2018 Legislative Mid-Session Recap

Here is a brief recap of bills affecting education travelling through the Indiana House and Senate along with those that appear to have died due to lack of support or hearing.

BILLS STILL IN PLAY - THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

These bills are on the move from one chamber to the other.  Some of these are positive bills that need support from PUBLIC education advocates, others need advocates to push legislators to vote them down, and some are just ugly attacks on PUBLIC schools, students, and educators.  Let's take a look at what bills are on the move.

GOOD

SB 189 and HB 1001, which move money from a reserve fund to the state general fund, sped through their respective chambers, and are on-track to be moved through the opposing chamber. Even with revisions to the proposed law, it’s likely that a fix will be approved before the session ends in mid-March.

SB 189 and HB 1001 would close the gap in school funding that resulted from miscalculations in the number of students attending public schools. The bills would let the state transfer up to $25 million per year from a reserve fund to the state general fund, where it could then be distributed to districts.

SB 172 would require public schools to offer computer science classes as an elective in high schools, as well as a part of the science curriculum for all students. The bill also sets up a grant program to pay for teacher training in computer science.

HB 1420, among several other measures, would not let a student who has been expelled from a virtual charter school for non-attendance re-enroll in that same school during the same school year.

BAD

SB 303 would implement a variety of unrelated education policies, but one element hidden within the bill would damage the teaching profession.  The bill would require bargained teacher contracts to contain a minimum number of hours per day the teacher is expected to work, as opposed to a set number of hours.  During his term as state superintendent, Tony Bennett tried this approach and a court found that it violated the law.  This bill is disrespectful of the work and time teachers put in each day.  Teachers already put in additional hours and personal expense to ensure that their students are served.  This bill passed out of the Senate 45-3.  Please continue to OPPOSE this bill as it moves to the House.  Contact your Representatives in the House and as them to OPPOSE SB 303.

SB 177 and HB 1426 would combine Indiana’s four diplomas into a single diploma with four “designations” that mirror current diploma tracks. The bills would also allow the Indiana State Board of Education to consider alternatives to Algebra 2 as a graduation requirement. The House bill would change the state high school exam to a national college-entrance exam, require high schools to test students in science, and eliminate the requirement that schools give the Accuplacer remediation test. It would also change rules for getting a graduation waiver and create an “alternate diploma” for students with severe special needs.  These bills make some changes that could damage the rights and potential success of students with special needs.  

This proposal to change the graduation waiver system is the latest attempt by the state to amend graduation requirements as part of a policy initiative to ensure that students are prepared for life after high school. The change in waiver policy could make it more challenging for students who struggle academically to complete high school.

“I want to make sure we have as few waivers as possible,” said Rep. Bob Behning, Republican chairman of the House Education Committee and author of House Bill 1426, which includes the waiver changes. And if a waiver is necessary, he said, he wants the requirements to be stringent enough to ensure post-graduate success and further harm some of the state's most fragile students.  OPPOSE diploma changes that discard a general diploma and place more stringent requirements on special needs students.

SB 297 would require schools to include “employability skills,” also known as “soft skills,” in their curriculum. The idea for the bill came from David Freitas, a member of the state board of education.  

SB 387 would allow the state to grant an “initial practitioner license” to prospective teachers even if they have not passed subject area exams so long as they have at least a 3.0 GPA, have completed student teaching, and have received a job with a school. The bill would let districts hire up to 10 percent of teachers with this license under these circumstances. The bill would also let districts pay teachers different amounts in an effort to fill jobs in special education, science or math fields. A previous measure that would let districts hire up to 10 percent of unlicensed teachers was removed.  This would act as a simple band aid for the teacher shortage, would allow potentially unqualified persons to be employed ans teachers, and undervalues some teachers based on their licence area.

HB 1398 would allow a group of charter schools and districts to form a “coalition” to pursue innovative academic strategies. Coalition members could also waive certain state requirements, such as the requirement that students pass Algebra 2 to graduate.  Just another bill to show favor to charters and undermine PUBLIC schools by changing the rules.

UGLY

HB 1315 passed out of the House, 65 - 26. House Democrats offered amendments  that would have improved the bill, including an amendment from Rep. Melanie Wright (D - Yorktown) that would have made certain Muncie teachers had the right to a collective voice and a seat at the table, but it was defeated.

HB 1315 now moves to the Senate for consideration. Even if you have already completed the call to action, we need your voice again, as this time you will be contacting your senator.

This bill would hand control of Muncie Community Schools over to Ball State University (BSU). BSU would be empowered to appoint a new, unelected school board for Muncie Schools. To summarily remove a locally elected school board is drastic action. The bill would also punish Muncie teachers by stripping them of their right to association recognition and to bargain wage issues and discuss student learning issues.

For all other teachers in the state, the bill would hold classroom teachers responsible for the state of a school districts' finances by specifically calling for the termination of up to 5 percent of the teacher force by the end of a fall semester, if a district is designated as being in fiscal distress. These actions would no doubt impact student learning and academic goals and increase class sizes right in the middle of a school year.

OTHER

SB 50, which now includes the workforce provisions from SB 157, would allow students to stay in high school for an additional year to pursue advanced classes or finish a certification related to their careers. It would also create a state agency and executive to oversee career and technical education, among other proposals.

SB 65 would require parents to give their approval for children to participate in instruction on sex, including gender identity and sexual orientation. Currently, the system is opt-out, not opt-in, as the bill proposes.

 SB 8 would require all districts, charter and private schools to teach cursive.

HB 1388 would require the state board to create elementary teacher licenses in math and science.

HB 1421 would ask the state education department to develop a school discipline model that reduces suspensions and expulsions, especially among students of color. It also requires the department provide guidance and information to districts, beginning in 2019, that want to use that model. It encourages the legislative council to study positive student discipline and restorative justice and asks the education department to survey districts on those practices.

SB 217 would require districts and charter schools to screen students for dyslexia and by 2020, to employ at least one dyslexia specialist, among other provisions.

BILLS THAT HAVE DIED THIS SESSION

These bills have either "died" in committee, failed to get a hearing, or were voted down in their respective chamber leaving them dead for this short session.  

SB 29 and HB 1042 would have allowed low-income families to apply for state preschool scholarships even if they were not employed, in school, or training for a job.

SB 272 and HB1392 would have made kindergarten mandatory by lowering the state’s compulsory school age to 5. It is currently 7. This bill was supported by Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jennifer McCormick and many educators across the state.

SB 205 would have allowed students transferring from one private school to another to take their remaining voucher dollars with them that year. The bill initially saw support from the education committee, but the Senate Appropriations Committee did not hear it.

SB 315, SB 350, and SB 406 would have placed more restrictions on charter school authorizers and required them to show the state their schools are academically sound before they open additional schools or enroll more students. None of these bills received hearings.  It is a shame that more restrictions are not placed on chartes and private schools and they are continually failing on the tax payers dime at the expense of our PUBLIC schools.

SB 7 would have barred schools from starting before the last Monday in August. Such calendar bills have been proposed each year, and none have moved forward.  These bills undermine local control of setting start and end dates and are difficult to support when they do not include a means to address the 180 day rule.

HB 1264 would have given grants to schools that applied to create “competency-based education” programs, which would let them alter instruction so that students move from lesson to lesson, or grade to grade, based on the skills they master, rather than time. The bill’s author, Rep. Tim Brown, decided not to hear the bill in House Ways and Means because of the cost involved. This is the second year the bill has failed.

WELL, WELL, WEDNESDAY - Who is Dr. Jennifer McCormick, Really?

Over the past several months Hoosier Voices correspondents have researched across the state to find out just who Dr. Jennifer McCormick really is.  We have found interesting comparisons between Tony Bennett and Dr. McCormick.  We shared a series of "He Said-She Said" memes produced by a group called Hoosiers Against Jennifer McCormick showcasing some of the similarities between the two.  The Latest of these memes just came out after McCormick stated her belief that the Superintendent of Public Instruction should be an appointed, not an elected position.

Click here to see the entire series of memes.

Guest blogger, Ben Yoder, wrote a post for us and included a letter he had penned a letter to Dr. McCormick.  We published his post back in June.  In his letter Mr. Yoder found he had many questions about her policies, her interaction with kids, and the buddies she was "rubbing elbows" with.  He concluded with one complimentary observation.  He told her, " I like those boots you wear with most of your outfits.  Classy, yet sassy. Bravo"

Click here to read the post Jennifer McCormick - Faux In Boots

Near the end of September, Jennifer McCormick finally released her education plan, which left some of us confused.  Is she just naive enough to think that after hundreds of thousands of dollars of school reform PAC contributions, her campaign donors will just change their ideological agenda, or is she just that downright deceptive to think she can lie to our faces and have us believe it?

After attempting to decipher the goals and intentions of her plan We posted a blog outlining some questions about the plan and discussed the struggles we had with the manner and location of its original "public" presentation - the headquarters of Hoosiers for Quality Education.  This drew concerns for many reasons.  We grew more concerned with her acceptance of campaign contributions from the "privatization", "school choice", and voucher expansion crowd who strongly supported Tony Bennett through his tenure 2008-2012 and his losing campaign in 2012.  These same contributors have poured large sums of money into campaigns of candidates across the state who are known to have legislative power and pull, who support the very goals of "privatization", "school choice", and voucher expansion.  This lead us to once again draw comparisons between the former Superintendent, Tony Bennett, and his protege, Jennifer McCormick.

Click to read "The McCormick Plan? - or is it  Bennett Plan 2.0

The sources of her campaign contributions brought us back to one of our posts from February 2015 where we asked, WHO ARE THESE "Hoosiers for Quality Education"?  From there we combed through campaign finance reports and found more interesting correlations.  We discovered that candidates from June 2015 to October 2016 who were receiving the majority of H4QE donations were definitely way below the money they were pouring into the McCormick campaign.  McCormick has received $60,000 from the Hoosiers for Quality Education Pack alone ($20,000 more since our most recent post went live yesterday). Their next highest recipients were Speaker of the House, Brian Bosma and Pete Miller who each received $17,500

Click here to view 3rd quarter finance report.

Looking through campaign finance reports from other former Bennett donors we were able to find that, in the past several months, McCormick won another large amount from Christel DeHaan, founder of the network of Christel House charter schools.  DeHaan, whose Christel House Academy was the school whose grade changing fiasco brought Tony Bennett down from his post in Florida, has given the McCormick campaign $125,000 others contributors with Tony Bennett ties include...

Fred Klipsch - CEO/Chairman/Founder Hoosiers for Quality Education $10,000

Betsy Wiley - Head of the Indiana Institute for Quality Education - $1,250

Kevin Brinegar - President of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce - $750

Robert Enlow - CEO of EdChoice - $1,000

Tosha Salyers - Former Bennett Staffer now at H4QE - $50.00

Dr. Jennifer McCormick wants to "distance herself" from comparisons to Tony Bennett by saying, "I am not Tony Bennett, I stand on my own proven leadership".  It's pretty interesting that Betsy Wiley said, "It's important for Jennifer to make it clear...that she is her own person."

So, while McCormick tries to portray herself as "her own person" and convince PUBLIC school supporters that she is not a "clone" of Tony Bennett, doing the math and watching her supporters one must question what they all expect to get from her if she defeats Glenda Ritz.  Jennifer McCormick can rub elbows with Brian Bosma, wear her "sassy" boots, and call Glenda Ritz a "politician", but she cannot distance herself far enough away from the Tony Bennett reformers to comfort us here at Hoosier Voices.  She came out swinging in the Superintendent's debate, but her punches fell short to those of us who truly believe in our traditional PUBLIC schools, their teachers, the students they serve, and our ELECTED Superintendent of PUBLIC Instruction.  We need a leader like Glenda Ritz who will stand up to the legislators, fight for our children, and move obstacles to accomplish PUBLIC education goals for Hoosier children.  The position IS STILL ELECTED.  1.3Million voters put Glenda Ritz in office and have watched as a Governor and GOP controlled legislature attempted to stifle her at every move.  We have been watching and waiting for four years to re-elect Glenda Ritz and give her a Governor and Legislature that will work WITH her to stop the destructive reform policies and money draining vouchers that have plagued our schools too long.  Sorry, Jennifer, but you are much closer to being a Tony Bennett clone than being anywhere near the fighter for public school children that SUPERINTENDENT Ritz has been and WILL CONTINUE to be.

The McCormick Plan? - or is it Bennett Plan 2.0?

Jennifer McCormick finally rolled out her “Lesson Plan for Indiana” on September 21.  That plan gives little insight into actual practice, yet draws more comparisons to her GOP mentor, Tony Bennett’s failed and flawed policies and practices.  McCormick said she did back many of the initiatives put in place by Indiana’s Republican-led legislature over the past eight years, such as tougher requirements for teacher evaluations and her “Lesson Plan” seems to be following a political agenda that closely aligns with the former Republican Superintendent, who championed controversial reforms such as the adoption of the Common Core academic standards and state-takeover of chronically failing schools.  McCormick has also previously stated her support for school choice, charters and vouchers.

Dr. McCormick announced her “Lesson Plan for Indiana” at the headquarters of Hoosiers for Quality Education.  Remember, we did a post about H4QE in February of 2015. 

http://hoosiervoices.blogspot.com/2015/02/tuesday-tattler-who-are-these-hoosiers.html

Big Education players for H4QE are veterans of the Daniels and Bennett administrations with strong ties to the education reform movement.

Tony Bennett, Senior Advisor and Consultant

As recently as July 2014, H4QE told potential donors that Bennett was its senior policy advisor. At a February 2 Senate committee hearing, H4QE’s lobbyist testified that Bennett works as its consultant.

Fred Klipsch, Chairman

Klipsch, who after a long career in business and Republican Party politics, started his involvement in education reform with the Educational Choice Charitable Trust by granting scholarships for private schools. This evolved into forming School Choice Indiana, which according to Klipsch, “literally drafted the education reform laws in 2011”. Klipsch served on Gov. Pence’s transition team upon being elected governor and continues to serve as his campaign treasurer.

Tosha Salyers, Director of Communications

Salyers was the director of outreach in the Bennett administration and worked for the corporate education reform group StudentsFirst, before joining H4QE as their spokesperson. StudentsFirst pulled operations out of Indiana in the summer of 2014.

Jennifer McCormick appears to be rolling around in corporate education reform money, the same money that funded Tony Bennett’s campaigns.  A peek at McCormick’s most recent campaign finance report reveals that 90 percent of her campaign contributions have come from donors of former Superintendent Tony Bennett.  As of August, McCormick’s campaign raised $121,478, of which $109,400 came directly from donors to Bennett’s campaign.

The Hoosiers for Quality Education PAC’s total to McCormick, so far, is at $30,000.

Fred Klipsch, donated $10,000 to McCormick at the end of May.

McCormick has also received $75,000 recently from the Tony Bennett grade changing  scandal charter school’s Christel DeHaan.

David Harris, from the Mind Trust, gave McCormick $250

Deborah Daniels, Mitch’s sister, also gave $250

Former  Indiana State Board of Education member Daniel Elsener has given $1,000 so far.

Charter honcho John Bryan has donated $2,500 so far.

These are only a few prominent reformer contributions.  More from other corporate school reform folks have come in throughout the campaign.

“We preach no bullying to the students and I will practice that,” McCormick said in her January campaign announcement. “I will not run a negative campaign.”

However, appearing negative enough to Superintendent Glenda Ritz’s supporters, McCormick announced her run at the Indiana Statehouse surrounded by representatives of interest groups that supported Ritz’s predecessor, Tony Bennett, or who have been critical of Ritz: Stand For Children, the Institute for Quality Education and the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

Also on hand, in the crowd were several former staff members from Bennett’s education department team.  McCormick may not have mentioned Bennett, but  McCormick and Bennett share more than just donors who support corporate education “reform", however. The two have been linked since Bennett was state superintendent. Then Superintendent, Bennett cited McCormick's work in Yorktown in his final “state of education” address, given just months before he was defeated by Ritz in the 2012 election.

“Yorktown Schools, led by Superintendent Jennifer McCormick and a host of ambitious principals and teachers, have revamped their entire K-12 model based on providing every student a head start on college with a rich selection of Advanced Placement courses,” Bennett said in that speech. “In grade 3, Yorktown students begin an advanced curriculum designed to prepare them for college-level coursework as early as middle school. Yorktown has become one of Indiana’s AP leaders, and their model for college preparation has become an example for forward thinking districts around the state.”

It appears as though voters will ultimately be deciding whether to return to the Tony Bennett era of failed and flawed reforms or give Glenda Ritz another term, with a new Governor, this November.

Jennifer McCormick - Faux in Boots

Where are the kids?

As a teacher in Indiana, I’m very interested in who is elected to run the Department of Education. That person is, in essence, my boss.  I have been impressed with Glenda Ritz and her ability to fight for our students and our teachers through some pretty ridiculous circumstances.  Despite these circumstances she has produced visible results throughout the state and she is to be commended. 

In the interest of fairness (and a bit of curiosity), I decided to take a look at what Dr. Jennifer McCormack had to say.  I checked out her website and looked at her Facebook and Twitter feeds.  After doing that, I decided to write her a letter about what I found.  I posted it to her Facebook wall and I sent it to her campaign’s email address.  Here it is:

Dear Dr. McCormack,

I wanted to make myself more familiar with your platforms and your intentions if elected to become State Superintendent.  I am a music teacher in Central Indiana, so I’m very interested in getting to know a potential “boss.”  I looked at your Facebook page, your Twitter feed and you website.

Here’s the thing…In almost every picture I see you in and almost every post you make, you aren’t in the classroom. You aren’t even in a school.  You are not talking to teachers.  You are schlepping around the state of Indiana attending Lincoln Day dinners and begging GOP delegates to vote for you. 

I looked at your website so that I could find out more about why you think you would be a good superintendent. I didn't find anything other than incoherent whining and grammatical errors. Also, bad website formatting.

For a lady who wants to take the politics out of education, you sure are spending a lot of time hanging out with adults who have nothing to do with teaching. That's curious to me. Maybe slightly hypocritical, too.

I also noticed that the people you surround yourself with used to hang out with Tony Bennett. A word of advice: that's a bad idea in this state. You should know that too, since the school system you currently work for was screwed by Bennett's policies just as badly as most of the rest of us were.

I will give you one compliment: I like those boots you wear with most of your outfits. Classy, yet sassy. Bravo.

Sincerely,

Ben Yoder

I don’t know if she’ll read the letter or not and I really don’t expect her to return any correspondence to me.  She’s probably too busy sucking up every dime that’s not nailed down and rubbing elbows with the GOP trying to mount an attack on Glenda Ritz.  I get that.  After seeing what Dr. McCormick is selling though, I’m not buying.  But I do like her boots.

"But I do like her boots."

About our contributing blogger: Ben Yoder is a middle school music teacher in Central Indiana.  He is a proud Indiana State Teachers Association member and is committed to furthering the cause of public education for students all across the state of Indiana and beyond.

"He said, She said" - comparing Tony Bennett and his crony, Jennifer McCormick

There is a new Facebook page, Hoosiers Against Jennifer McCormick, that is hoping to gain support to keep the GOP's apparent nominee from defeating Superintendent Glenda Ritz in November.  Although Dr. McCormick has not been given the nomination (that has to wait until the convention this summer) she is making the campaign rounds as if the nomination is hers.  This new Facebook page seeks to show voters the commonalities between Dr. McCormick and ousted Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Bennett.  

Those of us at Hoosier Voices have noted many details in the McCormick campaign and her education profile that show her to be a female version of Dr. Bennett.  It appears those behind the page have also come across wide ranging comparisons, calling her the "Tony Crony" and pointing out that she is already displaying characteristics of a Bennett "clone".

The new Facebook page has also begun a series of "memes", titled "He said, She said" detailing some very similar quotes by both the ousted Bennett and the wannabe GOP nominee.  With permission from the pages owners, we are going to post their "memes" here as they post new ones.  With the permission to post these "memes" we promise to ask our viewers to check out the page and give it a like.  If you are a true supporter of Indiana PUBLIC schools, our children, teachers, and current Superintendent of PUBLIC Instruction Glenda Ritz, follow the page and share it with your friends and other advocates.  

Visit Hoosiers Against Jennifer McCormick for the latest "memes" before we post them here.