THERE'S STILL TIME TO STOP SB334

Governor Pence has been counting his chickens well before hatching this session and his plans to use his GOP supermajority to continue dismantling PUBLIC Education seem to have unraveled just a bit over the past two weeks.  First the Senate killed HB1004, then SB10 found its death in the House.  Now it appears the two legislative bodies are once again at odds over SB334.  SB334 is the controversial "Voucher Expansion" bill that seems to surface and pass every session under the current administration.  However, SB334 returned to the Senate this week after passing the House with amendments.  Instead of conferring with the House version, there was a dissent filed and Senate President Pro Tempore David Long appointed Senate conferees for a conference committee.

it is presumed that the conference committee will meet tomorrow, Tuesday, March 8.  Below are the conferees and advisors for this committee from both the Senate and the House.  The Chair is original SB334 author Carlin Yoder.

Please contact both Senate and House members and tell them that you are following their every move and any action with this bill.  Tell them that you oppose ANY expansion to vouchers.  Vouchers are draining PUBLIC schools of needed funding in order to help pad the wallets of campaign contributors along with the charter and private school buddies of the Governor and the GOP majority.

After the committee approves a final version of the bill, both the full House and full Senate must vote on the final bill.  Our voices have been heard throughout this session.  The legislators are listening.  They understand this is an election year and they see the opposition rising to stop them at every possible turn.  We have one more chance to put and end to this extensive expansion of vouchers and once again halt another bill aimed at PUBLIC Education destruction.

Let members of the Senate and House hear your opposition to this voucher expansion bill because it does not focus on the original stated intent of the original authors, Senator Yoder and Senator Kruse.  The stated purpose of this bill was to aid in drop out recovery; however, the bill never focused on anything but the continued dumping of PUBLIC funding into private and charter schools using drop out recovery as an excuse.  The length of your message does not matter.  The number of messages received in opposition to this widespread expansion will be reason for these legislators to understand the our voices must be heard and heeded.  Take time to call, email, tweet, post, and SPEAK OUT to oppose this bill and stand up for our PUBLIC Education system once more.

#RespectOurVoice #INpublicED #NoVouchers #NoSB334  

Indiana's PUBLIC School Teachers "Snubbed" by Governor Pence?

Was there an intentional "snub" of Hoosier educators tonight?

Did any one notice the "snub" of 40 thousand plus educators tonight as ISTA appeared absent during Governor Pence's State of the State Address? Hoosier Voices for Public Education founder, Philip Arnold, did. He posed the following question to ISTA President, Teresa Meredith, after the address.

"Where was ISTA tonight, didn't the Governor invite the leaders of the mass majority of Indiana's educators?"

President Meredith replied, "I was not invited, however ISTA and its members are committed to making sure our voices are heard this session, on behalf of our colleagues and all of the students we serve every day."

With so much emphasis coming out early in the new session regarding teachers, attacks on PUBLIC schools, increased high-stakes testing, further expanding vouchers, funneling more tax payer monies to charters, and the attempts to dismantle the DOE by removing powers of elected Superintendent Glenda Ritz, shouldn't educators have been at the table? Shouldn’t the ones who are in the trenches daily have been represented in this process. Was this an intentional snub by the Governor to appease the Koch brothers, the tea party, and wealthy campaign contribtors to pad the coffers for the 2016 bid for the White House?

It is time Hoosiers raise their voices as they did in 2012 and prove the value of our PUBLIC schools by standing up and being counted once again. It is time to call legislators non-stop and demand our teachers, their representatives, and those who support our PUBLIC school children be invited back to the table and given a role in making realistic efforts to see our children into a successful future.

 

MARCH ON MARIAN

As Glenda Ritz files suit against the Governor's State Board of Education, Hoosier Voices for Public Education is calling on all Hoosier Public Education supporters to take part in a virtual March on Marian.  We need to email, call, and convey our displeasure with Daniel Elsener's role in the continued destruction of Indiana's public schools through his cronyism with Governor Mike Pence and the GOP lead Indiana General Assembly.  Mr. Elsener has made many attempts to circumvent the true will of Hoosier voters through his attacks on Glenda Ritz, his tantrums at SBOE meetings since Ritz's election, and his newest efforts to work outside the auspices of the SBOE by crafting a letter asking the legislature to take over assignment of A-F grades instead of allowing this to continue to be controlled by the Indiana Department of Education.  Mr. Elsener continues to show his true alliances to his GOP cronies in the Indiana General Assembly and Governor Pence.  He proclaims to be an "Independent", yet supports GOP candidates and works closely with the GOP leadership to gain his desired status and preferential treatment for Marian University in order to promote privatization and takeover of public schools.  We all know the GOP favors "privatization" and the "private" institutions.  The General Assembly proved this yet again during the last session by expanding vouchers and once again giving public tax dollars to private institutions.   Mr. Elsener looks to benefit from these monies as private schools push their students to continue on into the private university sector upon completion of their high school requirements.  Mr. Elsener serves a huge conflict of interest being a "private" university president on the PUBLIC State Board of Education.  He also has destructive ties to Tony Bennett, Mitch Daniels, and organizations like Teach For America and the Mind Trust.  It is time to let Mr. Elsener, the Marian Board of Trustees, and Governor Pence know that we are no longer sitting back and watching their shady antics.  We are calling them our for what they are. . . blatant attempts to cirumvent the will of Hoosier voters by grabbing power from the Elected Superintendent of PUBLIC Instruction, Glenda Ritz!

Daniel J. Elsener
President
president@marian.edu
317.955.6103


2013 Board of Trustees
Jerry D. Semler, chair
Susan R. Jones-Huffine, first vice chai
rMichael A. Blickman, second vice chair
Charles A. Liles, treasurer
Patricia D. Curran, secretary
Thomas G. Hoback, immediate past chair
 
Nancy Ayres
William E. Bartelt
Frank M. Basile
Joseph E. Costanza
William Brent Eckhart
David S. Evans
Richard D. Feldman, M.D.
Wanda Y. Fortune
Janis B. Funk
Gary Hentschel
Catherine Hillenbrand Kennedy
Katharine M. Kruse
Daniel M. Lechleiter
James H. Madison
Edward S. Matthews
Craig M. McKee
James W. Merritt Jr.
James T. Morris
Michael B. Murphy
Samuel L. Odle
Ersal Ozdemir
Margaret Cole Russell
William N. Salin Sr.
Robert E. Sexton, D.D.S.
Joseph A. Slash
Dennis M. Sponsel
Lu Carole West