$390K - What Does It Look Like to Buy Julie Olthoff In The 11th Hour?

$390,000...That is all it took to earn buy Julie Olthoff's vote for the next 2 years. Just like any other situation where one purchases an object, the purchaser needs to know exactly what they are getting. This is what Bosma, Behning, and the well-monied House Republican Campaign Committee (HRCC) PAC lobbyists will get from Olthoff...

More destruction of PUBLIC Education - Olthoff has consistently aligned her vote with the school privatization lobby and why would she change over the next two years with so much money coming her way to guarantee she will vote the party line instead of what is best for her constituents. Christel DeHaan (think Christel Charters), Hoosiers For Quality Education(think religious zealots bent on publicly funding private religious education), and a PAC that passes money through for the Koch Bros - that is who is buying Olthoff. Get the picture?

She expanded charter school funding and opened the door for more charter schools to set up shop in Indiana on the taxpayers dime. She established policy that expanded the voucher system which siphons money right off the top of public education. She established policy that disregarded the will of the voters and marginalized the role of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Glenda Ritz, by removing her constitutional authority to preside over the SBOE  - and she did this without even putting the issue to public question.

Well, the proof is in the pudding folks, and tonight we are serving pudding for dessert. 

Here is the campaign contribution report showing how Olthoff received $390,000 from the House Republican Campaign Committee in the 11th hour, literally just days before election day.

Here is a link to the campaign finance report showing where the House Republican Campaign Committee received their $$$$. I would attach an image, but it is over 110 pages long, so yeah...

http://campaignfinance.in.gov/PublicSite/SearchPages/FilingAmendmentSelect.aspx?FilingID=59939

Take a look at these records and follow the $$$ back to the original source, and you too will see how the school privatization lobby has created a wicked web of deception by purchasing politicians for play during assembly, then filtering the money multiple times to cover their tracks.

Legislative Lunchbox v. 6

"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 State Representative Bob Behning (R- Indianapolis) and State Representative Earline Rogers (D- Gary).

Representative Earline Rogers received a good apple today for the legislation she authored to direct the Department of Education to develop the "Family Friendly School Designation." It would allow schools to apply to the state agency for the title that signals a strong level of family and parental involvement in student education. The bill would give the Department of Education the ability to draft the guidelines for the designation, ideally with teacher and parent input. This is exactly the kind of civic participation that is needed to make not only our schools exceed, but also to allow our Hoosier state to thrive. A long body of scholarly research has shown that parent involvement in education contributes in many ways to more effective schools and better educational outcomes for children. Better attendance rates, higher test scores, passing classes, improved social skills and behavior, and graduation with progression into post-secondary education are attributed to parent involvement in schools. This designation would not only encourage a more collaborative environment in schools across the state, it will help Hoosier children become more successful students and help parents become advocates with educators for high-quality educational outcomes. Well done Ms. Rogers! With bi-partisan support, I look forward to seeing this bill progress through the chambers and into our mainstream Hoosier life.

On the contrary, Representative Bob Behning received a bad apple this week when - without hesitation - he refused to hear SB 193. This bill calls for public hearings in every Congressional district to discuss the relevancy and appropriateness of the  Common Core national standards as Indiana academic standards. Mr. Behning said,

• "We've never gone to that level of public input. Frankly, most of the public would not have a very easy time even understanding what standards are, let alone trying to help form them."

You must be joking with me. Most of the public is not intelligent enough to have a conversation about what our children are learning? Mr. Behning, your comment smacks of condescension and arrogance that I don't particularly find appealing in a legislator whose job is to serve the people. You are not the Almighty, put in your position because you have some special ability to discern educational issues more effectively than the rest of us. Quite the opposite - you are only elected on the good will of the people in your district. It might be time to come down off that "high-horse" you hoisted yourself upon, and realize that civic participation is an essential component in effective democracies. You need to think about the implications of your comment in regards to your own election - if we aren't smart enough to have conversation about our kids with our teachers, are you suggesting we aren't smart enough to vote, too?


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.4

"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 State Representative Randy Truitt (R-West Lafayette) and for State Representative and House Ways & Means Committee Chair Tim Brown (R-Crawfordsville).

Representative Randy Truitt received a good apple in his lunchbox for having the conviction to stand-up for the best interests of Hoosier Children. He voted no on HB 1358 (known as "The Parent Trigger" bill) which would use the fatally flawed 'A to F' school grading system as an avenue to - literally - allow parents to pull the trigger and shoot down a public school that receives a D or F grade. First of all, as a mother of 2 Hoosier Public School children and as an Aunt of 2 Hoosier Public School Children (going to school just Northeast of Lafayette in a farm community where I grew up), THANK YOU - THANK YOU - THANK YOU - for choosing to apply good ol' Hoosier common sense with your vote! Every mom and dad in this State should be sending you personal "Thank You" notes for your vote and this is why...

This bill is chock full of horrible policy choices. The A to F grading scale is relatively new and pretty much makes absolutely no intelligible sense. It applies grades to public schools nilly-willy, with no method behind the madness. There are some schools that have received a decent grade (A or B) one year, just to be followed up with a D or F the following year, and last year received some other completely random grade. Maybe whomever had the genius idea of implementing this grading system in Indiana could explain to me how exactly this correlates to how well my children learn and excel academically? In the real world, that is what all of us care about - how our kids are doing and what kind of citizens they will grow up to be. The grading system seems like a bunch of red tape and a waste of time and money to me! Now, some in the House are suggesting this flawed and bureaucratic grading system is what can initiate the take-down of a public school? What an absolutely ridiculous notion.

Not to mention that it is the TAXPAYERS who invest in our public schools, it should be the TAXPAYERS - not 51% of parents votes - who make decisions relating to the use of TAXPAYER dollars. The bill as it stands now allows parents to receive a vote for each child they have in the Public School and then a 51% majority of those parent's votes could shoot down a Public Institution and hand it over to a Charter Corporation. Mind you - TAXPAYERS - there is NO voter accountability in Charter Schools. Their Boards are established similarly to a PTO or a PTA, where the volunteering parents at the school run for and are elected to the Board by the other volunteering parents. The TAXPAYERS don't get a say-so in the administration of the Charter Corporation. I ask, where is representative government and accountability in that type of system? What happened to our American philosophy of "no taxation without representation"? Did any of these legislators that wrote and passed this bill go to their History classes on the Founding Fathers and the American Constitution? Representative Truitt, I can't thank you enough for being a true American and having the fortitude and consideration to vote "no" to this garbage bill that does wrong by the taxpayers, makes no common sense, and most importantly will not serve the best interest of Hoosier children academically.

Representative Tim Brown received a bad apple in his lunchbox for leading the committee process on HB 1338 which expands funding of "Virtual" Charter Schools. Current policy allows for Virtual Charter Schools to be funded at 87.5% following a rationale that it is significantly less expensive for a student to "attend" (and I use that word very loosely here) a computerized "clicks and portals" school compared to a real live "bricks and mortar" school. You know, the kind of real live school which TAXPAYERS invest because schools are one of the leading contributors to positive Economic Development within a community. From teaching Hoosier kids hands-on skills to being an anchor for community development, schools - and more accurately - public schools are the #1 source of jobs now and in the future for Hoosiers. 

Rep. Brown decided that Virtual Charter Schools needed more money and his committee heard - then passed - this bill which contains language to expand funding of Virtual Charter Schools by over 14%. Now, I don't claim to be the sharpest tool in the tool-shed, but I can tell you from personal experience - virtual classes are EASY compared to a class to by a real teacher. In fact, they are exceptionally easy which is why I prefer to take virtual classes at the collegiate level in my non-major requirement study, if at all possible. Some people may criticize me for that decision - and that is probably a discussion better had at a different time and place. The fact remains - I don't see how a 7 year old, or an 8 year old is going to really learn much of anything from a virtual class. I don't doubt that they will pass the class, but from my experience there is no way these 6,500 kids that "attend" Virtual Charter Schools are learning at the same level as their peers who attend a bricks and mortar school. And Rep. Brown now wants to give more money to these Virtual Charter Schools that clearly do not have the same expenses as a traditional school? Let's get real here, Rep. Brown. Crawfordsville is a really nice town and with a really great Public School system. Your voters attended that Public School and their kids and grandkids attend it now. Heck, you probably went to that Public School. How can you justify to your constituents a bill like this that will only serve to fund a lesser quality education than what you and your voters know is available? This bill doesn't make any common sense, except for if one's goal is to 'dumb-down' Hoosier kids. Shame on you Rep. Brown for drinking the Huston and Bennet Kool-Aid and doing a disservice to our great State. You should take a lesson from Rep. Truitt on how to stick-up for what is right.


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?

Charters, and Vouchers, and Reform - Oh MY!

The Indiana House Education Committee strikes at Public Education again! Tomorrow, HB 1338 and HB 1003  are planned to receive a hearing in the House Chambers starting at 8:30am.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Please contact the House Education Committee members (emails listed below) in separate emails for the two bills, and tell them to vote NO. For more information on how to write to your legislators, click here.

  HB 1003: This is Rep. Behning's bill that would expand voucher eligibility to students who have NOT previously spent a year in public schools. It also would triple the home school and private school tax deduction to $3,000. 




HB 1338: Charter Schools are public schools by law yet this bill would take them from the Dept. of Ed for reporting, funding and facilities incentive purposes and put them under the Budget Agency.

§       Teachers, all teachers, should have content area requirements for licensure yet HB 1338 removes the requirement for already unlicensed charter school teacher to have training “in the content or related area in which the individual teaches.”

§       The bill provides that a virtual charter school would receive tuition support in the same way bricks & mortar charters do.

§       And if that isn’t enough, if the bill passes, virtual schools will receive funding for all students, even those never in public schools.  Home schools could receive tax money.

Contact those members of the House Education Committee who are likely to vote for this bill.  Do it ASAP.

Rep. Behning, Chair, h91@in.gov 

Rep. Rhoads, h70@in.gov

Rep. L. Arnold, h74@in.gov

Rep. Burton, h58@in.gov

Rep. Clere, h72@in.gov

Rep. DeVon, h5@in.gov

Rep. Huston, h37@in.gov

Rep. Lucas, h69@in.gov

Rep. Thompson, h28@in.gov

For HB 1003:  Express your opposition to voucher expansion AND share your views with your representative.

•       Ask them to vote NO on HB 1003.

For HB 1338:  Explain in your words how all teachers need to have training in content areas in which they teach.

§       Discuss how funding virtual school at 100% of tuition support impacts your school.

§       Explain that funding for students never in public schools (never part of the ADM) puts traditional public schools at risk of losing even more funding without losing students.

§       Ask them to vote NO on HB 1338.

Legislative Lunchbox

"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 Ed Charbonneau (R-Valparaiso) and for State Representative Todd Huston (R-Fishers).

Senator Ed Charbonneau received a good apple in his lunchbox for authoring SB 416  which "voids the administrative rule that establishes the A to F designations of school performance". The bill then establishes criteria for the State Board of Education to follow when establishing designations of schools. The bill also requires the State Board of Education to give a report to the General Assembly on the school designation criteria. Sen. Charbonneau,  the Hoosier Mom has found the A to F system of accountability to be completely ridiculous; it doesn't even measure my kid's academic progress through school! The designations are completely non-sensical, with some schools obtaining a higher ranking one year, a low ranking the following year. The grading system currently measures student growth of a group of children (say - third graders) against their peers the next year. That means the third grade class in 2010 is compared to the 3rd grade class in 2011, instead of using standardized criteria to compare student growth of a third grader as a measure of academic achievement. This bill sounds great on the surface, but the fact is this bill hasn't even had a hearing yet in committee. Senator Charbonneau and everyone who reads this blog, we need to figure out how to at least get this bill heard in committee. I am going to send an email to every member of the Senate Committe on Education and ask this bill get a hearing next week.

Representative Todd Huston received a bad apple in his lunchbox for introducing HB 1357 which removes the requirement for a School Superintendent to hold a teacher's license or a superintendent's license. It also allows School Board to require Superintendent's to live within the school district while repealing the requirement that a County Superintendent of schools have at least 5 successful years of teaching experience. Rep. Huston, your "No Experience Necessary" attitude when it comes to the education of the children of Indiana , just doesn't make common sense. All this bill will accomplish is the continued deprofessionalization of the teaching profession. No need to have learned through education and experience, how to administrate and lead a school. What happened to respecting the minimum standards of excellence that a profession beleives necessary to maintain the quality of the profession? So many State Superintendents, Principals, Teachers, and Parents - like the Hoosier Mom, believe this bill needs to go the way of the do-do bird. Yet, the fact remains - this bill actually was heard and made it out of committee. When this bill is read and discussed in the House, you can bet that the parents and educators around this State will show up and let you know how bad an idea this is for public education.

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?