In Case You Missed It – August 5, 2024

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

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

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Studies of student performance under school voucher programs not only showed that they don’t help them, but that they could actually have harmful effects. Results from a 2016 study of Louisiana’s voucher program found “strong and consistent evidence that students using an LSP scholarship performed significantly worse in math after using their scholarship to attend private schools.” In Indiana, results also showed “significant losses” in math. A third study of a voucher program in Ohio reported that “students who use vouchers to attend private schools have fared worse academically compared to their closely matched peers attending public schools.”

We aren’t against private schools. But we are against taxpayer money going to private schools at the expense of public schools." -- The Governors of North Carolina and Kentucky quoted in Diane Ravitch's blog post, Governors Roy Cooper and Andy Beshear: Real Democrats Support Real Public Schools! (emphasis added)

VOUCHERS CHIP AWAY AT PUBLIC EDUCATION

Governors Roy Cooper and Andy Beshear: Real Democrats Support Real Public Schools!

By the time you read this, Vice President Harris may have already chosen her running mate for the upcoming presidential election, but it's good to remember that there are some Democrats who are still fighting for public education.

From Diane Ravitch

Voucher programs chip away at the public education our kids deserve

This is their strategy: Start the programs modestly, offering vouchers only to low-income families or children with disabilities. But then expand the giveaway by taking money from public schools and allowing the wealthiest among us who already have children in private schools to pick up a government check.

CITIZENSHIP BUILDING IS A CORE PURPOSE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION

I am a Patriot

Public schools serve all our students -- those with a variety of religious beliefs, Christians, Muslims, and others, and those with no religious beliefs. That is the value of having a First Amendment protecting the right to free exercise of religion and prohibiting the state from establishing one religion over another. Nancy Flanagan writes about the error made by the State Superintendent of Public Schools of Oklahoma and others who would impose their beliefs on others.

From Nancy Flanagan in Teacher in a Strange Land blog

I love the idea that it took decades of discourse for the early, 18th century Rebels (by no means a majority) to organize in resisting colonial rule, fighting the imposition of taxation without representation (which still resonates today). I think all children in America should know the truth about our Founding Fathers, and their multi-racial legacies. I think elementary schools should hold mock elections and HS Social Studies teachers should organize voter registration drives. I think flying the national flag—right side up—is everyone’s prerogative.

I also think the Superintendent of Schools in Norman, Oklahoma, who declared “We’re not going to have Bibles in our classrooms”—after a memo from Ryan Walters, their moronic State Superintendent specifying that all OK classrooms will offer Bible-based instruction—is a patriot.

A patriot who understands our foundational principles–the separation of church and state, for example. Perhaps even a patriot who sees citizenship-building, not just job training, as a core purpose of public schools.

TRAINING YOUR SCHOOL BOARD UNDER PROJECT 2025

The Heritage Foundation Wants to Train Your School Board.

The Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 has directions for school board members. Would you want your school system run by people who want to destroy public schools?

From deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

Given the Heritage Foundation’s push for outsized, ubiquitous influence in casting America in its own far-right-conservative image, it should come as no surprise that the Heritage Foundation even offers its own “school board training”:

The status quo in your school system wasn’t working. You saw the need for new leadership with a different vision for education. You stepped up to the plate and ran for school board—and you won! Now your role as a school board member brings a new set of challenges and opportunities—and the learning curve can be steep. But you don’t have to navigate this new territory alone.

The Heritage Foundation is pleased to offer training designed especially to help you succeed in your new role as a school board member. Experienced schoolboard leaders and education policy experts from across the country have teamed up to share the knowledge and information you need for immediate effectiveness. Designed for busy board members and parents, this training is available on demand so that you can learn at your convenience and at your own pace.

Okay.

So, who’s instructing these “on-demand” lessons on behalf of the Heritage Foundation?

STATE AND LOCAL NEWS

‘Back to school’ brings new education laws to Indiana classrooms

Most of the new policies took effect July 1, though some changes are still a year or two out from full implementation.

From Indiana Capital Chronicle (emphasis in original)

IREAD and third grade retention
Among the most debated legislation of the 2024 session, Senate Enrolled Act 1 seeks to remedy Indiana’s literacy “crisis” by requiring schools to administer the statewide IREAD test in second grade — a year earlier than previous requirements — and direct new, targeted support to at-risk students and those struggling to pass the exam.

But if, after three tries, a third grader can’t meet the IREAD standard, legislators want school districts to retain them. That number could reach into the thousands, according to 2023 data. New IREAD results for tests taken in Spring 2024 are expected to be released next month...

...Religious instruction
Although an option previously existed for Hoosier students to receive religious instruction during regular school hours, House Enrolled Act 1137 requires schools to approve parental requests for students to leave class during the day.

The change tightens previous Indiana law that permitted students to leave school for up to 120 minutes a week for voluntary religious instruction, as long as it takes place off school property, and private transportation is provided.

Purdue president: New Indiana high school diplomas won’t meet admission requirements

Herein lies the danger of having legislators, the vast majority of whom are non-educators, micromanage our state's school curriculum.

From WFYI (Indianapolis)

Purdue University’s president says Indiana’s proposed changes to high school diplomas do not meet the school’s admission standards in math, social studies and world languages.

In a letter sent to top state education leaders last week, President Mung Chiang said several changes to the diplomas do not meet what have been the entry criteria at the Big Ten university.

High school curriculum is an important factor in college admission, Chiang said in the letter.

“Not all students will attend college,” Chiang wrote. “However, all students should clearly understand college admission requirements and be offered the coursework needed to be admitted to and succeed in college.”

See also: Indiana's new high school diplomas spark concerns among university leaders


East Allen County Schools administrators gather as new year nears

EACS and FWCS prepare for the new school year.

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

East Allen County Schools expects to begin the academic year with no unstaffed bus routes – an achievement that had the superintendent smiling Monday as administrators gathered for a back-to-school tradition.

Marilyn Hissong also announced at the annual Administrators Academy that the district has only two new administrators, both of whom were promoted from other roles.

“That’s an exciting year, not to have the turnover – to have our people all back,” Hissong said.

About 50 district and school leaders – including principals, department directors and central office staff – gathered at the EACS Annex in New Haven for the annual professional development session held days before classes begin Aug. 7.

Hissong said the tradition is an opportunity to work on leadership skills and ensure that all administrators have the same information as they prepare for a new academic year.

“We also unveiled our strategic plan for the district,” Hissong said. “This one contains curriculum, community, culture – all of that.”

FWCS to have weapon detection systems in high schools for upcoming year

From 21Alive News

Last school year South Side High School took on a pilot program for the Open Gate Weapon Detection systems.

Now with data collected from the school, officials with FWCS are ready to implement the system into other schools.

JOIN US

An Evening with Jennifer McCormick

NEIFPE is proud to co-sponsor this event featuring Jennifer McCormick, candidate for Governor of Indiana. We hope you can attend.

Click HERE to register for the September 25th event:





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

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

###

In Case You Missed It – February 26, 2024

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

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

Click the image to view Learning
First Alliance's Public Schools Week website.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“The tests are not measuring how much students learned or can learn. They are predominately measuring the family and community capital of the student.” -- from Christopher Tienken, quoted by Peter Greene in Research Shows What State Standardized Tests Actually Measure

TESTING

Standardized testing is still being overused and misused...and we discover that tests measure family income instead of school quality or teacher success. Spoiler alert: We've known this for years.

Who Redefined Teaching as the Production of High Test Scores and Who Taught Us to Believe in the Myth of the Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations?

From Jan Resseger's Blog

...many people and many of the state legislators who allocate dollars for public education too easily blame and scapegoat the schoolteachers and the schools and school districts unable to raise test scores upon command. We continue to watch school districts themselves ignore poverty and systemic racism as they close or punish the schools in the poorest neighborhoods, and we continue to watch state legislatures take over “failing” schools or school districts and install so-called turnaround experts. The polls show that most parents are grateful to their child’s own teacher, someone they know personally, but when people think about teachers in general, too many have learned from several generations of school reform to blame the teachers and look down on the so-called “failing” schools that can’t seem to produce high test scores.

Yong Zhao: Why Doesn’t the U.S. Scrap PISA?

From Diane Ravitch

I have studied the results of international assessments such as PISA and TIMSS for years. Eventually, I began to wonder what the connection was—if any—between the test scores of 15-year-old students and the economic productivity of their nation 10, 15, 20 years later. We’ve been bemoaning our scores since the first international tests were given in the 1960s, even as our economy soars way beyond the nations with higher scores on the tests.

I invited Yong Zhao to share his reaction to the latest PISA scores. His response was as brilliant as I anticipated.

Research Shows What State Standardized Tests Actually Measure

From Peter Greene in Forbes

First, we can once again recognize that the standardized tests used to make definitive statements about student learning and teacher effectiveness, to assess the quality of administrators, to declare a school “failing,” to pinpoint student academic weaknesses and strength— these tests are in fact simply reflecting the demographics of the students’ families. Maroun and Tienkin write:

The results from the state-mandated standardized tests used in New Jersey have not been independently validated for all of the ways the results are used, yet some education leaders rely on them for decision-making purposes.

That stands true for every state where big standardized test data is used in these ways.

Second, if policy makers must insist that the big standardized test scores must be used for this wide variety of policy purposes, research like this suggests that the best way to improve test scores for students from less resource-filled backgrounds might be to provide them with wider and deeper experiences aimed at building background knowledge, rather than bombarding them with test prep exercises and workbooks.

Education centered around high-stakes testing has been pushing schools down the wrong road for twenty-some years. This study is a reminder that the big standardized test generates data that actually says far more about a school’s demographics than its effectiveness.

INDIANA AG GATHERS DATA ON 'NAUGHTY' SCHOOLS

IN: From the AG, Another Edu-witch Hunt Site

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita sets up a web site to intimidate schools and teachers.

From Peter Greene in Curmudgucation

...what this is going to do is add to intimidation of teachers, allow unsubstantiated slamming of schools, increase distrust of public ed, make some political hay for Rokita, and spread smoke without light. All that and waste the time of a lot of people working in public education (which school administrator will draw the task of doing the daily Check For Lies on the AG Website). What it won't do is improve the quality of public education in Indiana.

INDIANA LEGISLATORS IGNORE EXPERTS

The Indiana General Assembly seems to think that they know more about education and educating children than the experts -- the teachers of Indiana. This legislation will force teachers to ignore research and provide a one-size-fits-all solution to student achievement.

Indiana lawmakers advance bill to hold back more third graders who don’t pass reading test

From Chalkbeat*

A bill to hold back and provide more support to third graders who can’t read proficiently passed the Senate Education and Career Development Committee Wednesday along party lines.

Senate Bill 1 would reinforce the state’s policy of holding back students who fail the state’s reading test, while also requiring schools to identify and give remediation to those who are at risk of not passing the exam.

Under the provisions of the bill, schools would also need to track students’ reading skills beyond third grade, and provide reading instruction rooted in the principles of the science of reading through eighth grade.

The legislation continues the state’s recent focus on improving students’ literacy and reading instruction. Last year, Indiana lawmakers enacted a law requiring schools to adopt research-backed curriculum based in the science of reading. The state also prohibited schools from using a reading instruction method known as three-cueing.

Indiana literacy overhaul bill advances as worries rise over provision to retain more third graders

From Indiana Capital Chronicle

Numerous parents and educators who testified said that although they support efforts to identify and assist struggling readers earlier, they remained opposed to the legislation due to the mandatory retention provision.

“It’s possible to cherry pick a study here and there showing positive effects. But no review of the entire literature has concluded that retention has any positive long term benefits,” said Russ Skiba, professor emeritus at Indiana University, also representing the University Alliance for Racial Justice.

Skiba additionally said retention is “likely to cause serious, long-term effects for students,” including failure to complete high school, failure to advance to college, “and even increased crime.” Negative effects of retention “fall hardest” on Black and Latino students, he continued.

LOCAL FORT WAYNE AREA NEWS

Peacemaker program to expand at Fort Wayne Community Schools

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

A program that’s cultivating a culture of peace at South Side High School received Fort Wayne Community Schools board approval Monday to expand.

The $500,000 contract with Alive Community Outreach formalizes the expectations for the Peacemaker program at each high school, said Matt Schiebel, the district’s executive director of safety and community partnerships.

Built upon Martin Luther King Jr.’s principles of nonviolence, the program includes a summer Peacemaker Academy for students, a school Peace Club and mentorship through a community volunteer program known as the Peace Grannies and Grampies.

The experiences give students a deeper understanding of social justice issues and how to develop nonviolent ways to resolve conflict and promote peace.

Northwest Allen County Schools pauses redistricting plans

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Northwest Allen County Schools won’t alter school attendance areas – for now, that is.

Superintendent Wayne Barker announced during Monday’s board meeting that postponing rebalancing decisions for one to two years is best.

“As we look at our current building numbers and capacities in conjunction with the ever-changing plans for housing developments in our district, it was decided that more information and time are needed to aid us in making sound decisions,” Barker said.

Northwest Allen County Schools hears board election options

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Northwest Allen County Schools began conversations this week about potentially changing the structure of its elected board.

The five-member school board comprises two at-large members and three members elected from residency districts – Eel River, Lake and Perry townships. All voters within NACS may vote for all five seats, regardless of their address.

At-large member Darren Vogt said last month it’s time to revisit the residency districts because the townships vary in population.

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

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

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

###

In Case You Missed It – March 20, 2023

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

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

THIS WEEK

Three of this week's articles are in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. Support local newspapers and media. Click the link at the end to subscribe for online access or delivery.

REPUBLICANS MANDATE TEXTBOOKS BUT REMOVE FUNDING

Democrats oppose textbook funding mandate

Republicans in the Indiana General Assembly continue to do as much damage as they can to public schools. Governor Holcomb called for funding textbooks so parents wouldn't have to pay for them. Republicans in the House left the mandate for paying for textbooks in the law but deleted the funding leaving the school systems in the lurch.

"House Republicans deleted the funding from their version of the budget, which the chamber approved in late February on a party-line vote. They boasted in a budget summary that their proposal 'eliminates fees for textbooks and curricular materials.' It does: It makes it illegal for public and charter schools to charge for them. But it doesn’t provide any money, leaving the funding up to the schools."

From School Matters

Indiana Democratic legislators are pushing back on a plan by House Republicans to shift the cost of textbooks and curricular materials to public and charter schools.

First to step up: Rep. Tanya Pfaff, D-Terre Haute. In a news release this week, she says Republicans are pulling an “accounting trick” that will cost Vigo County Community Schools nearly $1.4 million a year.

“Our state constitution promises tuition-free education for all students, and it’s time to make good on that promise for students and families,” Pfaff says. “But House Republicans’ budget is a bait and switch that saddles the Vigo County School Corporation will the cost of all students’ textbooks …”

As of now, Indiana is one of only seven states where families are charged for textbooks and curricular materials. The state pays for books and materials for students who qualify by income for free or reduced-price school meals, but all other families are on the hook for the expenses.

VOUCHER LAWS PROTECT DISCRIMINATION

How School Voucher Laws Protect Discrimination.

Private and religious schools want public money, but they don't want to follow the same rules that public schools follow.

"...no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever..." -- Thomas Jefferson

From Peter Greene in Forbes

The intent is clear enough—to provide education service providers (private schools, tutors, education materials publishers, etc) with the ability to use taxpayer dollars however they see fit. No officials can ask them to alter their “creed, practices, admission policy, hiring policy or curriculum,” meaning that a private school could be free to discriminate as it wishes, even as it uses taxpayer dollars to deliver religious instruction.

This allows states to operate—and require taxpayers to fund—a school system that exists in parallel dimension where the United States Constitution is forbidden to reach. Private schools and other education service providers will be free to discriminate against students and staff on the taxpayer’s dime. The voucher non-interference language further insures that the system will be one in which it is the school, not the family, that has choice—”admission policy” is one of the protected areas.

We’ve already seen vouchers used to send millions of taxpayer dollars to anti-LGBTQ schools and schools with anti-science curricula. We’ve seen plenty of research indicating that voucher programs hurt result in sub-par education for students. But with laws written to protect such actions, it’s hard to know how far such taxpayer-funded miseducation could go.

LOCAL EDUCATION NEWS

Northwest Allen County Schools

Northwest Allen County Schools board meeting site to change in April

Northwest Allen County Schools is changing the venue for their board meetings.

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

The Northwest Allen County Schools board will conduct business in a different venue beginning next month because its typical meeting site will be repurposed for central office staff.

The elected officials unanimously endorsed the April 10 move to the Perry Hill Elementary School gymnasium and the related central office reconfiguration with little discussion Monday.

Meetings are currently held in the boardroom, which is within the central office facilities at Perry Hill and can seat about 50 attendees.

NACS is working to ensure the gym will have proper amenities for the meetings, such as Wi-Fi, audio and video. The district livestreams the proceedings, but the audio quality can vary depending on the speaker.

Indiana Preschool Enrollment

Indiana opens enrollment for pre-K program

Indiana's preschool program is now accepting enrollment applications.

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Families of 4-year-olds can now seek enrollment in Indiana’s preschool program for the upcoming academic year, officials announced Monday.

Open to children from lower-income families, On My Way Pre-K awards grants to eligible children so they can attend high-quality preschool programs for a year before kindergarten.

The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration reported a record high enrollment this academic year – 6,230 youngsters. That was up by about 30% from the previous year, which had 4,793 students.

Participation in northeast Indiana surpassed 400 students, including 267 from Allen County, the program’s enrollment dashboard said.

Officials expect even more participants this upcoming cycle, said Courtney Penn, director of the agency’s Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning.

FWCS Improvement Projects

Fort Wayne Community Schools advances on referendum projects

Fort Wayne Community Schools is spending referendum money to improve schools.

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

More than $2 million in improvements – including an elementary school expansion – that Fort Wayne Community Schools voters endorsed at the polls three years ago took a step toward reality Monday.

The school board unanimously approved Moake Park Group as the architect/engineer for the Franke Park Elementary School addition. The firm will also serve in the same role for a project addressing entrance vestibule and office security at three other elementary schools.

The projects’ combined estimated construction budget is $2.3 million. The estimated design contract fees total $184,000.

Nearly 73% of voters approved the work in spring 2020 as part of a $130 million referendum that also included major renovations to Wayne High School and Blackhawk and Miami middle schools.

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

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

###

In Case You Missed It – March 6, 2023

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

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

THIS WEEK

This week we start off with some good and bad news from the Indiana General Assembly -- book banning has progressed through the Senate, but partisan school board elections have been avoided for another year.

In Fort Wayne area news we have stories about a canceled play because it included LGBTQ characters, new bus schedules, and a new sponsor for FWCS's Amp Lab. (All three of these stories are from the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette which is behind a paywall. Please support your local newspaper. See the link at the end of this post.)

Finally, Diane Ravitch reports on a failed attempt to sneak vouchers into a Texas school district.

INDIANA POISED TO JUMP ON THE BOOK-BANNING BANDWAGON

Senators debate ban on “inappropriate” library materials for minors

The fight against censorship is crucial. We must preserve the First Amendment right to access information and make our own decisions about which books are available for ourselves and our children.

From the Indiana Capital Chronicle

What books should Hoosier kids be allowed to read in school? Who decides which texts are “inappropriate” for students? And what say should parents have about removing books from library shelves?

Those questions were at the heart of nearly two hours of debate in the Indiana Senate Tuesday as lawmakers weighed a bill that seeks to ban materials deemed “harmful to minors” in school libraries.

Senate Bill 12 ultimately advanced 37-12 to the House.

Language in the proposal, authored by Sen. Jim Tomes, R-Wadesville, removes “educational purposes” as a reason that public schools and libraries could claim legal protection for sharing “harmful material” with underage students. That includes books and other materials deemed to be obscene, pornographic or violent.

The bill also carves out a new process for parents to request the removal of books they believe are “inappropriate” from school libraries.

SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS REMAIN PARTY-FREE

Effort to move Indiana to partisan school board elections dies in the House

For the second time in as many years, we've stopped the Indiana legislature from making school board candidates declare a political party. Public education is for everyone and should be non-partisan.

From the Indiana Capital Chronicle

A bill that would have let Hoosier communities decide if local school board elections should be partisan died in the Indiana House after lawmakers failed to vote on the measure by Monday’s deadline.

That means school board races will stay non-partisan — at least for now. Language from the bill could still crop up in others before the end of the current legislative session.

House Bill 1428, authored by Rep. J.D. Prescott, R-Union City, sought to add political party identifications to what are now nonpartisan school board elections throughout the state. The legislation was the first to extend “local control” over the issue.

Monday was the deadline for House bills to pass out of the chamber. Prescott did not call the bill for a full chamber vote, however, likely indicating a lack of support from the House Republican caucus.

HS PLAY CANCELLED DUE TO BIGOTRY

Nixed Carroll High School play to be replaced, superintendent says officials didn't cave to pressure

The principal of Carroll High School felt it was unsafe to proceed with a play that depicted LGBTQ characters.

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Carroll High School’s spring play will be replaced with another production because the original choice became a divisive and potentially unsafe activity for students, the Northwest Allen County Schools superintendent said after a standing-room-only crowd packed the board room Monday night.

More than 20 people – including parents, teachers and students – spoke during public comment at the school board meeting, with most addressing last week’s cancellation of “Marian: The True Story of Robin Hood.” A few speakers applauded Principal Cleve Million’s decision, but most criticized the school for nixing a play that included LGBTQ representation.

NACS Superintendent Wayne Barker said he supports Million and dispelled perceptions that NACS caved to pressure from complaining adults.

“It wasn’t about exclusion. It wasn’t about cowardice, or caving into calls,” Barker said. “It was simply (Million’s) concern for the well-being of our students.”

Barker addressed the issue at the end of the meeting, but most attendees had left the crowded room by then. Those who arrived too late for one of the 50 seats in the board room could watch the proceedings from a nearby overflow viewing area.

Over the weekend, a petition on Change.org protesting the play’s cancellation gathered support. As of late Monday, it had more than 3,200 signatures, although some speakers Monday noted the supporters likely include people from communities beyond NACS.

The petition indicates the play contains queer representation, including a same-sex couple and a nonbinary character.

“(Million) simply wanted this play to be about the students’ skill, about their talents, about their work ethic, and not about the storyline,” Barker said. “It was quickly going to become that, and it has anyway.”

Angela Stratton, a NACS taxpayer and parent, said many in the audience shared concern about silencing voices and preventing students from producing art that deserves to be performed.

“A representation of all of our students matter, not just the majority, not just the ones that make people comfortable,” Stratton said, listing minority and LGBTQ students as examples. “They deserve to have themselves shown in the art forms. They deserve to be heard. They deserve to be represented in this district.”

BUSSING CHANGES IN ALLEN COUNTY

Fort Wayne Community, Southwest Allen revamp busing with efficiency in mind

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

When a Fort Wayne Community Schools bus is delayed by a train or inclement weather during its earliest route, it can be tough to make up time, leading to late pickups on its subsequent trips serving elementary and high schoolers.

Across town, it can take Southwest Allen County Schools buses 15 minutes to travel less than a mile because of congestion around three schools that start at similar times at Homestead and Aboite Center roads.

Both districts – which together serve about 14,600 bus riders and seek efficiency while facing driver shortages – will address these and other issues next academic year with new busing models.

Even non-riders will be affected by the adjustments because school hours will change.

FWCS is preparing for a two-tier schedule with start times of 7:20 a.m. for secondary schools and 8:50 a.m. for elementary schools. This replaces the existing three-tier structure that has different start times for middle and high schools.

Meanwhile, SACS – which has used a two-tier system for decades – is weighing three-tier options because officials believe it will help the district respond to the growing population near Bass Road, the district’s northern boundary.

FWCS SIGNS PARKVIEW AS SPONSOR

Parkview signs on as Amp Lab sponsor

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

...Amp Lab opened to students in August.

Riley Johnson, its director, said Parkview’s financial sponsorship builds on an existing relationship.

Students have partnered with Parkview on its Forever in Your Heart program, which gives families keepsakes to remember a deceased loved one, Johnson said. Specifically, the teens helped develop new prototypes of mementos, he said, noting Amp Lab students have access to equipment including 3D printers.

A group is also helping Parkview develop educational materials for its initiative that teaches safe sleep and basic infant care courses to eighth graders, Johnson said.

Board member Noah Smith asked about the atmosphere at Electric Works now that other entities, including Do it Best, have moved in.

Johnson said he was nervous the professionals might be frustrated to see groups of 17-year-olds on the Electric Works campus, but “they’ve welcomed our kids as much as our kids have welcomed them.”

TEXAS VOUCHER SCHEME FAILED

Texas: How a Brazen Attempt to Sneak Vouchers into a School District Was Derailed

Texas voters have consistently rejected vouchers so Governor Abbott and Lt. Governor Patrick decided to push vouchers through the "back door."

From Diane Ravitch

Governor Greg Abbott and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick are crazy for vouchers, even though they would underwrite the tuition of students already in private schools and defund public schools. Behind them, of course, are rightwing billionaires. Here is a story by Forrest Wilder in the Texas Monthly of one sneaky effort that failed:

In October, I wrote about a wild, under-the-radar scheme in the Hill Country town of Wimberley to route taxpayer money to private schools around the state. Unbeknownst to almost anyone in the community, all-Republican members of the Wimberley ISD school board had spent much of last spring and summer laying the groundwork for a plan to create Texas’s first school-voucher program, using a loophole in state law.

The plot had been cooked up by a consortium of right-wing activists and donors, a politically connected charter-school executive, and Texans for Education Rights, a new nonprofit founded by Monty Bennett, a wealthy Dallas hotelier, and Aaron Harris, a GOP consultant from North Texas. Under a novel proposal floated by Texans for Education Rights, students would enroll in Wimberley ISD but attend private schools of their choice across Texas “at no cost to their families.”

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

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

###

In Case You Missed It – February 20, 2023

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

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

THIS WEEK

The Indiana General Assembly is currently in session so the Republican supermajority is doing its best to damage the state's public schools.

We report on Republicans' annual quest for more voucher money and the attempt to make school board elections partisan.

INDIANA REPUBLICANS AND VOUCHERS

Indiana: GOP Legislator Has Misgivings About Vouchers After Abrasive Meetings

Indiana State Senator Ryan Mishler (9th District) has raised an important point about the state's voucher plan. There's no public oversight.

Like most Republicans in Indiana, he stops short of denouncing the entire voucher program, but he does, thankfully, issue a warning to parents who choose to use the voucher program to send their children to private schools. Additionally, he states that schools receiving public tax dollars be publicly accountable...a position to which we heartily agree.

From Diane Ravitch

I have worked with public schools from all over the state. When issues have come up, the administrators have always been proactive, looking into the matters brought into question, and responding promptly. That is the leadership that I am accustomed to and expect to see in the institutions responsible for instructing our children. When I see such blatant avoidance, I cannot help but believe that these administrators are knowingly hiding something more. I would not call that leadership!

Since this all unfolded, several of the families relocated so they could send their children to the public school of choice. I would advise families looking at voucher schools to be aware that they are on their own at this point and time. They should strongly consider an alternative to the blemished and blatantly flawed procedures of accountability when choosing a school for their child. We need to hold the schools to the same high level of accountability they expect from the students and their parents.

Indiana House Republicans “committed” to voucher school expansion

Despite State Senator Ryan Mishler's recent objections, the Indiana Republican Party, a party that used to support fiscal responsibility, is once again calling for increased funding for private and religious schools.

Despite the lack of public oversight and church-state entanglement, Indiana's voucher program has cost the state over $1 billion since its inception in 2011, money that should have gone to the public schools. Public schools must justify how their money is spent. Parochial and private schools do not. Public schools accept all children no matter what their religious affiliation is, their achievement levels, their family incomes, what special needs they bring with them, and their sexual orientation or gender preferences. Private schools discriminate using a variety of methods.

Public funds should go to public schools.

From the Indiana Capital Chronicle

The promise comes one week after a powerful GOP senator threatened to halt new Choice Scholarship funding

Indiana House Republicans will seek to expand the state’s “school choice” program despite a top GOP senator’s call for more voucher school reforms.

Republican House Speaker Todd Huston said his caucus is “110% committed” to funding — and growing — Indiana’s voucher program, known as Choice Scholarships. He suggested that lawmakers will widen eligibility for the vouchers in the House-proposed state budget, which is expected to be unveiled later Friday.

That’s the opposite of what Mishawaka Sen. Ryan Mishler said state lawmakers should do in the current legislative session.

Instead, the powerful Republican senator threatened to hold up new state spending on the voucher program — and advised parents to “beware” of non-public schools — after he claimed to have witnessed “disgusting” behavior at a private Catholic school in northern Indiana.

Another article in the Indiana Capital Chronicle provides additional information.
Indiana House Republicans propose major school voucher expansion in next state budget

Fort Wayne-area diocese responds to lawmaker's letter

This appeared in Saturday's (2/18/23) Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Mishler was “not privy to confidential interviews with parents,” investigation details and other actions taken while he wasn’t present, the statement said. The diocese, a regional district of the Roman Catholic Church, said Mishler first approached the Catholic high school in September about a concern involving a staff member on behalf of another parent.

“He was advised of the diocese’s standard practice to address issues at the lowest possible level and then move forward,” the diocese’s statement said. “He was advised that standard practice and policy, as well as pertinent law, did not allow Marian’s administration to speak with a parent, such as him, about matters involving another parent’s child or to disclose confidential personnel information regarding its staff, such as disciplinary actions.”

PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE FOR THE PUBLIC

Parents know best — except when they don’t

Public education benefits the public. Rob Boston, in this post on the website of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, wrote,

Public education benefits everyone, whether you directly use it or not. In most parts of the country, public schools are funded by property taxes, and every homeowner pays – even those who have no children or whose children are grown. There’s a simple reason for this: It’s in society’s interest that our children be educated, and public schools are providing that for 90% of them (and remain available for the other 10% whose parents have decided to educate them elsewhere).

Public schools accept every child no matter their family income, religious affiliation (or lack thereof), or their sexual orientation. Everyone pays because everyone benefits. Public dollars are rightly set aside for this public good. Our tax dollars should not be used for educational services that line private pockets, enrich religious institutions, or support racist and/or discriminatory practices. Period.

From The Answer Sheet

The news recently broke of an online neo-Nazi home-schooling network called “Dissident Homeschool.” The group is easily mocked as an example of abusive parenting and of home schooling gone wrong. But it’s when combined with another set of recent news stories that we should be worried.

While these racist home-schoolers have been colluding, a separate group of state legislators and governors have been hard at work changing their state laws to divert taxpayer dollars — with no strings attached and no meaningful regulations — toward voucher programs that include these home-schoolers.

Those pushing these policies use slogans like “fund children, not schools,” as a justification for moving public money from public schools and toward whichever education-related expenses parents choose. This, they claim, will improve education.

But the truth is disturbingly different, as inadvertently disclosed by the head of a Utah school choice lobbying group who was recently caught on a recording explaining, “I want to destroy public education.” The disclosure didn’t matter; her group successfully advocated for a Utah bill creating one of these new universal voucher programs.

INDIANA LEGISLATURE WANTS TO POLITICIZE PUBLIC EDUCATION

Partisan school board elections still a bad idea

This is not really a surprise. The Republic supermajority in the Indiana Legislature tried this last year, though it failed. They seem to think that education should be a partisan issue.

Apparently, according to the culture warriors, public schools are Democratic, and private and religious schools are Republican.

Blogger Steve Hinnefeld, from Bloomington, Indiana, thinks it's a bad idea...as do we.

From School Matters

Indiana Republican legislators seem determined to turn school board elections into partisan political affairs. There are so many reasons this is a bad idea. I’ll start with this: It would prevent many excellent board members from serving.

I’m thinking of David Sabbagh, who was a thoughtful and dedicated member of the Monroe County Community School Corp. board. Years earlier, he was elected to the Bloomington City Council as a Republican. Sure, he was what today would be called a RINO, but he had an R by his name on the ballot.

And I’m thinking of Keith Klein, who was elected four times to the MCCSC board before his untimely death in 2021. I have no idea what his political affiliation was, or if he had one. Like Sabbagh, he put the wellbeing of the school district and its students ahead of any thought of politics.

If school board elections had been partisan, I seriously doubt if either of them would have been elected. It’s been years since the voters in Bloomington elected anyone but a Democrat to public office. But the school board is different. I’ve followed the MCCSC board, as a reporter and a citizen, for 35 years; and with just a few exceptions, I couldn’t name the political affiliation of its members.

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

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

###

In Case You Missed It – February 13, 2023

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

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

THIS WEEK

Join us on March 1, 2023, at the Allen County Public Library for an update on public education and potential legislation being proposed regarding funding, vouchers, and the 2023 legislation may affect public education. Presentations will be by Dr. Jennifer McCormick, former Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer, President of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education (ICPE).

CULTURE WAR POLITICS SPURS EXPANSION OF VOUCHERS

The Far Right Has Used Culture War Politics to Open the Gate to a Vast Expansion of School Vouchers

The attack on public education is not new. The far right has been doing its best to privatize public education for a long time. The so-called "culture wars" are just the latest attempt to damage public education in America.

The current calls for education "reform" through curriculum cleansing and book banning are not uprisings of grassroots parent groups. There is big money behind the quest to do away with public schools.

[Note: emphasis added]

From Jan Resseger

In Merchants of Deception: Parent Props and their Funders, a new report just out from the Network for Public Education, Massachusetts political scientist, Maurice Cunningham explores what appeared a couple of years ago to be the spontaneous emergence of angry parents’ groups protesting teaching about racism, sex and gender.

“In truth,” he begins, “political interests use crises to turn politics and policy their way. This has happened during the COVID pandemic as right-wing ‘parent’ groups came out of nowhere to protest health measures such as masking and vaccine requirements in schools, then moved on to Critical Race Theory, then LGBT issues, book banning, and an endless stream of other ginned up culture war issues. In truth the Right has been massing its forces for years to undermine public education, but the sudden proliferation of ‘parents’ and ‘moms’ groups has signaled a new and more virulent turn… Conservative groups have exploded since 2021 and include operations like Parents Defending Education (PDE) and Moms for Liberty (M4L). They draw on white backlash politics and resentment.”

PUBLIC EDUCATION UPDATE

March 1, 2023, event announced

Please join us and the Indiana Coalition for Public Education at the event with the state's finest public education advocates -- Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer and Jennifer McCormick -- supporters of public education in Indiana!

PARTY-SUPPORTED SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS?

Partisan school board bill advances

Should school board members announce their party affiliation? Do we really need to add more political influence to public education? We think not.

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Indiana Republicans forged ahead Wednesday with a proposal that would upend the current nonpartisan school board elections across the state despite opponents arguing the change would further inject politics into local schools.

The Indiana House elections committee voted 6-4 along party lines to endorse a bill that would establish a system allowing each of the state's nearly 300 school districts to determine whether to require candidates to declare a political party.

THE COLLEGE BOARD LIED

The College Board Lied about Black Studies AP Course. It Had Frequent Exchanges with Florida Officials

The College Board folded under pressure from the far right led by Florida Governor DeSantis.

From Diane Ravitch

Governor Ron DeSantis and his Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. denounced the new AP African American Studies course in January. They listed specific objections to the syllabus. When the College Board released its final draft on February 1, everything that Florida opposed had been deleted.

The College Board insisted that it did not bow to political pressure because the revisions were made before Florida officials denounced the original.

The New York Times reported that the College Board and Florida officials were in frequent contact between September and February 1. The first attack on the AP course was written by Stanley Kurtz and published in the National Review on September 12. Kurtz warned that the AP course was “NeoMarxist” and takes “leftist indoctrination to a whole new level.”

About the same time, the College Board and Florida officials began negotiations.

SOUTHWEST ALLEN COUNTY SCHOOLS

SACS board moving, plans to show meetings online

The Southwest Allen County Schools school board finally goes online.

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

The Southwest Allen County Schools board is preparing for a move - and their remote-viewing debut.

Beginning March 7, the five elected officials will no longer conduct business in the district administration building along Homestead Road. They will instead meet in a conference room at a nearby facility that houses transportation staff, Superintendent Park Ginder said Tuesday.

SACS plans to offer an option to watch meetings online - either through livestreaming or a recording - once the necessary equipment is in place, Ginder said.

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

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

###

In Case You Missed It – January 30, 2023

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

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

THIS WEEK

Some of the most popular items on our social media feed this week were for events or legislative deadlines that have passed. One way to keep up is to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and on Post (a new Twitter-like platform). This is especially important during the yearly legislative sessions. Many of our posts are for immediate calls to action and waiting for the weekly summary is too late.

Today we have two posts by Vic Smith of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education. The Indiana General Assembly is continuing its years-long attack on public education. They are attempting to politicize school boards, and, as usual, expand the state's voucher program. For more information visit the ICPE website.

If you live in Indiana please contact the legislators listed in the posts below and let them know your opinions and your support of public education.

INDIANA LEGISLATIVE SESSION NEWS

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #370 – A radical plan

From the Indiana Coalition for Public Education

The Indiana Senate Education Committee approved a bill Wednesday that would freeze out community members, taxpayers and even state leaders from any influence over what the students of Indiana study. It would mark the end of state standards.

Yes, you read that correctly. Only parents would control the curriculum of their student if they opt for an Education Scholarship Account (ESA). Taxpayers who pay approximately $7000 a year for each student would have no voice.

• The Governor wants schools to prepare students for the workplace. ESA parents could ignore him.
• Those who love democracy want students to prepare for citizenship. ESA parents could ignore them.
• Those who love the arts want students to experience the arts. ESA parents could ignore them.

This radical plan to fund home schools and micro schools through accounts available online to any parent who applies could dissolve public education in Indiana in a few years.

Senate Bill 305 was approved in the Senate Education Committee by a vote of 8-5.

If you object to ending public education by way of universal ESA’s, send letters of opposition to the Senate Appropriations Committee, the next committee to review the bill.

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #371 – Partisan School Boards

From the Indiana Coalition for Public Education

Breaking long Hoosier traditions, Senate Bill 188 would change school boards from non-partisan to partisan. It’s time to contact Senators before the bill is heard on Monday to express your strong opposition to this damaging change to our public schools.

Making school boards partisan is a bad idea. It would further divide our state into partisan camps and create partisan controversies and ill-will in the boards running public schools that serve all children.

This proposal comes from the same Republican party that in 2017 and again in 2019 passed bills to appoint rather than elect the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, an elective office for 166 years, saying at the time that politics should be taken out of K-12 education.

How quickly they forget.

What bad consequences would this change bring?

Share these concerns with legislators:

• Changing to partisan school boards will make a bad teacher shortage even worse. This change will be so repulsive to many non-partisan teachers that it could be their last straw to consider leaving the state or the profession. Teachers in training are deciding whether to stay in Indiana or to teach in surrounding states. Knowing that public schools are run by partisan school boards will discourage young teachers from beginning their career in Indiana.
• Many highly qualified school board candidates would run in a non-partisan election but would not get involved if they have to run in a partisan election as members of a party.
• Political bosses who are not on the school board could control school board actions when school board members know that they owe their board seat to party politicians.
• Party slates would soon become part of every election, allowing state and local political bosses to control who gets to run for school board.
• The partisan majority on the school board would soon establish a partisan test for selecting a superintendent.
• A partisan superintendent may set up partisan tests for hiring administrative staff members or even teachers in the district.
• Since the legislature voted eight years ago to remove the requirement that superintendents must earn a superintendent’s license, a politically partisan school board could hire any politically connected individual to be the superintendent, whether or not they were qualified based on knowledge of schools.
• A regular dose of partisan arguments in local school board meetings will soon sour local communities on the very concept of public education.
• A change to partisan school boards would allow the party in power to control school board reactions to legislation in the General Assembly as the supermajority year by year brings bills which lead to their ultimate goal of universal vouchers: to end public education and educate all students in a marketplace of private schools.
• This proposal reverts to our history prior to the 1959 school consolidation reform law when some township trustees who ran the schools used political tests for hiring teachers.

VOUCHERS

Utah: House Passes Voucher Bill, Despite Voters Decisive Rejection in 2007

Remember when Indiana voters approved any of the expansive voucher bills the Indiana General Assembly keeps passing? No? Neither do we!

From Diane Ravitch

Utah’s House passed a voucher bill, even though the state voted against them by 62-38% in 2007. Republicans in Utah are determined to bypass a referendum, as they are in other states, because voters have never passed one. Voters don’t want to defund their public schools.

You can bet that 70-80% of the students who get vouchers are already enrolled in private religious schools. That’s the proportion reported in every state that has vouchers. The small number who ask for vouchers will lose ground academically and eventually return to their local public school. The research is unequivocal: vouchers do NOT improve academic achievement. They are a gift to parents whose kids are already in private schools.

ALLEN COUNTY SCHOOL NEWS

Carroll revamp price tag learned

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**

Renovating and expanding Carroll High School to accommodate 500 additional students could cost $46.3 million under preliminary plans shared this week with district officials.

The Northwest Allen County Schools board - which is also considering projects to address overcrowding at the middle schools and central office - will likely dedicate time for public input at a February or March meeting, board President Kent Somers said Monday.

"This is obviously a major undertaking," he said. "It'd be important to get feedback. We can't wait until the strategic planning discussions are done."

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

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

###