TAKE ACTION NOW - APRIL 24, 2013

 

 

House Bill 1003 – Voucher Expansion

The word going around the Statehouse on Tuesday was that a conference committee on voucher expansion was planning to give vouchers to all who live in attendance areas of “D” schools as well as “F” schools. This move would be a huge expansion, even beyond the Senate version of the number of students that would get vouchers for living in the attendance areas of failing schools. Instead of 148 F school areas, it would affect 389 D or F schools. That is 18.6% of all schools. Remember, this uses the flawed and widely disrespected A-F system introduced by Tony Bennett last October.

Let your Senator and Representative in the House know that using the flawed A-F system to give vouchers to 18% of Indiana’s school attendance areas is wrong. It will unfairly impact too many schools that were graded unjustly under the A-F system. They should vote HB 1003 down until a revised A-F system that has the confidence of the public is in place.

The Conference Committee report is expected soon which meshes the Senate version and the House version of voucher expansion. Then both houses must pass the final report one more time. We are hoping that changes made in the final version of the bill will lead legislators who voted for vouchers the first time around to decide to vote it down in the final vote. Your messages to them about the A-F system may motivate them to switch.

Contact your Senator and ask them to VOTE NO on HB1003

Several of the Senators are seriously in a tough spot now that House leader Behning changed the bill. Let them hear from the mountaintops! Shout it out! Stand up for your local schools! This bill doesn't make any sense, but it sure does take a lot dollars out of your community!

Specifically contact these senators who appear to be waivering due to Behning's changes.

Rodric Bray s37@in.gov  
Jean Leising s42@in.gov
Johnny Nugent s43@in.gov
Luke Kenly s20@in.gov
Dennis Kruse s14@in.gov
Greg Walker s41@in.gov 
Brent Waltz s36@in.gov
Brent Steele s44@in.gov
 

Copy the following letter and Paste into your message.

Dear Senator,

I was astounded and sorely disappointed by your vote for Hb1003. The House version coming back over to the Senate is estimated to cost traditional public schools $100 million in four short years. Traditional public education can not survive and effectively instruct the children of our state while taking that type of cut in funding on top of the original $300 million cut that was never fully restored.

But an opportunity exist for redemption. When the amended House version arrives which has been modified by Representative Behning to be even more damaging to traditional public schools than the Senate version, just vote NO.

Will be watching with interest and hopeful anticipation,

Sign your name and send.

 

HB1338 – Charter School Administration and A-F Revisions

This new version of HB 1338 is 39 pages long, and the last four pages propose a rewrite of Public Law 221 to recreate the A-F system following Rep. Behning’s revision that he introduced early in the session in House Bill 1337.

One issue is that it uses the Indiana Chamber of Commerce’s proposal for how to change PL221 that the House resoundingly voted down in HB 1337 back in February. It goes into prescriptive detail in telling the State Board how to prepare a new A-F system.

The other controversial addition to the new HB 1338 is to put the “A” through “F” labels in Indiana law. This proposal drew immediate opposition from Rep. Vernon Smith and Sen. Rogers during Monday’s brief conference committee meeting.

Let us remember what happened to this language back in February when it was pages 2-4 of House Bill 1337. It was defeated decisively 61-33, with 31 members of the Republican caucus turning against it.

We need to ask them to turn against it AGAIN!

 

Senate Bill 189

SB 189 originated as a bill to provide some flexibility to school districts that were... deemed "A" districts. One of the key issues embedded in ESB 189 has been enabling "high-performing" districts to have calendar flexibility (ie. to allocate the 180-day school year into equivalent hours/minutes and not be bound by 180 separate days of instruction).

The House sponsor, Representative Todd Huston (R-Fishers) amended ESB 189 to remove the 180-day calendar year flexibility and he replaced it with enabling high-schoolers at "qualified high schools" to go to school for something less than a six-hour instructional day-in effect, as the bill read, "a student instructional day for a qualified high school consists of 'any amount of instructional time'."

At its core, SB 189 has become a "high school redesign" reform bill and at the very least, this new concept has funding implications, accountability implications, virtual education issues, student safety implications, teacher force implications, and taxpayer implications.  

The proposed Conference Committee Report did not "fix" any of these concerns.

In fact, it makes it clear that any student activity that is organized by the "A" grade district, an "A" grade high school, or a "waiver" high school that "occurs outside the traditional classroom" and is "designed to provide instruction or academic enrichment" is considered student instructional time. In effect, outside activities are on a par in value to classroom instruction.
 

While it didn't start out that way, SB 189 has become yet another major education reform-this time with minimal public input since this new high school concept was not inserted until later in the 2nd half of the session.
 

Please contact both your Representative and your Senator to  OPPOSE Conference Committee Report #1 to SB 189.
 
Special Thanks to Vic Smith and to Keep the Promise Indiana for providing helpful information.

WEDNESDAY WIRE

Spring Break is over and, as I journey back to Indiana from sunny Daytona Beach, Florida and review the week's political happenings so far, I write to remind all readers how we accomplished our goal in November and what we must do now to continue that success.

We did not elect Glenda Ritz by sitting idly by and watching others take on the task alone.  Nor did we let our opponents go unnoticed for their attempts to destroy our PUBLIC schools.  No, we worked together to turn a grassroots campaign into a nationally historic election event.  It is now time for our legislators to be reminded of this accomplishment.  They continue to be hell bent on ignoring the voices of the voters and pushing through legislation to further destroy and deplete public schools across the state.  

The passage of HB 1003 to the full senate is just one clear attempt by our elected officials to take more public tax money and fund their own pockets in the form of private and charter schools.  Do not be fooled one minute that they are simply doing this for those who "seek" to transfer from "failing" schools by assisting them through tuition support.  No, they are doing this to please their campaign contributors who make money from these private  and charter school ventures.  

It is time for the full senate to hear from PUBLIC school supporters regarding HB 1003.  We MUST CALL and demand a NO vote on HB 1003 and put an end to voucher expansion once and for all.  Our elected officials need to be reminded NOW that we vote, and their seats are not safe when they are up for re-election if they continue to slash and deplete our public schools and rob from our children.

Do not think that we stop here! PUBLIC school advocates must be aware that Representative Robert Behning, you remember the florist who is an education "expert", is back at it in House.  Common Core, A-F Revisions and Turnaround Operators are Back

Yesterday, Chairman Behning brought an amendment to Senate Bill 493 revisiting several topics from earlier in the session. Senate Bill 493 is Senator Hershman’s bill to give grants to schools that achieve well on ISTEP. Now it includes several new provisions, including:

· A State Board review of Common Core.

· A fiscal cost assessment of Common Core.

· Voiding the current A-F system, to be replaced by November 15, 2013.

· Putting “A” through “F” school grades in law.

· A thorough rewrite of the 1999 Public Law 221, changing the central goal from “improvement” to “performance.”

· Allowing turnaround school operators who take over a school to expand to other grade levels “not currently provided by the school.”

Many of these ideas came out of the failed House Bill 1337. HB 1337 was defeated as a result of PUBLIC school supporters being involved in the process and expressing concerns overnight Billy's contents.  As we see the negative effects of these provisions being  added to SB 493 by way of amendments by Behning, we must once again take the florist to task and shut him down.  Representative Behning is aware we are coming for his seat, heis trying all he can to push his agenda while he still has a chance to destroy our public schools.  Keep and eye on the battle looming over this bill.   It is worthy to note, while many of us want to see revisions in the A-F system, when Florist Behning was asked if State Superintendent Ritz had input into this A-F plan, he said she did not.

Also in the House Education Committee, an amendment was added to SB 1 that would require an armed school protection officer in every public school in Indiana.  Notice was given by Rep. Sue Errington that this UNFUNDED mandate for an armed person doesn’t apply to private schools.  

 “If you believe this is the way to protect children, why not private schools as well as public schools – especially if they are taking public dollars?” she asked."

According to the bill, a school protection officer would be required in each school and must be on the property during regular school hours and carry a loaded firearm. That person could be a teacher or other school employee who has volunteered and undergone additional training.  If no volunteers come forward,  districts then might have to hire someone, though there is no money in the bill to train employees or hire outside guards. 

A few questions to ask yourself about this amendment and SB 1 ...

1)  Do you want an armed "staff" person in your child's school building?

2) How will schools fund the training and pay of an armed "staffer"?

3) If this is important legislation, why is is good for our Public schools, but not for private schools who receive tuition support from our tax dollars intended to support public education.

Spring Break is over! It is time to get back the momentum from November and raise our voices loud to make sure our PUBLIC schools come out with minimal destruction from this legislative session.  We must STOP HB 1003 in the Senate, and take a stand again when it comes to SB 493 in the House.

Legislative Lunchbox v. 8

"Do legislators deserve the same apples teachers get for their efforts in education? Every Friday, "The Hoosier Mom on Politics" makes that decision, giving two legislators a good or bad apple, depending on their support of Public Education and Indiana’s children. Check back every Friday at lunchtime to see what the Hoosier Mom packs in the Legislator Lunchbox for the week!

For this post of the “Legislative Lunchbox”, I chose to pack a lunch for State Senator Luke Kenley (R-Noblesville) and to the State legislators collectively.

All the State legislators received a good apple today for unanimously sending Senate Bill 465 to the Governor's desk. In the current legislative educational environment, getting legislators to work together and pass a bill as essential and critical as this one, required someone to have moved a mountain. Senate Bill 465 re-prioritizes the importance of Indiana's career-readiness vocational education program in the State through the creation of vocational curricula. The bill allows creation of regional "Indiana Works Councils" where business and education leaders will come together to define and establish mutually beneficial educational and career objectives. The grossly visible decline in support for vocational education in recent years has been blinding, and the State has struggled economically as a result. My one concern lies in the likelihood that this bill is nothing more than a pie-in-the-sky idea that legislators will not actually fund. That bright and shiny-eyed idealism that actually believes it can solve problems by thinking them away is not going to work here. Teachers, tools, supplies, support-systems, infrastructure, and more are essential to accomplish this goal. In many ways, the funding cuts in recent years have hit vocational education hard and heavy and this bill should require action to fix that problem.

Senator Luke Kenley received a bad apple today for not knowing how to stand behind his own rationale. It is simple - either one supports something because it aligns philosophically, or one is just doing another's political dirty-work; probably someone else who actually leads. Last week, Senator Kenley claimed that HB 1003 was questionable since: the current voucher system lacked data-driven accountability measures for private schools, factual evidence must be gathered to support the notion that vouchers are solving this "failing school" problem prior to expanding voucher funding. The changes Kenley approved Wednesday do not resolve these issues in any way, shape, or form. Nor does it resolve the critical issue of a year-stay in public school, which the bill lacks. Now the Senators want to tie voucher transfers to the A to F grading scale of public schools. This is ridiculous at best! These are the same Senators who little over 4 weeks ago passed a measure to remove the A to F grading scale from existence. Now - all the sudden - the Senators have decided the grading scale works and is an excellent measurement tool for vouchers? This is absurd! Moreover, why are we giving voucher funds to any family that has income above the federal income guidelines for aid to dependent families? If vouchers are to help low-income families, then we need to use the same income measures for low-income families across the board through all government programs. So either increase the income requirements for aid to dependent families or decrease income requirements for vouchers. Our legislative actions must first and foremost make sense: and to put it bluntly, the voucher program just does not align. The fact is, a group of wishy-washy scared people who can't stand behind their own convictions - let alone what is right to do by Hoosier children (if they even know the difference) - are the ones playing political games. This isn't a political recreation sport, it is our children's education. My hope is that some one can get behind their convictions and stay there. Mr. Kenley - is your character strong enough to do that?

The Hoosier Mom hopes all the readers will spread the word about the Legislative Lunchbox. Feel free to email me with suggestions for next week’s lunch: for whom should I pack lunch and why?

Legislative Lunchbox v. 7

"Do legislators deserve the same apples teachers get for their efforts in education? Every Friday, "The Hoosier Mom on Politics" makes that decision, giving two legislators a good or bad apple, depending on their support of Public Education and Indiana’s children. Check back every Friday at lunchtime to see what the Hoosier Mom packs in the Legislator Lunchbox for the week!

For this post of the “Legislative Lunchbox”, I chose to pack a lunch for State Senator Luke Kenley (R- Noblesville) and State Representative Heath VanNatter (R - Howard County).

Senator Luke Kenley received a good apple today for his common sense and leadership in the Senate Appropriations Committee hearings on the voucher expansion bill (HB 1003). One of the most expansive voucher programs in the Nation-State, Indiana's fledgling voucher program is being scrutinized in the State Supreme Court on question of its constitutionality. Moreover, the tangible recipients of these public funds are mostly private religious institutions. Student's function in the deal only as a Straw Buyer and to date students have received no documented net tangible benefit (ie: improved educational outcomes as measured on standardized tests). HB 1003 proposes even further expansion to the current voucher program, by eliminating the requirement that students at least finish a year stay in public school. Herein lies the fundamental deal breaker for most Senators, as the year stay language was essential to gaining majority approval of the first voucher bill less than two years ago. The Hoosier Mom believes Senator Kenley showed excellence in reason with the matter when he said,

"This is a pretty, almost, cataclysmic change in the education system.

I wonder if this would make sense to give it a rest for some time, say 5 years, and study it?" 

Senator Kenley, you are absolutely right. There is no reason why we have to expand the voucher program at an Indy Car pace - this isn't some quick and easy means to an end. Quite the contrary, these are our children and the easy come - easy go nature of the reform ideology is not a value I want to cultivate in my children. In fact, until there is more certainty as to the real educational outcomes for Hoosier children as a result of the nascent voucher program, there should be considerable hesitancy on the part of legislators to continue with the existing program. Hoosier children's education, not private religious institution's profit margins, are what should be the top priority.

Representative Heath VanNatter received a bad apple today for watching YouTube during the course of his busy day at work in the State House. Apparently, participation in the civic engagement process by fulfilling his elected role as State legislator just isn't interesting enough for him. So he 'mixes it up'  by watching YouTube while we the taxpayers finance him. What seems even worse is that not even one other legislator or intern or employee saw this behavior as anything out of the ordinary. It would seem that our fine Representative VanNatter must be watching YouTube fairly often for it not to phase anyone around him. Here is the video:

Now, I know there are probably worse things that could - and likely do - happen during the course of the day in the State House; things worse than some random representative watching You Tube. Maybe this just perturbs me personally because Rep. VanNatter reminds me of that young college boy who acts too smart to be bothered with participating in his class, and so uses his laptop to supposedly "take notes" all the while in reality he is busily surfing the internet for the entirety of class. Well, the Hoosier Mom thinks it is time for you to grow up Representative VanNatter: turn the video off and pay attention to the task at hand, please. After all, paying attention is the least you can do for your constituents. Who knows, maybe once you start paying attention you will eventually learn what occurs in the House and become more capable of making an informed decision on current legislation. Stranger things have happened!

The Hoosier Mom hopes all the readers will spread the word about the Legislative Lunchbox. Feel free to email me with suggestions for next week’s lunch: for whom should I pack lunch and why?