Letters: Ritz the only choice for Indiana’s children

NEIFPE member Meg Bloom sent this letter to the editor to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette supporting Glenda Ritz for reelection as the Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Ritz the only choice for Indiana’s children

Published: October 31, 2016

In late summer I went to Indianapolis to hear both Glenda Ritz and Jennifer McCormick speak at a forum hosted by the Indiana Coalition for Public Education. Both are educators, both have worked within the public school system, and both are concerned with the so-called reforms that have been forced onto our school children. It sounds like this election might be a wash – but look again.

At the forum, McCormick was open about the fact that her campaign was taking money from the same donors who backed former State Superintendent Tony Bennett. This is money coming from foundations that have backed the same reforms that McCormick and Ritz abhor. And yet McCormick doesn’t see this as a problem or a conflict of interest. I couldn’t decide whether she was very naive about how the political system operates or whether she thinks we voters are the naive ones.

Ritz has performed her duties with grace and good humor in the worst of circumstances, and those circumstances have been funded by McCormick’s donors. If you care about our Indiana schools and the children who attend, Ritz is the only candidate.

Meg Bloom

Fort Wayne

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“Backpack Full of Cash,” a Film That Exposes Corporate Reform, Needs YOUR Help

From Diane Ravitch...

“Backpack Full of Cash,” a Film That Exposes Corporate Reform, Needs YOUR Help

Tonight is the second showing of Backful of Cash in Philadelphia.

The producers have launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the continued showing of the film in other cities and for post-production work.

Backpack Full of Cash is a highly professional film whose producers’ previous four-part series called “School” was shown on PBS a decade ago. As you can understand, it is much harder to raise money for a film that exposes the corporate reform movement than to raise money for a series called “School.”

Please give whatever you can. The Stone Lantern team has raised 25% of their goal. They need our help.

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Vic’s Election Notes on Education #41– October 26, 2016

Dear Friends,

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

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Glenda Ritz is trying to correct a wrong done to public school parents five years ago as she runs for State Superintendent for Public Instruction.

For five years now, since the passage of the Tony Bennett/Mitch Daniels 2011 voucher law, home school parents and private school parents have been able to claim a $1000 Indiana income tax deduction for textbooks and supplies. Public school parents were not included in this deduction for textbooks.

This is not fair to public school parents.

Public school parents should have an equitable right to deduct textbook costs just the same as home school and private school parents do. Glenda Ritz wants to see that they do, and she has put that goal in her campaign platform.

Jennifer McCormick, Glenda Ritz’s opponent in the race for State Superintendent, is opposed to correcting this inequity. At the August 27th ICPE membership meeting in Indianapolis, she said that she did not support the Ritz proposal saying that it would cost too much. She apparently sees neither the inequity in this policy that Glenda Ritz sees nor the depth of the public-private controversy embedded in this issue.

I stand with Glenda Ritz. Giving a tax break to home school and private school parents but not to public school parents is just wrong.

This policy which has been in effect since 2011 sends a powerful and demeaning message to public school parents. It should be reversed.

I urge you to support Glenda Ritz for State Superintendent on November 8th.

[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.]

Senator Pat Miller’s Amendment to Help Home School and Private School Parents

The tax deduction in question came as a surprise during debate on the historic 2011 voucher bill.

The date was April 19, 2011. In an unexpected move, Senator Pat Miller rose on the floor of the Senate to propose an amendment to the voucher bill giving a $1000 tax deduction for textbooks and supplies to home school and private school parents. These are the words I wrote that day in Vic’s Statehouse Notes #80 (April 19, 2011):

“Unbelievably, an amendment was added to the voucher bill today which would give an income tax deduction to home school parents.

Yes, you read this correctly.

Home school parents, a group that had never even been discussed related to HB 1003 since the bill was introduced in January, would get the first tax break for home school expenses in Indiana history. Sen. Miller, the author of the amendment, said the tax break would have a fiscal cost to the state of $3 million.

This was already an historic bill in breaking the 160 year vision set by the 1851 Constitution that public money should go to public school students and not to religious or private schools. Now, add another “first”: The first state funding for home school parents.”

Listening in the Senate gallery that day, I was amazed and deeply troubled that public officials for the first time were considering giving public tax money to help totally unregulated home and private schools. While such unregulated schools had been free to operate since the beginning of our state, they had never done so with money from public taxpayers.

I had spent decades in my career participating in textbook adoption reviews to answer a vital question: Were our textbooks appropriately accurate and aligned with principles of our democracy, good science, and high standards of literacy and numeracy? Before a textbook could be adopted for use with students, it had to pass muster with committees of parents and teachers as well as the State Board of Education. All that was thrown out with Senator Pat Miller’s amendment. The state would now pay for a tax deduction for whatever textbook the home school parent picked, even textbooks that would not pass the textbook reviews for being unbiased, non-partisan, non-sectarian and accurate. No one would check.

It was a seed planted which could clearly damage our democracy, and it was all paid for by public taxpayers. To make matters worse, public school parents paying for textbooks which were all reviewed and monitored by publicly elected school boards were left out completely.

Voucher Bill Sponsors Needed Senator Miller’s Vote

To make a long story short, the pro-voucher forces needed Senator Miller’s vote on the crucial voucher bill. Her amendment was added to the bill to ensure her yes vote on the final bill, even while the Senate jettisoned the House amendment to have all voucher schools comply with the Americans for Disability Act. After tremendous controversy, the 2011 voucher bill narrowly passed the Indiana Senate by a vote of 28-22.

Now five years later, Glenda Ritz has proposed that equity be restored to public school parents by giving them the same right to the $1000 tax deduction that home school and private school parents have had since the Tony Bennett era and the 2011 vote.

It is a matter of fairness and equity that public school parents should have this deduction even though Jennifer McCormick disagrees.

I stand with Glenda Ritz in this election, and I hope you will too.

Thanks for your strong advocacy for 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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A Public Education

The following op-ed by NEIFPE's Co-founder Phyllis Bush appeared in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette on October 25.

A public education
We all pay the price of lawmakers' focus on private schools

by Phyllis Bush

One of my favorite lines is that it doesn’t matter until it matters, and by then it’s too late. By looking at the fiscal and personal impact of how education laws affect our children’s education and our own pocketbooks, the key issues of Indiana’s education reform laws should matter to all of us. Here are some of the laws that have had a significant effect:

Vouchers: The fiscal effect of the voucher program has long been a matter of dispute. Indiana spent $53 million on vouchers during the 2015-16 school year. However, if we look at how much the Indiana voucher program has grown since its inception, the total payments the state made to private schools for tuition were $131 million. This diversion of funds has been at the expense of already cash-strapped traditional public schools and has resulted in larger class sizes and has increased the student-teacher ratio in public schools.

Testing: While the debate over the glitch-filled ISTEP+ continues, many parents and students believe ISTEP and the numerous other tests being given are a waste of time, especially when their only discernible purpose is to hold schools or teachers accountable. In addition to what seems to be instructional pointlessness of many of these standardized tests, the annual cost of testing to Indiana taxpayers is astronomical. Even though the exact figures are difficult to corroborate, the cost has been estimated to be between $56.6 million and $130 million. Even so, educators believe many of these tests are instructionally inappropriate, and these tests have created a system that provides a great deal of data but very little information – and it arrives far too late to be instructionally useful.

A to F grading: What exactly does a school letter grade mean? In the eyes of a college admissions committee, is the work of the valedictorian from a C school commensurate with the course work of a valedictorian from an A or B school? If a neighborhood school receives a lower grade, what does that rating mean for property values? What do these grades mean to our communities? While our legislators contend that this rating scale is helping them hold schools accountable, the consequence is that the school letter grades are more of a measure of ZIP codes than of learning.

School funding: Property taxes are only used for specific needs such as transportation and capital projects. While few of us enjoy paying taxes, the consequences of the 2010 tax cap amendment have forced many school districts to reduce or eliminate many bus routes.

Teacher evaluation/merit pay: Merit pay sounds good on the surface; however, a new teacher finds out early on that his/her salary will be dependent on a rather dubious rating scale where he/she will receive a one-time stipend (not a raise) based on test scores and observations. According to this new system, the salary never changes and only a certain number of teachers will be eligible for merit pay, no matter how many “exemplary” teachers are in that district. Without any salary incentives, how will we retain good, young teachers?

I can only speculate about the intent of the people who have created these destructive policies, but the fiscal and personal costs to our children, our schools and our communities are immeasurable.

While politicians crow about the success of their reforms, the ultimate cost to Indiana is landing on the backs of students in the forms of larger class sizes, tests that provide little useful information, school letter grades that reward ZIP codes, by elimination of essential services and by the current teacher shortage.

While some of these bills may not matter directly to you, traditional public schools are the backbone of our democracy. If we want the best for our children and for our communities, we need to let policymakers know that, in Indiana, our schools and our children matter to all of us.

#RememberinNovember and hold these politicians accountable.

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Vic’s Election Notes on Education #40– October 20, 2016

Dear Friends,

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

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Tim Skinner, a true champion for public education in Indiana, is running for the Indiana House of Representatives in District 42, which includes portions of Clay, Fountain, Parke, Vermillion, Vigo and Warren Counties and the cities of Brazil, Covington, Clinton, Rockville and Cayuga.

He served in the Indiana Senate for twelve years where he compiled an outstanding voting record in support of public schools. He lost his reelection bid in 2014 after his district had been gerrymandered following the last census. He is a retired teacher, having served students in the Vigo County Schools for over 30 years. He is currently serving as Board President of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education. He is a true advocate for public education.

Tim Skinner deserves the support of every public school advocate in Indiana. If you can help him in any way or if you know someone who votes in District 42, please take action to help him win on Nov. 8th.

[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.]

Tim Skinner’s Opponent is No Friend of Public Education

The incumbent in House District 42 is Representative Alan Morrison.

In the ICPE 2016 Legislator Report Card showing the letter grades legislators earned on support for public education, Representative Morrison’s grade was an F.

That happened because he voted against public education on all five issues picked by ICPE as indicators of support for public education.

Click HERE to see the full ICPE Report Card.

Tim Skinner’s Opponent Alan Morrison Faces Ethical Questions

In a September 16, 2016 article, Hayleigh Columbo in the Indiana Business Journal.com reported “An Indiana lawmaker who voted two years in a row for legislation that put one private company in control of who could manufacture e-liquid for sale in Indiana has now gone to work for a division of that firm. Rep. Alan Morrison, R-Terre Haute, said he sees no conflict of interest in taking a job with a division of Mulhaupt’s, the Lafayette firm that is at the center of the controversial law regulating the vaping industry. But Morrison acknowledged that---if reelected---he will have to recuse himself from future votes about the vaping issue or on legislation that would affect Mulhaupt’s.”

Columbo also reported that “Legislative leaders have pledged to rethink the vaping law after it became clear it gave Mulhaupt’s a monopoly over the security provisions in the law. The FBI is also probing the law’s passage and implementation to determine if any corruption was involved.”

Columbo then reported on the comments regarding this situation from David Orentlicher, former legislator and professor at the Indiana University McKinney School of Law, who “said Morrison’s new position and how he acquired it is ‘absolutely troubling. . . . You shouldn’t be leveraging your public office to get a new job. … You don’t want the public to have to worry about the integrity of their Legislature. Unfortunately we still have to worry.’”

After reading the IBJ.com article and regardless of what the FBI concludes, it is clear that Representative Morrison is as blind to ethical conflicts of interest as he is to support for public education.

Support Tim Skinner for House District 42

The case for all public school advocates to support Tim Skinner is clear. Indeed, all who want to restore high standards of ethics and integrity to our legislature should support Tim Skinner.

Voters in all or part of the following school districts are in District 42: Clay, Covington, North Vermillion, Rockville, South Vermillion, Southwest Parke, Turkey Run, and Vigo. If you know voters in any of these Indiana school districts let them know of your support for Tim Skinner. Send him a donation if you can.

We need more strong advocates for public education like Tim Skinner in the Indiana House of Representatives.

Thanks for your strong advocacy for 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 #39– October 3, 2016

Dear Friends,

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

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Here is the question that deserves attention on the October 4th Vice Presidential debate:

Why is Mike Pence supporting Donald Trump’s plan for the biggest federal intrusion into state and local schools in American history?

Donald Trump, in a September 8th speech in Cleveland given little media attention, said he would use the power of the Presidency to have all 50 states use public tax money to pay for private and religious school tuition. He said it would cost $20 billion in federal dollars and $110 billion in state dollars, and he would lead the effort.

At this point, 20 states have completely resisted entwining church and state by using public dollars for private and religious schools, and for very good reasons. Other states have very limited school choice programs. Under Article 10 of the U.S. Constitution, education matters should be left to the states.

Now Donald Trump wants to ignore Article 10 and push a federal mandate for private school vouchers in the name of school choice.

Remember, just like the name implies, “school choice” in private schools means that the private school has the choice and they can refuse to enroll any student they do not want. They do not even need to give a reason. Public schools enroll any and all students who may apply.

Incredibly, Mike Pence who has made a career of resisting federal intrusion into school and local schools, has gone along with the Trump plan. Mike Pence voted against the 2001 No Child Left Behind, saying it was an intrusion of the federal government into policies that should be controlled by the state. He turned down a 2014 federal grant of $80 million for pre-kindergarten programs in Indiana saying it would lead to federal intrusion.

Now he says Donald Trump’s plan to have all 50 states to use public tax money to pay for private and religious school tuition is just fine. Why this obvious hypocrisy? Why ignore Article 10? That’s the question for his debate with Tim Kaine.

[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.]

Donald Trump’s Plan to Privatize Public Education

Speaking in Cleveland on September 8th, Donald Trump demeaned public schools and missed the irony of incorrectly calling them “our government run monopoly schools” while speaking at a charter school. Charter schools years ago ended any credible talk of “monopoly” by offering publicly funded options to parents.

Donald Trump called for magnet school and charter school options, without pointing out that those options already exist. Then he called for using tax money to pay for private and religious school tuition. Two key points:

• He said he would divert $20 billion dollars in existing federal education funding for a block grant to states to pay for private school tuition. This concept was proposed and rejected by the Republican Congress when they passed the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015. Presumably the $20 billion would be taken away from the much needed Title 1 funding which now helps all disadvantaged students with reading and math skills. This would damage current student programs.

• He said it would take $110 billion in state dollars to fund school choice nationwide and he would personally campaign in each state to elect state politicians who don’t resist funding private school tuition at that amount. Quick calculations show that Indiana’s share of his $110 billion would be about $2 billion.

$2 billion for private school tuition!!

Contrast that with 2015-16 state reports showing Indiana spent $53 million for private school vouchers for one of the biggest voucher programs in the nation. Do Indiana taxpayers want to raise the ante for private school vouchers from $53 million to $2 billion?? Donald Trump’s plan has no basis in reality!

Does America Want Donald Trump to Dismantle Public Education in the United States?

From its roots in the 1830’s, public education has brought the United States to a position of world power with its system of non-sectarian, non-partisan, publicly funded schools supervised by school boards elected following the rules of democracy and pledged to transparent public access in their records.

Now Donald Trump wants to spend billions in federal dollars to pay for tuition at sectarian and potentially partisan schools that are not run by elected officials and do not have to offer public access to records.

I oppose Donald Trump’s plan.

I strongly oppose public money from any source paying for private and religious school vouchers.

The Clinton/Kaine team has no plans for a federal intrusion to privatize our public schools in all 50 states. Since supporting public education is my highest priority, I will be voting for Clinton/Kaine.

The Johnson/Weld Libertarian team does not support public education as a matter of principle to reduce government.

Therefore to support public education, I strongly stand in the “Never Trump/Pence” camp and the “Never Johnson/Weld” camp.

I hope Mike Pence will be asked in his Tuesday debate why he supports federal intervention to pay for vouchers at private and religious schools when he has opposed federal intrusion in state school policy until now.

Thanks for your strong advocacy for 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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