CALL TO ACTION! STOP SB334!

SB334, this session's version of Voucher Expansion, was amended in the House and has returned to the senate for a vote to concur, vote down, or let it die. This session has proven interesting, to say the least.  Not only are votes looking more partisan when final votes are taken on Education measures, they also appear to be quite contentious between the GOP members of the House and Senate.  This could be positive for PUBLIC school advocates, as we were already able to STOP HB1004 and SB10 by speaking out, tweeting, emailing, calling, and posting concerns to our elected officials.  They have heard our outcry.  They know our displeasure.  They are aware of our concerns.  Now they must choose to ignore our voices during an election year or follow our urging and recognize our concerns by voting down any remaining bills destructive to PUBLIC education.  

This post asks you to once again contact your legislators, especially in the Senate, and urge them to VOTE NO on SB334.  It is time to shout out one more time to urge support for our PUBLIC schools by stopping destructive measures and financial fiasco.  SB334 (Voucher Expansion) once again straps the education budget to the favor of charter and private schools while draining our PUBLIC schools of much needed funds provided by Indiana's taxpayers.

Below is a graphic from Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education detailing the immense sums of money being doled out for the "Choice Scholarships". Expanding these scholarships will further siphon money from PUBLIC schools in the already tight education budget.

Another graphic from Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education shows the difference between voucher funded schools and our PUBLIC schools.  Taking funding from our PUBLIC schools does not seem fair when those schools receiving voucher money do not have to play by the same rules of providing for students.  If they are not expected to serve under the same requirements and standards, then they should not be receiving our PUBLIC tax dollars to fund their own agenda and pad the wallets of their corporate leaders.

Please take time to contact members of the Senate and ask them to stop draining our PUBLIC schools for corporate benefit and fund our PUBLIC schools without expanding vouchers and putting the money where it belongs.

Click here for twitter handles of legislators.

CALL TO ACTION - NO to HB1003

Tomorrow, April 8, 2013, your Indiana State Senate will take a vote on HB 1003 - Voucher Expansion. 

YOU MUST ACT NOW!

It is time to show our legislators the power of 1.3 million voices.  We spoke up in November and sent Tony Bennett to Florida when WE elected Glenda Ritz.  We need to speak up again and tell our senators to once again VOTE NO on HB 1003. 

Now is not the time to rob more money from our public schools in the form of vouchers for private school students.  We can not afford to continually take money from our PUBLIC schools to finance private parochial and charter school corporations.  We MUST stand up and be heard, loud and clear, once again.

Contact your Senators TODAY and let them know that you will accept nothing but a NO vote on this funding fiasco they call voucher expansion.  HB 1003 is a nightmare to our public schools. 


 

Click the Action button above to see what this bill does to PUBLIC schools.




22 Indiana Senators (out of 50) voted NO two years ago on the voucher bill. 
We need 26 to vote NO on the current voucher expansion bill!

 

That's how many State Senators WE need to vote NO on current voucher expansion bill.

26 Call them one-by-one and tell them to vote NO on HB 1003.

 

Just because the State Supreme court ruled they were okay, what's the rush? Why ram this bill through that will strip public money from local schools in a time when there is already NO new money?

If this bill passes, YOUR local school will be begging YOU for money in referendums, laying off more teachers, pushing 100's of fundraisers, cutting art/music and clubs, and reducing sports.

 

WAIT!!!!! They already do that - so multiply this by 100 times!!!!!

Vouchers aren't going anywhere. So, let's see if they work and how they can be funded without taking money from our already tight budgeted PUBLIC schools.

Email your State Senator, and call them. Then have 3 people you know do the same! TODAY

 

Click the image below to find contact information for your state senator.

 

 

 

Below is a list of Senators who need a little extra "push" and a reminder of what 1.3 million voices sound like when speaking in unison about our mission.  Let them know that we EXPECT them to act fiscally responsible toward our PUBLIC schools.  They must vote NO on HB 1003 to stop funnelling public tax dollars from PUBLIC schools to for profit private and charter schools and their corporate sponsors.

Banks, Jim - s017 - s17@iga.in.gov - R

Bray, Rodric - s037 - s37@iga.in.gov - R

Buck, Jim - s021 - s21@iga.in.gov - R

Charbonneau, Ed - s005 - s5@iga.in.gov - R

Kenley, Luke - s020 - s20@iga.in.gov - R

Kruse, Dennis - s014 - s14@iga.in.gov - R

Landske, Sue - s006 - s6@iga.in.gov - R

Schneider, Scott - s030 - s30@iga.in.gov - R

Walker, Greg - s041 - s41@iga.in.gov - R

Waltz, Brent - s036 - s36@iga.in.gov - R

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?

Connecting the Dots: ALEC......to......Indiana - PART 3



Click here to Review Part 2

By Heath Johnson

Attack on Teachers Unions

Other "model" legislation has ALEC's DNA all over it.   Consider SB 312 (Sen. Jim Smith-R) or HB 1334 (Rep. Jeff Thompson and Rep. Woody Burton), which prohibits a school employer from deducting union dues from a teacher's salary.

This piece of legislation was adopted by the Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development Task Force at the States and Nation Policy Summit, December 2, 1998 and was approved by the ALEC Board of Directors January 1999.

http://alecexposed.org/w/images/c/c9/1R9-Public_Employer_Payroll_Deduction_Policy_Act_Exposed.pdf

Language from this model legislation was reintroduced by Goldwater Institute representative, Byron Schlomach.

More on Virtual Schools
2011's HEA 1002 set into motion the establishment of virtual charter schools in Indiana.  Some of these schools, by the way, employ teachers in other states.  Choice scholarships may now be used to pay student tuition as well as the salaries of these out-of-state teachers.   At the same time, the Republican legislature supported huge cuts to the public education budget, leading to the loss of thousands of Indiana teaching jobs.  Both the choice scholarship legislation and the virtual school language are ALEC-derived.  The choice scholarship is set to be expanded in the 2013 session.   While conservative state lawmakers supported the Mitch Daniels budget slashes to public education, leading to thousands of teacher layoffs, those same lawmakers supported legislation to expand virtual schools.

http://www.thenation.com/article/164651/how-online-learning-companies-bought-americas-schools?page=0,0

As mentioned earlier, the Virtual Public Schools Act was presented on December 4, 2004.  This act provides students and families the choice of using virtual schools to "further the education" of their children.  Model legislation was authored by two virtual school companies,  K12 Inc. and Connections Academy.

So, how has K12 Inc. performed?  Not well here in Indiana and not well in other states.  While managing 2 of the 7 failing charter schools sponsored by Ball State University, they have had huge problems in other "education reform" states as well. 

This ALEC model legislation was also introduced verbatim in Tennessee.  Tennessee’s State Rep. Harry Brooks and State Sen. Dolores Gresham,both ALEC Education Task Force members, introduced the bill to their respective houses nearly verbatim, even using the same title (http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/03/01/kappan_underwood.html). 

Tennessee:  K12Inc has sponsored school in Tennessee was just caught doctoring grades.  They have the internal emails where management directed its teachers to review their grade books and delete assignments that had an abnormally high number of failing grades.

http://www.newschannel5.com/story/21129693/email-directs-teachers-to-delete-bad-grades

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/12/republican-backed-for-profit-school-caught-deleting-bad-student-grades/

Florida:  K12Inc is under investigation in Florida for allegedly using non-certified teachers and instructing certified teachers to sign class rosters that included students they hadn’t taught.

http://stateimpact.npr.org/florida/2012/09/11/florida-investigates-k12-nations-largest-online-educator/

http://stateimpact.npr.org/florida/2012/09/30/florida-districts-fight-k12s-plan-for-virtual-charter-schools-more-flexibility-or-less-oversight/

Georgia:  K12Inc is under investigation in Georgia for allegedly violating "critical federal special education laws and regulations."

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/georgia-doe-blasts-georgia-cyber-academy-threatens/nTBmZ/

Colorado:  "...the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) at the University of Colorado shows that students at K12 Inc., ....are falling further behind in reading and math scores than students in brick-and-mortar schools" and "are also less likely to remain at their schools for the full year, and the schools have low graduate rates."

http://nepc.colorado.edu/newsletter/2012/07/understanding-improving-virtual 

Remember:  "It's all about the kids."    So, given K12 Inc's shaky track record, how has it managed its finances?   K12 Inc's (ticker symbol LRN) corporate revenue and profits are at an all-time high and that annual trend is looking to continue.  That makes sense, considering Republican legislatures from around the country passed legislation opening the door for virtual schools.

Balance Sheet 

Notice what happens to K12Inc's bottom line right after the nationwide expansion of virtual schools and the use of vouchers to pay for it.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=LRN+Balance+Sheet&annual

Income Statement

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=LRN+Income+Statement&annual

These are but a few examples and, as you've probably gathered, I'm ready for a fight.   I want a representative government, one whose legislators understand that they are our employees not one whose legislators are sucking at the corporate teat.  

Help Connect the Dots and End the Cigar Parties

In early February, 2013 I engaged Sen. Brandt Hershman and Rep. Heath VanNatter about their involvement with ALEC and ALEC's role in authoring legislation.   Sen. Hershman responded by claiming, "the idea that corporations are feeding legislation to us is just silly." -- Refer to the 2/19/2013 edition of the Frankfort Times. 

Also, February 2013, I chose to email the Indiana General Assembly about SB 312 and HB 1334, outlining my objections and what I knew about ALEC.  I received a reply from Senator Jim Buck (ALEC State Chairman and ALEC Board of Directors), where he insinuated that I was drunk and not qualified to be a teacher.  How am I supposed to respond to that?   We educate and we fight.   

Educate everyone and demand that your legislators be held accountable with respect to their actions with ALEC!   Expose ALEC legislators and identify ALEC-authored legislation.   I've found that most people have no clue who ALEC is and how they affect their lives.   That must change or the corporate-sponsored cigar parties will continue. 

Below are some important links which may help get you started.

Commoncause.org has filed a complaint about ALEC with the IRS.   They have collected and released over 4,000 pages of ALEC documents.  The 35-day taskforce mailers, outlining "model bills" are here:

http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=8097075

The ALEC Bylaws from 2007 (the latest I could find)., outlining who gets to vote (corporations and legislators) are here:

http://www.prwatch.org/files/ALEC_bylaws.pdf

NPR's Bill Moyers has produced an incredible documentary outlining what ALEC is doing.

http://billmoyers.com/segment/united-states-of-alec/

ALEC Explained in 5 Minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azSUHpAb_E4

A list of ALEC Corporations (use this and followthemoney.org to track campaign financing)

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ALEC_Corporations

ALEC Exposed is a great site to research model bills, ALEC member corporations, and AEC legislators.

http://alecexposed.org

http://alecexposed.org/wiki/Bills_Affecting_Americans%27_Rights_to_a_Public_Education



TUESDAY TATTLER 5



If you teach elementary school, or remember to your younger days, then the following scenario is a familiar recess occurrence. 

Bobby – “I don’t like you and I am not going to play with you!”

Denny – “That’s not nice.  I am not going to play with you either!”

Bobby – “ Oh yeah?! Well, I will tell my friends not to play with you either!”

Denny – “Fine!  I will take my toys and go over there!”

Bri – “Teacher, teacher, Bobby and Denny are fighting again!”  They are not playing nice and Denny is taking his toys somewhere else to play!”

Sound familiar?  Well, it should!  This scenario is playing out in the Indiana Legislature and it is becoming rather childish.  House and senate education committee members, obviously still reeling from Novembers upset of Tony Bennett, can not seem to figure out how to please 1.3 million voters or their counterparts in different houses.  Representative Behning and Senator Kruse seem to be so bent on their dislike of educators and public education that they are now turning on one another. 

It appears that the battle has gotten to the point where Behning is deciding that senate bills will not get hearings in the house, and this apparent move seems to be causing Senators, like Carlin Yoder(R-Middlebury), to withdraw bills already passed out of committee.  Senator Yoder, author of  the bill to scrap the A-F grading of schools, pulled the bill on Monday for questionable reasons.  This bill was originally authored by Ed Charbonneau (R-Valparaiso).  Senator Charbonneau was “demoted” to second sponsor so that Yoder could take the lead role, and now withdraw the bill in another apparent recess playground dispute of “I will just take my toys and leave”.

Does anyone else think it is time for these grown men to stop the petty political bickering and return to doing the jobs they were elected to do?  Yes, there have been some catastrophic bills moving through both houses this session, but there have also been some good.  It is time to put the bickering aside, stand up for our children, and stop making threats to one another’s legislation in order to further the destructive agenda aimed at Indiana’s Public Schools in favor of the profit driven private sector. 

Boys, the teacher has decided that you each need a time-out.  As we reach the halfway point of this legislative session, take time to understand the reasons 1.3 million voters chose a new direction and see to it that you serve that constituency with the same determination you spent the first half trying to destroy.  Glenda Ritz was elected as the voice of Indiana’s PUBLIC schools.  She is an even tempered, education expert who knows why she was elected.  I think back to my hour long conversation with her on election night.  She said to me, “ There never was any doubt in my mind that I was going to defeat Tony Bennett, we will see for sure in a few hours.”  Well, there is no doubt in this teacher’s mind that Superintendent Ritz has great things in store for Indiana’s public school children, once she is allowed to serve the 1.3 million voters in the capacity in which she was elected to do so. 

Representative Behning and Senator Kruse, take your half way point time-out and come back in the second half ready to do something to benefit and support our public schools.  The teacher is watching, and your next election could very well be your last.

Legislative Lunchbox v.3

"Do legislators deserve the same apples teachers get for their efforts in education? Every Friday, "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 Senator Karen Tallian(D-Ogden Dunes)and for State Representative Jim Lucas (R-Seymour).

Senator Karen Tallian received a good apple in her lunchbox for authoring SB 469 which provides that Full-Day Kindergarten become mandatory and, more importantly, that each Kindergarten Pupil counts as a full student in the annual ADM. Sen. Tallian, kudos to you for not only recognizing the need for a continuum of early childhood education provided through Indiana's public schools, but for actually standing up and doing something about it. So many legislators pay lip service to the educational needs of Kindergartners, sometimes taking action simply to publicize and further their own political careers. But not you Senator Tallian! This bill is simple and to the point - not only does it outline mandatory Kindergarten but it counts Kindergartners as full students so Public Schools can receive full-funding for the education provided. But here comes the sticking point - this bill hasn't even received a hearing in the Senate Committee on Education and Career Development. Bills are getting heard which expand vouchers to fully-fund preschool but apparently the legislative rationale is that during the magic year of Kindergarten, Indiana children only deserve to have their education only halfway funded. Where the heck is the common sense in that? Come on Senate Committee on Education and Career Development: listen to Senator Tallian on this matter. It is time for Indiana to have a hearing on this bill.

Representative Jim Lucas received a bad apple in his lunchbox for his letter to an Indiana voter concerned about the voucher expansion bill (HB 1003)which cleared the House Committee on Education Thursday. Mr Lucas writes, "I am aware of the potential for the growth of vouchers, and yes, this growth may come at the expense of what is referred to as our public system, but as long as that child is receiving an education, and better yet, an education of the choice of the parent, then I fail to see the negative of this." There are so many levels of 'wrong' in this statement (let alone the whole letter), where is a Hoosier Mom to begin? First of all Mr. Lucas, "what is referred to as our public system" is the public education system which you, as an elected official, are required to provide (please read Article 8 of the state constitution, Mr. Lucas if you are unsure of what I reference about your job). I understand that this is your first term and you aren't particularly familiar with all the 'ins and outs of serving your constituents, but I can guarantee you that if you take this kind of "my way or the highway" approach, you will be out of this job soon enough and back shilling awnings in Seymour. I don't think I need to remind you but this is the first time in a while that a Republican has been elected to district 69, and if you continue with your back-handed comments about public education, I can guarantee that reelection is not in your future.

Just in case you weren't aware Mr. Lucas, most all of your constituents received their education via Indiana's public school system and most all of your constituents with children are sending their kids to public school. These are your constituents: as an elected representative it is your duty to serve the best interest of the people, not the best interest of a few private religious companies that seek to receive government hand-outs (via corporate welfare) on the backs of hard-working Hoosiers. As a tax-paying mom and life-long Hoosier, I can tell you that I don't care to pay for some other parent's education "choice". If a parent chooses to send their child to a private school, then they can pay for their choice - I and the other taxpayers in Indiana aren't financially responsible for their personal preference and you should stop trying to make us pay for it. However as a taxpayer, I strongly believe the money I give to the state needs to go to the betterment of most ALL Hoosiers, not just a few. Public Education is the only means and method which effectively and efficiently provides for a common education of Hoosier children. It is time you learned to not only vote in the best interest of your constituents, but also in the best interest of Hoosiers on the whole.

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?