Vic’s Statehouse Notes #143– April 30, 2013

Click HERE to read the corrected version of Vic's Statehouse Notes #142

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April 30, 2013: Question of the Day

Of all the "reforms" that have been meted out through the wisdom of our General Assembly, which do you like best?

A. The unintelligible grading system
B. The unequal distribution of funds to private and parochial schools
C. The charters that don't work
D. The high stakes testing
E. All of the above

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #142– April 30, 2013

Click HERE to read the corrected version of Vic's Statehouse Notes #142

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #140 and #141 – April 26, 2013

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #140 – April 26, 2013

Dear Friends,

After guiding accountability in Indiana’s schools for 14 years since 1999, Public Law 221’s central goal of “improvement” is about to bite the dust. Language in House Bill 1427 presented at a 4pm conference committee yesterday (Thursday) replaces “improvement” with “performance” in five places as it calls for new metrics for school grades by November 15, 2013.

House Bill 1427 – Various Education Matters

House Bill 1427 was revived yesterday afternoon (Thursday, April 25) with great fanfare. It is a 53 page bill that among other things abolishes the Principal Leadership Academy in IDOE and the health and physical education consultant in IDOE. Back in early April, the Senate had added their language about reviewing the Common Core and the A-F system. Now, in what was described to me as a classic compromise, the Senate Republicans will get what they want on Common Core and the House Republicans will get what they want on the A-F system.

If you have any energy to call legislators today, call them about the horrendous voucher expansion bill, HB 1003, where your messages might make a difference, as explained in the previous “Vic’s Notes #139”. It seems clear that HB 1427 will pass.

The Good News about A-F in HB 1427

The best news about the A-F language is that it contains eleven lines that Indiana clearly needs:

“Sec. 5. (a) Not later than November 15, 2013, the state board shall establish new categories or designations of school performance under the requirements of this chapter to replace 511 IAC 6.2-6. The new standards of assessing school performance:
(1) must be based on a measurement of academic growth; and
(2) may not be based on a measurement of student performance or growth compared with peers.
511 IAC 6.2-6 is void on the effective date of the emergency or final rules adopted under this section.

This language voids the current system and restricts the new system from including a growth model based on comparisons with peers. That is all that is really needed to restart the process of revising the categories required by Public Law 221. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there.

The Bad News about A-F in HB 1427

The most controversial addition to the new HB 1427 is to put the “A” through “F” labels in Indiana law.
Currently, the State Board can decide how many categories our accountability system will have, whether it is 3, 4, 5 or 6, and what labels to apply to each category. This latest version, coming two days before adjournment, takes the State Board’s authority on this away and dictates that Indiana will have five categories and that they will be called “A”, “B”, “C”, “D” and “F”.

As I have recalled in recent “Notes,” a hearing on using “A” through “F” labels was held by the State Board of Education on April 30, 2010 when Dr. Bennett sought to rename the categories. A total of 57 speakers came to the 5-hour hearing. Of those 57, 56 were opposed to using “A” through “F” to describe our schools. The one speaker in favor represented the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

Proposing “A” through “F” in law came after the regular committee hearings during this session. There are many opposed to that approach, but the way HB 1427 is rolling out, public sentiment on this particular issue will not be measured through public hearings.

The rest of the A-F language was reduced from four pages when it was part of HB 1338 last Monday to one page. None of it is necessary to get the much-needed revision started. The Indiana Chamber of Commerce has promoted the remaining language to drop “improvement” as the main theme of PL 221 and replace it with “performance.” It is a huge philosophical change in the purpose of accountability, a change which will get no public hearing.

I have quoted repeatedly as I campaigned for a better school grading system the words: “The categories or designations must reflect various levels of improvement.” This was always a clear statement that schools with challenging demographics could be rewarded for improvement. These words will be missed.

I am no expert on the Common Core issue, so I leave to others the analysis of pages 7-9 of House Bill 1427 on Common Core. It describes a substantial review process to be done this summer.

Thanks for standing up for public education!

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #141– April 26, 2013

Dear Friends,

The final version of the budget bill HB 1001 was posted online yesterday afternoon and will be voted on later today. No doubt it will pass.

The biggest news for public school advocates in the budget is that no caps or brakes were put on new vouchers that will be paid for out of the tuition support budget. No separate line item for vouchers was established. Without a protective mechanism such as a separate line item, voucher payments for current private school students who have never been in the count could take significant portions of the tuition support budget, resulting in pro-rata reductions in the amounts promised to public and charter schools in the funding formula.

Tuition Support in HB 1001

Here are the actual dollars each year for tuition support:

Current actual FY2013 funding for tuition support: $6.490 Billion (from the HB 1001 funding formula)

FY2014 budget for tuition support: $6.622 Billion (+$132 Million over current year)

FY2015 budget for tuition support: $6.691 Billion (+$201 Million over current year)

New money budgeted over two years: (+$333 Million – two year total)

HB1003 vouchers for students already in private schools FY2014: $23 Million (see attached & Notes #135)

FY2104 new tuition support for public & charter schools: $132 Million minus $23 M equals $109 Million

HB1003 vouchers for students already in private schools FY2015: $179 Million (see attached & Notes #135)

FY2015 new tuition support for public & charter schools: $201 M minus $179 M equals $22 Million

Actual new money for public and charter schools over two years: $109 M + $22M = $131 Million

The conclusion is that with voucher expansion in HB 1003, tuition support increases for public schools are not protected from erosion by unpredicted numbers of vouchers for students who are already in private schools.

The only way to know that public and charter schools will be getting the funds promised in the funding formula will be to vote down the voucher expansion bill later today.

Go for it! Call your legislators one last time to stop HB 1003. You may have done so already. See Notes # 139 sent a few hours ago for more details on the HB 1003 vote scheduled for later today.

On this last day of the session, I thank you again for all you are doing to support 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 during conference committees, we need all members from last year to renew and we need new members who support public education. Please join us! Thanks to all who have joined or sent extra donations recently!

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.

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #139– April 25, 2013

Dear Friends,

The final version of the voucher expansion bill emerged from the conference committee today and will be voted on by both the House and the Senate tomorrow, Friday, April 26th, the last day of the session. The final version adds additional vouchers even beyond the Senate version, and it deserves your condemnation. Let your legislators know before the final votes tomorrow that this bill goes too far.

THERE IS NO FIX IN THE FINAL BUDGET TO CAP VOUCHERS OR TO PUT VOUCHERS INTO A SEPARATE LINE ITEM. It does not control the potential damage to promised public school funding, which may be reduced pro-rata to pay for the new costs of vouchers for students already in private schools.

The Conference Committee Report #2 on HB 1003

At the outset, the report says that the House will now concur “in all Senate amendments to the bill and that the bill be further amended as follows.” With these words, it is clear that Rep. Behning has won additional concessions from the Senate conferees and the voucher expansion is bigger than when it left the Senate. All Senators must hear your outrage about this development before the vote.

Here is how it is bigger:

• The Senate passed language on April 10th allowing easier access to vouchers for students in F schools. The final bill has expanded that to D and F schools, using the current flawed A-F grades that are widely disrespected. The bill now makes eligible for immediate vouchers without first attending public school all students who attend “a public school that has been placed in either of the two lowest categories.” Some earlier drafts said schools must get these grades two years running to be in this category. That part is gone. All 241 D schools and 148 F schools are included in this voucher give-away. The injustices of these grades are known in each school district and now must be made known to legislators.

At What Cost? Officials from the Budget Agency had testified that the new vouchers for students attending F schools would cost as much as $6 million, based on their estimate of as many as 1500 students getting new vouchers without first going to a public school, at an average cost of $4083 per voucher. Adding D schools to this provision would be proportionally at least another $9 million since the D schools outnumber the F schools by over 50%. That is an extremely conservative estimate.

• The Senate had said that after June 30, 2014, enrollment in a virtual charter school would not count as attendance at a public school for purposes of voucher eligibility. The final version removed that language, making an easier path to voucher eligibility through virtual schools.

• The Senate had said that if a tax-credit scholarship of at least $1000 went to a student from a Scholarship Granting Organization, then that student would be eligible for a voucher in the subsequent year. The final version removes the $1000 requirement.

Now a scholarship of any small amount from an SGO in the first year will make the student eligible for a voucher in the second year. The bill still carries language that removes any requirement to attend a public school before qualifying for a tax-credit scholarship. That means every student currently attending private schools will qualify for a voucher after this two-year sequence if they meet the family income guideline of $84,000. This clever loophole, which has eluded the attention of many legislators, could balloon the voucher eligibility count to 54,000 within two years. That is the estimated number of current private school students who meet the means test of $84,000.

Here is how the bill got smaller in the conference committee:

• The rise in the minimum voucher has been eliminated. It would stay at $4500. Senate language to raise it to $4600 next year has been removed. This saves $400,000 ($.4 Million), the cost estimate from LSA to raise it by $100 in the first year of the budget.

• The additional $5 million for tax-credit scholarships from SGO’s has been removed. It will stay at $5 million, where it has been since 2011.

The Balance Sheet

Throughout this session, I have analyzed the costs for next year only, trying to clarify a story that can get very complex quickly. Looking again at the costs for next year shows the costs have gone up in the final version of the conference committee report. The higher costs are less visible than the lower costs, which must be part of Rep. Behning’s strategy, but nonetheless they are higher and more damaging to your school communities.

The costs of the bill went up with the addition of D schools ($9 million per year), with the easier path to vouchers through virtual schools (cost unknown), and with the removal of the $1000 minimum (cost unknown). Increased costs in the conference committee report: AT LEAST $9 MILLION.

The costs of the bill went down with the removal of increases in the minimum voucher ($.4 million) and the removal of more tax credit money for Scholarship Granting Organizations ($5 million). Decreased costs in the conference committee report: $5.4 MILLION

Increased costs minus decreased costs: $9 MILLION minus $5.4 MILLION = $3.6 MILLION in higher costs

Let legislators know before the vote about your D schools and the higher costs of the bill due to D school vouchers. Leadership trying to pass the bill will no doubt be pointing to the $5.4 million in cuts. Your advocacy and objections about D schools will be vital to counter that argument to explain the higher costs and the absolute disruption to 18% of our schools that received a D or F, many unfairly, under a flawed system. The unfairness won’t be clear to legislators until you make it clear! Put your own story into the attached handout to communicate the injustices done to several of your schools.

The bill might have deferred the section on D and F school vouchers to a later time when the flawed grading system has been revised. It didn’t! The effects of the bill will begin as soon as it is signed. All the current injustices of the A-F system that one recent observer called a “monstrosity” will be locked into the voucher system. The bill clearly says that if the letter grade changes, all who received vouchers due to this D and F provision will continue to receive vouchers in the future.

Previous Talking Points

In addition to the new concerns, the previous concerns about the Senate amendments to the House version are still important to remember:

• It uses the seriously flawed A-F system to pass out vouchers. That is wrong.

• It entwines federal special education money with private school special education services and new regulations for monitoring such services. Yet state regulation of private schools is illegal under the 2011 voucher law. The current language will be vulnerable to lawsuits.

• The final product could seriously undermine tuition support payments to public and charter schools, with estimates of the loss ranging from 18% to 90%. This is totally unacceptable.

The final budget was unveiled today. THERE IS NO FIX IN THE FINAL BUDGET TO CAP VOUCHERS OR TO PUT VOUCHERS INTO A SEPARATE LINE ITEM. This leaves public and charter school funding vulnerable to pro-rata reductions, with voucher payments being made off the top of the tuition support budget and public schools getting what is left. However much legislators may support the concept of vouchers, they should not let these unpredictable cuts go through to hurt the promised funding for public and charter schools.

• All of these issues should be studied in an interim study committee and not implemented at this time.

Call or Email Friday Morning!

Both the House and the Senate begin at 10:00 Friday morning. Votes on the voucher bill are most likely to come after lunch, but could possibly come before lunch. If public school advocates do not point out the problems of adding D schools to the voucher list, the bill will sail through with sponsors saying they trimmed money from the bill. Let them know how you feel about adding D and F schools to this program! Let them know your promised funding formula is in jeopardy depending on unpredictable numbers of new vouchers for students who have never been in the count!

Contact members of the Senate, where the vote will again be close.

Contact members of the House, where several are reevaluating their first vote.

Say “No” to HB 1003. Let the grassroots speak one more day! Thanks for standing up 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 during conference committees, we need all members from last year to renew and we need new members who support public education. Please join us! Thanks to all who have joined or sent extra donations recently!

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.

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #138– April 24, 2013

Dear Friends,

The final versions of the budget bill and the voucher expansion bill were not unveiled today in the Statehouse. Closed door meetings were the order of the day. Here are my observations from Wednesday afternoon in the Statehouse:

• First we heard the budget would be available tonight, and then it changed to noon tomorrow, Thursday. They will observe a 24 hour rule before voting on the budget. The only news from the budget that leaked out was that it would pay off the loans taken out by charter schools from the Common School Fund, costing around $74 million. The budget will dominate tomorrow’s news. Adjournment of the session is set for Friday night.

• No conference committee report appeared on voucher expansion, HB 1003, despite the headline story in this morning’s Indianapolis Star saying that a final vote could come today. This could be a sign of disagreements between House and Senate conferees over final details. Joel Hand and I shared the attached handout with legislators today, reminding them of the problems of including D and F schools in the distribution of vouchers. Feel free to use the handout in your efforts.

Keep sending messages to legislators about your opposition to vouchers, especially to Senators! Once again, the vote will be close in the Senate. Final votes on HB 1003 could come Thursday afternoon or Friday.

• Speaker Bosma announced to the media today that he and Gov. Pence now want to slow down the implementation of Common Core long enough for a thorough review. He wants to resurrect House Bill 1427 to do so. A dissent on HB 1427 was filed today leading to the appointment of a conference committee which should provide specifics about this effort tomorrow (Thursday). I am wondering why this effort wasn’t started last week when last-minute rules changes would not have been necessary. Rules were changed today saying that bills except the budget could now be acted upon after legislators have four hours to review them.

• The conference committee report on HB 1338, charter school administration and the A-F revision, seems to be headed for action tomorrow. It seems unlikely that Rep. Behning’s plan to put A-F labels in law and to revise the A-F system by attaching the Indiana Chamber of Commerce’s revision of Public Law 221 to the charter school bill will be derailed.

• House Bill 1381, the public school transfer bill sponsored by Rep. Karickoff passed the House today 77-19. It now goes to the Senate for the final vote on the conference committee version.

The fact that legislators have wrangled this long about the final version of the voucher bill shows that your messages have had an impact. Keep them up! You have made this a very contentious issue.

Let your Senator and Representative know that using the failed A-F system to give vouchers to 18% of Indiana’s school attendance areas is wrong. It will unfairly impact too many schools that were graded unjustly. They should vote HB 1003 down until a revised A-F system is in place that has validity in the eyes of the public. Friday is the last day, so send your final thoughts now!
Thanks for standing up for the public school students of 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 working hard against voucher expansion during conference committees, we need all members from last year to renew and we need new members who support public education. Please join us! Thanks to all who have joined or sent extra donations recently!

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.

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #137– April 24, 2013

Dear Friends,

The word going around the Statehouse on Tuesday (yesterday) was that a conference committee on voucher expansion will give vouchers to all who live in attendance areas of “D” schools as well as “F” schools. If this is true, it would be a huge expansion beyond the Senate version of the number of students that would get vouchers for living in the attendance areas of failing schools. Instead of 148 F school areas, it would affect 389 D or F schools. That is 18.6% of all schools. Remember, this uses the flawed and widely disrespected A-F system introduced by Tony Bennett last October.

Let your Senator and Representative in the House know that using the failed A-F system to give vouchers to 18% of Indiana’s school attendance areas is wrong. It will unfairly impact too many schools that were graded unjustly. They should vote HB 1003 down until a revised A-F system that has the confidence of the public is in place.

House Bill 1003 – Voucher Expansion

The Conference Committee report is expected soon which meshes the Senate version and the House version of voucher expansion. Then both houses must pass the final report one more time. We are hoping that changes made in the final version of the bill will lead legislators who voted for vouchers the first time around to decide to vote it down in the final vote. Your messages to them about the A-F system may motivate them to switch.

Let legislators know about the injustices involving “D” schools and “F” schools in last fall’s new rating system that was rejected so decisively in the election. Let them know about cases in your area comparable to these two examples:

• Liberty Early elementary in MSD Decatur got a D. It serves only pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students. These students have not been tested on ISTEP+. So how did they get a D? Formulas say that early childhood centers are given grades based on the average of elementary schools that they feed students to. The elementary students are tested in grades 3 through 6, so Liberty Early elementary was graded on the performance of students that the school has not interacted with for three years.

Should this be the basis for a judgment that this school is so bad that parents should avoid it and get a voucher?

• William Bell School #60 in the Indianapolis Public Schools got an F. It serves only K through 2 students who have not taken ISTEP+. It reopened this year as a Reggio magnet school under the guidance of Butler University. Nearly all of the students are new this year under the new magnet program philosophy, yet under A-F rules based on students in past years, it is an F school.

Should this be the basis for a judgment that this school is so bad that parents should avoid it and get a voucher?

The building block for this flawed system is a flawed growth metric comparing student growth to peers, creating differing expectations for growth for each student depending on how other students across the state perform. Two cases stand out in illustrating the flawed growth statistics:

• A 5th grader in northern Indiana who had scored Pass+ since the 3rd grade scored 39 scale score points this year above the Pass+ cut off score for English/Language Arts. Yet, the student was marked as “Low Growth.” The principal was mystified.

• A central Indiana superintendent and principal verified that an elementary student with a perfect score for two years in a row was labeled as “Low Growth.” An appeal to IDOE made no difference.

Here is the kicker on HB 1003’s language regarding failing schools: The bill doesn’t confine the provision of vouchers to only those going to the school. If a student is going to an elementary school rated “A” but also happens to live in a high school attendance area rated “F”, that student can get a voucher.

It would be wrong to pass legislation based on these A-F formulas for elementary and middle schools until confidence in their validity has been restored.

House Bill 1338 – Charter School Administration and A-F Revisions

Transparency suffers in the final week of the legislative session. It took over 24 hours to get a copy of proposed legislation to revise the highly controversial A-F system. The proposal is a last minute addition to the conference committee report on the charter school administration bill, HB 1338. This language is important because it appears now that the other vehicle for revising the A-F system, House Bill 1427, is dead.

This new version of HB 1338 is 39 pages long, and the last four pages propose a rewrite of Public Law 221 to recreate the A-F system following Rep. Behning’s revision that he introduced early in the session in House Bill 1337.
There is one short section on page 38, line 5 that would bring bipartisan support in ending the flawed system and moving to a better system.

“Sec. 5. (a) Not later than November 15, 2013, the state board shall establish new categories or designations of school performance under the requirements of this chapter to replace 511 IAC 6.2-6. The new standards of assessing school performance:
(1) must be based on a measurement of academic growth; and
(2) may not be based on a measurement of student performance or growth compared with peers.
511 IAC 6.2-6 is void on the effective date of the emergency or final rules adopted under this section.

This language deserves applause. It voids the current system and restricts the new system from including a growth model based on comparisons with peers. That is all that is needed to guide the State Board of Education and State Superintendent Ritz to a new and fair system.

The rest of the four pages carry the Indiana Chamber of Commerce’s proposal for how to change PL221 that the House resoundingly voted down in HB 1337 back in February. It goes into prescriptive detail in telling the State Board how to prepare a new system, illustrated by the following:

“(3) Determine the number of students who did not exceed the minimal performance levels determined under subdivision (1) but whose academic growth is projected to be sufficient to exceed minimal performance levels or to reach the next highest performance benchmark in future years.”

This is the Indiana Chamber’s view of the new A-F system. It does not match up with the proposals that State Superintendent Glenda Ritz advocated to the Senate Education Committee. It should not be placed in Indiana law. The system should be left to State Superintendent Ritz and the State Board to rework with all stakeholders involved, not just the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

The other controversial addition to the new HB 1338 is to put the “A” through “F” labels in Indiana law. This proposal drew immediate opposition from Rep. Vernon Smith and Sen. Rogers during Monday’s brief conference committee meeting.

Currently, the State Board can decide how many categories our accountability system will have, whether it is 3, 4, 5 or 6, and what labels to apply to each category. This latest version, coming five days before adjournment in a charter school bill, takes the State Board’s authority on this away and dictates that Indiana will have five categories and that they will be called “A”, “B”, “C”, “D” and “F”.

A hearing on using “A” through “F” labels was held by the State Board of Education on April 30, 2010 when Dr. Bennett wanted to change the rules. A total of 57 speakers showed up at that hearing, which went on for five hours. Of those 57, 56 were opposed to using “A” through “F” to describe our schools. One speaker representing the Indiana Chamber of Commerce was in favor. The way HB 1338 is rolling out, that 2010 hearing may turn out to be the only indicator of public sentiment on the A-F issue before the legislature has to vote on it. Given the issue’s unpopularity with many in the public, it is possible that legislators may want to balk on putting this in law.

Do you remember what happened to this language back in February when it was pages 2-4 of House Bill 1337? It was defeated decisively 61-33, with 31 members of the Republican caucus turning against it.

Keep Sending Messages!

Members of the House and Senate should hear your thoughts about adding “D” schools to the voucher eligibility list, especially those who voted “Yes” on voucher expansion the first time. They should change their votes and send HB 1003 to a study committee.

27 Republican Senators voted yes: Senators Banks, Boots, Bray, Buck, Crider, Delph, Eckerty, Hershman, Holdman, Kenley, Kruse, Leising, Long, Merritt, Nugent, Pat Miller, Pete Miller, Paul, Schneider, Smith, Steele, Walker, Waltz, Wyss, Yoder, Michael Young and Zakas.

57 Republican Representatives voted yes: Representatives Arnold, Baird, Behning, Braun, T. Brown, Burton, Carbaugh, Cherry, Crouch, Culver, Davis, Davisson, DeVon, Eberhart, Friend, Frizzell, Frye, Gutwein, Hamm, Harman, Heaton, Heuer, Huston, Karickhoff, Kirchhofer, Kubacki, Lehe, Lehman, Leonard, Lucas, Lutz, Mayfield, McMillin, Messmer, Morris, Morrison, Negele, Niemeyer, Ober, Pond, Price, Richardson, Slager, Smaltz, M. Smith, Speedy, Steuerwald, Thompson, Torr, Turner, Ubelhor, VanNatter, Washburne, Wesco, Zent, Ziemke and Speaker Bosma

Thanks for standing up for the public school students of 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 working hard against voucher expansion during conference committees, we need all members from last year to renew and we need new members who support public education. Please join us! Thanks to all who have joined or sent extra donations recently!

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.

April 23, 2013: Question of the Day

Did you know HB 1001 includes provision to FORGIVE all charter school start up loans including failed charters. The cost is 74.1 million.

What other for profit companies would get the state to forgive their start up costs? There is no provision of course to forgive any public school loans of any kind.

If they have 74.1 million to forgive charter loans, they can find more money for public schools.

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Click the question mark below to see all our Questions of the Day or click the link in the sidebar.

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #136– April 22, 2013

Dear Friends,

Sadly I must report that today the House passed the bill saying that neither a teacher license nor a superintendent license are needed to be a superintendent in Indiana, House Bill 1357. The final vote was 55-40. Since the House concurred with the Senate version, the bill now goes to the Governor for his signature.

House Bill 1357

The Senate added the requirement that to be a superintendent, the candidate must hold a Masters degree in any subject. The House had passed the first version of the bill 58-40 allowing anyone to be a superintendent, even those with no college degree.

The deconstruction of the education profession in Indiana continues. Principals can now brace for evaluations by superintendents who have never been a principal. University programs set up to train high quality superintendents are likely to die on the vine. Look for excellent superintendents to leave the state to find a climate which respects the special training needed to be a successful superintendent.

I happened to see Sen. Leising after the vote. She recounted the story that she had to leave the Education Committee meeting on the day of the vote on HB 1357 in order to present a detailed bill she was sponsoring in another committee. The bill ended up passing the committee 6-5. She said she would have voted “no” making the sixth vote against the bill and killing it 6-6. The bill survived for a floor vote several days later, which turned out to be a 25-25 tie, leading to a rare tie-breaking vote by Lt. Gov. Ellspermann to pass the bill 26-25. Of course, such details won’t matter in the days ahead when Indiana’s reputation will be established nationwide as a place that doesn’t respect the need for training to be a superintendent.

House Bill 1338 – Now the Home of One Version of A-F Revision Language

The conference committee meeting was held this morning (Monday) on HB 1338, charter school administration. The major news is that Rep. Behning offered amendment #17 as the basis for a conference committee report which inserted his version of the revised A-F system to grade schools. The revision would put the “A” through “F” labels for schools in law. Currently, the State Board of Education decides on the names for the categories and puts them in rules. Copies of the amendment were not distributed to the audience and I could not get a copy later today, so further analysis of the A-F proposal will have to wait until a copy is available.

It should be noted that even though the main part of the bill is about charter school changes, the proposed A-F system would apply to all schools.

Sen. Kruse, the Senate conferee, quickly said he would agree to Rep. Behning’s proposal. Rep. Vernon Smith, the House Democrat conferee, objected to putting the A-F labels in law, noting that State Superintendent Ritz has another plan which involved two grades, one for proficiency and one for growth. He urged her participation in determining the next set of metrics for school grades. Sen. Rogers, the Senate Democrat conferee, strongly opposed the codification of A-F labels, saying that her constituents do not understand the A-F labels and she wants a system that has bipartisan support as we had in 1999 at the outset of the Public Law 221.

The Senate version of the A-F revisions is found in HB 1427, which outlines a two part grade for both proficiency and growth in an amendment written by Sen. Kenley. State Superintendent has had some input on the language of the Senate amendment. HB 1427 has not been scheduled for a conference committee yet. It also includes language on a review of the Common Core. Since time is marching on, it is possible that Rep. Behning’s language on A-F in HB 1338 will become the only game in town on that topic.

House Bill 1003 – Voucher Expansion

One story that I heard today is that Speaker Bosma wants to finish all work on Thurday, April 25th, a day earlier than he announced in press reports last week. If this is true, it seems hard to see how the voucher expansion bill will have time to go back through both houses in a new form. The more likely scenario is that the House will decide to take a concurrence vote on the Senate version, which would only take one more vote.

Given this possibility, your messages opposing voucher expansion should focus on House members. The bill has changed in the Senate, and House members may not agree with the changes summed up in the following points:

• For the first time, the voucher program uses the seriously flawed A-F system to pass out vouchers. That is wrong.

• It entwines federal special education money with private school special education services and new regulations for monitoring such services. Yet state regulation of private schools is illegal under the 2011 voucher law. The current language will be vulnerable to lawsuits.

• The final product could seriously undermine tuition support payments to public and charter schools, with estimates of the loss ranging from 19% to 90%. This is totally unacceptable. However much legislators may support the concept of vouchers, they should not let these major unpredictable cuts go through to hurt public and charter schools.

• All of these issues should be studied in an interim study committee and not implemented at this time.

The passion that you bring these points to House members in the next two days will make all the difference in the final outcome.
 
These talking points should be shared with the 57 Republican Representatives who voted yes: Representatives Arnold, Baird, Behning, Braun, T. Brown, Burton, Carbaugh, Cherry, Crouch, Culver, Davis, Davisson, DeVon, Eberhart, Friend, Frizzell, Frye, Gutwein, Hamm, Harman, Heaton, Heuer, Huston, Karickhoff, Kirchhofer, Kubacki, Lehe, Lehman, Leonard, Lucas, Lutz, Mayfield, McMillin, Messmer, Morris, Morrison, Negele, Niemeyer, Ober, Pond, Price, Richardson, Slager, Smaltz, M. Smith, Speedy, Steuerwald, Thompson, Torr, Turner, Ubelhor, VanNatter, Washburne, Wesco, Zent, Ziemke and Speaker Bosma

Thanks for your work on behalf of the one million plus public school students of 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 working hard against voucher expansion during conference committees, we need all members from last year to renew and we need new members who support public education. Please join us! Thanks to all who have joined or sent extra donations recently!

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.

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #135– April 21, 2013

Dear Friends,

The controversial voucher expansion bill still must pass both the House and the Senate this coming week after the Conference Committee version is agreed upon. It’s time for public school advocates to send messages on Monday and Tuesday to legislators that they should stop this bill because it would deeply erode the funding promised to public schools.

The damage caused by voucher expansion to public school funding is now clear and is unacceptable. See the details below and attached. Instead the bill should go to a summer study committee. Please share this message with legislators using these points.

On Wednesday, April 17th, the Conference Committee on the budget bill (HB 1001) heard many objections to voucher expansion during two hours of public testimony. On Thursday, April 18th, the Conference Committee on HB 1003, voucher expansion, also heard many opponents to voucher expansion in 20 minutes of public testimony. Joel Hand represented the Indiana Coalition for Public Education in both hearings, emphasizing the expensive new fiscal costs of voucher expansion that would take $23 million away from next year’s tuition support budget for public schools.

The Conference Committee on the Budget Bill – HB 1001

Twenty-four conferees and advisors heard the concerns of 36 members of the public about the massive 2-year budget bill. Of these speakers, seven testified about the problems caused by voucher expansion. Joel Hand presented a new handout, which is attached, clearly showing the huge new fiscal costs for funding vouchers for students already in private schools who have never been in the school budget count. In year 1 of the budget, those costs total at least $23 million. That breaks down to $13 million for special education students already in private schools, $4 million for siblings already in private schools and $6 million for entering kindergarteners and students already in private schools living in attendance areas of F schools.

Here is the big problem for the budget writers: This $23 million, a very conservative figure, will have to come out of the $124 million increase budgeted by the Senate for tuition support for all public schools because there is no separate line item in the budget for vouchers. Public schools are being told they will get $124 million, a 1.9% increase, in the first year of the new budget, but they won’t unless the budget plan is changed. Instead, under current law the $23 million will be taken off the top for private school vouchers, and the public school budget will be reduced to $101 million, an 18% cut from $124 million. Your legislators should be told that they must not let this happen. Many are not aware of these numbers.

In the second year of the budget, the situation gets worse for public schools. The potential new costs for the expanded voucher program for students who have never been in the count is $179 million, eating up 90% of the $189 million budgeted for public schools. This is an astounding problem which must be addressed by the budget conferees. Study the handout and contact your legislator. They have to fix this!

My testimony on Wednesday, which is also attached, explains why the second year costs of voucher expansion have the potential to balloon completely out of control. The reason goes back to the removal of one sentence from current law, thereby ending the requirement that to get a tax credit “School Scholarship” from a Scholarship Granting Organization, the student must enroll in a public school the preceding year. This opens the door to allowing every current private school student in Indiana to receive a tax credit “School Scholarship”, as long as their family meets the $84,000 family of four income guideline. Once students have a “School Scholarship”, current law allows them to have a voucher in the next school year. This means that in the second year of the biennium, the potential exists for an additional 38,000 students who are already in private schools to get a voucher. This is untenable for the public school tuition support budget, and you must get your legislator’s attention to fix this in the coming week!

Please look closely at the two attachments -- HERE and HERE.

The Conference Committee on the Voucher Expansion Bill- HB 1003

The conferees and advisors on HB 1003 met on Thursday at 1:00pm to begin resolving the differences between the House and Senate versions. Rep. Behning announced that he would like to see more money returned to the minimum voucher payment. He would like to lift the Senate figure of $4600 to $4700 in the first year of the budget, and then in the second year of the budget to raise the Senate figure of $4700 up to $4900. He didn’t cite the extra costs, but I can tell you that based on LSA estimates, this change would add an additional $1.2 million to the Senate version’s costs over the next two years, exacerbating the budget funding problem described above.

Rep. Behning also announced he would like to change the language of the bill to say that vouchers would be available to those living in the attendance area of not just F schools, but also D schools, phrased as “the lowest two categories.” Currently, Indiana has 148 F schools and 241 D schools, using the widely disrespected A-F system now in place. Rep. Behning’s idea would more than double the number of schools that would allow immediate vouchers based on school performance.

Those present who wished to give public testimony were given one minute to speak about the bill. Joel Hand used his minute to pass out the handouts that are attached and described above. I had to leave after the opening remarks for a doctor appointment, but my written testimony was distributed explaining the huge fiscal problem created by removing the public school attendance requirement for School Scholarships explained above.

Now the conference committee will disappear behind closed doors to hammer out the final language for voucher expansion. If Rep. Behning insists on adding back all the provisions that the Senate took out, it may be difficult to reach an agreement. In this potentially contentious debate, it would help our efforts to diminish the bill to have messages of opposition from as many of you as possible in this final week.

One More Week: Let Legislators Hear from You!

Speaker Bosma has declared that he thinks the General Assembly should adjourn on Friday, April 26th. By law, they can meet up to midnight on Monday, April 29th. Speaker Bosma also wants to expand the voucher bill beyond what the Senate passed and assigned himself as an advisor to the HB 1003 Conference Committee to promote a bigger bill.

We need a barrage of messages from public school advocates this week to bend the final outcomes to mitigate the damage to public education:

For members of the Conference Committee on the budget, HB 1001:

• It is outrageous and untenable for them to leave the entire tuition support budget for public schools vulnerable to the erosion caused by an unpredictable number of new vouchers for students who have never been in the count.

• Whether the cut to public schools caused by vouchers is 18% or 90%, it must not be allowed.

• They must put vouchers in a separate line item in the budget and thereby guarantee that the public schools will actually get the money that appears in the budget and will not be docked later to pay for vouchers.

These above points should be made to the following members of the Conference Committee on the budget:

House Conferees: Rep. Tim Brown (R) and Rep. Porter (D)

Senate Conferees: Sen. Kenley (R) and Sen. Tallian (D)

House Advisors: Republican Representatives Turner, Thompson, Dermody, Crouch and Cherry and Democrat Representatives Candelaria Reardon, Goodin, Kersey, Klinker, Niezgodski, Pryor and Stemler

Senate Advisors: Republican Senators Hershman, Mishler, Charbonneau, Pat Miller, Wyss and Delph and Democrat Senators Skinner and Hume

For members of the Conference Committee on voucher expansion, HB 1003:

• Allowing kindergarteners to start out with vouchers would, according to LSA and cited by Sen. Kenley, cost $7 million year after year after year. The Senate refused to go there, and the Conference Committee should not go back to that.

• Changing the central eligibility requirement for a tax credit “School Scholarship” will potentially balloon the numbers of “Choice Scholarships” in the following year. The requirement to enroll first in a public school to get a “School Scholarship” should be reinserted.

• Using the flawed A-F system for any purpose is wrong until it is revised, especially if that purpose is to make voucher decisions. The Senate’s new idea to link vouchers to the A-F system should be deleted.

• The Senate’s new language to give all federal and state special education funds directly to private school parents in the voucher amount will require controversial regulations of private school services by federal and state authorities and raise thorny legal issues about distributing federal funds to private school parents. This language has not been vetted and opens a can of worms. It should be abandoned.

These points above should be made to the following members of the Conference Committee on HB 1003:

House Conferees: Rep. Behning (R) and Rep. Vernon Smith (D)

Senate Conferees: Sen. Eckerty (R) and Sen. Richard Young (D)

House Advisors: Republican Representatives Bosma and Huston and Democrat Representatives Battles, VanDenburgh and Errington

Senate Advisors: Republican Senators Yoder and Leising and Democrat Senators Rogers and Skinner

For all members of the House and Senate:

If your member voted no the first time, they should continue to vote no. The final version of voucher expansion has not removed the damage to public school funding. It still threatens public schools with a loss of expected funds, at least $23 million in the first year of the budget and up to $179 million in the second year.

If your member voted yes the first time, ask them to reconsider based on the current problems of the bill:

• It uses the seriously flawed A-F system to pass out vouchers. That is wrong.

• It entwines federal special education money with private school special education services and new regulations for monitoring such services. Yet state regulation of private schools is illegal under the 2011 voucher law. The current language will be vulnerable to lawsuits.

• The final product could seriously undermine tuition support payments to public and charter schools, with estimates of the loss ranging from 18% to 90%. This is totally unacceptable. However much legislators may support the concept of vouchers, they should not let these unpredictable cuts go through to hurt public and charter schools.

• All of these issues should be studied in an interim study committee and not implemented at this time.

These talking points should be shared with all who voted “Yes” in the initial votes:

27 Republican Senators voted yes: Senators Banks, Boots, Bray, Buck, Crider, Delph, Eckerty, Hershman, Holdman, Kenley, Kruse, Leising, Long, Merritt, Nugent, Pat Miller, Pete Miller, Paul, Schneider, Smith, Steele, Walker, Waltz, Wyss, Yoder, Michael Young and Zakas.

57 Republican Representatives voted yes: Representatives Arnold, Baird, Behning, Braun, T. Brown, Burton, Carbaugh, Cherry, Crouch, Culver, Davis, Davisson, DeVon, Eberhart, Friend, Frizzell, Frye, Gutwein, Hamm, Harman, Heaton, Heuer, Huston, Karickhoff, Kirchhofer, Kubacki, Lehe, Lehman, Leonard, Lucas, Lutz, Mayfield, McMillin, Messmer, Morris, Morrison, Negele, Niemeyer, Ober, Pond, Price, Richardson, Slager, Smaltz, M. Smith, Speedy, Steuerwald, Thompson, Torr, Turner, Ubelhor, VanNatter, Washburne, Wesco, Zent, Ziemke and Speaker Bosma

Messages Needed Monday and Tuesday!

My reading of the situation is that there are still many moving parts and many difficult issues to settle in the next week. A strong message from you to your Senator and to your Representative in the House based on the one or two talking points above that have you riled up could make a huge difference in the outcome. Let them know this matter will resonate with you in the next election.

Then if you can, send additional messages to the members of the conference committee on the budget and on voucher expansion. Conference committee members are listed above.

Please send messages via phone, email or letters for one more week! Let legislators know that their actions on voucher expansion and on supporting public education will be remembered in the next election. If you can get one or two legislators to take a second look at the way the funding for vouchers will erode the funding promised to public schools, you will have done a great service to public school students that deserve better and predictable funding.

This final week needs grassroots action. 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 during conference committees, we need all members from last year to renew and we need new members who support public education. Please join us! Thanks to all who have joined or sent extra donations recently!

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.

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #134– April 18, 2013

Dear Friends,

At this point in our fight against voucher expansion during Conference Committees, I must directly ask for your financial support for ICPE. We do not have the money to pay the fourth and final payment to our outstanding lobbyist, Joel Hand. We must raise $3700 by the end of April. Will you help?

The Indiana Coalition for Public Education board contracted with Joel Hand to serve as our lobbyist back in December with every confidence that we could find enough generous advocates for public education to pay the bills. That plan has worked in part. We were able to raise $12,000 through the end of March to pay Joel for the first three months of the General Assembly at the rate of $4000 per month, a modest amount in the Statehouse arena. Now to make the final payment, we need your help.

We do not get Gates money like some “education reform” groups. We do not get grants from the Walmart Foundation or from the DeVos family. We are funded one membership at a time.

We have 507 paying members this year. We know there are many others who strongly support public education who have thought about joining but have not written the check. This is the time we need your support. We need new members.

In addition, our current members have expressed great appreciation for Joel’s work. We need extra contributions of $10, $20, or $50 to show that appreciation in financial terms. We need donations.

Joel has represented the Indiana Coalition extremely well this week. He spoke strongly against voucher expansion at yesterday’s Conference Committee on the budget bill. He will represent ICPE today at the Conference Committee meeting on House Bill 1003. I will send details of those meetings in the next “Statehouse Notes”.

If you appreciate having a strong advocate like Joel Hand speaking up for public education in the Statehouse and if you appreciate receiving “Statehouse Notes” to keep you up to date, I ask you to take the “Do It Now!” challenge to do one of the following:

1. Join ICPE if you have not done so, using the form attached or using the online credit card payment option on our website: icpe2011.com.  Our mailing address for membership checks is: ICPE, PO Box 7093, Fishers, IN 46037
2. Send a free will donation showing your appreciation for ICPE’s work during this session. Checks should be sent to the address above. Online donations can be made on our website above.

To continue to support public education, we need your help. Will you help?

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 during conference committees, 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.

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #133– April 10, 2013

Dear Friends,

In a close and disappointing vote about noon today, ten Republican Senators joined all thirteen Democrats to vote against the voucher expansion bill, HB 1003. It was not enough. The other 27 Republican Senators voted yes, and the bill passed 27-23. The amended bill now goes back to the House, where Rep. Behning will either send his bill to a conference committee or ask the House to concur with the Senate version. Efforts of public school advocates to oppose the bill should now shift back to the House.

The Debate

Senate leaders obviously knew coming out of a 10:00am caucus that they had the votes to pass the bill. The bill was called down first today as the Senate began work about 11:30. Senator Yoder presented the bill, rather than the Senate sponsor, Senator Eckerty. Passionate statements in opposition to the bill followed from Senator Tallian, Senator Rogers and Senator Skinner. Senator Yoder, the only Republican who spoke for the bill, then gave closing comments and the vote began.

The Vote

Ten Republicans voted no: Senators Alting, Becker, Head, Mishler, Tomes, Waterman, Charbonneau, Glick, Grooms, and Landske. The first six also voted against vouchers in 2011, while the last four voted for vouchers in 2011 but changed to vote against the expansion today.

Thirteen Democrats voted no: Senators Arnold, Breaux, Broden, Hume, Lanane, Mrvan, Randolph, Rogers, Skinner, Stoops, Tallian, Taylor and Richard Young. All were in the Senate and voted against vouchers in 2011 except Sen. Stoops who is new to the Senate this year.

All 23 Senators deserve thank you notes from public school advocates for their vote today.

27 Republicans voted yes: Senators Banks, Boots, Bray, Buck, Crider, Delph, Eckerty, Hershman, Holdman, Kenley, Kruse, Leising, Long, Merritt, Nugent, Pat Miller, Pete Miller, Paul, Schneider, Smith, Steele, Walker, Waltz, Wyss, Yoder, Michael Young and Zakas. Senators Boots, Nugent and Zakas voted no in 2011 but yes today. Senators Bray, Crider and Pete Miller are new to the Senate since the 2011 voucher vote. The other 21 all previously voted for vouchers in 2011.

Next Steps

Since the Senate amended the bill, the bill sponsor in the House Rep. Behning must now decide whether to dissent from the amendments and send the bill to a conference committee or to concur with the amendments and seek a House vote to concur with the Senate version.

There are several controversial differences between the House version and the Senate version that need more public discussion in the next two weeks:

1) The Senate version for the first time uses the flawed A-F system to make voucher eligibility decisions. That is a first for the voucher program, which in the past has never been linked with failing schools. A strong consensus has emerged that the A-F system must be revised, but the revision won’t be done before this new voucher bill would use it to make voucher decisions. That’s not right.

2) The Senate version requires new state rules from the State Board of Education regulating special education programs in private schools. State regulation of any program in a private school would be a controversial step, and state regulation of a complex program like special education will raise even more questions about the scope, the method and the accountability of the regulations needed to monitor special education services in private schools.

HB 1003 says: “The state board shall adopt rules under IC4-22-2, … for the provision of special education or related services to an eligible choice scholarship student who receives an amount under section4(2) of this chapter. The rules adopted under this section shall include annual reporting requirements, monitoring ,and consequences for noncompliance by an eligible school.

This seemly is in direct conflict with the current voucher law which says (IC 20-51-4):

A nonpublic eligible school is not an agent of the state or federal government, and therefore:
........(1) the department or any other state agency may not in any way regulate the educational program of a nonpublic eligible school that accepts a choice scholarship under this chapter, including the regulation of curriculum content, religious instruction or activities, classroom teaching, teacher and staff hiring requirements, and other activities carried out by the eligible school;
........(2) the creation of the choice scholarship program does not expand the regulatory authority of the state, the state's officers, or a school corporation to impose additional regulation of nonpublic schools beyond those necessary to enforce the requirements of the choice scholarship program in place on July 1, 2011; and
........(3) a nonpublic eligible school shall be given the freedom to provide for the educational needs of students without governmental control.

The conflict looming over special education regulation is clear.

Other Votes Today

HB 1338 Charter School Administration passed 34-16. Among many changes, this bill provides a hefty raise in payments for each student in a virtual charter schools, moving from 87.5% of the state per pupil amount to 100% of the per pupil amount.

HB 1381 Public School Transfers passed 43-7.

HB 1423 Antibullying passed 36-14.

HB 1427 Various Education Matters passed 37-13. The Senate’s version of guidelines for revising the A-F system and the Common Core review are two of many topics in this bill.

HB 1357 School Administrators passed 26-25. An amazing story emerged on this bill which removes the requirement that superintendents have a teacher’s license or a superintendent’s license. Sen. Pete Miller presented the bill as a change to let the local school board decide who should be their superintendent without requiring a licensed superintendent. He said the bill is “not saying an educator’s license is not important, but rather that it is not essential.” An amendment was added yesterday which says that a superintendent must have a Masters degree in any field.

This, of course, has been an extremely controversial bill among school administrators. Sen. Skinner derided the bill for implying that “anybody can do this job” and that “licensing and experience are no longer a good thing.”

Senator Leising asked questions of Sen. Miller to clarify the REPA rules that already allow someone without a superintendent license to be selected as the superintendent. She then spoke to the bill, saying that the bill would be dead if she had been present during the vote in committee. She had to present a bill in another committee during the vote on HB 1357. Had she been there, she reported, the bill would not have passed 6-5 but she would have voted no, making the vote 6-6. She asked the Senate to vote no today.

Senator Banks then rose to support the bill to empower “our locally elected boards to make the best decision about leadership.”

Senator Rogers then rose to speak, holding up the four-inch thick book of school laws and administrative code that superintendents must master, saying that experienced administrators are needed in schools. She said local boards can be pressured to appoint people not well trained and “flexible means yielding to influence.”

Senator Miller closed by listing the presidents of major universities in Indiana and saying, “None of them hold educator licenses. None could be a superintendent.”

Then came the vote. The reds and greens appeared balanced on the board. Senators Kenley and Delph did not vote at first and were reminded to vote before the machine closed. These two votes appeared to be the swing votes. Then just before the machine was closed, they both voted “yes.” The tally showed 25 to 25.

A tie vote.

When this happens, the presiding officer of the Senate, Lt. Governor Sue Ellspermann casts the deciding vote. She quickly voted yes, and the bill passed 26-25.

Twelve Republican Senators voted no on HB 1357: Senators Alting, Becker, Crider, Glick, Grooms, Head, Landske, Leising, Nugent, Steele, Tomes and Waterman.

Thirteen Democrats voted no on HB 1357: Senators Arnold, Breaux, Broden, Hume, Lanane, Mrvan, Randolph, Rogers, Skinner, Stoops, Tallian, Taylor and Richard Young.

25 Republican Senators voted yes on HB 1357: Senators Banks, Boots, Bray, Buck, Charbonneau, Delph, Eckerty, Hershman, Holdman, Kenley, Kruse, Long, Merritt, Mishler, Pat Miller, Pete Miller, Paul, Schneider, Smith, Walker, Waltz, Wyss, Yoder, Michael Young and Zakas.

Competing Visions of the Future

The future of schooling in Indiana according to Senate action today seems clear. More and more resources will be shifted to religious and private schools as overcrowded public schools, run by superintendents not familiar with the history and procedures of public education, struggle to restore programs to pre-recession levels. Our one million public school students deserve a better vision of excellence, adequate resources and well-prepared, experienced leaders. Keep up the fight!

Thanks for all the letters, emails and calls made to Senators! Thanks for supporting 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 worked 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.

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #132– April 9, 2013

Dear Friends,

Only one second reading amendment to House Bill 1003 passed this afternoon. It was a technical amendment offer by the sponsor to correct a typographical error. Seven amendments proposed by Democrats were all voted down on roll call votes. Amendment 13 raising the tax deduction for private school expenses to $5000 was not called down for a vote.

The Vote in the Senate is Tomorrow – Wednesday, April 10th. Session begins at 11AM.

Thanks to all who have participated in the effort to stop the expansion of vouchers. A special thanks to all those who sent messages to keep Amendment 13 out of the bill giving parents generous new tax deductions for home school and private school expenses but not for public school expenses. That amendment was not offered and is not in the bill.

The bill is essentially in the form amended last week in the Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee. It will deeply hurt public school students, siphoning at least $17 million from the $124 increase in tuition support to pay for vouchers for private school students who are already in private schools. It will drastically change special education procedures in Indiana by sending all special education funding, along with the accountability for all case conference procedures, to private schools. The bill uses the flawed A-F system to make voucher eligibility decisions. These and many other reasons are listed in the attached “One Million and 14 Reasons to Say No to Vouchers.”

Send Messages by 11AM

If there are Senators who have not heard from you, please call or email them first thing in the morning. The session is scheduled to begin at 11:00am, and HB 1003 is listed first on the floor calendar. There are a total of 40 bills on the calendar on the final day for third reading votes in the Senate.

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 vigorously working 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.

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #131– April 9, 2013

Dear Friends,

An immediate message to Senators is needed opposing a new amendment to the voucher expansion bill that will give a fivefold increase to the tax deduction for home school and private school parents. The vote will be this afternoon (Tuesday). Let your Senator know of your outrage that they might give an increase of $10 million to private school parents when professional development and preschool get $0 in the new budget.

House Bill 1003 - Amendment 13

Second reading amendments will be voted on this afternoon for the voucher expansion bill. It is the last day for bills on second reading. The final vote on the bill will be tomorrow (Wednesday).

Sen. Pat Miller has authored Amendment 13 which would expand the tax deduction for home school and private school expenses from $1000 to $5000. The current $1000 deducation, authored by Sen. Miller in 2011, equates to a savings of $34 dollars on each tax return. LSA has reported that this cost Indiana $2.7 million dollars last year. Now Sen. Miller wants to multiply this benefit by five, which means it would cost taxpayers $13 million, an increase of $10 million dollars over the current program.

There are many education programs that don’t get $10 million: alternative schools, the Non-English Speaking Fund, the Senator David Ford technology fund. It is amazing to think the Senate would raise the payments to private school parents while ignoring these other vital programs. It could happen however, perhaps to secure Sen. Miller’s vote in the final vote on Wednesday, if many Senators do not hear your calls and messages of outrage by this afternoon.

The message is: Vote No on Amendment 13 on House Bill 1003! Thanks for all you do 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 vigorously working 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.

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #130– April 8, 2013

Dear Friends,

The Senate budget proposal unveiled last Thursday (April 4th) gave less money for funding Indiana schools than did the House budget. This is disappointing. This gives Senators more reason to defeat the voucher expansion bill so that the money that is budgeted for the school funding formula won’t be reduced by another $17 million to pay for private school vouchers going to students who are already going to private schools.

Tuition Support in the Senate Budget

Here are the numbers on the biggest line item in the budget: Tuition Support

...........Actual Current Year....Next Year....Increase....2nd Year....2nd Year Increase
.................FY2013...........FY2014...................FY2015......(compared w/2013)
Senate budget:...$6.490 Billion...$6.614 B.....$124 M......$6.679 B.....$189 M
House budget:....$6.500 B.........$6.632 B.....$132 M......$6.701 B.....$201 M

As you can see, the Senate simply allocates fewer dollars for tuition support compared to the House, by a total of $20 million over the two-year budget cycle.

Also, the Senate used a different figure for the actual expenditure in the current year, $6.490 Billion. That is $10 million less than the House figure for the current year. The reason for the disagreement on how much Indiana will actually spend in this current year on education is not clear.

Legislative leaders like to add the increases together over the two year budget to make the figure look bigger. This table shows the increases one year at a time.

Once again it must be emphasized that there is no line item for vouchers. Since HB 1003 has a fiscal cost of $17 million to pay for vouchers for students who have never been in a public school, that money comes off the top from the tuition support budget, siphoning a significant amount from what the public schools might get. Senators concerned about funding for public schools should say “No!” to voucher expansion so that the entire amount budgeted for tuition support can go to public schools.

One Million and Fourteen Reasons to Reject Voucher Expansion

Perhaps the figures above form the 15th reason to turn down HB 1003, adding to the fourteen reasons sent out in Vic’s Statehouse Notes #129. A handout is attached with those 14 reasons. Please use it or your own appeals to Senators before the final vote on HB 1003, which will come on either Tuesday April 9th or Wednesday April 10th.

Senators who voted against Vouchers in 2011.
Say NO! to Voucher Expansion.

Thanks for all you do for public education! With your help in contacting Senators, it is possible to defeat House Bill 1003 on the floor vote.

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 vigorously working 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.

ICPE--MCSCI: A Guide to Writing Your Letters: Please Share!

From Indiana Coalition for Public Education--Monroe County and South Central Indiana

For the most part, the overarching concern of those senators (all Republican) who are possibly waffling on this HB1003, is financial.  Be sure to use Vic's Statehouse Notes'  financial information in your emails and phone calls to persuade them to vote "no".  One argument that some senators (like Kenley) have pushed for is that we study the effects of the voucher bill already in place for a few years before we extend it.  It's a reasonable argument for some.

There are a few senators that we really should focus on in our writings.  If you know anyone in these areas, please call them and tell them about this bill and encourage them to contact their senator.  There are two concerns that these folks have: re-election and financial.  Be sure to individualize these emails!

Here are some to focus on:

Senator Mishler (R) of District 9 (Marshall County and Kosciusko County .. see this map...) said that , although he agrees with "choice" he has some major reservations.  He is in the area near Warsaw and in his area there are almost no schools that one can use vouchers for!   If you know anyone in that area, please let them know that they need to contact him and let him know that they, too, have deep concerns.  For most of these waffling Republicans, my understanding is that they are worried about the cost.   During the Tax and Fiscal Policy committee, Mishler said he "reserves the right to vote against it on the floor. " Let's all encourage him to vote NO and let him know that this bleeding of funds will hurt the public schools in his district. His email is: s9@iga.in.gov.

Senator Zakas is in the South Bend and Goshen (?) area (District 11) and he may be a key vote.  He is a Catholic and is  probably getting a lot of pressure from Catholic school parents and schools.  If you are Catholic or you know some Catholic school parents who don't believe in de-funding public schools, please try to contact him.  Or if you know anyone in that area, of course.  His email is : s11@iga.in.gov.

Senator Landske is in District 6 in the Lake County, Newton County, and Benton County area.  Do you know anyone who lives near Crown Point? Let them know that they need to call her and write her!  She has fiscal concerns about this new bill.  Please take that tack with her. Her email is s6@iga.in.gov

Senator Charbonneau ( District 5)  (Valpo and Rensselear area) has shown that he has serious reservations about the A-F grading system of our schools.  Now the HB1003 includes an amendment that would allow anyone in an "F" school district to take a voucher.  A Kindergartener within an "A" elementary school district but that also has an "F" high school, could go straight to a private one.  Let's encourage him to see the misuse of this grading system in this bill and, of course, the financial ramifications of these millions of dollars leaving our public school budget. His email is : s5@iga.in.gov

Senator Kenley  (District 20, Hamilton County) had been wonderful at arguing against expanding these vouchers.  His concerns are financial, but he also pointed out that they are doing a bait and switch type of thing by allowing wealthier families to receive these vouchers as well as not requiring so many kids to try the public schools first.  He needs to be thanked for this and encouraged to vote against the bill.  He has suggested that we have a study first to see how the vouchers are working for kids.  Please encourage him to push for that before we expand the program.  He also seems to be very concerned with the way special education will be hurt by this bill (see Vic's notes).  His email is s20@iga.in.gov

Senator Steele (District 44, Bedford, Columbus, Nashville area: Brown Co., Lawrence Co, Jackson Co. and some Monroe Co.) was concerned during the first voucher bill with accountability of the private schools.  He added an amendment that was about something like civics and morals being taught in those voucher schools requiring some accountability.  That provision for accountability was promptly tossed aside by Tony Bennett and crew.  They only have to observe 5% (13 total) schools and have a very vague review of what goes on.  Accountability as well as financial cost might be a good argument for him.  Please let your friends know.  Here's his email:  s44@iga.in.gov

Remember that Senator Skinner of the Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee has said that they don't know and can't tell us just how much this bill will actually cost the public schools' budgets.  How can they be fiscally responsible and support this? 

These senators should also hear from you with the financial concerns:

Senator Alting, District 22. See map   His email is s22@iga.in.gov

Senator Becker, District 50 (Evansville area).  Her email is s50@iga.in.gov

Senator Boots , District 23 ( Crawfordsville and Lebanon area, I think). His email s23@iga.in.gov

Senator Head, District 18 ( Logansport? Peru? )  His email s18@iga.in.gov

Senator Waltz, District 36 (Marion County) His email is s36@iga.in.gov

Senator Bray, District 37 (Morgan County and some Putnam.  Martinsville) email: s37@iga.in.gov

Senator Crider, is new like Bray (so they didn't vote for vouchers in 2011) He is  District 28. That's the Greenfield area. Email s28@iga.in.gov

Senator Paul, District 27 (Richmond area)  His email is s27@iga.in.gov

Senator Leising, District 42  (Rushville, Connersville, maybe Shelbyville?) s42@iga.in.gov

OKAY.  LET'S START NETWORKING!  THIS IS THE "SCOOP" AS I UNDERSTAND IT. ANYONE WITH DIFFERENT INFO, PLEASE COMMENT!

Focus on financial concerns, slowing down and evaluating the program as it is.  Did it help poor children get an educational opportunity as they argued in the beginning or are we simply funding kids who were going to go to private schools anyway? Do we know what is happening to public schools when they lose this money?  Studying the choice program as it is and making decisions later is a more conservative way to go and fiscally sound to boot!