindergarten expansion bill, House Bill 1004.

The Senate Education Committee will hold a hearing on House Bill 1004 in their next meeting on Wednesday, March 8 at 1:30pm in the Senate Chamber.

If you can’t come to testify against the bill, I urge you to contact members of the committee before the Wednesday afternoon meeting to ask them to:

• break the link between pre-K grants and K-12 vouchers, just as the Senators did in their own pre-K bill, Senate Bill 276.

• amend HB 1004 to delete Sections 21 and 22 that guarantee lifetime voucher eligibility for any student who ever received a pre-K grant “at any time”. These sections are not needed to expand pre-K.

• amend HB 1004 to undelete Section 18, language in current law that says: “The receipt of a grant under the pilot program does not qualify, nor have an effect on the qualification or eligibility, of a child for a Choice Scholarship.” Senator Kenley put this language in his 2014 bill that got pre-K started in Indiana. There is no reason this language should be repealed to plunge the debate into an argument about the privatization of our public schools.

The members of the Senate Education Committee to contact are:

Republican Senators Kruse, Raatz, Bassler, Crane, Freeman, Kenley, Leising and Zay

Democratic Senators Melton, Mrvan and Stoops

We must not entwine a highly controversial expansion of the K-12 private school voucher program with the much needed pre-K program.

Expanding K-12 Vouchers is Nearly as Expensive to Taxpayers as the Pre-K Expansion

House Bill 1004 makes every student that gets a pre-kindergarten grant eligible for a K-12 voucher for the rest of their 13 years of K-12 schooling. Some 2300 pre-K students would become eligible now based on the pre-K grants they have already received.

Eventually as the pre-K program grows to nearly universal levels, the expense of a K-12 voucher for nearly all students would fall on taxpayers as well.

The latest Legislative Services Agency fiscal note (Feb. 7) lists scenarios where pre-K students use a voucher to go on to kindergarten when they would “not attend public school otherwise” as costing the state between $5.9 million and $10.5 million, depending on whether family income would give them a 50% voucher or a 90% voucher. If all pre-K students “would have attended public school otherwise” but took a voucher instead, LSA says the state could save up to $4 million.

If the projected cost to taxpayers of $10 million turns out to be accurate, that means that the cost in HB 1004 for expanding K-12 vouchers is as high as the additional $10 million for pre-K expansion in the House budget.

Adding a K-12 voucher component to the pre-K bill doesn’t make sense in the budget.

I opposed HB 1004 in the House hearing because of this expensive and inappropriate link between pre-K and K-12 vouchers. This link does not currently exist in the pre-K pilot program, and it should not start now.

Continuity Is Not Mentioned in the Bill Language

Representative Behning, the bill sponsor, claimed that the reason for giving lifetime voucher eligibility to all students receiving pre-K grants is to allow continuity from private and religious pre-school programs to the private and religious kindergarten programs in the same school.

His language in the bill, however, says nothing about continuity. It says a voucher will go to any student who has received a pre-K grant “at any time” if they meet the family income guideline ($89,900). Thus, students attending public pre-K programs would also be eligible for a taxpayer-funded voucher. This provision, as cited above, could cost millions.

That is far more than a continuity rule. That is a pipeline to universal K-12 vouchers.

This bill would lock in eligibility for every child who receives a pre-school grant either from state funds or from private matching grant funds to receive a private school voucher for the next 13 years through high school.

Expanding to Higher Income Families

House Bill 1004 not only provides a lifetime private school voucher to every student receiving a pre-school grant, but it provides the voucher to wealthier families. HB 1004 expands eligibility for a school voucher to a family of four making $89,900, far more generous than the $67,432 income limit applied to most current applicants for a K-12 voucher. Only disabled students are currently allowed a voucher with the expanded $89,900 income cap.

All this makes HB 1004 the biggest K-12 voucher expansion since the 2013 session!

We must not make this important step for pre-school part of the march to privatize public education in Indiana.


I urge you to contact members of the Senate Education Committee before Wednesday (March 8) at 1:30pm to ask them to amend House Bill 1004 to delete Sections 21 and 22 and to restore Section 18 which is our current law quoted above separating pre-K grants and K-12 vouchers.

Ask them to amend House Bill 1004 to read like the Senate’s bill (SB 276) in expanding preschool without expanding K-12 private school vouchers.

We need to expand pre-K programs but it should not be done with a major increase in the K-12 voucher program.

Thank you for actively supporting public education in Indiana!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

“Vic’s Statehouse Notes” and ICPE received one of three Excellence in Media Awards presented by Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, an organization of over 85,000 women educators in seventeen countries. The award was presented on July 30, 2014 during the Delta Kappa Gamma International Convention held in Indianapolis. Thank you Delta Kappa Gamma!


ICPE has worked since 2011 to promote public education in the Statehouse and oppose the privatization of schools. We need your membership to help support ICPE lobbying efforts. As of July 1st, the start of our new membership year, it is time for all ICPE members to renew their membership.

Our lobbyist Joel Hand is again representing ICPE in the new budget session which began on January 3, 2017. We need your memberships and your support to continue his work. We welcome additional members and additional donations. We need your help and the help of your colleagues who support public education! Please pass the word!

Go to www.icpe2011.com for membership and renewal information and for full information on ICPE efforts on behalf of public education. Thanks!


Some readers have asked about my background in Indiana public schools. Thanks for asking! Here is a brief bio:

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969. I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor. I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009. I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #275 – February 12, 2017

Dear Friends,

If you are a voter, read this one right away.

The power of voters in Indiana is about to be reduced. Our democracy faces another hit.

As a voter, you can speak out to retain your power (1) as the Senate votes Monday on Senate Bill 179 and (2) at a Tuesday hearing on House Bill 1005. Both bills would remove from voters the power to elect the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

• Governor Holcomb wants the General Assembly to take away the power voters now have to elect the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and let him appoint a “secretary of education”.

I disagree. Voters have had that power for 166 years since 1851, and voters should retain their current power to shape education policy in Indiana through electing this independent office.

• Governor Holcomb wants the General Assembly to remove the residency requirement that the Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction be an Indiana resident for at least two years, opening the door to out-of-staters with no background in the history or development of Indiana’s schools.

I disagree. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction should be a leader who knows Indiana schools from personal experience.

• Governor Holcomb wants the General Assembly to open up the position of State Superintendent of Public Instruction to anyone who will serve “at the pleasure of and at a salary determined by the governor”. No qualifications are stated in HB 1005. Teaching experience or teaching licenses are not mentioned.

I disagree. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction should be a skilled and respected educator with experience in Indiana’s public schools. Voters have seen to that for 166 years, but making the office an executive appointment could give us a Betsy DeVos-like candidate with no teaching experience. That should not happen. I say we should leave it to the voters!

If you disagree with Governor Holcomb and want to retain your power as a voter, prompt action is needed:

1) The Senate has scheduled SB 179 for Monday Feb. 13th (tomorrow) for a vote on Senator Kenley’s amendment to first allow an advisory statewide referendum of all voters on this question before an historic change of this magnitude is approved. Contact any and all Senators before Monday at 1:30pm to say you support the referendum amendment and you oppose the bill taking power away from the voters.

2) Testimony for and against House Bill 1005 which would fulfill Governor Holcomb’s wish to appoint the State Superintendent will be heard in the House Education Committee this Tuesday, February 14, 2017 in the House Chamber. The meeting begins at 8:30am.

If you oppose removing this part of our heritage from the control of voters, you have a chance to show up Tuesday to speak against the bill.

If you can’t get to the Statehouse Tuesday, I urge you to contact members of the House Education Committee about your opposition to HB 1005 before the Tuesday meeting.

The members of the House Education Committee are:

Republican Representatives Behning, Cook, Burton, Clere, DeVon, Jordan, Lucas, Thompson and Wesco

Democratic Representatives V. Smith, DeLaney, Errington and Klinker.

The 1851 Constitution Made the State Superintendent an Independent Office Elected by the Voters

Since 1851, voters have controlled who serves as the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. The 1851 Constitution set the term of office as two years, and included the State Superintendent as a state official to be elected. A constitutional amendment in 1970 took the office out of the Constitution and gave the power to the General Assembly to decide how the State Superintendent would be chosen. The General Assembly at that time passed a law setting a four year term which first took effect with Harold Negley’s election in 1972.

Now in 2017, Governor Holcomb and Speaker Bosma, the sponsor of HB 1005, want to cut the voters out of the selection process.

If You Speak Against the Bill, You Will Not Be Alone

When this same concept was brought to the Senate Elections Committee on February 6, Senate Bill 179 passed 6-3, but it had the opposition of both Democratic Senator Tim Lanane, Senate Minority Leader and Republican Senator Dennis Kruse, chair of the Senate Education Committee. In fact, the bill was routed through the Senate Elections Committee rather than the Senate Education Committee because of the opposition of Senator Kruse.

Senator Kruse was quoted in the Indianapolis Star (Feb. 7, page 1A): “I am a strong believer in the election of the superintendent. I have been my whole life and will continue to be. I think it’s better to have the position elected than appointed. I think it gives another voice to the people.”

Amen.

For the people, however, to keep this voice, they are going to have to speak up promptly!

Voters Will Have to Speak Up for the Power of Voters

The power of voters is under attack here, and individual voters will need to speak out directly if they are going to turn this agenda around. We have seen it time and time again in this election cycle. People have turned out to express their positions. Will they turn out to retain the power of voters in choosing Indiana’s State Superintendent?

First, contact your Senator or all Senators to support the referendum amendment to SB 179 when it comes up on second reading on Monday.

Second, if you have strong feelings about taking this power away from voters, come and testify on Tuesday in the House Chamber. You can state your opposition in four sentences, but your presence would make a difference. Nothing about the process is convenient, but that is way it is. The meeting begins at 8:30 am. To testify on House Bill 1005, you need to sign in before 8:30 after going through security at the east or west doors and then wait to be called in the meeting, which can often be a long time.

It depends on how offended you feel as a voter that after 166 years you will no longer have a say in the selection of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Is anyone concerned about this diminishing power of voters in our democracy?

Of course, the Governor would like more power. Is anyone concerned that there will be no checks and balances on the Governor’s policies on education from an independently elected State Superintendent?

The ongoing historic debate of the past forty years has been over privatization and whether public money should be given to private schools. These bills to give the governor more power in this fundamental debate won’t take politics out of education as some have said but will only focus the historic privatization question on the governor’s race, which is also influenced by a myriad of other issues. Education will get lost in the shuffle of election issues.

Is anyone concerned that the name will change under HB 1005 from “State Superintendent of Public Instruction” to “Secretary of Education”? This is clearly a major step in the ongoing effort to unravel the long and proud heritage of public education in Indiana.

Here is your chance to stand up for your own power as a voter in our diminishing democracy! Contact Senators about SB 179 on Monday. Contact House members or come to the Statehouse on Tuesday regarding HB 1005 to speak up to retain the power that voters have had since 1851 to choose the State Superintendent.

Thanks for your dedicated support of public education!


Best wishes,

Vic Smith

“Vic’s Statehouse Notes” and ICPE received one of three Excellence in Media Awards presented by Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, an organization of over 85,000 women educators in seventeen countries. The award was presented on July 30, 2014 during the Delta Kappa Gamma International Convention held in Indianapolis. Thank you Delta Kappa Gamma!


ICPE has worked since 2011 to promote public education in the Statehouse and oppose the privatization of schools. We need your membership to help support ICPE lobbying efforts. As of July 1st, the start of our new membership year, it is time for all ICPE members to renew their membership.

Our lobbyist Joel Hand is again representing ICPE in the new budget session which began on January 3, 2017. We need your memberships and your support to continue his work. We welcome additional members and additional donations. We need your help and the help of your colleagues who support public education! Please pass the word!

Go to www.icpe2011.com for membership and renewal information and for full information on ICPE efforts on behalf of public education. Thanks!


Some readers have asked about my background in Indiana public schools. Thanks for asking! Here is a brief bio:

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969. I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor. I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009. I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #273 – February 6, 2017

Dear Friends,

In its meeting last Tuesday (Jan. 31), the House Education Committee passed the biggest K-12 voucher expansion since the 2013 session.

This voucher expansion is in a high profile bill to expand pre-kindergarten, House Bill 1004.

Senate Bill 276 also expands pre-kindergarten but without expanding vouchers. SB 276 deserves your active support while HB 1004 deserves your active opposition.

I urge all public school advocates to contact members of the Senate Education Committee before they vote on Wednesday February 8th (1:30pm) to support Senate Bill 276 as it stands with no link to K-12 vouchers.

The members of the Senate Education Committee are:

Republican Senators Kruse, Raatz, Bassler, Crane, Freeman, Kenley, Leising and Zay

Democratic Senators Melton, Mrvan and Stoops

Lifetime Vouchers for Pre-K ($6 M to $10.5 M): Approaching Half the Annual Funding for Pre-K Itself

House Bill 1004 gives a lifetime K-12 voucher to any student that gets a pre-kindergarten grant. The bill sets the income cap for this voucher expansion at a high level: $89,900 for a family of four. This is 200% of the reduced lunch income level and higher than most pathways to vouchers which are capped at 150% of the reduce lunch level.

The bill also doubles the number of families that can apply for a pre-K grant and thereby qualify for a lifetime voucher by raising the pre-K income cap from $31,000 to $67,000 (for a family of four).

This expensive voucher guarantee would eventually lead to voucher eligibility for all students.

Universal vouchers have long been the Holy Grail for voucher advocates like Representative Behning. Obviously if they can hitch vouchers to pre-K, they can ride the pre-K escalator up as it eventually expands to reach the goal of universal vouchers.

The expense of the voucher provision hurts the funding available for pre-K students. The non-partisan Legislative Services Agency estimated that giving vouchers to all pre-K students could cost the state between $6 and $10.5 million annually. The pre-K plan itself will cost the state $20 million annually. Clearly the money to be spent on vouchers would be better spent on raising the funding to help more pre-K students.

Senate Bill 276 expands the pre-K program without the expensive baggage of expanding the K-12 voucher program. Let Senators know that you support their approach and oppose using the pre-K bill as a cover to further expand K-12 vouchers.

It Could Have Been Worse

The original language of HB 1004 as presented by Representative Behning would have changed the income caps for all 50% vouchers to include all families of four up to $89,900, significantly lifting the current cap of $67,000 which has been in place since the fundamental compromise struck in 2011 to pass the historic voucher bill.

Before voting 9-4 to pass HB 1004, the committee approved Amendment 5 offered by Representative Ed DeLaney, who had detected this huge voucher expansion in the original language. Fortunately, Representative DeLaney’s amendment was approved, keeping the rest of the voucher program under current rules while the debate about voucher eligibility for pre-K students proceeds. Representative DeLaney should be thanked for his excellent work on this point.

Continuity Is Not Mentioned in the Bill Language

Representative Behning, the bill sponsor, claimed that the reason for giving lifetime voucher eligibility to all students receiving pre-K grants is to allow continuity from private and religious pre-school programs to the private and religious kindergarten programs in the same school. His language in the bill, however, does not say that. It says nothing about continuity. It says a voucher will go to any student who has received a pre-K grant “at any time” if they meet the income guideline ($89,900).

That is far more than a continuity rule. That is a pipeline to universal K-12 vouchers.

The program has been running effectively and with the strong support of parents for the past two years without any link to a lifetime voucher. The current language says: “The receipt of a grant under the pilot program does not qualify, nor have an effect on the qualification or eligibility, of a child for a Choice Scholarship.”

Senator Kenley put this language in his 2014 bill that got Pre-K started in Indiana. There is no reason this language should be repealed to plunge the debate into an argument about the privatization of our public schools. We are already well behind other states in providing pre-K to young children. Representative Behning supports the Governor in asking for only a $10 million increase while asking for an attached K-12 voucher program that would cost $6 million to $10 million.

Adding K-12 vouchers to pre-K doesn’t make sense in the budget.

Contact Senators on the Education Committee by Wednesday February 8th, 1:30pm

It is time to tell members Senate Education Committee listed above that you support SB 276 in its current language with no link to K-12 voucher expansion!

• Let them know that it would be wrong to entwine a highly controversial and expensive expansion of the K-12 private school voucher program with the much needed pre-K program.

• Let them know that you oppose the House pre-K bill (HB 1004) which makes expansion of pre-school part of the march to privatize public education in Indiana.

• Let them know that you support Senate Bill 276 and that you would strongly oppose any attempt to add amendments to link it to K-12 Choice Scholarships.

Public schools, in spite of their dire financial conditions, would have no choice but to make cuts in other areas to establish preschools to compete in the marketplace that now exists in Indiana. Under policies established by Sections 20 and 21 in HB 1004, public schools would need to be prominent in the pre-K arena in order to get their share of incoming kindergarteners, or their future enrollment would be seriously eroded with all the funding consequences that would bring.

Thank you for your dedicated support of public education!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

“Vic’s Statehouse Notes” and ICPE received one of three Excellence in Media Awards presented by Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, an organization of over 85,000 women educators in seventeen countries. The award was presented on July 30, 2014 during the Delta Kappa Gamma International Convention held in Indianapolis. Thank you Delta Kappa Gamma!


ICPE has worked since 2011 to promote public education in the Statehouse and oppose the privatization of schools. We need your membership to help support ICPE lobbying efforts. As of July 1st, the start of our new membership year, it is time for all ICPE members to renew their membership.

Our lobbyist Joel Hand is again representing ICPE in the new budget session which began on January 3, 2017. We need your memberships and your support to continue his work. We welcome additional members and additional donations. We need your help and the help of your colleagues who support public education! Please pass the word!

Go to www.icpe2011.com for membership and renewal information and for full information on ICPE efforts on behalf of public education. Thanks!


Some readers have asked about my background in Indiana public schools. Thanks for asking! Here is a brief bio:

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969. I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor. I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009. I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #251 – February 26, 2016

Dear Friends,

The push by the current leadership of the Indiana General Assembly to expand private school vouchers marches on.

Yesterday (Feb. 25) in the House Education Committee, Senate Bill 334 to expand vouchers by allowing spring semester transfers to voucher schools passed by a vote of 8-4. An amendment to focus the bill on the sponsor’s stated purpose to help drop outs failed on a 4-8 vote.

On the House floor debate on Senate Bill 93, a second reading amendment to delete the recommendation for a summer study on special education debit card savings account vouchers never materialized. A summer study of how special education funding can be given directly to parents via debit cards with no public oversight remains in the bill along with a long list of various unrelated provisions.

The authority of leadership makes sure that voucher bills will pass.

The clear theme of this session is that even in an election year the leadership of the General Assembly will continue to push Indiana to more and more private school vouchers any way they can.

A Case in Point: What Took So Long to Pass Senate Bill 334 Out of Committee?

Normally, when Chairman Behning hears a bill in the House Education Committee, he holds a vote on the day of the hearing. He held the hearing on SB 334 on Tuesday, Feb. 16th. The bill, however, didn’t pass the committee until the fourth meeting it was on the agenda on Feb. 25th. What took so long?

Representative Behning clearly supported SB 334 from the start. He has been the leading proponent of voucher expansion in the General Assembly, but when he held the SB 334 hearing on Feb. 16th, he no doubt realized he had a problem.

The hearing unexpectedly attracted more opponents than supporters by a ten to six margin. Opponents who testified represented both individuals from the community and a wide variety of school organizations. The main point of the opponents was that the bill’s stated rationale was to help The Crossing get help in the second semester for drop outs that need help. Calls to focus the bill on that population led to comments vocalized by committee members from both parties showing interest in narrowing the bill to drop out recovery.

Chairman Behning, father of the voucher program, no doubt wanted to maintain a broad voucher expansion and not limit the bill to helping drop outs. Senator Yoder, after all, the sponsor of SB 334, has been his key partner in the Senate in pushing the expansion of private school vouchers.

He had to do something to turn around the momentum of the bill and the support obviously building to narrow the focus to helping drop outs.

He did not take a vote after the Feb. 16th hearing, saying it would be put on the agenda for the next meeting on Feb. 18th. Feb. 18th came, and he announced it would be postponed until the Feb. 23rd meeting.

No doubt conversations with Republican members of the committee were starting that week to keep them in line behind the biggest expansion possible and against a limitation to focus on drop outs. On the voucher issue, starting with the historic voucher battle of 2011, I have heard stories from Republicans who did not support leadership on key voucher issues being “taken to the woodshed.” No doubt some of that was going on during the first week after the hearing.

Then on Feb. 23rd, to sweeten the deal and gain more advocates for the bill, Chairman Behning introduced amendments to SB 334 which had nothing to do with voucher expansion. One amendment, a concept which the Indiana Department of Education had asked for in a different bill, would add a second count date for special education enrollment each year, in addition to the current December 1 count. The second amendment added language to tighten up the identification of misbehaving teachers and protect students from abuse following the investigations at Park Tudor and the national study of similar investigations printed recently in the Indianapolis Star. Chairman Behning took extensive testimony on the amendments addressing these two themes, taking up the entire Feb. 23rd meeting on these new topics. Voucher expansion was not mentioned. He still did not take a vote.

By the time of yesterday’s House Education Committee meeting (Feb. 25th), any Republican members who had thought about narrowing the voucher expansion to drop out recovery were back in line except one. Representative Cook, a retired public school superintendent, courageously opposed the chairman and voted for an amendment to limit the spring semester vouchers to “eligible choice scholarship students who have been expelled from a public or an accredited nonpublic school.” This concept, Amendment 7, was offered by Representative Austin and was defeated 4-8, with Representative Cook joining the three Democrats present, Representatives Vernon Smith, Terri Austin and Sue Errington.

The final voucher expansion bill, with an new amendment to begin an “information-only” second special education count and a new amendment to address misbehaving teachers, was then passed 8 - 4, with the same four representatives opposing the voucher expansion.

Public education advocates should thank Representatives Cook, Vernon Smith, Austin and Errington for standing up for public education and opposing the biggest voucher expansion bill since the 2013 expansion.

Senate Bill 334 now goes to the House Ways and Means Committee scheduled to meet at 8:30 am on Monday, February 29th in Room 404. If you don’t like the way voucher expansion bills keep rolling out from the current Indiana General Assembly, write next to the members of the House Ways and Means Committee and let them know where you stand.

Take a moment to send a message by 8:30 Monday morning to the House Ways and Means Committee members to oppose Senate Bill 334 unless it is amended to focus the bill on drop out recovery. Tell them they should not expand vouchers generally to promote spring semester transfers.

Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee include Representative Tim Brown, chair; Representative Cherry, vice-chair; and Representatives Karickhoff, Baird, Truitt, Thompson, Leonard, Braun, Clere, Davisson, Huston, Mayfield, Negele, Ober, Slager, and Sullivan.

Democrats on the committee include Representative Porter, ranking member; and Representatives DeLaney, Goodin, Klinker, Niezgodski, Pryor, Riecken and Stemler.

Democracy is not a spectator sport. Your messages make all the difference!

Thanks for your strong support of public education!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

“Vic’s Statehouse Notes” and ICPE received one of three Excellence in Media Awards presented by Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, an organization of over 85,000 women educators in seventeen countries. The award was presented on July 30, 2014 during the Delta Kappa Gamma International Convention held in Indianapolis. Thank you Delta Kappa Gamma!

ICPE has worked since 2011 to promote public education in the Statehouse and oppose the privatization of schools. We need your membership to help support ICPE lobbying efforts. As of July 1st, the start of our new membership year, it is time for all ICPE members to renew their membership.

Our lobbyist Joel Hand continues to represent ICPE during the 2016 short session. We need your memberships and your support to continue his work. We welcome additional members and additional donations. We need your help and the help of your colleagues who support public education! Please pass the word!

Go to www.icpe2011.com for membership and renewal information and for full information on ICPE efforts on behalf of public education. Thanks!

Some readers have asked about my background in Indiana public schools. Thanks for asking! Here is a brief bio:

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969. I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor. I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009. I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #239 – January 12, 2016

Dear Friends,

On January 4th, Governor Pence and Republican leaders of both the House and the Senate announced their support for “hold harmless” bills to protect both teachers and schools from the negative effects of the transition to tougher ISTEP tests. Governor Pence, Speaker Bosma and Senate President Pro Tem Long had committed this fall to protecting teacher compensation but had not committed to protecting school letter grades until January 4th.

Thus, the Republican leaders finally agreed with State Superintendent Ritz who called for “hold harmless” protections a year and a half ago both for teachers and for school letter grades.

Then on January 6th, with newly clarified bipartisan support, HB 1003 passed the House Education Committee unanimously removing any impact from the 2014-15 ISTEP transition year on teacher evaluations and teacher bonuses.

In the afternoon of the same day, SB 200 passed the Senate Education Committee 10-1 removing any impact of the 2014-15 ISTEP tests on A-F school letter grades.

Today January 12th, just six days later, HB 1003 passed the House on third reading 95-1, and SB 200 passed the Senate on third reading 48-1.

These bills are the right thing to do in the transition year to new standards and tougher tests. Let your legislators know you support quick approval of both bills as each now moves to the other house.

House Bill 1003

Representative Behning, chair of the House Education Committee, unveiled the final language to protect teacher evaluations and teacher bonuses in Wednesday’s committee meeting (Jan. 6th). State Superintendent Ritz was the first one to be called on for testimony, and she strongly supported the concept.

HB 1003 specifies that after state bonus money is distributed to school districts, it must be distributed to teachers within twenty days.

The bill passed the committee unanimously.

On second reading yesterday (Jan. 11), Representative Delaney tried to add an amendment to say that these discredited ISTEP scores should not be used to qualify new students to be eligible for vouchers because they live in a school attendance area of an F school. His valiant effort went down to defeat on a party line vote, 27-68.

After approval today on a 95-1 vote, it now moves to the Senate Education Committee for consideration tomorrow, January 13th.

Hanging questions have been raised about HB 1003: How complicated will it be to assess both the best set of test scores and the best school letter grade for each and every teacher, especially in large school districts? Will it be possible to do this analysis and distribute the money in twenty days as the bill calls for? Is the mandate to use test scores still in place for this transition year?

Despite the questions, the bill should pass quickly to allow teachers to get their overdue compensation.

Senate Bill 200

Senator Kruse, chair of the Senate Education Committee, presented his bill to hold harmless school letter grades at the first meeting of the committee Wednesday afternoon, January 6th. Under the bill, a school’s letter grade “may not be lower than” the letter grade received in the previous 2013-14 school year.

Despite the strong bipartisan support, the bill was opposed in testimony by the Institute for Quality Education, a well-funded group that lobbies strongly for more private school vouchers. They apparently prefer the plan to see the number of F schools skyrocket in this ISTEP crisis so that students living in the attendance areas of those F schools would automatically become eligible for a private school voucher, even if they have always been attending a private school.

The pro-voucher group opposed SB 200 even though the bill carries a new benefit for voucher schools, reducing the accountability levels for private schools participating in the voucher program. Under current law in IC 20-51-4-9, if a voucher school gets a D or an F two years in a row, the consequences are that new voucher students can’t get a voucher to go to that school, although the students who have been going to the school may keep getting taxpayer-funded vouchers. SB 200 changes this provision for this year, taking away the penalty for getting a D, saying “the department may not apply the consequences unless the school was placed in the lowest category or designation for the 2014-15 school year.”

It is expensive to taxpayers to pay for private school tuition, and the Institute for Quality Education would like to see those costs to taxpayers go even higher, while ignoring the poor quality of the 2014-15 ISTEP letter grade formula. This marks the first time in my memory when Governor Pence and the Institute for Quality Education were not in mutual agreement on a major education bill.

Hanging questions have also been raised about SB 200: Shouldn’t we have a two-year transition to new tests? Shouldn’t those schools currently on the bubble for state intervention get extra consideration since it is not clear they truly deserve another F using this discredited ISTEP?

Senate Bill 200 reflects the bipartisan consensus that has been reached to prevent the transition to tougher standards and tests from lowering school letter grades in the wake of drastically lower passing rates approved by the State Board of Education for the new test.

Fast Track by January 19th

Representative Behning said on the floor of the House yesterday that an agreement has been made to fast track HB 1003 with a goal for passage in both houses and the Governor’s signature by January 19th.

When the General Assembly has the consensus and the will, it can take fast action to pass legislation. Last spring, the bill to fix the RFRA legislation was written, passed and signed into law in about a three day span. Fast action is needed on SB 200 and HB 1003 to get promised bonuses and compensation to teachers and to meet letter grade deadlines.

Fast action was actually needed earlier on Organization Day in November, as some legislators had proposed. If action to “hold harmless” had been taken then, no school reputations would have been sullied when preliminary grades were released and teachers would already have their bonus money.

That said, fast action is needed now, and you can help. Let legislators know you support fast action on HB 1003 and SB 200.

Thank you for your advocacy for public education!


Best wishes,

Vic Smith


“Vic’s Statehouse Notes” and ICPE received one of three Excellence in Media Awards presented by Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, an organization of over 85,000 women educators in seventeen countries. The award was presented on July 30, 2014 during the Delta Kappa Gamma International Convention held in Indianapolis. Thank you Delta Kappa Gamma!


ICPE has worked since 2011 to promote public education in the Statehouse and oppose the privatization of schools. We need your membership to help support ICPE lobbying efforts. As of July 1st, the start of our new membership year, it is time for all ICPE members to renew their membership.

Our lobbyist Joel Hand continues to represent ICPE during the 2016 short session. We need your memberships and your support to continue his work. We welcome additional members and additional donations. We need your help and the help of your colleagues who support public education! Please pass the word!

Go to www.icpe2011.com for membership and renewal information and for full information on ICPE efforts on behalf of public education. Thanks!


Some readers have asked about my background in Indiana public schools. Thanks for asking! Here is a brief bio:

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969. I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor. I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009. I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.

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