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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Braun claims to want to raise teacher salaries, but he also wants tax cuts that will make that all but impossible. Look closely at his agenda, and you’ll see he wants to increase funding for some schools and teachers, those that he deems effective. In other words, teachers and public schools will fight each other – and private schools – for what money is available.
In his TV ads, Braun says he will “fix the schools” – an extraordinary admission that Indiana schools are broken after 14 years of Republican rule and one supposed fix after another." -- Steve Hinnefeld in School Matters Blog post, Teachers should lead charge for McCormick, Wells
JENNIFER MCCORMICK FOR GOVERNOR
The 2024 election in Indiana will determine the direction of public education for the next two to four years. Republicans have controlled the governor's office and both of Indiana's legislative houses for the last two decades. Each election season they promise to "fix" the public schools with privatization schemes (vouchers and charters) and laws stripping autonomy and power from the state's experts in education -- its teachers.
It's ironic then, that Republican Gubernatorial candidate (and current U.S. Senator) Mike Braun is still talking about "fixing" the schools.
We have given the Republicans enough time. Give Democrats a chance at the Governor's office and legislature. Support public education in Indiana.
Teachers should lead charge for McCormick, Wells
From School Matters
Twelve years ago, Hoosier teachers and their families and friends rose up and got a Democrat elected to a state office, the last time that’s happened. Outraged at the policies and rhetoric of Republican Tony Bennett, Hoosiers ousted him as superintendent of public instruction and chose Glenda Ritz.
The same thing should happen on Nov. 5. Mike Braun, the GOP candidate for governor, and Todd Rokita, the Republican seeking re-election as attorney general, would be much worse for public schools and educators than Bennett ever was.
Braun, a current U.S. senator and former state legislator, just doesn’t seem interested in education. He’s outsourced his policy proposals to a political action committee headed by conservative super-lawyer Jim Bopp. His top plan is to “expand school choice,” extending public funding of private school tuition to the very wealthiest families.
Braun claims to want to raise teacher salaries, but he also wants tax cuts that will make that all but impossible. Look closely at his agenda, and you’ll see he wants to increase funding for some schools and teachers, those that he deems effective. In other words, teachers and public schools will fight each other – and private schools – for what money is available.
In his TV ads, Braun says he will “fix the schools” – an extraordinary admission that Indiana schools are broken after 14 years of Republican rule and one supposed fix after another.
The Indiana GOP's forgotten word
From John Crull in the Statehouse File dot com
At the last Indiana gubernatorial debate, Libertarian candidate Donald Rainwater made a telling point.
The Republican candidate, U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, R-Indiana, had tried to blame Hoosier Democrats—and Democratic standard-bearer Jennifer McCormick in particular—for the defects in state public policy.
Rainwater replied by saying, in effect, “That’s rich.”
Then he pointed out that Republicans such as Braun have occupied the governor’s office for the past 20 years. The GOP has owned a supermajority in the Indiana House of Representatives for the past decade and the same supremacy in the Indiana Senate for even longer.
NATIONAL ELECTION
On November 5, vote for the well-being of children
From the Network for Public Education
Earlier this year, the Board of Directors of the Network for Public Education Action endorsed Kamala Harris for President and Tim Walz for Vice President of the United States.
Our endorsement was as much a rejection of Donald J. Trump as it was an embrace of the Harris/Walz pro-public education ticket. There can be no romanticization of the Trump years. His choice of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education, a zealot for private school vouchers, damaged the public’s faith and allegiance to public schools. They sought to slash federal education funding in every budget proposal. Ms. DeVos has made it clear she would be eager to return to the job to dismantle the Department of Education and public education itself.
Brookings Institution: What Project 2025 Means for Education
Just say "NO!" to Project 2025.
From Diane Ravitch
A group of scholars at the Brookings Institution analyzed Project 2025’s proposals for education and their implications.
What struck me as most bizarre about Project 2025 was not its efforts to block-grant all federal funding of schools, nor its emphasis on privatization of K-12 schools. (Block-granting means assigning federal funding to states as a lump sum, no strings attached, no federal oversight).
No, what amazed me most was the split screen between the report’s desire to hand all power over education to states and communities, and the report’s insistence on preserving enough power to punish LGBT students, especially trans students and to impose other far-right mandates, like stamping out critical race theory. You know, either you let the states decide or you don’t. The report wants it both ways.
It’s also astonishing to realize that the insidious goal of the report is eventually abandon federal funding of education. That’s a huge step backward, taking us to 1965, before Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, whose purpose was to raise spending in impoverished communities. I essence, P2025 says that decades of pursuing equitable funding “didn’t work,” so let’s abandon the goal and the spending.
LOCAL NEWS
Fort Wayne Community Schools board advances $12 million in various projects
From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette**
About $12 million in various Fort Wayne Community Schools capital improvements – including upgrades at three high school auditoriums – advanced this week with board approval of the projects’ architect/engineer...
..The board didn’t elaborate Monday on the proposed work, which was described in meeting documents as eight projects addressing building envelopes, general building systems and mechanical and electrical needs, among others.
Together, the construction contracts are estimated to cost nearly $12 million, with individual projects ranging from $271,300 for flooring at unspecified locations to $2.48 million for heating, ventilation and air conditioning improvements at the Helen P. Brown Natatorium.
†Note: NEIFPE's In Case You Missed It is posted by the end of the day every Monday except after holiday weekends or as otherwise noted.
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