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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Indiana Republicans have expanded school choice so aggressively since 2011 that you’d think there would be almost nothing left to do. We know there will be a push to make the voucher program “universal,” extending public funding for private school tuition to the wealthiest 3% of Hoosier families – a top priority for GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike Braun. But legislators may have other tricks up their sleeves. The 2025 legislative session stars in January, so we’ll find out soon." -- Steve Hinnefeld in School Matters blog, ‘School choice’ backers bankroll Indiana GOP
WHO PAID FOR INDIANA'S REPUBLICAN SUPERMAJORITY?
‘School choice’ backers bankroll Indiana GOP
The "Hoosiers" behind school "choice" funding are not all from Indiana.
From School Matters
Why is “expanding school choice” always at the top of Indiana Republican’s policy agenda even though few Hoosiers are clamoring for it? The old saying holds true: Follow the money.
Hoosiers for Quality Education, which advocates for private school vouchers and charter schools, is one of the top contributors to Republican legislative candidates’ campaigns. It gave GOP candidates and committees nearly $250,000 in the past six months.
The group gave $150,000 to the House Republican Campaign Committee, far more than any other PAC. (Indiana Realtors were in second with $40,000). It also gave generously, as much as $10,000, to individual candidates.
While the group calls itself “Hoosiers,” nearly all its money comes from out of state. This year, it got $375,000 from Walmart heir Jim Walton of Bentonville, Arkansas. In the past five years, Jim Walton and his sister, Alice Walton, have given the group over $1.2 million.
Hoosiers for Quality Education, the political arm of a nonprofit called the Institute for Quality Education, gave far more to Republican legislative candidates than groups that are often thought of as GOP cash cows, like the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, the Insurance PAC and the Builders’ Association. Only the Realtors gave significantly more, and some of its contributions went to Democrats.
And it’s not the only group that’s pushing school choice at the Statehouse. Hoosiers for Great Public Schools, organized by former Democratic Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, spent $151,000, nearly all of it in contributions. Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix, has bankrolled the group with $1.2 million since 2020.
Hoosiers for Quality Education and Hoosiers for Great Public Schools donate exclusively to Republican candidates...
EDUCATION TOPICS - PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Support public education in this year's election.
Children and the Presidency: X-Rated or Fine for Prime Time?
From Nancy Bailey's Education Website
As the election approaches, the stakes of how and what children learn, what they see and hear from both Presidential candidates, couldn’t be more different and critical for the future of America’s children. Breaking it down for kids, one candidate is X-rated, and the other is fine for prime time!
For years, former President Trump’s behavior has created problems in how parents and teachers teach children good behavior and respect for one another. His vulgar ramblings often have nothing to do with policy.
The other candidate, VP Kamala Harris, reaches out to voters even if one has some policy differences and speaks respectfully. The TV can be left on when children are in the room. She appears to genuinely care about people.
There have been concerns about how Trump’s behavior affects America’s children and schools.
Anti-Public Schools
Trump said he’d defund public schools, democratic schools owned by Americans, if school officials don’t do as he says. How must this sound to a child who likes attending their public school?
His claims are often outlandish. He has accused teachers of doing sex change operations!
Has Donald Trump ever visited any public schools?
Kamala Harris Is the Right Choice. She Would Be an Education President
From Jan Resseger
Trump’s Election Would Endanger the Public Schools
First Focus on Children’s education policy director, Lily Klam defines core principles that have long been understood as the foundation of the institution of public schooling: “The purpose of public education has always been to give the nation’s children the knowledge, skills, tools, and development they need to thrive as individuals and as citizens of our democracy.” Klam describes the federal government’s role: providing “strong federal oversight of education to ensure that all children—including those from low-income families, those with disabilities, those experiencing homelessness, English language learners, and other underserved student groups—have the same access to the resources they need to thrive, regardless of their family status, the state in which they live, or other disparities. In addition to serving the needs of students across diverse parts of the country, our federal education infrastructure also houses the Office for Civil Rights, making it the nexus of student protection.”
Trump has already declared his support for several of the dangerous policies described in Project 2025, a proposal developed by the Heritage Foundation and many former Trump administration officials. If Trump is elected and follows through on his education promises, Klam fears the implications: “One of the (Project 2025) agenda’s most alarming proposals advocates for giving all parents ‘the option to direct his or her child’s share of education funding through an education savings account (ESA)’… (T)axpayer dollars will be used to subsidize the private, oftentimes religious, education of wealthy students, at the expense of the nearly 90% of U.S. students who attend public schools. It’s hard to overstate the destruction that this plan would inflict on the U.S. public education system. Directing each child’s education funding share to an ESA would rob public schools across the country of the funding they need to operate and would force tens of thousands of them to shut down or drastically reduce education services to children. This scenario has already played out in many states that have enacted school voucher and privatization schemes. Executed at the national level, these schemes would radically exacerbate existing inequities, cause extreme teacher shortages and layoffs, and create huge disparities in access to a quality education… The largest federal education (funding) streams, including Title I and IDEA, were created to ensure greater equity for students with disabilities and students in low-income families. The Project 2025 agenda is designed to do the exact opposite: Use government funds to create more inequity in education, especially for the most underserved students.”
STATE POLICIES MATTER
Policies Matter
Down ballot races matter, too. State and local elected officials have an impact on education.
From Sheila Kennedy
[An] article...from the American Prospect—focuses on educational vouchers, a policy choice I frequently discuss. The article warns that Red state expansion of universal school vouchers is likely to have profound impact on the lives of young people.
As states race to pay for families to send their kids to private schools, blowing up state budgets in the process, the schools attended by the vast majority of kids will be left with far fewer resources, blunting their prospects. By design, funds are being shifted away from students in poor and rural areas and into the pockets of affluent parents, entrenching inequality in the process.Among the other detriments of these programs is an almost-total lack of oversight. In Arizona, for example, parents are allowed to direct education funds, not just to the school of their choice, but to anything they might call “education.”
ANOTHER CHARTER CLOSES ABRUPTLY
D.C.: Celebrated Charter School Closes Its Doors Abruptly
Choose public schools for stability.
From Diane Ravitch
A charter school in D.C. that opened in 2003 and had a reputation built on its services to students with disabilities suddenly closed, with minimal notice to students, teachers, and parents.
Its finances had been shaky for a long time, and its enrollment had declined. Yet no one anticipated its sudden closure.
As it happens, the Network for Public Education reported only days ago on the frequency of charter school closures. Its report is called Doomed to Fail. It’s sad but true that charter schools have an unusually high record of transience. Parents can’t be sure that the charter school they chose will keep its doors open for more than a year, or three, or five.
†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.
