Vic’s Election Notes on Education #42– November 1, 2016

Dear Friends,

[Note: There is no link between “Vic’s Election Notes on Education” and any organization.]

---

Will the voters of Indiana remember?

Over 1.3 million voters cast ballots for Glenda Ritz in 2012, more than the total cast for Mike Pence in the 2012 Governor’s race.

Over 1.3 million voters thought they had corrected the direction of education of Indiana by voting for Glenda Ritz over Tony Bennett. They thought the State Superintendent of Public Instruction could lead education policy.

The correction away from Tony Bennett’s policies didn’t happen. Governor Mike Pence blocked her efforts to carry out the education policies she had run on including fewer high stakes tests. He showed all Hoosier voters that the real person needed to change the direction of education in Indiana is a new governor.

Mike Pence moved quickly to marginalize the power of the State Superintendent in ways that had never been done before:

• He set up his own education agency in competition with the Indiana Department of Education, a move which became so controversial he had to back away from it.

• He appointed members of the State Board of Education determined to question every policy proposal brought by Superintendent Ritz and to challenge her leadership.

• He gave the State Board of Education members their own independent staff and attorneys to monitor Ritz’s every action, a situation never envisioned or even hinted at when Governor Orr reorganized the State Board of Education into the current structure in 1984.

• He actively supported Senate Bill 1 in the 2015 General Assembly to have Glenda Ritz removed as chair of the State Board while she was still in her first elected term.

Were the 1.3 million voters outraged as I was by this political blockade on the part of Governor Pence?

Governor Pence acted as if the election of Glenda Ritz meant nothing about changing Tony Bennett’s policies. The voters need to deliver the message again on November 8th.

Will voters in Indiana remember all these efforts to undermine the elected State Superintendent and will they be outraged enough to put her back in office, this time with a Governor friendly to her policies, John Gregg?

That would be the best plan to move Indiana forward to solve problems of high stakes testing, teacher shortages and privatization that form the legacy of the Tony Bennett era.

Voters have only one shot every four years to influence policies of the Governor and the State Superintendent. In between elections, voters couldn’t stop the efforts of Governor Pence to undermine the powers of the elected State Superintendent, but they can have their say now on November 8th.

I hope you will join me in supporting a team that agrees on education policy: Glenda Ritz for State Superintendent and John Gregg for Governor.

[Please note: Indiana Code 3-14-1-17 says that government employees including public school employees may not “use the property of the employee’s government employer to” support the “election or defeat of a candidate” and may not distribute this message “on the government employer’s real property during regular working hours.” Ironically, the law does not prevent private school employees from using computers purchased with public voucher money to distribute campaign materials. Private schools now financed in part by public voucher dollars have retained all rights under Indiana’s voucher laws to engage in partisan political campaigns.]

A Positive Re-election Campaign While Voters Remember Senate Bill 1

Glenda Ritz should be commended in the current re-election campaign for running on her positive record and for not reminding the voters about the blatant political attempts to undermine her tenure in office. She has maintained her focus on student learning and school improvement and has helped 193 schools get off the list of low-performing schools. She is fighting to make optional Pre-K available to all families who want it. In her campaign commercials to date, she has not reminded voters of how Governor Pence undermined the authority of the State Superintendent and the Indiana Department of Education.

Nevertheless, the voters should remember the Governor’s political attacks. Senate Bill 1, passed by the General Assembly in April 2015, was a direct affront to the power of voters. Since 1908, the State Superintendent had served as chair of the State Board of Education. Senate Bill 1 removed that power from the State Superintendent and gave the power to name the chair to the appointees of the Governor on the State Board. Diminishing the powers of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction was an obvious symbol of diminishing Indiana’s priority on public education.

Senate Bill 1 as proposed removed the State Superintendent as chair of the State Board immediately, even before the end of her first elected term of office. At the last minute, apparently thinking that voters would be outraged by this level of partisanship, the General Assembly supermajority backed off and left Glenda Ritz as chair of the State Board until after the 2016 election. Going forward, members of the State Board which are mostly appointed by the Governor will elect the chair.

Therefore in the November 8th election, voters have less power. Voters can no longer directly select the chair of the State Board of Education but only indirectly through a vote for the Governor.

Was Senate Bill 1 really the way democracy is supported to work? The voters in 2012 had a chance to ratify the policies of State Superintendent Tony Bennett, but they didn’t. They chose instead to elect State Superintendent Ritz, decisively. The 1.3 million voters were extremely clear.

According to Senate Bill 1, however, the voters were wrong. The voters do not, according to Senate Bill 1, have the power to pick the chair of the State Board of Education. The Governor and his activist board members did not like the priorities and policies of the new State Superintendent. They systematically worked for two years to diminish her power in order to win the philosophical battles on education policies including debates on teacher training, teacher evaluations, student testing, administrator training, and school letter grades.

In my observation, this effort began in July 2013 in the first meeting of the newly appointed board when Superintendent Ritz was presenting her vision for improving reading. She is after all a literacy specialist and she did after all win the election, but her presentation was interrupted and cut off by one board member and tabled before she could even finish the presentation. Two years later, the Governor’s efforts to take complete control of education policy culminated in a legislative priority in the 2015 General Assembly to permanently reduce the powers of the State Superintendent.

Senate Bill 1 was a partisan bill that raised the powers of appointed State Board members above the powers of the voters. It clearly diminished our democracy.

We pride ourselves on being a democracy with powers of government derived from the voters. Clearly Senate Bill 1 took power from the voters. It was wrong to do that. The voters need to send the message again, this time by voting for both Glenda Ritz and a Governor that will support her policies, John Gregg.

Senate Bill 1 took power from the voters, an affront which should be remembered on November 8th.

The best response to Senate Bill 1 is for the voters to elect John Gregg. He will appoint State Board members who support the policies of Glenda Ritz.

On September 26, 2016 speaking at the ISBA conference at the Indianapolis Convention Center, John Gregg said, “When my running mate and I win, that is the moment the war against public education ends.” (Indianapolis Star, 9-27-16, p.6A)

May it be so. I hope you will vote for Glenda Ritz for State Superintendent and John Gregg for Governor on November 8th.

Thanks for your strong advocacy for public education!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

There is no link between “Vic’s Election Notes on Education” and any organization. Please contact me at vic790@aol.com to add an email address or to remove an address from the distribution list.

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.

###

Vic’s Election Notes on Education #34– June 2, 2016

Dear Friends,

Note: There is no link between “Vic’s Election Notes on Education” and any organization.

_____

Representative Christina Hale, a strong advocate for public education in the General Assembly, is an excellent choice by John Gregg to be our next Lieutenant Governor.

I am happy to endorse her candidacy and to recommend that all voters who put support of public education at the top of their priorities get behind the John Gregg/ Christina Hale ticket.


[Please note: Indiana Code 3-14-1-17 says that government employees including public school employees may not “use the property of the employee’s government employer to” support the “election or defeat of a candidate” and may not distribute this message “on the government employer’s real property during regular working hours.” Ironically, the law does not prevent private school employees from using computers purchased with public voucher money to distribute campaign materials. Private schools now financed in part by public voucher dollars have retained all rights under Indiana’s voucher laws to engage in partisan political campaigns.]

Christina Hale and Public Education

I first met Christina Hale at a meeting during the fall of 2012 where I spoke about public education and she was introduced as a candidate for House District 87.

She was running for the House seat of Representative Cindy Noe, one of 56 Republicans who voted to pass the private school voucher law in the previous General Assembly over the objections of public school advocates across Indiana. Christina Hale challenged Representative Noe after that historic session and won a narrow victory in the November 2012 election.

Once in the General Assembly, Representative Hale has strongly supported public education. She opposed Governor Pence’s massive expansion of the private school voucher program in 2013, an expansion that cost taxpayers an added expense of $40 million in 2014-15 according to figures documented in the state’s annual financial report on the voucher program. She voted against the 2015 budget which raised the money going to K-8 private school vouchers and to private school tax credit scholarships by $10 million over two years. In 2016, she voted against the bill to expand vouchers by extending applications to begin spring semester.

Christina Hale has established a record that all advocates for public education can get behind.

Mike Pence vs. John Gregg

The tickets for the gubernatorial race in Indiana are now set.

Mike Pence and his running mate Eric Holcomb strongly support the continuous annual expansion of private school vouchers. They clearly favor private schools and using taxpayer money to privatize education in Indiana.

Governor Pence has thrown Governor Mitch Daniels’ advice to “try public school first” under the bus. In his first legislative session in 2013, Governor Pence’s expansion law added four paths to eligibility for vouchers which allowed thousands of students who had never tried public schools to get a taxpayer funded voucher to go to the private or religious school that they had always attended. There was no new choice made, but they still got a Choice Scholarship. This was done without telling the taxpayers that it would cost $40 million per year, a figure documented for 2014-15 in the state report on Choice Scholarships issued in June, 2015.

John Gregg and his running mate Christina Hale strongly support public education and oppose the expansion of private school vouchers. They clearly support public schools and focusing taxpayer money on public schools.

John Gregg has made it clear in a 2015 speech that I heard that when he is elected “the war on public schools will end.” He said he is “100% against vouchers.” He said he would oppose any expansion of vouchers with a veto if necessary. He said we should separate voucher expenses as an independent line item in the budget for transparency, a step that Governor Pence has refused to take.

The record is clear and the choice is clear about which ticket will best support public education.

All voters who give a high priority to supporting public education in Indiana should note the stark difference in the candidates in the way they support public schools and get behind the Gregg/Hale ticket.

The future of public education in Indiana is riding on this election. The stakes are high in our bicentennial year.

Thanks for standing up in support of public education!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

There is no link between “Vic’s Election Notes on Education” and any organization. Please contact me at vic790@aol.com to add an email address or to remove an address from the distribution list.

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.

###

Vic’s Election Notes on Education #27– October 6, 2015

Dear Friends,

This is the first “Vic’s Election Notes on Education” for 2015. Notes under this title contain my commentaries on election candidates and my personal candidate endorsements. There is no link between “Vic’s Election Notes on Education” and any organization.
__________________________________________________________________

Public education advocates should know that John Gregg, candidate for Governor in 2016, has declared himself as a strong supporter of public education. In his 2012 race for Governor, his stance on public education seemed to be best characterized as non-involvement.

That has changed.

In the August 29th meeting of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education, held in Indianapolis at the Dean Evans Center, John Gregg spoke clearly and directly about his support of public education. He did so in the presence of the State Superintendent Ritz, who was described as his “go to person” on education and who also spoke at the meeting.

After I heard him speak and then reflected on it, I decided that John Gregg deserves my full personal support for Governor in order to restore public education in Indiana to a high priority. I recommend that you read what he said and then make your choice as well.

[Please note: Indiana Code 3-14-1-17 says that government employees including public school employees may not “use the property of the employee’s government employer to” support the “election or defeat of a candidate” and may not distribute this message “on the government employer’s real property during regular working hours.” Ironically, the law does not prevent private school employees from using computers purchased with public voucher money to distribute campaign materials. Private schools now financed in part by public voucher dollars have retained all rights under Indiana’s voucher laws to engage in partisan political campaigns.]

John Gregg’s Comments on Public Education

• John Gregg began his comments at the meeting by saying that when he is elected Governor, “the war on public schools will end”. He said that many “wanted to blame everything on public schools.”

• He said when he is elected, the war on the policies of the elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz will be over.

• He said during the eight budgets he worked on in the House of Representatives, there was more money for public schools every time.

• He said he is “100% against vouchers.” He said when he was Speaker of the House, several voucher bills were filed and he assigned them to the Rules Committee, well known as the committee where bills die.

• He said we would “stop expansion” of vouchers and that we should “audit the choice schools.” He said as Governor he would oppose any expansion of vouchers with a veto if necessary.

• He said we should separate voucher expenses as an independent line item in the budget.

• He said we should limit the income base for choice scholarships.

• He said that we should reform the Scholarship Granting Organization tax credit scholarships. While we should eliminate the tax credit program “altogether”, it will take several “steps along the way” to accomplish that.

• He said public schools are a source of “community pride.” He said that closing the public school “killed my home town.” He said he “hates to see what we’ve done” to our public schools.

• He said we should “expand civics and government” in our schools. He said Indiana was “dead last in voter participation” last year.

• He said we should “remove unnecessary testing.”

• He said he would follow the lead of State Superintendent Ritz on education policies such as parental opt out policies.

• He said he would ask for the resignation of all State Board of Education members appointed by the Governor to make sure we have a board willing to work with State Superintendent Ritz.

The Choice in 2016

These are unusual times. It appears that even before the November 2015 municipal elections, the candidates for Governor in November 2016 are clear. The incumbent Mike Pence will face the challenger John Gregg.

The choice for public education advocates is clear. Governor Mike Pence has favored policies sending ever increasing amounts of public tax dollars to private and religious schools through the voucher program. Candidate John Gregg supports public education and opposes vouchers.

As Governor, Mike Pence worked hard to pass a huge expansion to Governor Daniels’ voucher program in 2013, and then followed that up with pushing for more dollars going to private school vouchers in the 2015 budget. He is dedicated to giving more and more public money to private schools.

Governor Pence’s 2013 voucher expansion meant that many students no longer had to attend a public school first to get a voucher as Governor Daniels wanted. Governor Daniels gave a speech at Harvard after the 2011 voucher plan was passed saying that Indiana did it right by having families try public schools first. Then if they didn’t like their school, they could transfer with a voucher to a private school.

His plan saved the state money because vouchers were nearly all going to students transferring from public schools to cheaper private schools. This money saving feature helped sell the program to legislators in the original voucher battle in 2011.

Governor Pence threw Governor Daniels’ money-saving voucher plan under the bus in 2013.

With Governor Pence’s 2013 expansion, several pathways allowed students who had never attended a public school to get a voucher to pay for their private school. In other words, vouchers were no longer about funding a new choice.

Governor Pence arranged for taxpayers to start paying for religious school tuition for families that had already made the choice to go to private schools from the start. Each such student meant the state had to pay for the voucher as a new fiscal cost, approximately $5000 per voucher. IDOE fiscal analysts reported that the net fiscal cost to the taxpayers in 2014-15 was an astounding $40 million, up from $15 million in 2013-14, in the Choice Scholarship Annual Program Report, dated June, 2015.

If Mike Pence had campaigned in 2012 on a platform saying, “I’m going to get $40 million from the General Assembly to pay for the private and religious school tuition of 8379 current private and religious school students who have never tried a public school, but I’m only going to ask for $10 million for preschool and $0 for statewide teacher professional development”, I doubt if he would have been elected.

John Gregg has said he supports public education, as you have read above. He deserves the support of every public school advocate. He will need grassroots support from members of all parties who consider public education a high priority when they vote.

With the election over a year away and the stakes this high, it is time for public school advocates to go to work at the grassroots. Talk to friends and family about the clear difference in the two candidates on public school issues. Talk with them about the attacks on public schools and the need to stop them. Talk with them about the future of public schools in Indiana. It is time to go to work if a strong public education system is one of your priorities.

The stakes are high. We need a strong Governor who will reverse the low priority given to public education in recent years and stop the efforts to privatize our public schools.

Good luck in your work!

Thanks for advocating in support of public education!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

There is no link between “Vic’s Election Notes on Education” and any organization. Please contact me at vic790@aol.com to add an email address or to remove an address from the distribution list.

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.

###