Indiana Legislators That Voted To Rob Public Schools

Here are images of the final roll call votes from the Indiana State House and the Indiana State Senate for HB 1003 that passed in 2011 and HB 1005 that passed in 2016.

HB 1003 (2011) established the voucher system that siphons funding from public schools and sends it to private - mostly religious - schools. HB 1005 (2016) siphoned even more money from public schools and expanded the voucher program to become the largest in the country.

Should taxpayer dollars be going to support private religious institutions? I am certain that this is not what was meant in the 1st amendment where it mentions "separation of church and state". Before 2011, Indiana had never used public dollars to pay for private schools. 

FED UP YET?

HB 1003 (2011) Representatives Roll Call

HB 1003 (2011) Senate Roll Call

HB 1005 (2016) Representatives Roll Call

HB 1005 (2016)  Senate Roll Call

WHERE ARE YOU?

 

As schools are out for summer, where are all of the public education supporters? Now, more than ever, we must step up our game and focus on reclaiming our education system from the "reformers" and "extremists". These people never sleep. They do not take a summer "vacation" from their attempts to completely destroy and privatize our public schools. Just read the news articles, blogs, and education forums. You can see these "crazies" continue to spread their venom and distraction across the nation. We can no longer stand alone and cry "foul". We MUST unite and take on the daunting challenge of setting the course to return our schools back to their PUBLIC.

Indiana is a hotbed for the "guinea pig" reforms of Bennett, Daniels, Bush, Rhea, and Gates. We can no longer allow these corporate minded "reformers" access to our children or schools. We are doing our children a grave disservice if we take a "summer vacation" while these so called education "experts" continue to dismantle our schools while we sit poolside sipping margaritas and telling "war stories". No, we MUST be in this battle with no opportunity to rest until the last of these destructive reforms is stopped and our children's educational futures re restored to the very PUBLIC that supports them.

I challenge all who read this to share it, get involved, get others involved, spread the word. . . PUBLIC education supporters are here to stay. We are not going away and we are not going to stop. We are ready for battle. We proved last November that we want our schools back from these reform minded individuals who only support corporate greed. We now must show them that November was not a fluke, and it most definitely was a a direct recall of these reform policies. We can do this by starting now to campaign for 2014, 2016, and beyond.

Where are you? Are you in the fight or on the sidelines? Once you answer the question it is time to answer the call to battle. It is time to once again stand up and make our voices heard.

 

WE HAVE 24 HOURS - ACT NOW

 

 

 

In November Hoosier voters made history when 3.1 million cast ballots to elect Glenda Ritz, Democrat, as Superintendent of Public Instruction.  We have made our voices heard every day since the November Election, carrying our support of PUBLIC education loudly throughout the legislative session.  It appears we may still have a chance to put an end to the Daniels/Bennett agenda and stop Representative Bob Behning from further implementing and ramrodding ALEC legislation down our throats.  We MUST act now!  Over the next 24 hours, we can make one last push to bring the largest of his destructive measures to an end.  We CAN STOP VOUCHER EXPANSION!!

 

Here is what we needs to happen. . .

 

Bob Behning, yes the florist turned education expert,  wants $$MORE MONEY$$ for vouchers and he wants to include D & F schools as "failing" to be eligible for them.

Therefore, with a change in the senate version, voucher concurrence will more than likely have to go back through both houses.

 

WE can still win in the Indiana Senate.

We currently need 3 NO votes. Several Senators are on RECORD stating that they would vote NO if the House added any money or changed the bill.

Well - they did. The voucher bill "could" cost Indiana $100 million in less than 5 years with a flawed A-F system, and Common Core forcing private schools to comply!  Do you know a Tea Party patriot alive today that is FOR ANY of that.

Get on the phone. Get on your computers. NEVER SAY NEVER!

Indiana is known for Common Sense - let's remind our legislators to use IT!!!

We can stop the largest voucher bill in America and come up with sensible "reform" that doesn't bankrupt our local PUBLIC schools, and base funding on flawed ALEC A-F models that are being rebuked across America.

In New York, and other states across the country, parents are OPTING out of state testing and threatening to shut down school compliance. In Florida, teachers are suing the state as French teachers don't like being graded for 10th grade math scores on testing. In Texas, the state that kicked off this "miracle of reform," the legislature voted NO on vouchers!!!!!

Call, write, email and get 3 friends to do it before Thursday!!!!!

There's a chance here to stop the literal destruction of YOUR public school. You can help. Do something. Do it now!

IF 3 Senators change their vote, this bill is DEAD this session.

Let's make history again and put this awful bill out of play for this session!!!!
 



Contact ALL Senators and then make a specific call to State Senator Rodric Bray. Ask them to vote against the expanded (Behning additions) voucher bill. Senator Bray of Martinsville may very well be the vote needed to STOP VOUCHER EXPANSION.

Remember the Tuesday Tattler 10? They need to be reminded Those who voted NO before, need to Vote NO again, and those who voted YES need to understand the repercussions of their actions on our PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Click Name to link to email

SENATOR BRAY

Others to contact immediately

Senator Kenley

Senator Mishler

Senator Waltz

 

 

(Thanks to Justin Oakley for providing information for this post)

 

TUESDAY TATTLER 11



Let's take a look at last minute power struggles in the Indiana State Legislature.  As usual, Representative Bob Behning is at the core of most of the bills focussed on the destruction of Indiana's PUBLIC schools and set to dole out more funding to his favored private school contributors.  Along with the expansion of vouchers, Representative Behning seems intent on continuing the reform wagon pulled by former Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett.  Take a look at the bills listed below, where they stand in each house of the state legislature, and who is supporting or opposing each. 
According to StateImpact . . .

Senate Bill 1: A conference committee looking at the school safety bill is scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday. As you may be aware, the controversial amendment requiring armed personnel in every Indiana school has been sent to summer study committee, but lawmakers still need to work out differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill.

Senate Bill 207: Last week the House agreed to a partial rollback of a 2011 law that bars undocumented students from paying in-state tuition. The bill goes back to the Senate for concurrence.

House Bill 1003: The bill’s author, Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis, says he won’t fight Senate changes to the bill that significantly narrow voucher expansion. Instead, he’s proposed a modest increase in the tuition cap — $400 over the next two years.

House Bill 1327: House lawmakers were expected to vote Monday on a proposal to relax superintendent licensure requirements. Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann cast the tie-breaking vote when the bill left the Senate earlier this month. Now the House needs to approve those changes before the bill can go to Gov. Mike Pence.

House Bill 1427: We’re waiting to see if a proposal that would halt implementation of new academic standards will pass the House or head to conference committee. Sen. Scott Schneider, R-Indianapolis, added anti-Common Core language to the bill after a separate Senate timeout proposal stalled in the House Education Committee. Behning, who chairs that panel, is a staunch supporter of the new standards and says he’d like to see HB 1427 head to conference committee, but Schneider feels he has the votes he needs in the House to succeed.

When we look ahead to the end of this session, April 29 at latest, we must also begin looking ahead to future elections and determine who we need to take a close look at voting out. 

WEDNESDAY WIRE

The Greatest American Institution 

"The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expenses of it. There should not be a district of one mile square, without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves."— John Adams, U.S. President, 1785

Where is the gap in logic? As I sit here trying to figure out how to write this post, I keep wondering what the heck these Indiana legislators are thinking with their “reform” of our public education system. I mean, where are the dots not connecting here?

If there is one Institution, one great idea that separates the US from the rest of the world, that has produced great leaders and scientists, artists and innovators, engineers and musicians - it is this idea that we take the education of the whole people upon ourselves. HB 1003 threatens to expand this notion that private institutions should benefit from public funding so that some – not all – have the ‘choice’ to attend the private institution. All the while this ‘choice’ is funded at the expense of our greatest institution, our public education system that actually educates the whole people.

CALL YOUR SENATOR AND TELL THEM TO VOTE NO TO 1003 NOW!!

Our laws have to make sense and be able to withstand the test of reason. If this system of granting vouchers for 'choice' is good enough for public education, shouldn’t it be good enough for other institutions to be logical? For example:

If vouchers are so great, Why don’t we start funneling money from Public Libraries to give it to Barnes and Noble? Or Christian Book Stores? After all, I am a taxpayer and I want compensated for my choice to purchase books at a bookstore instead of borrowing from a Library.


Or better yet, I don’t want to take public transportation, it is my "choice" to buy a car...cant the Legislators funnel a certain dollar amount from public transportation so I can use it to fund my automobile "choice"?
 

I will tell you why – because outsourcing public funds to private institutions is nothing more than Corporate Welfare. Whether it is Voucher funds to private schools, Book Stores, or Car Dealers, outsourcing public funds to private institutions will always be nothing more than Corporate Welfare. For as many people in the House and Senate who claim to be Capitalists, supportive of a free market system, there are an awful lot of these same legislators who seek to support these “capitalist free market” ventures with public funds. Last time I checked, that isn’t Capitalism.

It is time for ALL Hoosiers to come together and say enough of this voucher nonsense. We don’t need to pay for someone else’s so-called ‘choice’ while our Greatest American Institution – that very institution that separates US from the rest of the world, is left to deteriorate and our children left with curriculum cuts, educator down-sizing, and program dismantling. This is the OPPOSITE of educating of our children - this is cronyism, nothing more,.

It is time for the those downstate to put their petty power struggles aside and do what is right for THE PEOPLE – not some of the people, ALL of the PEOPLE.

CALL YOUR LEGISLATOR AND ASK THEM TO VOTE NO ON 1003 Today!
Tell them you want fully – funded PUBLIC Schools, not Corporate Welfare disguised as ‘reform’.


 

TUESDAY TATTLER 10

This is the Triple "T" Edition of Tuesday Tattler, as it is Tuesday Tattler TEN.  For this installment the tattler once again puts pressure on the Indiana Senate to VOTE NO on Voucher Expansion (HB 1003) and calls on public school advocates to focus on 10 specific Senators in making calls. 

WE CAN STILL DEFEAT HB1003 in the Senate

After passing two Senate committees last week, the voucher expansion bill (HB1003) did NOT come up for second reading Thursday. That means it has to get both second and third reading votes before the end of day this Wednesday.   Late this Monday afternoon, the senate began hearing amendments to HB 1003. Democrats offered one that would make a line-item for vouchers in the overall budget. This would allow for tracking the funding and also guarantee a certain amount for public education to have in its budget. This amendment was voted down by Republicans on a straight party line.

Remember: vouchers come out of the budget for public schools first and THEN the remaing moneis are distributed to public schools. It is important that all Senators hear from passionate public school advocates in the next 24 hours.  Lobbyists have been contacting Senators one by one, and your messages will add urgency. If we can defeat this bill in the Senate, we don't have to worry about battling it again in the House.

We most definitely CAN put an end to this fiasco that is robbing money from public schools and slow the destructive process current legislators seem hell bent on forcing onto our public schools.  For the most part, the overarching concern of those senators (all Republican) who are possibly waffling on this HB1003, is financial.  Remember that Senator Skinner of the Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee has said that they don't know and can't tell us just how much this bill will actually cost the public schools' budgets. How can they be fiscally responsible and support this?

Below are your Tuesday Tattler "10" to contact immediately!

Here is a list of some specific Senators to contact, along with reasons and rationale for making contact. Please make as many contacts as possible over the next few hours. It is vital that ALL senators hear the reasons why this bill is one of the most detrimental to PUBLIC education to come from the house so far. 

CONTACT THESE SENATORS SPECIFICALLY!! 

1.) Senator Mishler (R) of District 9 (Marshall County and Kosciusko County) said that , although he agrees with "choice" he has some major reservations. He is in the area near Warsaw and in his area there are almost no schools that one can use vouchers for! If you know anyone in that area, please let them know that they need to contact him and let him know that they, too, have deep concerns. For most of these waffling Republicans, my understanding is that they are worried about the cost. During the Tax and Fiscal Policy committee, Mishler said he "reserves the right to vote against it on the floor. " Let's all encourage him to vote NO and let him know that this bleeding of funds will hurt the public schools in his district. His email is: s9@iga.in.gov.

2.) Senator Zakas  (District 11) was first elected in 1982 and he may be a key vote. He is a Catholic and is probably getting a lot of pressure from Catholic school parents and schools. If you are Catholic or you know some Catholic school parents who don't believe in de-funding public schools, please try to contact him. Or if you know anyone in that area, of course. His email is : s11@iga.in.gov.

3.) Senator Landske  (District 6) She was originally sworn into the Senate in 1984. ( Lake County, Newton County, and Benton County area).  Senator Landske has fiscal concerns about this bill and needs to hear from as many constituents as possible asking her to be fiscally responsible and VOTE NO.  Tell Sue that 1003 is bad for her community! Tri-Creek and other schools will only suffer from voucher expansion!!! Her email is s6@iga.in.gov

4.) Senator Charbonneau ( District 5) (Valpo and Rensselear area) has shown that he has serious reservations about the A-F grading system of our schools. Now the HB1003 includes an amendment that would allow anyone in an "F" school district to take a voucher. A Kindergartner within an "A" elementary school district but that also has an "F" high school, could go straight to a private one. Let's encourage him to see the misuse of this grading system in this bill and, of course, the financial ramifications of these millions of dollars leaving our public school budget. Let's Remind Ed what he said at the Legislative Breakfast about 1003/vouchers being an Indianapolis issue, not Northwest Indiana. Tell him we expect him to vote with Northwest Indiana, not be complacent with the party line! His email is s5@iga.in.gov

5.) Senator Kenley (District 20, Hamilton County) had been wonderful at arguing against expanding these vouchers. His concerns are financial, but he also pointed out that they are doing a bait and switch type of thing by allowing wealthier families to receive these vouchers as well as not requiring so many kids to try the public schools first. He needs to be thanked for this and encouraged to vote against the bill. He has suggested that we have a study first to see how the vouchers are working for kids. Please encourage him to push for that before we expand the program. He also seems to be very concerned with the way special education will be hurt by this bill (see Vic's notes). His email is s20@iga.in.gov

6.) Senator Steele (District 44, Bedford, Columbus, Nashville area: Brown Co., Lawrence Co, Jackson Co. and some Monroe Co.) was concerned during the first voucher bill with accountability of the private schools. He added an amendment that was about something like civics and morals being taught in those voucher schools requiring some accountability. That provision for accountability was promptly tossed aside by Tony Bennett and crew. They only have to observe 5% (13 total) schools and have a very vague review of what goes on. Accountability as well as financial cost might be a good argument for him. Please let your friends know. Here's his email: s44@iga.in.gov

7.) Senator Bray, freshman senator whose family background does not support public education or fiscal education funding. District 37 (Morgan County and some Putnam. Martinsville) email: s37@iga.in.gov

8.) Senator Crider, like Bray, is new to the senate (so they didn't vote for vouchers in 2011) He is District 28. (Greenfield). Email s28@iga.in.gov

9. ) Senator Waltz, District 36 (Marion County and Norther Johnson County) In the Senate since 2004, he has an investment banking company, The Baron Group, Inc., which specializes in mergers, acquisitions, and capitalization of small to mid size private companies in the transportation and manufacturing industries.  This financial background should make him aware of the fiscal irresponsibility of VOUCHERS. His email is s36@iga.in.gov

10.) Senator Leising, District 42 (Rushville, Connersville) a member of the Education and Career Development committee, she should most definitely be aware of the destructive nature of this fiscally irresponsible legislation. s42@iga.in.gov


These senators should also hear from you with the financial concerns:

Senator Alting, District 22. See map His email is s22@iga.in.gov

Senator Becker, District 50 (Evansville area). Her email is s50@iga.in.gov

Senator Boots , District 23 ( Crawfordsville and Lebanon area). His email s23@iga.in.gov

Senator Head, District 18 His email s18@iga.in.gov

Senator Paul, District 27 (Richmond area) His email is s27@iga.in.gov

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

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.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?

The Race To Waste $46 Mil In The House

An Open Letter

To The Members of The House Committee On Education,

HB 1003 is scheduled for a hearing and you are expected to vote on this bill today. As a mom of 2 children that attend Public School in Northwest Indiana, as a woman raised on a grain and hog farm in Central Indiana, and as Hoosier through and through, I implore you to vote NO on this measure. It needs to stop where it is at in an attempt to bring a little bit of common sense back to your actions.

Indiana's voucher program (the LARGEST voucher program in the country) has been legally challenged as it conflicts with the Indiana Constitution on two grounds. First, that you as Representatives are charged with creating policy in line with the Constitution which directs you to educate children through a system of common schools - Indiana's "so-called" Public Education system. Second, you as Representatives are charged with creating policy that would not compel "We The Taxpayers" to pay taxes which support religious institutions.

This legal challenge has not been resolved and to be quite frank with you, the Legislators interested in "reforming" Indiana's Public Education System might be surprised how it ends. Now you plan to expand a program this session, that will potentially be deemed unconstitutional? Where is the common sense in that action! This isn't the Indy 500 - you don't have to pass it now - time is on your side and you should use it to your advantage. Sit it out, let us see what happens in court before moving forward in any method or manner on this Bill.

Finally, I will argue and I believe MOST of the taxpaying and voting citizens agree on this...It is NOT your responsibility to pay for - with my tax dollars - "school choice" in Indiana. My tax dollars should be going to the benefit of Indiana citizens as a whole, to the betterment of most all Hoosiers, not just a few. Private and Religious Schools can not and will not serve most all Hoosiers. If a parent chooses to send their child to a Religious School - so be it, that is their choice. They should have to deal with the financial implications of their choice. The rest of the children in the State of Indiana should not pay for their choice.

Now, you vote how you want, but don't forget the rest of us regular hard-working Hoosier moms and dads are watching - and we will vote in less than 2 years. And if Public Education continues to be dismantled, I guarantee you - my vote will go with Public Education.

Sincerely,

The Hoosier Mom On Politics