Defending Democracy

Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer is the chair of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education–Monroe County. If you live in South Central Indiana you can join ICPE–Monroe County HERE. Elsewhere in Indiana join the Indiana Coalition for Public Education.

Below is the text to the speech she gave at the Celebration and Rally for Public Education at the Indiana Statehouse on Monday, February 20, 2017

“We are here once again to celebrate and rally to protect public education.

We’ve been here before.

Four years ago, we rallied to stop the spread of vouchers. Back then, in 2013, in the name of “school choice,” 37 million of our public tax dollars were siphoned away from public education to private, mostly religious schools. Today that number is near $134 MILLION.

Two years ago, we were here protesting the move by Gov. Pence and the state legislature to strip our then-superintendent, Glenda Ritz, of the role and responsibilities we elected her to perform. Today, there is a bill here in the statehouse that would now make that moot. The superintendent of public instruction will now be an appointed position instead of allowing the voters to decide. This is democracy in Indiana.

Now, in 2017, we are living in a Brave New World. Governor Pence is now vice-president Pence. And we have at the head of our nation’s education department a billionaire lobbyist, Betsy DeVos, who has no public school experience, no education background, and who has made it her life’s mission to destroy our system of public education. She has been quoted as saying that we must open up the “education industry because it is currently a “dead end, a monopoly.” She said, “government truly sucks.” Now she IS the government that she despises. A Brave New World, indeed.

We’re familiar with this rhetoric here in Indiana where DeVos’ friends in our legislature, as well as those donating to their campaign coffers, have said similar things. This is the narrative of corporate education reformers who disdainfully call our public schools “government” schools and who have been passing ALEC legislation for the past several years in order to dismantle it.

When we object, they accuse us of “defending the status quo” and argue that our schools are “failing.” They pass laws to void our votes while saying they want POLITICS out of education. SO: How do we fight back?

First, we must turn these words around and take back the narrative! We need to celebrate our successes in public schools, but we also must point out that the purpose of education is not to produce workers in the interest of the corporate world. My children are not widgets in a factory. I send my children to public schools to learn to become citizens for a democracy. They learn to respect people who think differently from them, who come from different backgrounds, and they find common ground. They find friendship. It’s not about a parents “right” to “choose.” We don’t ask for choices—we ask for healthy, vibrant public schools. No child is more deserving than another. The focus on personal choice distracts us from our collective, social responsibility for educating ALL of our country’s children. It also covers up the fact that “school choice” is actually about schools choosing the students—and creating separate (but equal?) systems of education that are not accountable, increasing the disparity in education outcomes and dividing our communities. This goes against our democratic ideals.

Second, we must organize and act. The outcry and controversy around the confirmation of DeVos should give us hope. Our country supports public education!

SO: Write letters to the editor, call your elected officials, form your own chapter of ICPE! We have some amazing parents from the Washington Township Parent Council in our midst and I’d like to give them a shout out for REPRESENTING all parents at education committee hearings and testifying. Thank you for standing up for public education. They are a great example of what engagement looks like. We should all do the same in our own communities.

Third, we must engage politically. There is NO WAY to take politics out of education. Many people are reluctant to get “political.” Politics is not about Republican or Democrat. Politics is about your relationship to power. We are in the middle of one of the greatest power struggles for control of our public community schools that we have ever seen. I think they WANT you to feel disenfranchised and hopeless about politics. Why else do they talk about government with such disgust when they are sitting in government seats? When we stand up for our schools, our teachers, and our kids—they accuse us of being political. Okay… LET’S OWN IT. YES. We ARE political. Because in a democracy, power is found in the collective and in our votes. We may not have enough money to buy ourselves a cabinet seat, but we have local positions for which we can run. I am here speaking to you as a mother, and as the chairperson of the Monroe County ICPE, and, although I am not speaking in my official capacity as one, I am also a new school board member. Do you want to help ensure that we fulfill the promise of public education and equity? Run for school board or help get someone elected. If we improve public schools for our kids, we are improving them for ALL kids. None of us can pretend to be neutral politically. As Desmond Tutu has said: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

Finally: we must remember: We are not defending the status quo. We are defending democracy.

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #235 – November 2, 2015

Dear Friends,

Did the Indiana General Assembly really think it would be right for Grace College and Theological Seminary, a private religious college in northern Indiana, to intervene controversially in the public education climate of Monroe County, 150 miles away, against the wishes of the Bloomington-Ellettsville community?

On January 19, 2011, just twelve days after ICPE was born, Joel Hand gave testimony for the first time on behalf of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education, opposing a bill to allow private colleges to authorize public charter schools.

He said that private colleges should not be authorizers of public charter schools because they are not accountable to public tax payers.He was joined by three other public school advocates including me in opposing this provision, but the General Assembly passed the bill anyway with the strong support of State Superintendent Tony Bennett.

Now four years later, the Seven Oaks charter school proposal that was turned down twice in 2014-15 by the Indiana Charter School Board could be given life by the privately appointed trustees of Grace College, of Winona Lake, Indiana, near Warsaw.

Should privately appointed trustees, living far away and not accountable in any way to public voters and taxpayers, have the power swoop in to commit public tax dollars to establish charter schools resisted by the local community and already turned down by the Indiana Charter School Board? I say no.

You can say no also in two ways:

1) Speak against the charter school proposal at the only public hearing on this charter school plan. It will be held on Wednesday, November 4, 2015, 5:30 to 7:00pm at the Holiday Inn Express, 117 S. Franklin Rd., near 3rd Street and 37 on the west side of Bloomington.

2) Let your own Senators and Representatives know that this power obviously undermines local control and the wishes of the local community to point where this law should be changed and the power to shop failed charter school proposals to private colleges should be reined in.

Meanwhile, the private trustees of Grace College should withdraw this proposal so as not to prompt a legislative initiative to end authorizer shopping for failed charter school proposals.

Authorizer Shopping

This charter school was reviewed by the Indiana Charter School Board in the fall of 2014 and rejected by the board, a rare event. The proposal was resubmitted to the same body in the spring of 2015 but was withdrawn without a vote after the ICSB staff recommended that it be declined a second time.

Then the same proposal was shopped to other authorizers, and Grace College got involved. Grace College sponsors two other charter schools, one in Dugger new this year and one in Fort Wayne with a two year track record of F in 2013 and F in 2014. Grace College gets 3% of the tuition for authorizing a charter school. Thus, for example, if the state tuition for a charter school is $6000 per student, Grace College would get a cut of $180 per student.

Is Grace College doing this for the money or are they out to make a name for themselves, and I would say, muddy their name with public school advocates across Indiana?

Documentation

In the first attachment to “Notes #235”, you can read for yourself the numerous problems found by the Indiana Charter School Board staff in their recommendation saying this proposal should be declined by the ICSB in the spring of 2015.

In the second attachment, Steve Hinnefeld of Bloomington has documented that no significant changes were made in the proposal before shopping it to Grace College. Steve has carefully detailed in a blog dated October 27, 2015 the shortcomings of the charter proposal, providing an excellent summary that need not be repeated by me. If you are not familiar with Steve’s work, he does a masterful job of analyzing public education issues, and I highly recommend his blog, entitled School Matters.

Local Opposition

For two years in a row, the leaders of the Monroe County Community School Corporation and the Richland- Bean Blossom School Corporation in Ellettsville have opposed this ideologically driven school proposal linked to an out-of-state charter school network based at Hillsdale College in Michigan. Judy DeMuth, superintendent of the Monroe County Schools, has written a strong letter objecting not only to the charter school but to the frustrating fact that the same proposal was turned down twice after a thorough review by the Indiana Charter School Board but was then revived controversially by shopping the proposal to Grace College.

The Indiana Coalition for Public Education – Monroe County has opposed this proposal for two years and is actively looking for public school advocates who will speak at the November 4th hearing. You can email them at icpe.mc@gmail.com for more information about speaking out against this proposal at the hearing.

If you don’t live close enough to get to Wednesday’s hearing, raise this issue with your own State Senator or your own member of the House of Representatives. This practice of authorizer shopping should stop.

If the Indiana Charter School Board rejects a proposal, it should not be shopped ad infinitum around the private colleges of Indiana. Ask the General Assembly to revisit and correct that part of the charter school law.

Private colleges should not have the power to commit public tax dollars to public charter schools without giving tax payers who want to hold the private officials accountable a recourse for their objections.

This practice muddles the lines between private and public authority and in this case between church and state, and it further fragments our local school communities and our society in general.

I hope you can attend the November 4th hearing or else communicate with your legislators about your opposition.

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 interim study committee meetings. Our work in support of public education in the Statehouse goes on as we prepare for the short session beginning in January. 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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CALL TO ACTION: Tell the Governor, State Board of Education, and your legislators to allow Superintendent Glenda Ritz to do her job

Reposted from the Indiana Coalition for Public Education--Monroe County and South Central Indiana

When over 1,300,000 Indiana voters of both parties elected Glenda Ritz for state superintendent of public instruction it was a clear message that we wanted change in education. However, Gov. Pence, his appointed state board and the supermajority in our state legislature have spent the last two and a half years denying that mandate and throwing roadblocks in Ritz’s way.

We have watched in amazement as our state legislature continued the attack on public education and even introduced bills to take away Ritz’s authority. When these bills failed, we were outraged to see our governor use his executive power to create a second, shadow department of education, the Center for Education and Career Innovation, using millions of our taxpayer dollars.

This blatant usurping of Ritz’s authority and continual disrespect to the voters is now to be compounded by new rules being put forth tomorrow, July 9th, which replaces responsibilities of the chair (Ritz) with the “board staff” or CECI for creating agenda items and procedures.

Granted, it is a difficult situation to have a publicly elected superintendent and her department of education try to work effectively with a state board of education and a SECOND department of education who are tasked with the corporate reform agenda of the governor. The addition of an expensive, unnecessary education department chaired by Claire Fiddian-Greene (who is not an educator) further complicates the situation. All concerned claim to be “for the kids” yet one side represents a democratic process; the other represents an undermining of that process.

It would seem that our legislators who sit passively by and allow our children to be pawns in this political game are ignoring our message in allowing the governor and many of his state board members to void our votes.

Let us be clear:

We voted for Glenda Ritz because we believe that public education is the cornerstone of our democracy.

We voted for Glenda Ritz because we believe that public tax dollars belong in public schools.

We voted for Glenda Ritz because we believe in the profession of teaching and that educators, not politicians, should make policy decisions.

We voted for Glenda Ritz because we know that testing does not equal teaching and that our children are suffering under the use of tests as punishments to schools, teachers and kids within.

We voted for Glenda Ritz most of all because we know that these politicians, fed by their donors, care more about turning our schools into a for-profit venture where the dollar, not the child, is the bottom line.

How can we support Glenda Ritz and reinforce our votes and get our message across? Vote wisely this fall. In the meantime:

Contact Governor Pence: http://in.gov/gov/2333.htm

Contact the SBOE members: http://www.in.gov/sboe/2527.htm and http://www.in.gov/sboe/2423.htm

Contact your state legislators: https://capwiz.com/nea/in/home/

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Legislative Attack on Public Education - 2014

Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer posted this information on Facebook this morning. The entire article can be found on the Facebook page of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education of Monroe County (Also see the article, Coalition discusses education issues).

Senator Mark Stoops filled us in on some of the bills in the Senate that will be damaging to our public schools. He talked about Senate Bill 264 which is basically an incentive to get our best teachers into charter schools by offering them $10,000 a year for two years if they move from a public school into a low-performing charter school (and it does allow for a public one, too. But it is clearly an attempt to get better teachers into the charters). Teachers who take this bribe (I mean, incentive) must be "highly effective" on the rubric. Other bills to be concerned about: SB 190-- more attacks on teacher bargaining (further dis-empowering our teachers), SB 224-- creating new standards, SB 322--would give the State Board of Education the power to expand voucher schools (decide who takes them) and would take the oversight AWAY FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. Senator Stoops also said that we in Indiana have a surplus of $2 billion that would allow us to fund universal pre-K and yet they are only looking into a pilot program (that would expand vouchers and take more $ from public education).

Steve Hinnefeld of School Matters blog did a great job of filing in the blanks for us on the timeline of these reforms and the arguments that these "reformers" use to promote their agenda.

Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer, ICPE-Monroe County chair, took Vic Smith's place and gave a report on the things Vic would have highlighted had he been able to attend: the preschool voucher bill and REPA3.

We want the Senate to REMOVE SECTION 10 (of the pre-K bill) that creates a pipeline for vouchers enabling any child with a preschool voucher of $500 or more to be automatically eligible for a K-12 voucher. This is new money being taken from public education as these kids were never in public schools to begin with. We need pre-K BUT NOT AT THE COST OF QUALITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THEIR FUNDING. WRITE ALL SENATORS! (Link here: http://neifpe.blogspot.com/p/indiana-senate-members.html)

In addition, REPA3 is something that goes in front of the State Board of Education brought about by Governor Pence, his CECI (shadow department of education) and some members (Dan Elsener?) of the SBOE. It would enable anyone with a B.A. (and a 3.0... at least we have standards! Ha!) in ANYTHING and who passes a test.. to BECOME A TEACHER. NO student teaching, education courses necessary. In addition, it would basically water down any license for principals because it would enable anyone to get a principal license without a Master's. It would enable anyone to get a superintendent's license with a superintendent's degree. DON'T FORGET THAT THIS STATE LEGISLATURE ALREADY PASSED A LAW MAKING IT SO THAT ANYONE CAN BE A SUPERINTENDENT WITHOUT ANY TEACHING EXPERIENCE OR EDUCATION BACKGROUND AT ALL. Now this just cheapens the license itself.

This is an attack on schools of education. They would like nothing better than to create a "free market" of McTeacher McCertifications online or wherever. IT's all about the $$$$$$ It's about seeing schools as a for-profit venture and seeing teachers as replaceable unskilled laborers. This deprofessionalization of educators is from ALEC.

WE MUST STOP THEM. WRITE TO THE STATE BOARD MEMBERS TODAY. BE RESPECTFUL AND REASONABLE (ESPECIALLY TO THE NEW ONES) AND INSIST THAT THEY NOT PASS THESE RULES. [emphasis added]

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Take Action Today!

Our friend Cathy Fuentes-Rowher at Indiana Coalition for Public Education--Monroe County and South Central Indiana has an important blog post. Read it...and take action now.

Are You Part of the Solution?

"The Indiana senate is about to have the second reading of House Bill 1003 which, depending on the amendments accepted or rejected, stands to drain millions of dollars from our public education budget. It will take those dollars and hand them directly over to private schools with no 'accountability' at all. We don't know what those children are learning. Or IF they are learning. They don't have to accept any child that they don't feel is the right 'fit'. They also don't have to keep any child who is difficult to educate....

"...Meanwhile, our public schools are a pressure-cooker of 'accountability.' Show me the DATA! Prove that you are not 'failing' with numbers and tests and tests to number those tests. Teachers are under a microscope to perform or lose their "effective" status, job, pay, etc. Kids have to compete with one another, schools against each other in this great race to keep from failing."

Letter to the Legislature

Here is a powerful letter to Rep. Jim Lucas from our friend and public education advocate, Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer. Check out her blog at the Indiana Coalition for Public Education--Monroe County and South Central Indiana. Follow them on Facebook HERE.

Dear Rep. Lucas,
I have watched some of the proceedings in the hearings on the school voucher bill (1003) and others. In these meetings, I keep hearing you repeat the question, "Shouldn't parents have a choice of where their children should go to school?"

Let me just assure you that, yes, I do believe parents should have a choice in the schools they attend. I don't, however, believe that we should pay for their choices in schools. If public schools, our children'sconstitutional right, are not providing an adequate or high-quality education for their children, then we have an obligation as a society and you have an obligation as a representative of our demos, to ensure that they do. You should not be crying out "every man (child) for himself!" by enabling people to abandon ship and take a chunk of the public school budget with them. What about the children left behind in those schools with fewer resources and parent advocates abandoning their community?

I listened sympathetically to a young mother at the hearing say that she was worried that the public school was too big for her shy, sensitive kindergartener. As a mother of four kids in public schools, I understand her concerns. She was happy, however, to have vouchers help her pay for a private religious (and they almost all are) school with a smaller class size. What about my shy child who, as a result of vouchers draining the overall budget (along with the massive 2010 state cuts), may now be relegated to a larger class size?

I have heard school choice advocates acknowledge that this draining of funds will, indeed, hurt the public schools. They say that this will force public schools to improve their performance. The trouble with this is that, when we admit public schools are being hurt, we must also acknowledge that we are talking about damaging children's lives! Are they the sacrificial lambs to your free market philosophy? While we wait for this magic pill of free markets and competition to improve education for all, are we willing to sacrifice these kids' futures while the "markets" fluctuate?

I, for one, am not. I imagine their loved ones are not, either.

The fact is that the schools receiving vouchers and the charter schools, get to make the choice. They get to decide which kids walk through their doors to stay. Public schools' mission is to educate each and every child, no matter his or her needs. This should be the land of equal opportunity, but you are clearly relegating us to a land of opportunity for some.

If you are truly about results, then I beg you to read these two articles. I heard you at the hearing question whether the amount of money reallocated to private schools was significant when compared to our overall state education budget. The first article I am sending here is from Michigan and this financial expert lays out the multiple ways these reforms you have voted for will hurt us financially (he lays out the human cost, too.) Please just read it: http://edwp.educ.msu.edu/new-educator/2013/faculty-viewpoint/ The other is Reuters piece revealing that studies across the U.S. are showing that this is not about helping children, it's about making money: (http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-usa-charters-admissions-idUSBRE91E0HF20130215). Please read these two articles, Rep. Lucas.

Thank you again, for your time. It's hard not to come across as hostile when I feel so passionately about children and public schools. I am sorry if I offend you. Assuming, as I do, that you truly have children's best interests in mind, I hope that you will read these two pieces. My deepest hope is that you will stop voting for expanding vouchers, giving tax credits to home schoolers and private schoolers in materials, while you don't do the same for public school parents, and all the myriad of ways you've been undermining this cornerstone of our democracy: public education.

Sincerely,

Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer

Letters to Legislators

Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer over at Indiana Coalition for Public Education--Monroe County and South Central Indiana (ICPE-MCSCI) has a post today with sample letters to state legislators. She also gives a concise review of ALEC's participation in 1) the privatization of public education and the 2) deprofessionalization of teachers.

You can use our blog resources to contact Indiana House and Indiana Senate members.

Her letter to Representative Behning (Chair of the House Education Committee), included in the post, Let's Play Whack-a-Mole...And WIN! follows. Check out the original post for other examples. Great work Cathy!!

Dear Rep. Behning,

I am writing to you because I am greatly concerned about a number of house bills that have come to my attention. I know that you are intimately familiar with them as you have authored (?) or sponsored two of them: HB1309 and HB1342. House Bill 1251 is also of great concern to me; allow me to explain why.

I recognize that you invested both time and maybe even money in the movement to privatize education. I see from your record that you are a strong member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and that you were state chairman of ALEC for 8 years. It doesn't come as a surprise to me as I've noticed that the policies you follow in education align themselves completely with ALEC's vision of a system of education in which competition is the driving force and free markets reign supreme. I contemplate whether you truly believe this is best for children or whether you are only concerned with the few who will benefit. Perhaps you are discovering that this is a huge money-maker. You see, I've become cynical in recent years and you'll have to forgive me for that. I don't believe that schools run as businesses will ever put children first. It is antithetical to their purpose: a business is for profit, schools are a service for children.

As you know, ALEC and the corporations backing your organization have received a lot of press this past year. The shooting of Trayvon Martin exposed the many ways that ALEC can impose business interests and control aspects of our democracy at the peril of our citizens. The very act of wooing legislators, giving them model legislation and having this pass as law, is undemocratic in itself. What happened to representation of your constituency? And this brings me to my main point.

Glenda Ritz won. She won fair and square and against all the odds reflected in campaign finance studies (he who has the biggest coffers wins). She ran on a platform dedicated to education and she received even more votes than Governor Pence. That speaks volumes to her support. I would think that with this strong backing, your efforts to diminish her power and marginalize her position would be a very risky venture for you. When voters are made aware that you are trying to create a state school board made up of your own party (no longer requiring that there be no more than 6 of a party) and made up of non-educators (no longer requiring that there be employees of schools with teaching licenses) --HB1251--, I think that they will be very unhappy with you as their representative. Furthermore, when they discover that HB1309 creates a new position (vice chairman) for the board who would act in Ritz's stead and have an unusual amount of power over agendas, meetings,etc (HB1309) as well as ensuring a "majority" at the Education Roundtable (all appointed by the governor), I think that your constituents will stop and wonder why you would blatantly disregard their will/votes.

ALEC believes that corporations are people who can influence legislators to pass laws that benefit them. But I think most of America's citizens believe that legislators should represent the people who voted for them. This is, after all, the idea of a democracy. I hope that if you believe in our country and a democracy, that you will also believe in Indiana's constitution which gives every child a right to a free public education or "common school." If you can't get behind a system of public education, I would hope that you would get behind the idea that you are elected to represent the people. In this case, the people overwhelmingly voted for Glenda Ritz. Allow her to do her job.

Thanks for your time.

Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer