Vic’s Statehouse Notes #127– March 28, 2013

Dear Friends,

The saga of the historic generation-long experiment to privatize education in Indiana continues. The Indiana Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the 2011 voucher law is constitutional, giving legal blessing to using state tax dollars for sectarian education in private schools.

Now more than ever, the future of public education lies in the hands of members of the General Assembly. Currently, the expensive multifaceted voucher expansion bill is moving in the Senate. It is time to reconnect with your Senator about details below to secure their vote against expansion of vouchers at this time. No legislator can claim to be a friend of public schools who believes that House Bill 1003 is wise public policy.

If your contact with your Senator lets you know their position on House Bill 1003, please send me an email regarding their support or opposition. Every Senator is important in what is expected to be a close vote on the Senate floor as early as April 4th and as late as April 10th. Here are the details:

The Voucher Expansion Bill after Amendments on March 27th

The Senate Education Committee passed House Bill 1003 yesterday after adopting Senator Kenley’s amendment, which eliminated several provisions but still left a huge expansion which would siphon millions from the tuition support budget for public schools and would set new precedents for directly funding students already in private schools.

The committee vote was 8-4, with all Republicans voting yes and all Democrats voting no.

Provisions still in the bill and their fiscal costs include the following:

• $5 million for additional tax credits for K-12 school scholarships, above the current $5 million
• $0.4 million (according to LSA) for next year’s increased payments for the minimum voucher ($4500 rises to $4600)
• $12.8 million for special education students already in private schools (4211 now in private schools X 75% meeting means test X $4083 per voucher according to LSA)
• $3.7 million for siblings of current voucher students already in private schools (Projecting just 10% of 9135 voucher students have a sibling X $4083 voucher)

These provisions total $22 million for next year, $17 million of which will be taken from the K-12 tuition support budget. The $5 million in tax credits is foregone revenue.

These conservative estimates do not include highly controversial additions:

• 1) vouchers for 1st graders, no longer required to attend a public school to get a voucher. Kindergarten is now defined as sufficient time in public school to qualify for a voucher.

• 2) vouchers for children in 148 F schools, a new concept for Indiana, utilizing the flawed and widely disrespected system of A-F school letter grades. Shouldn’t we have a valid A-F system before using it to pass out vouchers?

• 3) vouchers for students who have never been in public school who have received an SGO scholarship under a new loophole allowing eligibility for a tax credit scholarship without first attending public school. Under current law, those receiving tax credit scholarships can get vouchers the next year. This loophole creates a universal voucher over a two-year cycle for any student meeting the $84,000 income guideline.

HB 1003 remains a bill that creates a huge and damaging expansion of the voucher program, despite the following positive changes in Senator Kenley’s amendment:

• Eligibility for all kindergarten students for a voucher disappeared. Sen. Kenley cited the LSA fiscal note saying that kindergarten vouchers would cost the state $7.8 million year after year after year.

• Approximately seven pages of the bill setting up Scholarship Granting Organizations for preschool scholarships disappeared, although the $5 million cost for additional tax credits remained in the bill for use by K-12 Scholarship Granting Organizations.

• The payment of state special education money to private schools disappeared, although all special education students can still get a voucher, including those who are currently in private schools, as long as family income does not exceed $84,000 for a family of four.

• Vouchers for children of veterans and for foster children disappeared from the bill.

• The $500 increase in the Grade 1-8 voucher was cut to $100 (to $4600), rising to $4700 in the second year of the budget.

Some may claim that the Senate Education Committee reduced and “defanged” the voucher expansion bill. Even a brief look at the list of provisions above and the $22 million fiscal cost should show that HB 1003 has not been defanged.

The Next Step: Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee on Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Since HB 1003 had a fiscal cost, it was recommitted to the Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee for approval in their final meeting on Tuesday morning, April 2nd. It is important to share your deep opposition to HB 1003 with members of this committee between now and Tuesday. These Senators probably have not heard much about the problems with this bill until now. It is time to let them know. A list of talking points about HB 1003 is attached to help in your conversations.

Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee Chair: Senator Hershman

Republican Members: Senators Holdman, Buck, Delph, Kenley, Landske, Mishler, Smith and Walker

Democrat Members: Senators Skinner, Broden, Hume and Taylor

Contact All Senators

The voucher expansion bill could come to the floor for a vote anytime between April 4th and April 10th. Remember that 21 current Senators voted against vouchers in 2011. That group forms a strong base for opposition to voucher expansion. We need every public school advocate to be involved in contacting Senators to support public schools and to oppose HB 1003.

The list is attached showing these 21 and the 25 who voted for vouchers. I have heard that some of those who voted for vouchers are not interested in voucher expansion for fiscal reasons. It is time to share your concerns. Why should another $22 million be spent on more vouchers when the entire summer school program only gets $18 million and professional development for Indiana teachers is given $0?

Thanks for all your efforts to contact Senators on behalf of public education! It is time to turn back this relentless attack on public schools in Indiana.

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

ICPE is working to promote public education and oppose privatization of schools in the Statehouse. I keep hearing reports that some public school supporters read these “Notes” with great interest but don’t translate that interest into joining ICPE. To keep our outstanding lobbyist Joel Hand in place, who is now working hard against voucher expansion in the Senate, we need all members from last year to renew and we need new members who support public education. Please join us!

Go to www.icpe2011.com for membership and renewal information.

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.

Occupy the DOE 2.0; Save Our Schools Webinar

with Drs. Sam Anderson, Morna McDermott, Shaun Johnson, Educator Ceresta Smith and Student Voice Stephanie Rivera

March 27, 2013 – 9:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time [EDT]

Please Join Us as We Occupy the Department of Education for a Second Time!! Drs. Sam Anderson, Morna McDermott, Shaun Johnson, Veteran Educator Ceresta Smith and Stephanie Rivera will share the details during this Save Our Schools hosted Webinar.

March 27th, 9PM EST

Attend and if you choose, Contribute to the Occupy the DOE 2 Fund!

Please join administrators of the public education advocacy group UNITED OPT OUT NATIONAL http://unitedoptout.com/ for a powerful presentation, a Webinar Fundraiser in support of Occupy the DOE 2.0.

UOO Board Members and Organizers, Morna McDermott, Shaun Johnson, and Ceresta Smith will speak about the second annual event. Save Our Schools, in support will host the Webinar/Fundraiser. Together let us help raise funds so that student scholars might attend the Washington DC Rally and March.


UOO and SOS ask all of those who support teachers, students and public schools to join this discussion and learn more about the four-day gathering of progressive education activists who endeavor to resist the destructive influences of corporate and for-profit education reforms.


Sam, Morna, Shaun, Ceresta, and Stephanie Rivera will share their reasons for attending the April 4-7 Occupy the DOE 2.0 action, a Rally and March to the White House.

Please join us as we explore opportunities for resisting destructive ed. reform policies and for rebuilding our public education system.

See the Full Schedule for Occupy the DOE Occupy2.0: The Official Schedule for Occupy DOE 2.0: The Battle for Public Schools

Book Review: Finnish Lessons

Finnish Lessons: What can the world learn from educational change in Finland? by Pasi Sahlberg

For years, educators have been hearing about the exemplary reading teachers in Finland. Their highly regarded literacy program has been in place for more than 30 years; in fact, many reading specialists from the United States (and other countries) have observed their schools and studied the Finnish reading curriculum. Since 1988, as evidenced by their high PISA scores (an international student assessment test), Finnish students have been top performers in math and science, as well as reading. Now the world is asking what can be learned from this educational change in Finland.

Finland is a small country with 5.5 million people. It is about the size of the state of Minnesota. Finland completely reorganized its schools in the early 70’s. The central idea of “peruskoulu” was to merge existing grammar schools, civic schools, and primary schools into a comprehensive nine-year municipal school. That means that students of different socioeconomic levels would all attend the same schools. Early childhood care and voluntary free preschool are provided by the government. Primary school begins at age 7, followed by a lower secondary level (grade 9, age 16). Then comes general upper secondary school which usually leads to university or vocational upper secondary school which leads to either work or vocational college.

Schools are small with an average size of 200 students. (With less government money now available schools are becoming larger and that is a concern for many.) Free lunches are provided to all and children with special needs are identified early. Each building has enough counselors and special education teachers for all students. There is no standardized testing until the end of general upper secondary school.

Education policies in Finland encourage “collaboration and friendly rivalry, not competition and race to the top”. Finnish educators look at accountability as threatening and say that it damages trust and critical thinking among teachers and students. Nokia is the biggest manufacturer in Finland and they contend that “if people work or learn in an environment where avoidance of mistakes and fear of failure are dominant, workers typically don’t think for themselves.”

So where does the United States fit into this picture? The author says that because this system works in Finland doesn’t guarantee that it will work in other countries. This book is not a blueprint but it does give powerful ideas and suggestions for all countries:

1. Equal opportunities are important for all children. Invest in early childhood education and primary school with a big focus on literacy.
2. Teachers are treated as professionals. A master’s degree is required for a beginning teacher. Finland pays for this higher education. Finland values its teachers; good teaching trumps all other factors.
3. Finland’s policy on accountability is to focus on learning. Primary school is considered a “standardized – testing free zone.”
4. The public trusts its schools. That began in the late 1980’s and continues today.
5. Political stability and “sustainable leadership” help the economy and the schools.

Educators in Finland are aware of their success and aim to continue that education to all their children. They call it the “Big Dream” and this is what they strive to attain: “Create a community of learners that provides the conditions that allow young people to discover their talents.”

# # #

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #126– March 21, 2013

Dear Friends,

The outstanding crowd at the rally on Tuesday (March 19th) and the powerful testimony against voucher expansion in the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday (March 20th) gave public education a strong boost in the Statehouse this week. Thanks to all public education advocates who participated in person or through the petition and emails!

The Enthusiastic Rally - March 19th

Anyone in the Statehouse on Tuesday afternoon could not miss the strong double-message of the hour-long rally in the North Atrium: Say yes to public schools! Say no to voucher expansion! Eleven speakers fired up the crowd, introduced with great expertise by ICPE Board Member Marilyn Shank. The Indianapolis Star reported the crowd to be about 500 and pointed out that our rally was primarily adults and voters, in contrast to the busloads of young school children from private schools that dominated the voucher proponent’s rally during the previous week. There is no question that legislators who support public education were heartened by the turnout of citizens from all over the state, from Gary to New Albany, from Fort Wayne to Terre Haute. All of the speakers and all of the participants are to be commended for coming to the rally and also for contacting so many legislators while they were in the Statehouse, personal contacts that make a vital difference in the legislative battle under way.

The Hearing – March 20th

Coming off the enthusiasm of the hearing, many came back the next day to testify at the public hearing on House Bill 1003, the voucher expansion bill. Chairman Kruse convened the Senate Education Committee at 1:30 for votes on bills heard the previous week. The vote on HB 1004, the pilot preschool bill, was deferred until next week. The remediation bill HB 1005 was passed unanimously after several amendments. Then about 1:50, Chairman Kruse opened the hearing on voucher expansion, HB 1003, which lasted all the way until 6:15, forcing the postponement of hearings on two other bills which had been scheduled for Wednesday. After bill sponsors Sen. Eckerty and Rep. Behning presented the bill, Sen. Kenley engaged in a probing question and answer exchange with Rep. Behning, expressing his concern that HB 1003 fundamentally changes the voucher program enacted two years ago when, in words he quoted from Gov. Daniels, public schools “would be given the first shot.” He called this a “cataclysmic change” and speculated at one point that a universal voucher program, giving a $5000 voucher to all 100,000 in private schools would cost $500 million. Rep. Behning agreed with the goal of having a universal voucher for all children to go to a private school. Sen. Kenley expressed preference for giving the current program five years and then assessing its impact before expanding it.

After the legislators asked questions, the public testimony began. Fourteen speakers supporting the bill were called on first, followed by 21 speakers who opposed the bill. Testimony against the bill was strong and varied, coming from parents, teachers, administrators, education associations and several member of the general public. It was a memorable set of statements from a variety of dedicated public education advocates.

I was called on as the 35th and final speaker. I have attached my testimony along with one of the documents showing the problem of accountability for the Fort Wayne Scholarship Granting Organization during the administration of Dr. Bennett mentioned in my testimony.

The vote on HB 1003 will come next Wednesday at 1:30pm in the next Senate Education Committee meeting. Please do not let up on contacting Senators this week about your opposition to voucher expansion in HB 1003. This is the crucial week when Senators will choose between Sen. Kenley’s point of view and Rep. Behning’s point of view. Please do your best to persuade your Senator and other Senators to oppose House Bill 1003.

Thanks for all you have done this week for public education! Keep contacting Senators about your deep opposition to voucher expansion through the committee vote next Wednesday, March 27th!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

ICPE is working to promote public education and oppose privatization of schools in the Statehouse. I keep hearing reports that some public school supporters read these “Notes” with great interest but don’t translate that interest into joining ICPE. To keep our outstanding lobbyist Joel Hand in place, who is working hard against voucher expansion and spoke eloquently at the rally and at the hearing, we need all members from last year to renew and we need new members who support public education. Please join us!

Go to www.icpe2011.com for membership and renewal information.

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.

Legislators Prepare to Expand Vouchers

Our friend Michael Walsh wrote the following letter to the editors of several Indiana newspapers....

As your legislators prepare to expand the unnecessary voucher program which will remove at least $21 million from public education funds and funnels 98% of this money to religious-based schools, I ask why on behalf of the majority of Hoosiers who do not support this.

Public schools are constitutionally free and open to all children. Your taxes pay for them. There is nothing in the constitution that calls for using public tax dollars for an alternate exclusionary, separate, private education system.

Money diverted from failing inner city schools to a voucher program removes more resources for combating the failure factors manifested in the centers of poverty. Struggling schools are being systematically, and it seems almost purposefully, damaged and relegated to continued failure by withdrawing money to support an unneeded voucher program promoted by outside forces intent on privatizing education.

Religious schools are free to teach their beliefs without interference. Vouchers support particular liturgies, regardless of your own particular beliefs and practices. Consider that of the 289 voucher schools, 283 are religious-based, and 29 of those are teaching creationism and biblical inerrancy as science. Neither Indiana not the controversial Common Core being pushed and promoted accept this as a valid standard.

Why would our taxes be used for this divisive program? This isn’t conducive to the democracy that we profess to believe in and which public schools represent. Vouchers benefit a private education system and this is wrong.

The legislature needs to halt this damaging program affecting your public schools.

More random thoughts

by Phyllis Bush

Usually my random thoughts rush at me in the middle of the night when I cannot get to sleep. However, today's thoughts are from a mixture of exhilaration and exhaustion from yesterday's visit to the State House in Indianapolis. We spoke with two senators for an hour and for 40 minutes with another. They said all of the "right things" about how they support public education, public schools, public school teachers, public school kids, and blah blah blah; however, after many years of teaching, my BS detector was going wildly off the charts. One senator referenced some mysterious, non-existent poll about 70% of Hoosiers supporting vouchers. We asked him which poll that was, and his reply was that ALL of the polls said that. Say what? That doesn't even come up to the "dog ate my homework" level of excuses. Whether their responses were based on arrogance or whether they truly believe their own rhetoric, it was frustrating and upsetting to think that their agenda is more important than really studying the unintended consequences of their policies. The fact that they do not understand the injustice of Indiana's school choice/vouchers is mind boggling.

While I am not so naive as to believe that public schools are perfect, I also believe that if educators are involved in the process, they can work towards creating schools that are healthier places for children and other living things. Sadly, no one has bothered to ask teachers. Ask any teacher what needs to be fixed in his or her building, and he or she can tell you exactly what needs to be done and how it needs to be done. However, teachers have been so diminished and devalued since the reform juggernaut has rolled down the tracks, who would even think of listening to people who have been so disrespected?

While it was thrilling to see other activists at the rally, it was also discouraging to know that we are fighting such a huge, well funded monolith. Like Sisyphus, I will keep pushing that boulder up the mountain, and when I am most frustrated, I will try to remember the words of Ted Kennedy: "The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

Phyllis Bush speaks to the Indiana Coalition for Public Education (ICPE) 

Rally in Indianapolis, Indiana on March 19, 2013.

FWCS Resolution Against Voucher Expansion

On March 18, 2013 the Fort Wayne Community Schools Board of Trustees passed a resolution in opposition to HB1003 which would expand Indiana's voucher plan. Click the picture below to read the entire resolution.

How to Dig for Information (Part 1)

[reprinted from the Network for Public Education]

Michael Corwin is a researcher and professional investigator who resides in New Mexico. Michael’s work in the field dates back to 1988, but most recently he uncovered scandals in Education at the State level. In this post, Michael offers some practical information about how to find public information that is available – but not necessarily easy to get your hands on – until now.

It takes money to make money. The for-profit education industry has successfully expanded its reach through spreading its wealth around to key decision makers. Through campaign contribution to elected officials and gifts like travel and accommodations to appointed officials the industry has gained access to a growing amount of public education dollars in a relatively short period of time. Countering the industry’s spending on key decisions makers requires using every tool at our disposal.

Investigative research, when properly done, can be one of the most effective tools at exposing the influence peddling behind those profiting off of public education dollars. While it takes years to learn the ins and outs of investigation, there are techniques that anyone with a bit of knowledge or training can use to investigate and expose these actions.

While large media outlets, like the New York Times and Miami Herald, have the financial resources to investigate the groups and companies behind privatization, parents, teachers and others do not. To be effective we need to focus our investigations on the elected and appointed officials that have rolled out the welcome mat to this industry.

Very rarely will you find information that serves as a “knockout punch”; rather, it will be the collective weight of all the information developed that when packaged together has the ability to change the dynamics of the situation.

The better the quality of the information you develop, the more likely your efforts will succeed. Wikipedia is a great source for background information and to lead you to other sources of information, but it will not give your research credibility to stand on its own. Effective information is best developed from official documents and primary source information.

Digging into Public Records

Public record documents are the backbone of any investigation involving government officials including their involvement and interaction with private companies. Most every state has a public records law that defines the right to inspect public records, what records are public, and the process of requesting, inspecting and copying those records.

For example, here in New Mexico, I have requested to inspect and copy a variety of documents related to the New Mexico Public Education Secretary-designate Hanna Skandera’s interaction with private education firms. Records obtained in this manner have related to her travel that was paid for by private companies, her email and written communications with individuals from private companies, contracts that she has signed with private companies and individuals, the source of funds used to pay for those contracts, as well as communications between her various staff members, consultants and companies. Here are some things to consider when searching for and requesting information.

• Records requests are not meant to be fishing expeditions, so the more specific you can be about the information you seek, the more likely you are to receive the records requested in a timely manner. For example, you could request, “all documents and communications related to Secretary-designate Skandera’s travel, including source of funds for the travel, from January 2011- March 2013”.
• Most states prohibit public agencies from asking a requestor the reason for the records request so you do not need to justify your request. Though you will have to provide your name and contact information when you submit your request. Generally states provide a set amount of time by which the entity must provide you access to the records.
• These types of records are great for documenting the for-profit education industry’s insider access to public officials. They may also document conduct that is prohibited by state law, such as travel and accommodations paid for by a company or its agent in amounts that exceed state legislated maximums.
• Public records are maintained at the state level, county level, municipality level, and even at the local school district level. The right to inspect and copy records applies at all of those levels.
• You can request a copy of a contract between Connections, Inc. or K12, Inc. and a publicly operated charter school. You can also request all email communications between the private company and the charter school as long as the school is publicly financed.
• Many public record documents are available online. However, to ensure that you cover all of the possible sources of documents, it is best to make public records requests to a specific agency.
• Court files can also be another great source of information. Court records are maintained at the federal, county, and municipal level. Federal court is most likely to have lawsuits involving national education companies, for example the shareholder’s class action lawsuit against K12, Inc. for fraudulent misrepresentation. County level courts are more likely to have lawsuits involving state and local education officials as well as school districts.
• Many courts have websites that allow you to search for cases by party name, plaintiff or defendants, but for those that do not you can conduct searches for cases at the courthouse.
• Once you locate a court case, take the time to read through all of the court pleadings. Many pleadings are pro forma rather than informational. Those can be perused quickly. Take the time to read carefully through those pleadings that contain fact patterns as that is where you will find the useful information.
• There are also numerous business related public records that may be available to review depending on how the company in question is structured. For example, K12, Inc. is a publicly traded company so there are numerous filings, including annual reports, changes in stock ownership and executive compensation that are maintained by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Connections, Inc.; however, is a privately held for-profit entity. Therefore, there are no SEC filings for them.
• You can research business records for elected, and appointed government officials as well as company officials through the Secretary of State’s office in all states except for New Mexico where the Public Regulation Commission maintains them. These records can be useful for demonstrating conflict of interest issues.
• For example, you can research business entities that lease properties to charter schools to see if they have any connections to charter school board members.
• Real property records are typically maintained at the county level, with ownership information being available through the Assessor’s office, while documented transactions are maintained at the County Clerk’s office.
• Records of contributions to political candidates and office holders are maintained at the Secretary of State’s office as are lobbyist disclosures and financial disclosures of elected and appointed state officials.
• Public record searches can be supplemented by newspaper and magazine article searches along with online searches to add additional information.
• Each set of documents that you locate may well provide leads to more documents to request. Documents can also identify people with direct knowledge that you may wish to interview. Information is only as good as your ability to assess and package that information.

We will explore conducting interviews, and assessing and packaging information in subsequent articles.

Note: If you uncover corruption in the field of education as a result of your investigation, share it with us at NPE. We will do our best to get the word out.

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #125– March 17, 2013

Dear Friends,

Tuesday’s 2:30 Statehouse rally (March 19th) in support of public schools and in opposition to voucher expansion will be followed on Wednesday (March 20th) with a 1:30pm public hearing on House Bill 1003, the voucher expansion bill.

Public school advocates are urged to bring a friend and attend the rally and, for those who can speak against voucher expansion, come back for the Senate Education Committee hearing on Wednesday afternoon.

Come to the Rally, March 19th at 2:30pm

The rally is set for Tuesday, March 19th, starting at 2:30pm in the South Atrium on the second floor of the Statehouse. An opponent of voucher expansion from each of the four caucuses will speak, as well as several advocates for public education:

Senator Vaneta Becker, Republican, Evansville

Senator Tim Skinner, Democrat, Terre Haute

Representative Randy Truitt, Republican, Lafayette

Representative Vernon Smith, Democrat, Gary

Sharon Wise, Indiana PTA, Indianapolis

Danny Tanoos, Superintendent, Vigo Co. Schools, Terre Haute

Julie Hollingsworth, School Board Member, Fort Wayne Community Schools

Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer, ICPE-Monroe County, Bloomington

Phyllis Bush, Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education, Fort Wayne

Carole Craig, ICPE Board, Indianapolis

Joel Hand, ICPE Lobbyist, Fishers

Vic Smith, ICPE Board, Indianapolis

This rally against voucher expansion may not be as large as last week’s rally in favor of vouchers. On that occasion, over half the participants were school children brought in during class time to support this partisan bill. Our rally will be primarily voters and taxpayers. We have no deep-pocketed sponsors, so don’t come expecting T-shirts. We do have bipartisan grassroots supporters of public education from all over Indiana who believe deeply that public schools deserve better support and that public school students will be damaged by the costly expansion of vouchers provided in House Bill 1003. Before and after the rally, please look up your Senator and Representative to express your opposition to voucher expansion, especially in light of the hearing on HB 1003 scheduled for the next day.

Come to the Public Hearing on HB 1003 on Wednesday, March 20th, 1:30pm in the Senate Chamber

The Senate Education Committee will meet on March 20th at 1:30, first to vote on four bills heard last week, and then to hold a public hearing on three bills. House Bill 1003 – Voucher Expansion - is the first bill listed for the hearing. Chairman Kruse will most likely impose a 5-minute time limit on testimony. Those who sign up on arrival may speak.

The House hearing on HB 1003 in February lasted for four hours with 20 speaking for and 13 speaking against the bill. Opponents had only 19 hours notice to prepare for that hearing. I hope to see more speakers against the bill in the Senate hearing. If you can come on Wednesday to testify against HB 1003, please do so.

Talking Points: Say “Yes!” to Public Schools

• We must restore the cuts to public education made during the Great Recession.

• Public school budgets were cut by $300 million annually in December, 2009, in the depths of the Great Recession and were not restored in the 2011 budget.

• In the budget passed this year by the House, $132 million is restored in the first year and $202 million in the second year, far short of the annual $300 million needed to restore the recession cuts.

• If voucher expansion (HB 1003) is passed, at least $21 million of the $132 million next year – one- sixth! --would not go to the 1.04 million public school students who need it but instead would pay for vouchers for private school students who are already in private schools.

Talking Points: Say “No!” to Voucher Expansion

• House Bill 1003 is far worse than the original voucher bill passed two years ago. It ends the rationale that vouchers save the state money and brings direct new fiscal costs of at least $26 million to taxpayers.

• Special education students currently in private schools become eligible for a voucher. An estimated 75% of the 4211 such students meet the income limit of $85,000 for a family of four. Cost to taxpayers at LSA’s estimate of $4083 for each voucher: $12.8 million.

• The $4500 cap on the Grade 1-8 voucher is raised to $5000 the first year and to $5500 the second year. Cost to taxpayers according to LSA: $1.9 million in the first year.

• Children of veterans currently in private schools become eligible for a voucher. IDOE data shows 72,000 students currently in private schools. An estimated 75% meet the income limit of $85,000 for a family of four. If just 3% of those students have a parent who is a veteran, the cost to taxpayers would be $6.6 million.

• The above three points, totaling $21 million, will come out of the tuition support budget for all schools in the funding formula. There is no separate line item for vouchers.

• The preschool scholarship granting organizations in this bill would be able to give away $5 million in tax money as tax credits for donations to preschool tuition support.

• These conservative estimates totaling over $26 million do not include the cost of vouchers provided for (1) foster children currently in private schools, for (2) the siblings of current voucher students or for (3) all incoming kindergarten students.

• A path to a nearly universal voucher is found in a little-noticed change in eligibility policy in the tax credit “School Scholarship” program, whereby students get tuition scholarships from Scholarship Granting Organizations. House Bill 1003 removes the requirement that to receive a tax credit scholarship, a student must have been enrolled in a public school during the preceding school year. With this change, any student can receive a tax credit scholarship from the SGO, and then in the following year can get a voucher. Current law gives a voucher to any student who has previously received a tax credit scholarship. In this two year sequence, the requirement disappears that students must be enrolled in a public school before becoming eligible for a voucher, if their family meets the $85,000 income limit.

Pass the Word

This is the week for advocates for public education to take action.

• Come to the rally! If you can’t come, sign the petition in support of the rally. Here is the link:

https://www.change.org/petitions/indiana-general-assembly-stop-bills-expanding-vouchers-fully-fund-our-public-schools

• · Participate in Wednesday’s public hearing on HB 1003 in the Senate Education Committee.

• · Contact your Senator about HB 1003 to express your opposition to voucher expansion.

It is time for the grassroots to go to work to stand up for public education. Thank you for all your efforts!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

ICPE is working to promote public education and oppose privatization of schools in the Statehouse. I keep hearing reports that some public school supporters read these “Notes” with great interest but don’t translate that interest into joining ICPE. To keep our outstanding lobbyist Joel Hand in place, who is working hard against voucher expansion, we need all members from last year to renew and we need new members who support public education. Please join us!

Go to www.icpe2011.com for membership and renewal information.

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.

Good educating Seal of Approval

[Reprinted from Indiana Education Insight. Reproduction approved by publisher]

New national grassroots network to imitate Hoosier

Retired Fort Wayne English teacher Phyllis Bush, whose grassroots group Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education (NEIFPE) helped topple former superintendent of public instruction Tony Bennett (R), will serve as a co-director of a new national entity led by notorious education historian Diane Ravitch.

In a press release announcing the new Network for Public Education, Ravitch said the effort “will give voice to the millions of parents, educators, and other citizens who are fed up with corporate-style reform.”

The network intends to endorse candidates for school board and state offices who oppose high-stakes testing, vouchers, the rapid expansion of charter schools, mass school closures, and the outsourcing of core academic functions to for-profit corporations, and who support a well-rounded curriculum and creativity in the classroom.

“We want to impact elections by issuing a seal of approval to candidates,” explains Anthony Cody, the treasurer of the network.

The other primary function of the Ravitch-helmed entity will be to build a network of education groups nationwide that use grassroots organizing to influence the direction of schools and elections.

NEIFPE represents “sort of a role model for what we hope can happen across the country,” explains Cody.

He and Phyllis Bush first met via a webinar on Project Based Learning (PBL) that Cody was an administrator for, which led to the two friending each other on Facebook. When Cody helped organize the Save Our Schools march weekend in Washington, D.C. in July 2011, Bush and several close friends made the trip and met up with him for dinner. Shortly after SOS, Cody was scheduled to visit Fort Wayne for a PBL conference, and Bush invited him and about 10 to 15 guests to her home for a barbeque. “We were fired up from the Save Our Schools march, and we just talked about what do we do now,” recalls Bush. That informal discussion in the backyard provided the spark that ignited the Northeast Indiana Friends for Public Education.

Bush explains that the initial objective of her group was to counter the prevailing narrative from President Obama, Tony Bennett, and the media that schools are failing and to raise awareness about high-stakes testing, vouchers, charters, and teacher quality.

NEIFPE sponsored viewings of Waiting for Superman and The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting For Superman, they created and passed out fact sheets, they wrote countless e-mails, and they started a blog and a Facebook page.

One of the letters Bush wrote was to Sen. Tim Skinner (D) of Terre Haute, who responded enthusiastically with a thoughtful letter and a personal phone call. “Tim Skinner helped get us focused,” says Bush. He introduced NEIFPE to Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer and a Monroe County group of concerned citizens that had affiliated itself with the Indiana Coalition for Public Education. Sen. Skinner, a retired teacher who had clashed publicly and frequently with Dr. Bennett, also persuaded Bush to become involved in the 2012 election for superintendent of public instruction.

Phyllis Bush was initially skeptical that the Indiana Democratic Party had passed over early and eager hopeful Justin Oakley (R) of Morgan County in favor of Glenda Ritz (D). But when Ritz came to Fort Wayne in June for the State Democrat Convention, she agreed to meet with Bush and her close friends for dinner, and they were immediately impressed with her knowledge of the issues. “She was even more in the weeds than we were,” recalls Bush. Although NEIFPE had been created as a non-partisan group, they decided to actively support the Ritz candidacy.

“We know from our own friends in the state that a large part of the success of Ritz was due to groups like NEIFPE,” notes Cody.

Considerable credit also goes to fellow blogger Sharon Adams of Rensselaer who was the force behind the group Republicans for Ritz, as well as the Indiana Coalition for Public Education.

“The fact that a teacher could mount a successful campaign against a well-financed and well-known figure like Tony Bennett was really impressive,” adds Cody.

Cody says the new network will aim to encourage individuals who are not organized “to volunteer with us or form grassroots groups in their own communities. We want to develop a network of these groups around the country. For us to push back against the destructive reforms, we need to work together,” he says.

The network has been portrayed in the media as a counterbalance to prominent groups like StudentsFirst and Stand for Children, but that’s not totally accurate. The network will never be able to attract the kind of wealthy backers who have bankrolled the American Federation for Children and the Hoosiers for Economic Growth network, for example, nor will it be in a position to drop hundreds of thousands of dollars into school board races the way New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg did in the Indianapolis Public Schools, or more recently, the Los Angeles Public Schools.

“Our political influence won’t be through fundraising, but through the grassroots organizing we hope to inspire,” says Cody.

Look for Phyllis Bush and others to develop a playbook on how to go about creating and nurturing a grassroots group.

Ravitch, president of the network, has essentially already been serving in that role through the work of her blog, which Cody describes as a “crossroads” for individuals concerned with public education.

Ravitch blogs five to 10 times per day with stories from around the country, and since launching in April 2012, it has attracted 3 million page views.

Bush has also been posting daily stories of interest on the NEIFPE Facebook page, and she has found that the number of “likes” and “shares” per post provides valuable insight into the issues that are most resonant. High-stakes testing is usually at the top of the list, she says.

~~~

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #124– March 12, 2013

Dear Friends,

Hundreds of private school elementary and middle school students came to a Statehouse rally yesterday to hear Governor Pence, Speaker Bosma, Senate President Long and Jalen Rose advocate for expansion of the voucher program. The Republican leadership supports the House Bill 1003 plan to spend at least $21 million in new funding for vouchers for students already in private schools. Indiana hasn’t done that before. Up to now, vouchers were known as a savings to the state because they would only go to students transferring from public to private schools. This bill would set a new precedent.

Grassroots supporters of public education need to convince individual Senators that the leadership is advocating for a bill that will hurt the public schools of Indiana, schools which still receive broad support from the electorate as seen last fall in the election of Glenda Ritz. Come to the Statehouse rally on March 19th at 2:30 to stand up for public education at this key turning point.

Rally vs. Rally

Gov. Pence told the crowd yesterday that 12 percent of high school seniors failed to graduate last year, not mentioning the fact that 88% is the highest rate of four–year graduates Indiana has ever had, up each year from 76% in 2006, the first year of tracking every student by number to measure graduation rate. He also told the crowd that 200,000 students are attending D or F rated schools, without explaining that a strong consensus has emerged in the General Assembly that the rating system itself is seriously flawed.

The Indianapolis Star reported attendance at yesterday’s Statehouse rally as “more than 1000, many of them children”. They wore brightly colored T-shirts naming rally sponsors which included Americans for Prosperity, funded by the Koch Brothers, and the American Federation for Children, funded by the DeVos (Amway) family from Michigan. The rally was obviously well funded.

The rally on March 19th is not well funded. We will not have free T-shirts for all, and homemade signs are the best we can do. We do however, as taxpayers and grassroots advocates for public education, know the history of public schools as the bedrock of our democracy. They are non-sectarian and non-partisan forums for preparing children for their roles as citizens in our democracy. Changing our schools over to state-funded sectarian and partisan forums for young citizens imperils our democracy. It is an experiment with our children, the outcome of which will not be known for a generation.

The proposed voucher expansion will over time absorb more and more funds from public school students. This bill will give one-sixth of the new money for education directly to private school students. With your help, HB 1003 can be stopped, starting with conversations with your Senators and Representatives on March 19th either before or after the rally.

Long Term Goals

It is clear from the original version of the voucher expansion bill that the ultimate goal of the leadership is a universal voucher program, available to all students at taxpayer expense to go to private and religious schools without restrictions for eligibility. A path to a nearly universal voucher is still in HB 1003 in a little discussed but huge change in eligibility policy in the tax credit “School Scholarship” program, whereby students get tuition scholarships from Scholarship Granting Organizations. House Bill 1003 removes the requirement that to receive a tax credit scholarship, a student must have been enrolled in a public school during the preceding school year. With this change, any student can receive a tax credit scholarship from the SGO, and then in the following year can get a voucher. Current law gives a voucher to any student who has previously received a tax credit scholarship. In this sequence, the requirement disappears that students must be enrolled in a public school before becoming eligible for a voucher.

Thus, if HB 1003 passes, the path is clear for any student in families earning up to $85,000 to get a voucher. A long battle was fought in the 2012 session against a bill that would have given tax credit scholarship eligibility to all 8th graders, opening up vouchers for all high school students. The bill failed after heavy opposition by ICPE and other public school advocates. Now House Bill 1003 sweeps that idea aside and makes all students eligible for tax credit scholarships.

Fiscal Costs

The quest for an extremely generous bill for private school parents was reigned in slightly as the bill went through two committees and the House floor:

• Making all special education students currently in private schools eligible for a voucher was later given an income limit whereby such children in families of four making $85,000 or less would be eligible for vouchers. Estimated cost to taxpayers: $12.8 million (4211 special education student in private schools X 75% meeting means test X $4083 per voucher)

• Making all children of veterans currently in private schools eligible was first given an income limit of $127,000 and then later given the $85,000 income limit. Estimated cost to taxpayers: $6.6 million (3% of the 72,000 in private schools X 75% meeting means test X $4083)

• Moving the minimum voucher from $4500 to $5500 (up 22%) and then to $6500 (up 18%) in the next two years was trimmed back to $5000 in the first year (up 11%) and then to $5500 in the second year (up 10%). LSA’s estimated cost to taxpayers: $1.9 million

These three provisions add up to a fiscal cost of $21 million which will come from the tuition support budget which goes to all schools. There is no separate line item for funding vouchers. When the House budget allocated $132 million new dollars for tuition support, a 2% increase over the current year’s funding of $6.50 billion, they were apparently intending that one-sixth of that amount, $21 million, go toward private school tuition and only $111 million go toward public school tuition. Shrinking public school funding in this way will hurt the education of public school students.

An additional $5 million for tax credits is in the bill for preschool scholarships through Scholarship Granting Organizations. This added to the $21 million listed above brings the conservatively estimated total cost to $26 million.

Additional Objectionable Provisions

The fiscal costs cited above are extremely conservative. They do not include costs for the following changes:

• All foster children in families earning $85,000 or less can get a voucher.

• All siblings of children already getting vouchers are made eligible for a voucher.

• All kindergarten children can get a voucher. This could add a huge number of new vouchers.

• The special education money that currently goes to the public school district would go directly to the private school. This is a huge change in policy regarding federal special education money and opens a tremendous number of thorny questions about the enforcement and monitoring of federal special education laws in the private schools.

In addition, in one more swipe at State Superintendent Glenda Ritz, House Bill 1003 limits the approval authority of the department in overseeing the law. Look at the actual wording:

(b) The department shall approve an application for an eligible school within fifteen (15) days after the date the school requests to participate in the choice scholarship program.

(c) The department shall approve an application for a choice scholarship student within fifteen (15) days after the date the student requests to participate in the choice scholarship program.

A careful reading will show that the department is not only to consider or to act upon applications in a timely way but “shall approve” all applications. That is truly an astounding dictate to insert into a proposed law and certainly deserves to be amended.

Come to the Rally! Tuesday, March 19th, 2:30pm, South Atrium

The grassroots supporters of public education seldom gather in one place and haven’t clearly been heard from since the resounding election of Glenda Ritz. I am hoping they will gather in the Statehouse on March 19th. What will motivate advocates for public education to come to the Statehouse?

• Concern that every student in families earning up to $85,000 will be eligible for a voucher if they get a tax credit scholarship the prior year?

• The awareness that HB 1003 will go down if the 21 Senators still in the Senate who voted against vouchers in 2011 can be persuaded to continue their opposition and 5 more can be persuaded to join them?

• The knowledge that the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity helped sponsor Monday’s rally in support of HB 1003?

• Concern about the accountability for special education money going directly to private schools?

• Concern about limiting the authority of Glenda Ritz?

• Outrage that one-sixth of the money budgeted next year for all tuition support will actually go to private school tuition when public schools still have not been made whole after the recession-era cuts?

• An 11% increase in the minimum voucher when tuition support is budgeted to get a 2% increase?

The future of public education in Indiana stands at a defining crossroads. I hope you will come speak with your Senator and your Representative in opposition to HB 1003 and then join the rally at 2:30pm. Ask your friends and your family to join you to help convince Senators and Representatives that they should draw the line and stop the plan to expand vouchers. This is a crucial moment for public education.

Will you come? Will you get a friend to come?

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

ICPE is working to promote public education and oppose privatization of schools in the Statehouse. I keep hearing reports that some public school supporters read these “Notes” with great interest but don’t translate that interest into joining ICPE. To keep our outstanding lobbyist Joel Hand in place, who is working hard against voucher expansion, we need all members from last year to renew and we need new members who support public education. Please join us!

Go to www.icpe2011.com for membership and renewal information.

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.

Announcing: New Group to Oppose Corporate Reforms

For Immediate Release
March 7, 2013

Contacts:
Anthony Cody, 707-459-2147, 510-917-9231 (cell) Anthony_cody@hotmail.com
Leonie Haimson, 917-435-9329, leonie@classsizematters.org

Today marks the public launch of a new network devoted to the defense and improvement of public education in the US. Led by renowned education historian, Diane Ravitch, the Network for Public Education will bring together grassroots activists and organizations from around the country, and endorse candidates for office, with the common goal of protecting and strengthening our public schools.

Diane Ravitch said, “The Network for Public Education will give voice to the millions of parents, educators, and other citizens who are fed up with corporate-style reform. We believe in community-based reform, strengthening our schools instead of closing them, respecting our teachers and principals instead of berating them, educating our children instead of constantly testing them. Our public schools are an essential democratic institution. We look forward to working with friends and allies in every state and school district who want to preserve and improve public education for future generations.”

Our nation’s schools are at a crossroads. Wealthy individuals are pouring unprecedented amounts of money into state and local school board races, often into places where they do not reside, to elect candidates intent on undermining and privatizing our public schools. The Network for Public Education will collaborate with other groups and organizations to strengthen our public schools in states and districts throughout the nation, share information and research about what works and what doesn’t work, and endorse and grade candidates based on our shared commitment to the well-being of our children, our society, and our public schools. We will help candidates who work for evidence-based reforms and who oppose high-stakes testing, mass school closures, the privatization of our public schools and the outsourcing of core academic functions to for-profit corporations.

Renee Moore, former Mississippi Teacher of the Year, said, “One of the greatest gifts the U.S. has given to the world is the promise of quality public education. It is also an unfulfilled promise. Public education is a critical part of America’s legacy, and the key to our future. We must defend and constantly improve it.”

According to Anthony Cody, retired California teacher and columnist for Education Week: “As a teacher in Oakland I saw the effects of our obsession with tests first hand. Our students are learning less, and losing the chance to think for themselves as we put more and more pressure on them to perform well on tests. It is time for the millions of us who know better to challenge those who have put our schools on this path. This Network will allow us to learn from and support one another as we push for real school change.”

Leonie Haimson, NYC parent advocate and head of Class Size Matters, said: “With all the billionaire cash trying to buy elections, we need to amass people power to ensure that individuals who care about preserving and strengthening our public schools are elected to positions of power. As the recent Los Angeles school board election shows, when we are organized we can overcome the forces of the privateers and the profiteers, intent on pillaging and dismantling our public schools.”

According to Arizona parent activist and director of Voices for Education, Robin Hiller: “No school was ever improved by closing it. Every community should have good public schools, and we believe that public officials have a solemn responsibility to improve public schools, not close or privatize them.”

Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig of the University of Texas stated “This new network will seek to empower communities nationwide to unite to be more influential than the powerful. The network will also be an important vehicle for the latest data and research on the strengths and weaknesses of reform fads espoused by a multitude of talking heads.”

Phyllis Bush, a retired teacher from Indiana, said “Public schools are under assault in this country. Now more than ever it is imperative that concerned citizens unite to save the public school system. Our group, Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education, and other grassroots groups helped to elect Glenda Ritz to become our Superintendent of Public Instruction, a huge victory against rampant and destructive education policies. With the creation of the Network for Public Education, we will reach out to others across the nation to fulfill the promise of public education.”

Added board member and Alabama education activist Larry Lee, “From my view, a lot more “ed reform” is because of the love of money, not the love of children. The result is that kids have become a very poor rope in a political tug of war. The only way to turn this tide is with the collective voices of the American public saying, ‘Enough is enough.’”

The Network invites individuals to join as members and welcomes other organizations to become our allies, to fight with us to preserve and strengthen our public schools.

The group’s website is http://www.networkforpubliceducation.org
and the Twitter feed is at https://twitter.com/NetworkPublicEd

###

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #123– March 5, 2013

Dear Friends,

The budget bill (HB 1001) and the voucher expansion bill (HB 1003) now head to the Senate.

All advocates for public education are invited to come to the Statehouse on TUESDAY, MARCH 19th, to a RALLY IN SUPPORT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION and IN OPPOSITION TO VOUCHER EXPANSION and to talk with Senators and Representatives. The rally organized by the Indiana Coalition for Public Education begins at 2:30 in the North Atrium of the Statehouse.

If you are convinced that public education budgets should be restored after being cut during the Great Recession, please come!

If you are convinced that the unprecedented expansion of vouchers to pay for students already in private schools will damage the education of public school students, please come!

It is time to talk with Senators and Representatives about how damaging the voucher expansion bill is for public education in Indiana. March 19th will be an opportune time to make your concerns known to the legislators. We hope for a good crowd at the 2:30 rally in the North Atrium, but equally important would be contacts you can set up with your own legislators when you come.

What messages will your presence in the Statehouse support?

1) Restore the recession cuts to public education

2) Stop the expansion of private school vouchers

Let’s look further at each of these:

Restore the recession cuts to public education

Senators will now review the House budget and craft their own budget plan by early April. Public education advocates have watched incredulously as Indiana has declared a huge surplus and cut taxes without first restoring the devastating $300 million per year cut in public education funding announced in December, 2009. Indiana’s excellent fiscal condition has been based on deep cuts for public school students.

The House budget gives $6.63 billion and $6.70 billion to tuition support in the next two years. If we would go back to pre-recession budgets and figure just a 1% increase each year (such as the House budget does for FY2015), tuition support should now be at $6.77 billion and $6.84 billion in the next two years. We need $140 million more each year than the House budget proposes to restore the deep cuts to public schools made by the Great Recession.

The budget for FY2011 (2010-11) devoted $6.57 billion to tuition support. It never materialized. It was cut by $300 million in the depths of the Great Recession. Here are the projected figures to where we should be if a conservative 1% annual increase had been followed:

FY2011....$6.57 billion
FY2012....$6.64 billion...(+1%)
FY2013....$6.70 billion...(+1%)
FY2014....$6.77 billion...(+1%)...(Compare to $6.63 billion now in HB 1001 = $140 Million short)
FY2015....$6.84 billion...(+1%)...(Compare to $6.70 billion now in HB 1001) = $140 Million short)

Thus, based on a conservative 1% increase, restoring funding to education that was cut in the Great Recession would require an additional $140 million for tuition support each year. The conclusion is that the budget increase for tuition support would need to be raised significantly in this budget to restore education funding to levels before the Great Recession.

Stop the expansion of private school vouchers

House Bill 1003 is far worse than the original voucher bill passed two years ago. It ends the rationale that vouchers save the state money. It pays more state dollars for each elementary voucher, and it pays for vouchers for students who are already in private schools. These major changes mean direct new fiscal costs. A conservative estimate of new costs comes to $26 million:

1) Special education students currently in private schools become eligible for a voucher. The most recent figures from the IDOE website show 4211 such students. An estimated 75% meet the income limit of $85,000 for a family of four. Cost to taxpayers at LSA’s estimate of $4083 on average for each voucher: $12.8 million.

2) The $4500 cap on the Grade 1-8 voucher is raised to $5000 the first year and to $5500 the second year. Cost to taxpayers according to LSA: $1.9 million at a minimum. A superintendent whose district only gets $5300 per student deeply opposes this change.

3) Children of veterans currently in private schools become eligible for a voucher. IDOE data shows 72,000 students currently in private schools that report enrollment to the department. An estimated 75% meet the income limit of $85,000 for a family of four. If just 3% of those students have a parent who is a veteran, the cost to taxpayers would be $6.6 million.

4) The preschool scholarship granting organizations in this bill would be able to give away $5 million in tax money as tax credits for donations to preschool tuition support.

The first three points, totaling $21 million, will come out of the tuition support budget in the funding formula. There is no separate line item for vouchers. This $21 million cost equals about one-sixth of the $132 million in new money for tuition support in the House budget for next year. The fourth point, tax credits, will reduce state revenues by $5 million.

These conservative estimates totaling over $26 million do not include the cost of vouchers provided for foster children currently in private schools or for kindergarten siblings of current voucher students.

I have heard voucher proponents on media reports saying they need to increase the Grade 1-8 voucher from $4500 to $5500 so they can get more out-of-state private school operators interested in coming into Indiana to build new schools. Have they given up on the schools of Indiana to the point where they need to incentivize out-of–state companies to come to Indiana to take over educating our children? This is clearly going in the wrong direction.

Enough is enough!

The Outlook for Voucher Expansion in the Senate

Now is the time to share your concerns about voucher expansion with members of the Senate. Early in this session, Senator Kenley opposed Senate Bill 184 due to the new fiscal costs of vouchers for the siblings of voucher students. Senator Kruse later held the bill without a vote. They should both be strongly thanked for their positions on SB 184.

Two years ago, the Senate narrowly passed the voucher law 28-22. Current members fall into three categories:

There are 21 Senators who voted against vouchers in 2011 who are currently in the Senate. They should be thanked for their vote and asked to continue to vote against vouchers. They are:

Republican Senators Alting, Becker, Boots, Head, Mishler, Nugent, Tomes, Waterman and Zakas. (9)

Democrat Senators Arnold, Breaux, Broden, Hume, Lanane, Mrvan, Randolph, Rogers, Skinner, Tallian, Taylor, Richard Young. (12)

There are 25 Senators who voted for vouchers in 2011 who are currently in the Senate. They should be reminded about the new additional fiscal costs for vouchers given to students who are already in private schools and asked to vote against expanding the voucher program at this time. They are:

Republican Senators Banks, Buck, Charbonneau, Delph, Eckerty, Glick, Grooms, Hershman, Holdman, Kenley, Kruse, Landske, Leising, Long, Merritt, Pat Miller, Paul, Schneider, Smith, Steele, Walker, Waltz, Wyss, Yoder, and Michael Young.

There are 4 Senators who are new to the Senate and did not vote on vouchers in 2011. They should be asked to hold to the original program and not expand vouchers due to the new excessive fiscal costs. They are:

Republican Senators Bray, Crider and Pete Miller and Democrat Senator Stoops.

Come to the Rally!

Will you come on March 19th? Now is the time to stand up for public education. If you can’t come, please share this invitation with a friend who strongly supports public education who might come.

More information on the legislators and advocates who will speak at the rally will be forwarded in the days ahead. Thanks for all you are doing for public education!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

ICPE is working to promote public education and oppose privatization of schools in the Statehouse. I keep hearing reports that some public school supporters read these “Notes” with great interest but don’t translate that interest into joining ICPE. To keep our outstanding lobbyist Joel Hand in place, who is working hard against voucher expansion, we need all members from last year to renew and we need new members who support public education. Please join us!

Go to www.icpe2011.com for membership and renewal information.

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.