Vic’s Election Notes on Education #31– April 29, 2016

Dear Friends,

Note: There is no link between “Vic’s Election Notes on Education” and any organization.

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In Indiana’s bicentennial year, will Hoosier voters elect candidates who will vote to dismantle public education in Indiana?

School voucher leaders and voucher supporting groups want more and more public money to go to private school vouchers. They are now trying to oust Senator Kenley in Senate District 20 by bankrolling his challenger Scott Willis.

Their latest scheme to expand vouchers to all parents including home schools would give parents approximately $7000 on a debit card, the amount that now goes to the school district, to fund their own child’s schooling at a private school or by paying an “individual, a tutoring agency, a distance learning program, or licensed occupational therapist, “ in the words of a bill filed in the 2016 session. It’s a wild and radical concept called Education Savings Accounts, which their lobbyist in the 2016 session called “the future of school choice in Indiana.”

This would be enormously expensive and a genuine budget buster. They no doubt would face opposition on the extra costs involved from Indiana’s guardian of the budget, Senator Kenley of Noblesville.

So they have deftly orchestrated a campaign against Senator Kenley in favor of his primary election opponent Scott Willis, who will not question their plans for more and more vouchers, despite their expense and despite the fact that Education Savings Accounts will dismantle our long heritage of public education.

The wealthy donors behind the voucher organizations have dominated the education agenda of Governor Pence for four years, but Senator Kenley has been an independent force controlling the integrity of the Indiana budget. Now they want to get Senator Kenley out of their way.

Public education advocates and all who support public schools in Senate District 20 in Noblesville and Hamilton County should not be fooled. They should see through this ploy and support Senator Kenley in any way they can in Tuesday’s May 3rd primary election.

[Please note: Indiana Code 3-14-1-17 says that government employees including public school employees may not “use the property of the employee’s government employer to” support the “election or defeat of a candidate” and may not distribute this message “on the government employer’s real property during regular working hours.” Ironically, the law does not prevent private school employees from using computers purchased with public voucher money to distribute campaign materials. Private schools now financed in part by public voucher dollars have retained all rights under Indiana’s voucher laws to engage in partisan political campaigns.]

Senate District 20

Senate District 20 is made up of the northern portions of Hamilton County around Noblesville and Westfield. Senator Kenley has served the district for 24 years and through enormous work on budgetary matters has risen to the powerful chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee, a position in which he oversees the two-year state budget for the Senate.

The First Irony

There are two ironies in this effort by wealthy heavy hitters in the school choice movement trying to oust the powerful Appropriations Committee Chairman Senator Kenley.

The first irony is that Senator Kenley has never voted against vouchers in the key votes in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016. The voucher crowd still wasn’t happy. They wanted him to endorse all of their expansion plans without question, but Senator Kenley, as he has done on all issues, tried to protect the integrity of the budget by reigning in the costs of some of the voucher expansion proposals. He sought changes in committee to reduce the fiscal impact of some proposals.

The voucher leaders have apparently never forgiven him.

The Second Irony

The second irony is that Scott Willis is not talking about voucher issues supported by his financial backers but instead has focused on the need for greater funding for public schools in Hamilton County, as if a first year Senator can impact the funding formula in any way. After 24 years of hard work in the Senate, Senator Kenley now has the power to change the funding formula and indeed did change the funding formula in the 2015 budget to boost funding for suburban school districts like Noblesville by shifting $250 million away from complexity funding, to the disappointment of schools in urban and rural areas serving low-income students. He has the power to do more of that, but a first term Senator will not.

If the voters remove Senator Kenley from his powerhouse budget position, they will be throwing away their power to influence the funding formula.

The financial backers of Scott Willis from the voucher organizations really don’t care about the funding formula. They just want to show that anyone, even those in powerful positions, who questions and trims their plans to dismantle and privatize public education will be defeated in the next election.

They did it to Senator Waterman in District 39 in the 2014 primary. Now they are trying to do it to Senator Kenley in District 20.

A Clear Choice for Primary Voters

In a largely Republican area, the winner of the May 3rd primary election will be the clear favorite in the general election this fall.

In the tradition of democracy, the primary voters will help determine the future of public education in Indiana on May 3rd. I respect the voters. Democracy works best when all participate. Be sure to vote!

No one should be fooled in this match up. Luke Kenley deserves the support of all public school advocates over Scott Willis, especially those in Senate District 20.

The stakes are high in our bicentennial year.

Contact your friends in Senate District 20.

Thanks for standing up in support of public education!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

There is no link between “Vic’s Election Notes on Education” and any organization. Please contact me at vic790@aol.com to add an email address or to remove an address from the distribution list.

Some readers have asked about my background in Indiana public schools. Thanks for asking! Here is a brief bio:

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969. I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor. I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009. I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.

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Vic’s Election Notes on Education #30– April 28, 2016

Dear Friends,

Note: There is no link between “Vic’s Election Notes on Education” and any organization.

_____

Every advocate for public education should know that Senator Vaneta Becker has been a true friend of public education for a long time.

Now she is running for reelection in Indiana Senate District 50 in the May 3rd primary. Jeremy Heath is challenging her in the Republican primary.

The choice is clear. Senator Becker deserves the strong support of all who support public education in Senate District 50 and across Indiana in her race for reelection on May 3rd.

[Please note: Indiana Code 3-14-1-17 says that government employees including public school employees may not “use the property of the employee’s government employer to” support the “election or defeat of a candidate” and may not distribute this message “on the government employer’s real property during regular working hours.” Ironically, the law does not prevent private school employees from using computers purchased with public voucher money to distribute campaign materials. Private schools now financed in part by public voucher dollars have retained all rights under Indiana’s voucher laws to engage in partisan political campaigns.]

Senate District 50

Senate District 50 includes portions of Vanderburgh County and adjoining portions of Warrick County bordering the Ohio River. Senator Becker has served District 50 with distinction since 2005.

Senator Vaneta Becker

Senator Becker was a strong voice for public education in the House for 24 years starting in 1981 before moving to the Senate in 2005.

She knows public education well. Her husband, now retired, served the students of Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation in a long career as a teacher and school administrator.

In the twenty years that I have been observing the General Assembly, I watched Senator Becker stand up strongly for public education in the battle against private school vouchers in 2005 when the proposal failed, and again in 2011 when the proposal unfortunately passed. She knows deeply the issues involved in protecting public education from attacks and providing resources needed for our public school students. She is not afraid to speak her mind. She has earned the respect of every public education advocate who has worked with her.

Her opponent Jeremy Heath ran unsuccessfully for the General Assembly in 2014 against Representative Gail Riecken. He has not made education issues a major part of his campaign against Senator Becker. It is not clear from his campaign statements available online whether he supports or opposes private school vouchers.

A Clear Choice for Primary Voters

In a largely Republican area, the winner of the May 3rd primary election will be the clear favorite in the general election this fall.

The difference is clear. Vaneta Becker deserves the support of all public school advocates, especially those in Senate District 50. Be sure to vote!

The stakes are high in our bicentennial year.

Contact your friends in Senate District 50.

Thanks for standing up in support of public education!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

There is no link between “Vic’s Election Notes on Education” and any organization. Please contact me at vic790@aol.com to add an email address or to remove an address from the distribution list.

Some readers have asked about my background in Indiana public schools. Thanks for asking! Here is a brief bio:

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969. I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor. I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009. I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.

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Vic’s Election Notes on Education #29– April 26, 2016

Dear Friends,

Note: There is no link between “Vic’s Election Notes on Education” and any organization.

_____

In Indiana’s bicentennial year, will Hoosier voters elect candidates who will vote to dismantle public education in Indiana?

In Indiana’s Senate District 12, Middlebury School Board Member Joanna King announced last September that she would challenge Senator Carlin Yoder in the 2016 primary elections.

Senator Yoder has been a powerful advocate for private school vouchers and the privatization of public education in his eight years in the Senate.

Then Senator Yoder decided not to run for reelection but found a candidate who will carry on his support for private school vouchers, Blake Doriot.

The Republican voters of Senate District 12 have a choice in the May 3rd primary election whether to support public education by voting for Joanna King or whether to support giving more public money to private and religious schools by voting for Blake Doriot.

This is an open seat with a clear choice for voters about the support they want to give public schools. Public school advocates in Senate District 12 should support Joanna King in whatever way they can in order to restore the priority needed to support our public school students.

[Please note: Indiana Code 3-14-1-17 says that government employees including public school employees may not “use the property of the employee’s government employer to” support the “election or defeat of a candidate” and may not distribute this message “on the government employer’s real property during regular working hours.” Ironically, the law does not prevent private school employees from using computers purchased with public voucher money to distribute campaign materials. Private schools now financed in part by public voucher dollars have retained all rights under Indiana’s voucher laws to engage in partisan political campaigns.]

Senate District 12

Senate District 12 includes a large part of Elkhart County where I grew up (Elkhart High School Class of 1965) and a small part of Kosciusko County. In this bicentennial year, I can personally testify to the long heritage of excellent public education in Elkhart County, a tradition that is now threatened by the loss of funding through vouchers and tax caps and the threats to further privatization through “Reduced Learning No Accountability Accounts”, known by their proponents as “Education Savings Accounts” proposed in bills filed in the 2016 session with the strong support of the Institute for Quality Education, the private school voucher organization.

Senator Carlin Yoder: Champion of Private School Vouchers and the Privatization of Public Education

As I joined with other public school advocates in the Statehouse in the historic legislative battles over the 2011 voucher law and the huge 2013 expansion of vouchers, I watched as Senator Yoder emerged to be the leading voice in the Senate to push for more and more private school vouchers. The massive 2013 voucher expansion wiped out any state savings from vouchers and gave so many vouchers to students who had already made the choice to go to private schools that the state had to pay an additional $40 million in 2014-15 to fund them, according to state financial reports.

$40 million per year for private school vouchers is four times what Indiana is budgeting per year for preschool. Priorities have been skewed.

Senator Yoder gave strong support to adding $3.8 million for bigger K-8 vouchers in the 2015 budget. Then in the recent 2016 session, Senator Yoder sponsored a controversial bill that passed on the final day to expand vouchers by making them available during the spring semester at a cost to taxpayers estimated by the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency to be $2.1 million starting in 2017.

Candidate Joanna King

Joanna King stepped up to the plate to take on one of the Senate’s main supporters of private school vouchers and other unpopular education measures, Senator Yoder. She grew up in Middlebury, has run a small business for 25 years and has been elected twice to the Middlebury School Board. In her September announcement, the Elkhart Truth reported (Sept. 30, 2015) that she said “current legislators have demoralized and defeated public educators by taking away money and focusing too much on accountability and testing” and that “if elected, she said she’ll bring the voice of educators to the Statehouse and work to establish more trust and respect between educators and legislators.”

Candidate Blake Doriot

Then Senator Yoder announced in October that he would not run for reelection, but he apparently was not happy about having Joanna King, a supporter of public education, as his successor. In December, Blake Doriot, the Elkhart County surveyor, announced his candidacy for Senate District 12 with Carlin Yoder by his side. He told the Elkhart Truth editorial board that Senator Yoder asked him to run. Obviously, he would continue the policies of Senator Yoder in supporting and expanding private school vouchers.

A Clear Choice for Primary Voters

In a largely Republican area, the winner of the May 3rd primary election will be the clear favorite in the general election this fall. Candidates King and Doriot offer voters a clear choice on whether they want public education to be supported or slowly dismantled as we have seen since 2011.

The Elkhart Truth in an April 18, 2016 editorial endorsed Joanna King for Senate District 12.

Public school advocates in District 12 and across Indiana should support her candidacy in any way possible. If public education is ever to be restored to the priority that it needs, we must have more people like Joanna King serving in the General Assembly.

In the tradition of democracy, the primary voters will help determine the future of public education in Indiana on May 3rd. I respect our democracy, and I respect the voters. Democracy works best when all participate. Be sure to vote!

The difference is clear. Joanna King deserves the support of all public school advocates, especially those in Senate District 12.

The stakes are high in our bicentennial year.

We need grassroots support for legislative candidates who will reverse the low priority given to public education in recent years and stop proposals such as Educational Savings Accounts which would further privatize our public schools.

Contact your friends and contribute what you can.

Thanks for standing up in support of public education!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

There is no link between “Vic’s Election Notes on Education” and any organization. Please contact me at vic790@aol.com to add an email address or to remove an address from the distribution list.

Some readers have asked about my background in Indiana public schools. Thanks for asking! Here is a brief bio:

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969. I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor. I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009. I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.

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Vic’s Election Notes on Education #28– April 22, 2016

Dear Friends,

This is the first “Vic’s Election Notes on Education” for 2016. Notes under this title contain my commentaries on election candidates and my personal candidate endorsements. There is no link between “Vic’s Election Notes on Education” and any organization.

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In Indiana’s bicentennial year, will Hoosier voters elect candidates who will vote to dismantle public education in Indiana?

That would be a sad way to celebrate our heritage on our state’s 200th birthday, which includes 160 years of strong support for public education going back to our 1851 Constitution which provided “for a general and uniform system of Common Schools, wherein tuition shall be without charge, and equally open to all.”

The blueprint for dismantling public education is in place. It was unveiled in the 2016 session in House Bill 1311 sponsored by House Ways and Means Chairman Brown and in Senate Bill 397 sponsored by Senator Raatz.

Will the voters react?

[Please note: Indiana Code 3-14-1-17 says that government employees including public school employees may not “use the property of the employee’s government employer to” support the “election or defeat of a candidate” and may not distribute this message “on the government employer’s real property during regular working hours.” Ironically, the law does not prevent private school employees from using computers purchased with public voucher money to distribute campaign materials. Private schools now financed in part by public voucher dollars have retained all rights under Indiana’s voucher laws to engage in partisan political campaigns.]

The Blueprint for Dismantling Public Education: the Friedman Plan

The name I give to the two bills defining this radical new expansion of school vouchers is ”Reduced Learning No Accountability Accounts”. The name given by the supporters of the concept is “Education Savings Accounts”.

The concept of the two bills, based on Milton Friedman’s plan to end public education, is to give on a debit card the amount of money that normally goes to the public school district, let’s say $6000, directly to any parent who signs an agreement to educate their child in “reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies and science.” This skimpy list leads to the “Reduced Learning” label.

Then the parent can give the money to a private school for tuition or to “a participating entity”, which may be an individual, a tutoring agency, a distance learning program, or a licensed occupational therapist approved by the Indiana Treasurer. No requirement to take the state test is included for home schooled students or any who are not enrolled in a voucher school, a fact that leads to the “No Accountability” label.

Thus, we have “Reduced Learning No Accountability Accounts” which are a recipe for fraud.

Parents can use the money for home schools, for the student’s 529 college fund instead of K-12 expenses, or for textbooks. In contrast, remember that public school parents get no textbook support from the state.

It’s a radical plan that deserves to be sent packing, yet in House District 59 Ryan Lauer is running on a platform of bringing Education Savings Accounts to Indiana. He is running against incumbent Representative Milo Smith and also against Bartholomew County Assessor Lew Wilson, in a three way primary contest.

Without explaining that diverting the dollars from public schools would hurt the education of all current public school students and without saying that any student who meets the income guidelines can already go to a private school with a voucher, Mr. Lauer wrote in his January 28 announcement that “I will sponsor legislation to bring Education Savings Accounts to Indiana which place more power and greater choice in the hands of parents so that each child has the opportunity to attend the school that works best for them regardless of income.” He apparently wants to have taxpayers pay the private school tuition for wealthy families and also for home schools, which would be a new and expensive step with no accountability for student outcomes under the proposed bills.

Neither Representative Milo Smith nor Bartholomew County Assessor Lew Wilson have endorsed Education Savings Accounts.

In House District 59 (Bartholomew County), public school advocates would be wise to choose between those two candidates and turn away Mr. Lauer’s strong support of Educational Savings Accounts which would severely damage the public schools in Bartholomew County and across the state.

Advocates for public education need to be aware of this radical proposal and to work against those who advocate for it such as Ryan Lauer.

Support Candidates Who Support Public Education

Several candidates are running who support public education and who oppose proposals that would weaken it such as Education Savings Accounts. Here are the stories of three public school advocates who are challenging incumbents running in the May 3rd primary election who have shown little or no inclination to protect public education from privatization. I urge you to support these three in any way that you can:

Tom Linkmeyer in House District 39 is challenging Representative Torr.

Ann Ennis in House District 64 is challenging Representative Washburne.

Nancy Franke in House District 69 is challenging Representative Lucas.

The public education grassroot networks need to support these candidates on May 3rd.

House District 39: Tom Linkmeyer vs. Representative Torr

Representative Gerald Torr has represented District 39 in Hamilton County since 1996 and has voted for private school vouchers at every opportunity, in landmark votes in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016. He also voted in 2015 to remove the power of voters to name the chair of the State Board of Education, the controversial bill to diminish the powers of the elected State Superintendent. He is no friend of public education.

Tom Linkmeyer, Assistant Principal at Mary Castle Elementary School in Lawrence Township, says on his Facebook page: “Abolishing all high stakes tests will be my goal when elected!” He strongly opposes the attack on public schools coordinated by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

The difference is clear. Tom Linkmeyer deserves the support of all public school advocates, especially those in District 39.

House District 64: Ann Ennis vs. Representative Washburne

I met Ann Ennis about two years ago as she began an effort to support public education in the Evansville area. When it comes to public education and efforts to privatize it, I can tell you she gets it. She deserves the support of everyone who supports public education. Her experience includes seven years as Director of Keep Evansville Beautiful, work with Habitat for Humanity, and as a public school parent.

House District 64 includes all of Gibson County and portions of Knox, Pike, Vanderburgh and Posey Counties.

Now she is challenging Representative Tom Washburne, elected in 2012 who has shown no interest in supporting or protecting public education from efforts to privatize it through vouchers. He voted for the enormous private school voucher expansion in the 2013 session which has resulted in a new $40 million tab to the taxpayers to allow thousands of private school students who had always attended private schools to be given tax supported vouchers to pay their tuition at private and religious schools. He supported eliminating the $4800 cap on K-8 vouchers in the 2015 budget at a cost to taxpayers of $3.8 million. He supported taking away the power of voters to name the chair of the State Board of Education in 2015 when the powers of State Superintendent Ritz were attacked and reduced in Senate Bill 1.

The difference is clear. Ann Ennis deserves the support of all public school advocates, especially those in District 64.

House District 69: Nancy Franke vs. Representative Lucas

Representative Jim Lucas has been no friend of public education since his election to the House in 2012 from District 69, composed of portions of Bartholomew, Jennings, Jackson and Jefferson Counties.

Like Representative Washburne, he voted for the massive 2013 voucher expansion that ended up costing $40 million new dollars in 2014-15 to support tuition for private school students who were already going to private schools, in the same year when the much needed preschool program only received $10 million. He also voted for Senate Bill 1 in 2015 to remove the power voters held for over a hundred years to name the chair of the State Board of Education and to give that power to the Governor-appointed state board members. He also supported raising the $4800 cap on K-8 vouchers in the 2015 budget at a cost of $3.8 million per year.

He has been on the House Education Committee for four years and whenever I testified before the committee in support of public education, he consistently asked pointed follow-up questions in support of private school vouchers. He has accepted a $30,000 campaign donation from the Hoosiers for Quality Education Political Action Committee, the well funded voucher supporter PAC linked to the group that is trying to line up enough votes to pass the radical plan called Education Savings Accounts.

The bicentennial battle to defend our public schools is alive in Jackson County.

Representative Lucas is being challenged by Nancy Franke who has served on the school board of the Seymour Community Schools since 2010 and is also an elementary teacher at a Lutheran school in Columbus. According to her website, she has been endorsed by many educators and community leaders including four area public school superintendents and as well as Pat Sullivan, retired teacher from Hayden Elementary, who writes:

“Being a retired teacher with 38 years of experience and a present member of the Jennings County School Board, I have watched our public schools being systematically destroyed and our professional educators marginalized. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN INDIANA IS IN CRISIS MODE. Our students are being used by the politicians in an educational "reform" experiment that has already proved to be an utter failure in every place it has been tried. We must elect legislators who truly understand what it takes to educate our next generation of Hoosiers. NANCY FRANKE IS UNIQUELY QUALIFIED TO MAKE GOOD COMMON SENSE DECISIONS THAT WILL GIVE OUR STUDENTS THE TOP QUALITY PUBLIC EDUCATION THAT THEY DESERVE. After my conversations with Nancy, it is very clear that she truly understands the real issues that our beleaguered educators face every day. I have no doubt that Nancy can handle all issues in the legislature with honesty, integrity, and courage. We need more people like Nancy in the legislature to truly make Indiana great again.”

The difference is clear. Nancy Franke deserves the support of all public school advocates, especially those in District 69.

The stakes are high are high in our bicentennial year.

We need grassroots support for legislative candidates who will reverse the low priority given to public education in recent years and stop the efforts such as Educational Savings Accounts to further privatize our public schools.

Contact your friends and contribute what you can. Good luck in your work!

Thanks for advocating in support of public education!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

There is no link between “Vic’s Election Notes on Education” and any organization. Please contact me at vic790@aol.com to add an email address or to remove an address from the distribution list.

Some readers have asked about my background in Indiana public schools. Thanks for asking! Here is a brief bio:

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969. I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor. I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009. I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #261 – April 19, 2016

Dear Friends,

The new annual report on private school vouchers, officially known as Choice Scholarships, was issued by the Indiana Department of Education on April 14th. It carried a surprising finding:

Despite an additional 3500 students getting tax supported vouchers to attend private schools, the percentage of Indiana students enrolling in private and parochial schools from last year (2014-15) to this year (2015-16) showed absolutely no increase. It was 7.48% both years.

One would think that private school vouchers paid for by the taxpayer would be attracting ever increasing numbers of students to private and parochial schools.

They are not.

One would think that if the taxpayers are paying for roughly 3500 more vouchers at an average cost of at least $4000 per voucher ($14 million), we would see an increase in students and families enrolling in private schools.

We are seeing no such increase.

Instead it can be said that vouchers are propping up the private and religious school enrollment numbers which would otherwise be falling.

As parents made their choices in the intense competition of the school choice marketplace of Indiana, the attractiveness of public schools stood up well this year.

Enrollment Details

Each year in the administration of State Superintendent Glenda Ritz, a detailed report has been issued by the Office of School Finance of the Indiana Department of Education about the Choice Scholarship program. This year’s report was released on April 14th. The IDOE staff is to be commended on a thorough and objective report. The details reveal the following:

• Of the total number of 1,130,873 students in Indiana in 2015-16, 84,583 attended non-public schools, a total of 7.48%.

• Of the total of 1,130,312 students in the previous 2014-15 school year, 84,533 attended non-public schools, a total of 7.48%.

• Yet the taxpayers of Indiana paid for 32,686 vouchers in 2015-16 to boost the non-public school numbers, an increase of 3538 vouchers over the previous year of 2014-15. It was the smallest increase in the five years of the program.

• At a ballpark average of $4000 per voucher, taxpayers paid out over $14 million dollars more for vouchers this year than in 2014-15.

• It’s clear now that vouchers are not attracting big new numbers to private and parochial schools but instead are being used to pay the tuition of private school students who have always been in private schools. The choice was made not after trying public schools first but at the outset of the student’s schooling, and now the voucher expansion rules have been changed to figure out a way to have the taxpayers pay the private and religious school bills.

• To confirm this conclusion, the report found that 52.4% of students receiving vouchers had no record of previously attending an Indiana public school.

• A year ago in 2014-15, this figure was 50.4%.

• In the first year of the program, under Governor Daniels’ policy of trying a public school first, this figure was only 9.8% of voucher students with no record of attending an Indiana public school.

• Clearly the voucher law is now helping a minority of the voucher students follow the original intent getting help to transfer to a private school. The majority of voucher students are now having taxpayers subsidize the private and religious education that had already been chosen.

Governor Pence clearly changed the voucher program to an expensive subsidy for private and religious school education in his massive 2013 voucher expansion law.

The report explains that the program carried a price tag of extra costs to taxpayers of $40 million in 2014-15 and says the 2015-16 total costs will be available in June.

The Future is up to the Voters

After establishing the voucher program in the legendary legislative battle of 2011, vouchers have been given more funding and made easier to get by the General Assembly in 2013, in 2015 and now in 2016.

Do the citizens of Indiana want ever expanding vouchers programs to privatize our public schools bit by bit?

That is a question the voters will answer in the May 3rd primary and in the November general election.

I hope all public education advocates will participate in the vitally important primary and general elections of 2016, our bicentennial year.

Thanks for your support of public education!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

“Vic’s Statehouse Notes” and ICPE received one of three Excellence in Media Awards presented by Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, an organization of over 85,000 women educators in seventeen countries. The award was presented on July 30, 2014 during the Delta Kappa Gamma International Convention held in Indianapolis. Thank you Delta Kappa Gamma!

ICPE has worked since 2011 to promote public education in the Statehouse and oppose the privatization of schools. We need your membership to help support ICPE lobbying efforts. As of July 1st, the start of our new membership year, it is time for all ICPE members to renew their membership.

Our lobbyist Joel Hand continues to represent ICPE during the 2016 short session. We need your memberships and your support to continue his work. We welcome additional members and additional donations. We need your help and the help of your colleagues who support public education! Please pass the word!

Go to www.icpe2011.com for membership and renewal information and for full information on ICPE efforts on behalf of public education. Thanks!

Some readers have asked about my background in Indiana public schools. Thanks for asking! Here is a brief bio:

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969. I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor. I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009. I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.

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