TUESDAY TATTLER : WHO ARE THESE "Hoosiers for Quality Education"?

Formerly known as Hoosiers for Economic Growth, this Fred Klipsch group appears to be a false front for Quality Education in favor of stripping true PUBLIC schools of much needed funding in support of vouchers and private corporation profits through their "false advertisement" of being supportive of Indiana's school children.  Hoosiers for Quaility Education sits in the front line of attacks against State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz.  They endorse most all of the attempts of the House and Senate leaders, and Governor Pence, to strip Superintendent Ritz of her powers as an elected official and to siphon more financial support from Indiana's PUBLIC schools into the pockets of private and charter school leaders.  

The Institute for Quality Education, a partner with Hoosiers for Quality Education, has gone so far as to "steal" the Hoosier-Voices title for a section of their website. Both of these groups list Fred Klipsch as their CEO/Chairperson and Founder.  This move blatantly confuses true supporters of Indiana's traditional PUBLIC schools, by leading them to believe Hoosier Voices agrees with these bills and the support of the GOP agenda to further destroy our educational system by over testing, under funding, and stripping the ELECTED Superintendent of the duties and powers 1.3 million plus voters put her in office to see through.

Looking further into this group you find that none other than Tony Bennett, the man who lost to Glenda Ritz, acting as a "consultant" to them on matters of quality education.  Hoosier voters, both Republican and Democrat, saw through his inabilities and together voted him out.  Why would any group claiming to support quality education and the children of Indiana choose this man as a consultant in any manner.

Onto other matters with this group, their name and economic status, there are major questions and issues bordering on legality.  Public School supporter Justin Kuhnle points out...

"Hoosiers for Quality Education was formally known as a 501(c) group, Hoosiers for Economic Growth, who as of 2013, has contributed over $2.3 million dollars in 7 years to 99.4% of Republican candidates.  In that time frame, one lobbyist of interest emerges -- Lindsey Brown.  While your group claims in one point to have only spent $274k in the 2014 election, what's troubling, that according to filing, expenditures totaled $338k.  What's equally troubling that according to the filings with the Secretary of State's page in Indiana, your group is past due in it's Business Entity Reports.  Now, according to some filings, your chairman is Fred Klipsch, who entertains interesting ties to certain groups (Koch Bros. to name one specific.) Wait, isn't he also Pence's treasurer?  One particular agenda item of this group is "projects that explore how the principles of free enterprise and classical liberalism promote a more peaceful and prosperous society" and are issued for education grants.  What's lost on these groups, is free market, as an economic idea, is lost due to risk mitigation to be used at the expense of the taxpayers, with a potential ultimate goal of increasing standardized testing (with projections of 14 hours 30 minutes this year alone for 3rd graders -- thank you GOP mandated at the state level to let CTN/McGraw do their will unabridged) and when standardized tests don't completely destroy public education, privatization will.  So in the end, without releasing all your little secrets, Hoosiers for Quality Education, you are promoting this agenda under the guise of a new, "cheerier" name. "

This is the beginning of a series of posts to call out those who claim one thing and then act contradictory to their statements and goals.  This is part one of our mission to point out the discrepancies of this particular group and who they truly are.  There is so much more information to point out there needed to be a starting point.  Now we must continue to alert true "friends" and "supporters" of Indiana's PUBLIC schools as to who these characters are and what their ultimate purposes include.  We must stand up to, not only our legislators and Governor, but also to these "false support" groups and make sure our PUBLIC schools and our children are no longer harmed by their desire to make money for their friends and cronies across the country.


WE ARE HOOSIER VOICES FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION. THERE IS NO OTHER!!

#WeAreHoosierVoices

WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?

Where is the outrage?! Where are the 1.3 million voters who elected Glenda Ritz now?! We cannot sit back and allow the GOP to continue their assault on PUBLIC education by stripping power from the only Democrat elected to state office, just because their golden boy Tony Bennett lost. This is their blatant attempt to bring Bennett back to continue the destruction he started. Get fired up, become outraged, stand up, and be heard! There is NO time to wait!!!!

As early as election night 2012, when Tony Bennett fell to the mighty Ritz Army, Mike Pence and his corporate GOP cronies started planning for the perfect time and manner to throw out 1.3 million votes and oust the ELECTED Superintendent of PUBLIC Instruction.  Their attempts have been futile, to say the least.  They have gone after her in so many ways from a variety of directions, but she has remained strong in her convictions to serve the electorate and the children of Indiana.  

It is time once again for the Ritz Army to stand up, be heard, and be counted.  We must make calls, write letters, and send the message that 1.3 million voters cast their ballots for many reasons to Elect SUPERINTENDENT Ritz.  Those votes were not just as a referendum of Tony Bennett and his misguided reforms.  Those votes sent a message that Hoosiers want what is best for our children and their education.  The message was to step back the reforms, back down from the corporate push of Mitch Daniels, and to rise above the greedy profiteers of so called "reform".  The Ritz Army marched to the polls and declared freedom from ALEC, Bennett, Daniels, and from the corporate profiteering of the GOP campaign backers.  Now we must lace up our marching boots and take back control of our children's education by becoming even louder than Election night 2012.  

As you go through the next few days, take the time to rattle a few cages.  Make some noise and apply some pressure.  Call your legislators, call committee members, call the Governor's office, write letters to newspapers, talk to all your family and friends, and make every effort to inform the public around you what is happening and how it needs to be addressed.

Remember, Glenda Ritz IS the Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #180 – July 8, 2014

Dear Friends,

The banned metrics of measuring student growth by comparisons with peers are back again. Despite a law getting rid of them, the State Board will vote on a resolution tomorrow to use them another year.

HEA 1427 was passed by the Indiana General Assembly in 2013 saying that the A-F system in Indiana “may not be based on a measurement of student performance or growth compared with peers.” This culminated a three year effort to fix the flawed A-F system by rejecting the use of bell curve statistics in assessing student growth and by measuring the growth of students against fixed criteria.

Now, a resolution brought by State Board member Brad Oliver is on the July 9th State Board agenda which, among other topics, would use peer comparisons to measure growth again in 2014-15.

It is as if the General Assembly didn’t pass HEA 1427 at all. How can the State Board continue to ignore the law?

I urge you to contact State Board members before their July 9th meeting to say that the “Resolution Regarding ESEA Waiver Compliance” is wrong on growth and should be withdrawn.

Evading the Law 

I and others have been campaigning against the unfairness of judging growth through comparisons to statewide peers since 2011. I rejoiced when the Indiana General Assembly passed the following language in 2013 in HEA 1427, Section 5:

“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 individual student academic performance and growth to proficiency; 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.”

I thought the law would actually be implemented, but state board members have resisted. State Board Secretary Dan Elsener has stated many times in meetings his support of the current system that the General Assembly tried to void. Now the Oliver resolution breathes more life into the flawed growth measure using the following language: (this is but a small part of the resolution with many controversial points)

“WHEREAS, Dr. Damian Betebenner, an associate at The National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment in Dover, New Hampshire, who advised Indiana on the creation of the Indiana Growth Model, and who is under contract with the SBOE to advise on modifications to the state’s A-F school accountability system, has found that growth may be calculated utilizing data from the2014-2015 ISTEP+ assessment using an equi-percentile concordance analysis that will be both valid and reliable.
Per SBOE regulation, 511 IAC 6.2-6 shall be followed for the A-F School Accountability System for federal and state accountability purposes;Growth in 2014-15 shall be calculated according to the methodology recommended by Dr. Damian Betebenner and approved by the SBOE;”Dr. Betebenner has described in a report that his recommendation is based on Student Growth Percentiles, the same methodology Dr. Bennett put in the A-F system that the General Assembly tried to void due to the peer comparisons used.

Dr. Betebenner devised the system that the General Assembly rejected. Of course he is going to say that it is just fine.

This resolution shows that the State Board has made no progress in getting Indiana to criterion-referenced comparisons for growth as the General Assembly asked for and as we all should ask for.

Send a Message

I urge you to send a message today to State Board members with a copy to your legislators. The message is that the “Resolution Regarding ESEA Waiver Compliance” has not been vetted and should be withdrawn. It tries to reverse the General Assembly’s action in HEA 1427 to remove peer comparisons from Indiana’s growth model.

The entire proposed resolution with all of its controversies can be seen on this link:

http://in.gov/sboe/files/2014-07-09_Resolution_-_ESEA_Waiver.pdf

It is astonishing that the State Board is ignoring the call for fair comparisons in Indiana’s growth model. The growth of every student should be measured based on fixed criterion measures, not on Student Growth Percentiles or any other metric where growth can vary based on how peers across the state perform. 

Your messages make a big difference. Thanks for participating! Please keep up your steadfast support of fair metrics to judge the performance of public schools! 

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

ICPE has worked since 2011 to support public education in the Statehouse and oppose the privatization of schools. The new ICPE membership year began July 1, 2014 and extends through June 30, 2015. We need your membership to help pay the bills for ICPE lobbying efforts. It is time for all of our supporters to renew for the new membership year. I urge you to go to our website today to renew your membership. Thank you!

We must raise additional funds for the 2015 session. We need 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.

Pence's Players

Governor Pence is getting a good deal of "credit" for continuing the destruction of Public education in Indiana.  This credit is all well deserved; however, he should not be given sole credit for the continued efforts to destroy our Public schools for the good of his cronies in the private sector.  No, Covernor Pence is not alone in his efforts.  One need only look to the Indiana State Board of Education and the Indiana General Assembly to see the other players in this game.

We all know Representative Bob Behning(R-district 91) is a major "go-to" player in this game of keep away they are playing with our public school children.  Representative Behning made every effort to continue draining monies from our children and to take power away from the ELECTED Superintendent of Public Instruction, Glenda Ritz. It is up the the voters of District 91 to see that this type of nonsense is stopped.  Bob has been in the state house too long.  He needs to be sent to "retirement" where he can arrange flowers and leave our children's educations alone.

Now, Governor Pence has created a new "agency" to shadow the Department of Education.  He has appointed a leader of this agency who will be paid a salary greater than that of Elected Superintendent Gelnda Ritz, to basically assist in the sabatoage of the state agency and the will of the Hoosier voters.  Helping the governor push his agenda are his State Board of Education appointees.  Leading the charge of the Pence/Daniels/Bennett agenda is State Board member Dan Elsener.  Mr. Elsener has tried very hard in recent board meetings to highjack the meetings from the Department of Education's ELECTED official as chair of the board.  He has attempted to violate Indiana's open door laws, by maneuvering to add to the posted agenda after meetings have begun.  Mr. Elsener is a Private university president, and has no business making decisions for our PUBLIC school children.  His mission is to continue to pad the walletts of private sector cronies who will profit from the fleecing of our public schools.  Mr. Elsener has recently "cride foul" over negative emails and phone calls he has received.  He and other board members have even asked Superintendent Ritz to "call off her people".  Well, Mr. Elsener needs to know that Glenda does not "control" the voices of the Hoosier voters who elected her.  She represents those 1.3 million voters daily in her attempts to thwart the endless shenanigans of Pence and his "players". 

It is time for those Hoosier voters to once again exercise their rights as citizens.  Speak up against the continued efforts of these politicians make your voices heard.  Continue to email, call, and spread the word that these people must be stopped at every turn.  They need to know that our PUBLIC schools are valued by the majority of Hoosiers, and they must not be allowed to fund their private sector cronies any longer.  Make your voice heard.  Make your feelings known.  Email and call often, until those who have the opportunity to make things right again for our public schools are doing just that, or we demand their resignations or vote them out.

Here is contact information for Governor Pence, State Board of Education Memebers, and Representative Behning. 

Governor Pence

By Phone: 317-232-4567 By Mail:
Office of the Governor
Statehouse
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204-2797
http://www.in.gov/gov/2333.htm

Representative Bob Behning. - h91@iga.in.gov - 1-800-382-9841 - R

State Board Members

Chair	Glenda Ritz Superintendent of Public Instructiongritz@doe.in.gov	Room 229 State House Indianapolis, IN 46204
First Congressional District	Tony Walker tony@walkerlawgroup.biz	363 S. Lake Street Gary, IN 46403
Second Congressional District	David Freitas drdavidfreitas@comcast.net	1700 Mishawaka Avenue South Bend, IN 46634
Third Congressional District	Cari Whicker cwhicker@hccsc.k12.in.us	Riverview Middle School 2465 Waterworks Road Huntington, IN 46750
Fourth Congressional District	Sarah O’Brien smobrien@avon-schools.org	River Birch Elementary School 5456 East 75 North Avon, IN 46123
Fifth Congressional District	Andrea Neal aneal@inpolicy.org	7034 N. Park Ave Indianapolis, IN 46220
Sixth Congressional District	Brad Oliver brad4education@gmail.com	Star Buidling, Office 143-B Indiana Wesleyan University 1900 W 50th Street Marion, IN 46935
Seventh Congressional District	Daniel Elsener delsener@marian.edu	Marian University 3200 Cold Springs Road Indianapolis, IN 46222
Eighth Congressional District	B.J. Watts bj.watts@evsc.k12.in.us	11148 Saint Wendel Road Evansville, IN 47720
Ninth Congressional District	Troy Albert talbert@wclark.k12.in.us	Henryville Jr. Sr. High School 213 N Ferguson Street Henryville, IN 47126
At-Large	Gordon Hendry education@gordonhendry.com