In Case You Missed It – Apr 8, 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.

THINK ABOUT THIS

Have We Stolen A Generation's Independent Thought?

We're teaching students not to think...and standardized tests are part of the problem.

From Peter Greene in Forbes

"Kids these days," the complaint begins. "They cannot think for themselves." The complaint has come across my desk three times this week, voiced by someone in the higher education world complaining about the quality of student arriving in their ivy-covered halls.

It's worth noting that the observation itself has no particular objective, evidence-based support. There's no college student independent thought index we can consult to check for a dip. Just the subjective judgment of some people who work at the college level. So the whole business could simply be the time-honored dismay of an older generation contemplating the younger one.

ALEC STRIKES AGAIN

Bombshell Report About Copycat Legislation Written by ALEC but Adopted by Your State

From Diane Ravitch

ALEC and corporate America are churning out legislation that is introduced in your state under false pretenses as “reform.” Every one of these bills is meant to protect corporations and profiteers, whether in health care or any other industry.

You may have noticed a sudden mushrooming of voucher legislation in state after state. It was not written by your legislators. It was written by the rightwing corporate funded American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC.

Not only is ALEC funded by corporations, it is funded by the DeVos family and the Koch brothers.

Need to learn more about ALEC? 

Bill Moyers: The United States of ALEC

United States of ALEC September 28, 2012 Full Show from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.

• ALEC Exposed

• ALEC & Education

INDIANA FOSTER CHILDREN

Indiana foster children are less likely to graduate, more likely to be suspended, a new report shows

It would be nice if on seeing a report like this if our Hoosier legislators would make it a mission to support public schools so that they’d have the resources to support these children. Instead, the General Assembly would rather give to charters and vouchers who don’t have to accept or keep children who need intense support.

From Chalkbeat

Indiana now has its first look at how well the state is educating the 9,000 school-age children in foster care, and the findings are discouraging. Foster children are more likely than their peers to attend underperforming schools, and only 64 percent graduate from high school.

INDIANA TEACHER LICENSING

Indiana could scrap test seen as a barrier to training more teachers of color

Of course we need more teachers of color in Indiana! And we also need a way to vet qualified candidates for teachers. This test just is not it.

From Chalkbeat

A panel of Indiana House lawmakers took steps to get rid of a teacher preparation test that some educators say keeps teachers of color out of the classroom.

The House Education Committee unanimously voted on Wednesday to remove the state requirement that students pass the basic reading, writing, and math skills test known as “CASA” as freshmen or sophomores before they enter college teacher preparation programs. The provision was added to a bill that would change some rules about alternative teacher licenses, which passed the committee unanimously as well.

INDIANA SCHOOL FUNDING FALLS SHORT

Ongoing neglect hits rural schools hardest

From Southwest Allen County Schools Superintendent, Phil Downs, in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

If Indiana is to pursue the noble goal of funding all its children's educations, it should do that. Since the voucher program began in 2011, no additional money has been added to the budget to fund the vouchers, and the program has created a de facto final step in the school funding process which is hurting most communities in Indiana.

Funding falls short on effort, fairness

From School Matters

Indiana’s highest-poverty school districts spend only 65 percent of what’s needed for their students to achieve modest academic success, according to a new education finance report from the Rutgers Graduate School of Education and the Albert Shanker Institute.

Is it because we can’t afford to do better? Not at all. Indiana is near the bottom of the states when it comes to funding “effort,” the percentage of gross state product spent on schools.

It’s more compelling evidence that state legislators should be thinking a lot bigger as they decide how much of the two-year state budget to spend on K-12 education.

State blamed as teacher pay stalls

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Most seem to agree that Indiana teachers don't get paid enough.

But the disconnect comes in where the blame lies. Is the legislature not providing enough money? Or are school districts spending too much on administration and too little on teacher salaries?

CHARTER MIDDLE SCHOOLS NO HELP

Federal study finds charter middle schools didn’t help students earn college degrees

So why are we allowing our legislators to misuse our tax dollars to support charters?

From Chalkbeat

Attending a sought-after charter middle school didn’t increase a student’s chance of attending or graduating college, a new U.S. Department of Education study showed.

The report, released Monday, also found little connection between charter school quality, as measured by test scores, and college outcomes.

“The overall conclusion that there is little difference between charter schools and non-charter schools is not shocking to me,” said Sarah Cohodes, a professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College. She pointed to prior research showing charters perform comparably to district schools nearby.

A VIRTUAL MESS -- PAID FOR WITH YOUR TAX DOLLARS

Indiana: Virtual School Scams Taxpayers and Students

From Diane Ravitch

In every state that has authorized virtual charter schools, these schools are marked by two characteristics:

1. They are very profitable.

2. The “education” they provide is abysmal.

Typically, they have high attrition, low graduation rates, and low scores on state tests. The state fails to monitor them for quality. Students and taxpayers are fleeced.

Some parents say getting help was like ‘pulling teeth’ as troubled Indiana virtual schools grew

From Chalkbeat

Morrice’s portrayal, which he documented in a complaint to the state education department two years ago, lines up with some accusations leveled against the 8-year-old online school and its sister school by its authorizer last month: that thousands of students for whom the schools received millions of dollars in state funding didn’t complete or sign up for classes. The schools say the allegations, which could lead to the revocation of their charters and eventually their closure, are false and based on incomplete information.

Some virtual school students and parents who spoke with Chalkbeat also echoed Morrice’s description of how the school often didn’t give students enough attention, including not returning phone calls and emails. The parents and students said they struggled to get teachers and school staff to communicate, transfer records, provide educational advice, or ensure credits were processed.

INDIANA VOTERS LOSE A VOICE

Hoosiers lose direct say over state school chief

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

House Bill 1005 was signed by the Indiana Senate president pro tem on April Fool's Day and quickly moved to Gov. Eric Holcomb's desk. With his signature Wednesday, the governor claimed appointment authority for the state superintendent of public instruction.

Holcomb scores a victory for his Next Level Agenda, which called for removing the post from statewide ballots. State Superintendent Jennifer McCormick cleared the way to move up the 2025 appointment date when she announced last October that she would not seek reelection. But she also suggested there were behind-the-scenes efforts to do so regardless of her plans.

Who pushed appointed-superintendent law?

From School Matters

McCormick, a Republican, was elected in 2016 after a campaign in which she received a lot of support from advocates for charter schools and vouchers, including the Chamber of Commerce and, especially, the advocacy group Hoosiers for Quality Education. But the former Yorktown, Indiana, school superintendent turned out to be a forceful and effective advocate for public schools.

You can imagine that some of her backers were disappointed and wanted her out, sooner rather than later.

DEVOS CONTINUES TO DO DAMAGE TO PUBLIC EDUCATION

The Special Olympics funding outcry is over, but it’s been crickets over some of DeVos’s other proposed education budget cuts. Think civics, history, arts...

From the Answer Sheet

The Trump administration has proposed eliminating a $4.8 million program to enhance American civics and history education. It has also called for making these cuts that would eliminate programs:

• $1.2 billion for programs that help boost student academic achievement before and after school and during the summer.

• $190 million to boost literacy instruction from birth to age 20...

• $27 million for arts education programs for children from low-income families and students with disabilities.

• $10 million to boost community schools...

• More than $207 billion over 10 years from student loan programs...

DeVos, Class Size, and the Reformistan Bubble

From Curmudgucation

...The shock and scandal and outrage is not that DeVos would offer up this class size bullshit on the Hill, but that she stands on top of a whole pile of educational amateurs who have been pushing this bullshit for at least a decade, despite the mountain of evidence and the actual teachers who speak against it.

Why I was Shaking My Head at Betsy DeVos

From Living in Dialogue

I can only shake my head in disbelief.

The problem for DeVos is that there is ample research that shows just the opposite – that class size matters very much. My friend Leonie Haimson has worked for years with a group called Class Size Matters, and they provide here a set of studies supporting this..

Another friend, Nancy Flanagan, attributes the source of the idea that larger classes are just fine to every billionaire’s favorite education researcher, Eric Hanushek. Way back in 1998, Hanushek suggested there was no real value in reducing class sizes– using test scores, of course. In 2011, Bill Gates urged policymakers to stop worrying about class size.

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In Case You Missed It – Feb 11, 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.

ISTA RED FOR ED RALLY

ISTA to Lead A Statewide Rally March 9

From ISTA

ISTA President Teresa Meredith is calling on educators, parents and public-school advocates to rally at the Indiana Statehouse next month to advocate for increased teacher pay and funding for our public schools.

“Now is the time we demand more from our lawmakers,” said Meredith. “Now is the time for advocates of public schools to stand up. We are calling on our members and public education supporters to join together in Indianapolis for a Red for Ed Rally.”

The rally will be held at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis on Saturday, March 9 beginning at 1 p.m. ET.

MCCORMICK CONTINUES TO SUPPORT PUBLIC EDUCATION

State superintendent on her exit from politics: ‘It’s follow the money on steroids’

It's good that she is speaking out on what she discovered. Here's hoping that her voice is heard.

From CBS4-Indy

"I came into it almost naive thinking we're going to look at data, we're going to listen to practitioners, we're going to listen to partners," [McCormick] said. "And what I quickly learned was follow the money."

Indiana schools superintendent rallies NWI educators to organize, contact legislators

From NWI.com

Indiana Superintendent of Schools Jennifer McCormick called upon Northwest Indiana educators to organize and contact their elected officials in a nearly two-hour event Wednesday night at Merrillville High School.

"There is a way you can use your voice," McCormick said. "And I even think we're underusing it. There's power in numbers."

NEW POSSIBILITIES FOR TESTS AND GRADUATION

A new plan could drop test scores and graduation rates from Indiana high school grades

This might sound good on the surface, but where is the transparency in the plan to replace the rating systems? And do we need to be suspicious that whatever rating systems might be up the legislators’ sleeves will favor charter and private schools?

From Chalkbeat

Indiana Republicans want to give the state education board the power to drop state tests and graduation rates from high school ratings — controversial metrics that some critics have long said don’t tell the full story.

The bill, debated Wednesday in the House Education Committee, would dramatically change the high school measuring stick to look more like the state’s new graduation requirements and recommendations from Gov. Eric Holcomb’s panel on workforce development. The bill doesn’t spell out exactly how the state could measure post-high school preparedness, giving the board wiggle room to decide on its own.

CHARTERS WASTE PUBLIC MONEY

Bill Phillis: Stop Wasting Money on Charter Schools and Fund Real Public Schools

From Diane Ravitch

The charter industry is notorious for outrageous high cost leasing arrangements that take funds away from charter classrooms. If charters receive more funding for facilities, much of it will be layered on top of the huge profits collected by charter facility companies allied with charter management companies.

Until charters are required to follow the same laws and rules as school districts, not one dime more should be provided to charters for facilities or any other purpose.

ALEC LEADS FIGHT AGAINST TEACHERS

ALEC and Corporate Reformers Make It Hard for Teachers to Cement Gains from Last Year’s Strikes

From Jan Resseger

Why wouldn’t lawmakers support the teachers’ actions which were widely popular— supported by parents and citizens who stood with their communities’ teachers. In every one of last year’s walkouts as well as the recent strike in Los Angeles, teachers highlighted the need for better funding to support adequate staffing of schools—smaller classes and the presence of essential professionals like counselors, school nurses, and librarians. What is motivating members of state legislatures to retaliate?

To answer this question, we must turn to The One Percent Solution (2017) by political economist Gordon Lafer for a reminder about the role of a corporate agenda across America’s statehouses: “Above all, the corporate agenda is coordinated through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)… ALEC, the most important national organization advancing the corporate agenda at the state level, brings together two thousand member legislators (one-quarter of all state lawmakers, including many state senate presidents and House Speakers) and the country’s largest corporations to formulate and promote business-friendly legislation… (I)t convenes bill-drafting committees… in which ‘both corporations and legislators have a voice and a vote in shaping policy.'” (The One Percent Solution, pp. 12-13)

INDIANA TECH LOSES EDUCATOR PREP ACCREDITATION

Tech's education accreditation bid denied

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Up to 40 Indiana Tech education students are in a bind after a national organization denied an accreditation request.

The university's School of Education applied for the status from the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation, or CAEP.

As a result of the denial, the Indiana Department of Education alerted the Fort Wayne college that it will be unable to license graduates to teach in Indiana after this academic year, university spokesman Brian Engelhart said Tuesday. He noted it doesn't affect this year's graduates.

Indiana Tech also cannot accept new education students for the fall, nor is it scheduling or promoting education classes for that semester, Engelhart said.

STATE SUPERINTENDENT SHOULD BE AN EDUCATOR

Keep educators in charge of education policy

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

It is safe to say neither our governor nor our legislators were elected because of their views on education.

Now, in those back rooms, they are attempting to strip voters of one of the most grassroots institutions still available to them. They have passed a law that further distances voters from their ability to direct the course of one of their community's most fundamental institutions: public education.

They now deny voters the right to elect the state superintendent of public instruction; instead, the governor will be appointing one.

This is wrong on a number of levels, as we can see from the past two elections for state superintendent.

IS BOOKER THE RIGHT "CHOICE?"

Cory Booker has been an ed reform favorite. That could be a problem for his 2020 campaign.

Saying that "His vision for education has looked a lot like Barack Obama’s..." doesn't really help.

From Chalkbeat

On Friday, Booker vowed to run “the boldest pro-public school teacher campaign there is,” noting he’s previously been endorsed by his state’s teachers unions.

But at a time when teachers across the country are pushing for higher salaries and against charter schools, Booker’s record on education is sure to draw a skeptical eye from unions and public school advocates. And his past work alongside Betsy DeVos may make its way into campaign attack ads from his Democratic opponents, even though he voted against her as education secretary.

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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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In Case You Missed It – Jan 28, 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.

LOCAL SCHOOLS COMPETE*

Local schools compete in regional Future City competition

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

The assignment was challenging. Your city has been hit with a natural disaster and you, middle school students, have been chosen to design a resilient power grid that will withstand the devastation.

Twelve Hoosier middle school teams with that intent competed Saturday, hoping to win the 2019 Indiana Future City Regional Competition at Purdue Fort Wayne.

EDUCATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE COORDINATOR COMING TO SACS

New resource for teachers in works for SACS

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

The proposed job description details more than a dozen responsibilities. Essentially, Harshman said, the coordinator/coach will work with teachers to help create learning environments conducive to all students. Students who have experienced trauma or adversity should especially benefit.

This can include students who are homeless, hungry or abused, Harshman said.

“Those children show up at school,” she said, “and their brains are not primed for learning.”

Strategies to help students will be informed by educational neuroscience research, Harshman said. The hired candidate must complete the Butler University educational neuroscience certificate program, at no cost to the candidate.

About a year long, the Butler program is designed for educators, social workers and counselors who work with children and adolescents experiencing adversity and trauma, according to its website.

It notes participants become acquainted with the “literature of educational neuroscience, trauma and the brain, and brain development as it relates to behaviors, relationships, and academic acquisition.”

BOSMA THINKS INDIANA DOE HEAD NEED NOT BE EDUCATOR

Speaker Bosma, Qualifications Matter!

From Live Long And Prosper

The Speaker is wrong.

The Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction ought to be an education professional for the same reason that the Superintendent of the Indiana State Police ought to be, and is, a law enforcement officer...

...for the same reason that Indiana's Attorney General ought to be, and is, an attorney...

...for the same reason that the Commissioner of Indiana's State Department of Health ought to be, and is, a medical professional.

Education is a specialized a field. The State Department of Education is, and in the future ought to be, run by an education professional.

OK LEGISLATURE TO TEACHERS: SHUT UP AND TEACH

Oklahoma bill would revoke teachers' certification if they walk out and protest

From CNN

As the nationwide wave of teacher strikes keeps gaining momentum, an Oklahoma bill would make it illegal for teachers to walk out and protest.

But House Bill 2214 doesn't stop there -- it would also permanently revoke certifications of teachers who break the rule, preventing them from ever teaching in the state again.
The bill's author, state Rep. Todd Russ, said the main point is to make sure kids don't suffer a disruption in their education.

Political payback for the statewide teacher walkout? Slew of newly filed bills aim to punish, limit future protests

Oklahoma legislators seek to punish teachers for daring to strike for a livable salary.

From the Tulsa World

Oklahoma lawmakers have filed a host of bills that seek to crack down on the methods educators employed to stage a statewide walkout and Capitol protest last spring.

Proposed measures range from criminal penalties for disrupting the Legislature to the mandatory loss of pay and teacher certification for those who strike or shut down schools to resolve differences with state leaders.

At its peak, the two-week teacher walkout in April had more than 500,000 students out of school — about two-thirds of the state’s student population.

LA TEACHERS SETTLE FOR IMPROVED LEARNING CONDITIONS

LAUSD teachers’ strike ends. Teachers to return to classrooms Wednesday

Teacher salaries weren't the most important thing behind the strike in Los Angeles. The teachers were offered a 6% raise before the strike...and after the strike they settled for a 6% raise. The learning conditions for the students was uppermost in teachers' minds, not dollars in their pockets as the media and public education foes would like you to believe.

From the Los Angeles Times

The tentative deal includes what amounts to a 6% raise for teachers — with a 3% raise for the last school year and a 3% raise for this school year.

But teachers also lost about 3% of their salary by being on strike for six days, according to the school district. Other employees got the same 6% raise without having to makes such a sacrifice. The district had offered 6% to teachers before they went on strike.

Striking teachers were sincere, though, when they said the walkout was always about more than salary. The broader concerns they voiced — about overcrowded classrooms and schools without nurses on hand to help when a student got hurt or fell ill — had a lot to do with why the public responded so warmly and cheered them on, bringing food to the lines and even bringing their children to march alongside the strikers.

TAX MONEY TO VIRTUAL CHARTERS SPENT TO BUY LEGISLATORS

Legislators dealing with virtual charter schools

From School Matters

It should be a no-brainer for Indiana lawmakers to rein in abuses by low-performing virtual charter schools. But there are few sure things in the General Assembly.

As Chalkbeat Indiana reported, virtual charter schools have spent heavily in recent years to lobby legislators. They have also contributed generously to political campaigns. They will be heard.

Regulation is needed because virtual charter schools, which provide all or most of their instruction online, have some of the worst academic performance in the state. Most have consistently received Fs in the state’s school grading system, and their test scores and graduation rates tend to be low.

A JUMP-START ON COLLEGE

In high school, a jump on college

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

About 62 percent of Indiana high school students – or nearly 45,000 – earned college credit through dual-credit and AP courses in 2016 compared with 47 percent in 2012, the agency reported.

“Our most recent data indicate that high school students are not only earning more early college credit than ever, but the credit they earn in high school is actually leading to higher success rates and cost savings for students and the state,” Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education Teresa Lubbers said in a statement.

Dual-credit courses are classes that let students earn high school and college credits simultaneously. They can be taught at high schools or colleges.

DOUBLE STANDARD FOR VOUCHER SCHOOLS

You Go, Dan Forestal!

From Sheila Kennedy

With the Indiana General Assembly back in session, one state lawmaker says he still intends to introduce legislation that would block public dollars from going to private schools that engage in discriminatory hiring practices.

The proposal by Rep. Dan Forestal, D-Indianapolis, comes in the wake of discrimination charges lobbed at Roncalli High School, a Catholic school overseen by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. Forestal said he wants to see strings put on the state’s voucher program, which uses public dollars to offset to cost of tuition at Roncalli and other participating K-12 private schools.

I’ve written before about Indiana’s voucher program, which is by far the largest in the country, and the damage it is inflicting. The funds supporting the program would otherwise go to Indiana’s chronically under-funded public schools; research confirms that the private schools participating in the voucher program have failed to improve the academic performance of the children attending them...

HB1003 BLAMES SCHOOLS FOR LEGISLATURE'S MISTAKE

Lawmakers' cheap stunt costly blow to schools

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

...Terry Spradlin, executive director of the Indiana School Boards Association, reminded House Education Committee members Jan. 9 that schools have lost hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue to property tax caps in the past few years.

“We're lagging behind on tuition support since 2010 by about four percentage points. Had you kept up with inflation ... we would be about $573 million ahead of where we are right now,” Spradlin told Rep. Jim Lucas when the Seymour Republican asked whether the school board group wanted more money or more flexibility. “Indiana has fallen 10 slots behind (other states) on per-pupil expenditures since 2006. We now rank 34th. So you're doing a pretty good job of dedicating 52 percent of our state resources to K-12, but the reality is because we're not using local levies any longer, we're slipping behind.”

HB 1003 shifts blame for the shortfall in education funding – and, subsequently, to lagging teacher pay – to local school officials, who have had no control over general fund revenue since the state took over that responsibility in a 2008 swap for property tax cuts.

*This post has been updated to include one additional article listed at the top

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In Case You Missed It – Jan 14, 2019

Here are links to the 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.

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THE GOVERNOR LEFT OUT TEACHER PAY

Melton responds to governor’s budget, omission of teacher pay

From Indiana Senate Democrats

On Thursday, the governor presented his budget requests to the State Budget Committee. State Senator Eddie Melton (D-Gary) noticed the governor’s omission in asking for additional money to fund teacher salary increases.

“Governor Holcomb neglected to request necessary funding to provide teachers across Indiana with a pay raise. The entire Republican supermajority is boasting they support teacher pay, but the proof is in the pudding -- why aren’t they proving their support by adequately funding education to make teacher salary increases a reality? Without new money, there is no way to ensure that teachers will actually receive a raise.

CHALKBEAT HIGHLIGHTS PRIVATIZERS

Mind Trust gets $24 million to fund innovation and charter school expansion, new teacher recruitment

The Mind Trust has been influential in charterizing Indianapolis Public Schools. It's not surprising that Chalkbeat would highlight them given that many of Chalkbeat's financial supporters are part of the economic backbone of the privatization movement. The entire list of supporters can be found here. Some of the more obvious school privatizers among Chalkbeat's supporters are...

• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
• EdChoice
• Gates Family Foundation
• The Anschutz Foundation
• The Joyce Foundation
• The Walton Family Foundation

From Chalkbeat

A nonprofit that is one of the chief backers of Indianapolis Public Schools’ partnerships with charter managers announced Friday it received $24 million in new grants.

The largest grant given to The Mind Trust, $18 million from The City Fund, will help fund startup grants and training for charter and innovation school leaders. The money will also help pay for ongoing training of school staff and community engagement.

CHARTER INSTABILITY

Arizona: 100 Charter Schools in Financial Trouble, at Risk of Closing, Says Report from Watchdog Group

For school stability, choose public education.

From Diane Ravitch

Arizona has celebrated its role in the charter gold rush and is often considered “the wild west” of chartering. The laws are lax, the schools are deregulated, and there is little or no oversight.

A new report by the Grand Canyon Institute says that as many as 100 charter schools in the state are at risk of closing.

POST ELECTION BULLYING

New research finds link between districts that voted Trump and racist bullying post-election

From Chalkbeat

The study offers some hard evidence that the post-election months were a more fraught time in many schools — backing up the stories of individual teachers and students. But the effects were not spread evenly: In communities favoring Trump, reports of bullying were 18 percent higher than in communities that voted for Hillary Clinton, the study found. Reports of peers being teased or put down because of their race or ethnicity were 9 percent higher in those places.

SUPERINTENDENT KILLION: PAY TEACHERS MORE. CUT TESTING AND VOUCHERS

Op-ed: Increase teacher salaries without increasing school funding in Indiana?

From West Lafayette Community Schools Superintendent Rocky Killion, in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

1. Quit spending over $100 million on standardized testing...
2. Quit spending over $10 million on IREAD-3 testing...
3. Quit spending over $70 million on student vouchers for students who have never attended a public school...

Spending goes both ways. If legislators want school districts to spend differently, then they too should be willing to spend differently. The aforementioned ideas are only three ideas in which they can do so. I am hopeful they will listen to their own advice.

KRUSE: FLAGS, GOD, AND CREATIONISM

SB 373 – Flags & God in Public Schools

From Masson's Blog

Sen. Kruse has introduced SB 373 concerning flags and god in public schools. He wants to mandate that a framed picture of a U.S. flag, a state flag, and the words “in God we Trust” be placed in every public school library and classroom. The entire display must be at least 14 x 17 inches with the motto being at least 4×15 and each flag being 5×5.

The bill also amends the current legislation permitting schools to offer a survey of religion class by specifying that the survey may include the study of the Bible as one of the permissible documents that may be studied in the survey. It does not specify any of the holy texts of other religions as eligible for study (although, under current law, the Bible and all of those other documents are already eligible for study.) The bill also states that a school corporation may mandate the teaching of creation science as one of the “various theories concerning the origin of life.”

TEACHER SALARY INCREASES WITHOUT ANY FUNDING INCREASE?

Lawmakers: Raise teacher pay by cutting elsewhere

From School Matters

Indiana legislators want to give educators a raise, but they don’t want to pay for it. Their plan: Shame school districts into cutting spending elsewhere so they can target dollars to teachers.

Their tool for doing this is House Bill 1003, unveiled this week by House Republicans and presented Wednesday to the House Education Committee. It would “strongly encourage” districts to spend at least 85 percent of their state funds on instruction; it would subject them to public scrutiny if they don’t.

Indiana StatehouseThe assumption behind the bill is that schools have plenty of money, but they waste it on bloated administrative expenses and frills. But the data don’t support that claim.

KRUSE: CITIZENSHIP TEST FOR STUDENTS?

Kruse proposes citizenship test for Indiana students

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Indiana students would have to pass a 100-question citizenship test to graduate under a bill heard by a Senate panel Wednesday.

"There is a deficiency in government and civics knowledge and it's getting worse," Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, said.

That's why he brought Senate Bill 132 to require students pass the same test that those becoming new citizens have to, starting in the 2020-2021 school year.

FWCS HELPS STUDENTS EARN AUTOMOTIVE TRADE SKILLS

Students sign on to learn trade at Kelley

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Paperwork, pens and Kelley Automotive Group hats awaited five high school students Tuesday at Tom Kelley Buick GMC, one of two dealerships where they will soon regularly work.

The Fort Wayne Community Schools Career Academy students – Nolan McKuras, Enrique Trujillo, Jacob Maggart, Keagan Snaufer and Jose Cortez – successfully completed an extensive vetting process for a paid service technician internship. They will be paired with an experienced automotive service technician.

INDIANA'S SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #329 – January 7, 2019

From ICPE and Vic Smith

Quick Notes from Vic Smith...

The Governor wants to speed up a law that would allow him to replace the State Superintendent of Public Instruction with an appointee who is not required to have experience as a K-12 teacher or a K-12 administrator.

Democracy took a hit in the 2017 session. The Indiana General Assembly passed a flawed law taking away the power of voters to choose the K-12 leader and leaving a loophole to allow appointment of someone without K-12 experience.

In the historic final vote on April 18, 2017, the power of voters to elect the State Superintendent of Public Instruction was ended after 166 years. The power taken away from voters was given to the Governor starting in 2025.

Now the Governor and legislative leaders want to take power away from voters sooner, starting in 2021. Identical bills to do this have been filed in the House (HB 1005) and the Senate (SB 275).

This is a bad idea...

If you are concerned about who leads our K-12 school system in this unprecedented makeover of K-12 school leadership in Indiana, contact your legislators to say you oppose HB 1005 and SB 275. Tell them two things...

For all the details, read more from Vic Smith of ICPE.

NO MORE MONEY FOR SCHOOLS

Indiana Republicans suggest schools cut costs to raise teacher pay

It's too bad the voting public doesn't understand that the legislators could easily increase funding to the public schools if they would quit throwing money away on charters and vouchers.

From Chalkbeat

Indiana’s Republican leaders want to give state teachers a raise — but they don’t necessarily want to give schools and districts more money to do it.

Schools would have to cut costs in other areas to push more dollars into teacher salaries, under part of House Republicans’ education plan for 2019. The goal for school districts would be to use 85 percent or more of their state funding for instruction-related costs, such as teacher salaries.

The proposal, which comes amid a groundswell of support for teacher pay bumps, shifts the responsibility to schools to trim budgets from areas that lawmakers say aren’t as influential on student learning, such as administrative costs, transportation, or food service.

INDIANA GENERAL ASSEMBLY SESSION

Short list for a long session

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

House Speaker Brian Bosma set low expectations for the Indiana General Assembly when he suggested the state's financial needs already exceed its available revenue.

“It's going to be an extraordinarily difficult budget year,” Bosma said last month. “I told my team that everyone will try to sell whatever it is they want as the budget solution. ... People want to do this, they want to do that – it's the worst way to make policy.”

Granted, there's no silver budget bullet to be found in a tax increase, legalized sports gambling or any other legislation sold as remedy for the revenue shortfall. But there's much lawmakers can do to improve Hoosiers' economic prospects and well-being. Some involve investments in areas too long neglected or shortchanged; some require no money at all.

THE JOY OF READING

How School Reform, Including Common Core, Has Devastated Children and Their Joy of Learning to Read

From Nancy Bailey

School reform has taken a toll on children starting in kindergarten (even preschool). There’s little doubt that children are being forced to learn to read earlier than ever before. The reading gap likely reflects the developmental differences found in children when they are forced to read too soon.

Why are schools doing this? Forcing kindergarteners to read before they’re ready means that many will fail.

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #292 – April 6, 2017

Dear Friends,

In Tuesday’s (Apr. 4th) historic vote that received less media attention than a controversy over cold beer, the Senate voted to reverse its February 20th decisive defeat of the bill to end 166 years of electing our State Superintendent and allow appointment by the Governor.

Five Senators switched from “no” on February 20th to “yes” on April 4th:

Senator Crider
Senator Doriot
Senator Ford
Senator Mishler
Senator Niemeyer

With these five additional yes votes, the Senate tally moved from a 23-26 defeat on Feb. 20th to a 28-20 victory on April 4th.

After 166 years, the rights of voters to guide our democracy at the ballot box have been diminished by the General Assembly and upstaged by cold beer. There was a major article in yesterday’s Indianapolis Star about the cold beer problem, but not one word about the vote on electing the State Superintendent.

It is a sad sign for the power of voters and for our democracy in Indiana.

Changing from a State Superintendent of Public Instruction elected by the voting public to a secretary of education appointed by the Governor is one more step in the deconstruction of public education in Indiana.

The bill has more hurdles before final passage, with at minimum one more vote in the House. If you as a voter are offended by this bill and want to continue to speak up to your legislators on this issue, read “Next Steps” below to see the path ahead.

Three Reasons to Oppose HB 1005

There were three strong reasons for the Senators to oppose House Bill 1005:

1) Respect for and faith in democracy

Democracy is based on the belief that voters should be given the power to guide our government through free elections. If people believe that the wrong person has been elected, the voters can correct the problem at the next election. Taking away the power of voters and giving that power to the executive branch for appointments are steps leading away from democracy. The power of voters is diminished.

In the floor debate on Tuesday, the importance and respect for voters was emphasized by Senator Melton (D), Senator Leising (R), and Senator Randolph (D) as they spoke against the bill.

2) Respect for the rules of the Senate

Minority Leader Senator Lanane raised an objection that considering the bill would break Rule 81E. The rule says that says when a bill is defeated “that exact language or substantially similar language shall be considered decisively defeated and shall not be considered again during the session.”

Lt. Governor Crouch overruled the objection. Senator Lanane appealed the ruling of the chair. At that point, the chair stepped down for the debate on the appeal and Senator Long assumed the role of chair.

Senator Lanane in speaking on his appeal stated his case that under Senate rules HB 1005 should not have even been considered by the Rules Committee or by the Senate because the bill with the exact language of House Bill 1005 had been defeated with “26 nay votes on that matter.” He said “HB 1005 was the exact language.” He said that rules “should be viewed strictly. Rules mean what they say. It shall not be considered this session.” He said following the rule “lends to our credibility, to our sense of fairness. We don’t do do-overs.”

Before other Democratic Senators whose hands were up were called on to support Senator Lanane’s appeal, Senator Long recognized Senator Hershman who moved the previous question. Senator Long said that a vote on Senator Hershman’s motion would be a vote to end debate on the appeal. Senator Lanane started to ask a question but was cut off by Senator Long who said he didn’t recognize Senator Lanane. The roll call vote was 39-9 to sustain the chair. Thus, the appeal on the meaning of Senate Rule 81E was quickly over.

In the floor debate on the bill itself, Senator Taylor (D) and Senator Randolph (D) emphasized the issue of not following Senate rules.

My conclusion is that the Senate’s actions have made a mockery of Senate Rule 81E. Long after the debate over House Bill 1005 is resolved, Senators will always remember that this episode has gutted any meaning in the Senate rule about “decisively defeated” bills. The overwhelming desire of Senate leaders to take the selection of the State Superintendent out of the hands of voters this year, ending a feature of our democracy that has lasted 166 years, has left a legacy of damage to the respect for Senate rules that will linger for generations.

3) Allowing appointment of a K-12 State Superintendent with no K-12 experience

The word “preferably” in the qualifications section of HB 1005 means that the State Superintendent is not required to have experience in the “administration of public education” and is not required to have a degree in “education or educational administration.” It is optional. Senator Breaux made a strong attempt to make sure it was not optional, but her second reading amendments were voted down.

Read the qualifications for yourself:

“(2) has demonstrated personal and professional leadership success, preferably in the administration of public education;”

“(3) possesses an earned advanced degree, preferably in education or educational administration, awarded from a regionally or nationally accredited college or university; and”

Then in qualification (4), the words “Executive in the field of education” were clarified by bill sponsor Senator Buck on the floor of the Senate to mean that higher education leaders or other executives such as Mitch Daniels could serve as the K-12 State Superintendent.

It is offensive to those who have dedicated their lives and their careers to K-12 education to hear that they can be supervised at the state level by someone who has no K-12 experience. This shows no respect for the complex history and issues of K-12 education and the detailed knowledge required by anyone who would successfully lead Indiana K-12 education.

Thus, we are left with a serious flaw in the bill to appoint the State Superintendent. Not only does it take power away from citizens who vote, but it also leaves open the door to appoint a person with no K-12 experience and no degrees in education.

Next Steps

The Senate version of HB 1005 differs from the House version, so the sponsor of the House bill, Speaker Bosma, now will decide whether to accept the Senate version or whether to take the bill to a Conference Committee to change the bill to be more like the House version.

If he decides to accept the Senate version, then the House will vote on whether to concur with the Senate version. Voters who don’t want to give up the power to elect the State Superintendent can try to get their representative in the House to vote against the concurrence.

If he decides to take the bill to a Conference Committee to change any of the provisions of the bill, then the changes in the final Conference Committee report have to go back to both the House and the Senate for a final vote of approval. Unhappy voters can then share your feelings and opposition with members of both chambers before the final votes on the Conference Committee report. Stay tuned!

Let your legislators know that you have read the fine print and House Bill 1005 would allow a State Superintendent with no K-12 experience. This is startling and unacceptable.

This is flawed legislation.

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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