Vic’s Statehouse Notes #163 – December 23, 2013

Dear Friends,

After opening with unanimous approval of a revised agreement on meeting procedures that had been negotiated earlier in the week, Superintendent Ritz and the State Board of Education efficiently completed a substantive meeting, adjourning at 1:30 compared to the 4:00pm adjournment of recent meetings.

School letter grades using Dr. Bennett’s old formula were approved by the Board by a vote of 9-1, with the dissent of Board Member Andrea Neal.

The State Board’s Executive Director on the Governor’s Center for Education and Career Innovation (CECI) staff announced that the state hearings on REPA 2/REPA 3 rule changes are scheduled for January 13, 14 and 16 in South Bend, Indianapolis and Evansville, respectively. All teachers and teacher educators should know that the effort to lower standards for teachers and administrators now known as REPA 3 are back and that the January hearings offer the public’s best opportunity to convince the State Board that these rule changes should be rejected. Details are below.

School Letter Grades

Using Dr. Bennett’s old system, school letter grades on the whole went up. More A’s and B’s and fewer C’s, D’s and F’s were recorded statewide than in 2012. There were many schools that experienced wild swings in grades which was attributed to the weaknesses in the growth section of the system. Much was said in the meeting about the new A-F system to come, which it was said will be used two years from now for the 2014-2015 student data.

It can’t be soon enough.

REPA 2/REPA 3

I was unaware until the Dec. 20th meeting that REPA 2 is back and the public hearings are scheduled for three weeks from now. That is your unwelcome December surprise.

REPA 2 was Dr. Bennett’s parting shot to try to lower standards for getting teacher and administrator licenses. He asked the State Board to pass the revised rules in December of 2012 after his election defeat. They were passed but with so many amendments that the Attorney General ruled that the rules could not be finalized until they were clarified and given another round of public hearings.

The CECI has now picked up the ball and is calling them REPA 3. They contain at least four really bad ideas:

1) Individuals with any four year degree can get a 5-year “Adjunct” teaching license.

2) Training required to get a principal’s license would be reduced.

3) Training required to get a superintendent’s license would be reduced.

4) Administrative certification can be offered by non-higher education organizations. Whether for-profit private organizations can become training sites for administrators and adjunct teachers is not clear but remains a possibility that should be clarified before the hearings.

The hearings are in South Bend, Indianapolis and Evansville as announced in the Indiana Register:

Notice is hereby given that on January 13, 2014, at 10:00 a.m., at the St. Joseph County
Public Library, Main Branch, Colfax Auditorium, 304 South Main Street, South Bend, Indiana;
AND
on January 14, 2014, at 9:00 a.m., at the Indiana Government Center South, 402 West Washington Street, Conference
Center Room A, Indianapolis, Indiana;
AND
on January 16, 2014, at 9:30 a.m., at the Evansville Public Library System, McCullough Branch, Meeting Room, 5115 Washington Avenue, Evansville, Indiana,
the Indiana StateBoard of Education will hold public hearings on proposed changes to Title 511 of the Indiana Administrative Code

Since Dr. Bennett had the REPA 2 passed in January of 2013, there are six new members of the State Board, so it is time to contact them about correcting this proposal. One new member, Brad Oliver, testified against REPA 2 in its only hearing in June of 2012.

Thank you for your advocacy for highly trained teachers and for public education!


Best wishes,

Vic Smith


ICPE is working to promote public education and oppose the privatization of schools in the Statehouse. We are preparing for the next session of the General Assembly beginning January 6th. Joel Hand will again serve as ICPE lobbyist for the session. We need your membership to help support his work. Many have renewed their memberships this fall, and we thank you! If you have not done so since July 1, the start of our new membership year, we urge you to renew by going to our website.

We need additional memberships to pay for our lobbying efforts which begin in January and to carry on our advocacy for public education. We need additional members and additional donations. We need your help!

Go to www.icpe2011.com for membership and renewal information and for full information on ICPE efforts on behalf of public education. Thanks!


Some readers have asked about my background in Indiana public schools. Thanks for asking! Here is a brief bio:

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969. I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor. I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009. I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998.

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #162 – December 19, 2013

Vic Smith is on the board of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education. He and his organization work hard for public education. He attends every Indiana State Board of Education meeting and often speaks in support of public education. He regularly publishes his "Statehouse Notes" with information of importance to all public school advocates. Here is his latest.

Dear Friends,

Letter grades for Indiana schools are scheduled to be issued this Friday, December 20th, using Dr. Bennett’s flawed formula that the General Assembly rejected and thought that they had voided. HEA 1427 passed last April says, “Not later than November 15, 2013, the state board shall establish new categories or designations of school performance under the requirements of this chapter to replace 511 IAC 6.2-6. “

It didn’t happen.

The new letter grades to be announced Friday for 2012-13 will be based on the old failed formula. To speed up the change, the State Board would have needed to pass emergency rules which they showed no interest in doing. In the October State Board meeting, Board Secretary Dan Elsener praised the current A-F system and called for the employment of the consultant who helped Dr. Bennett with the formula. The Governor’s State Board staff attorney stated in the same October meeting that the old formula should be used two more times for 2013-14 data and 2014-15 data before ending it. That remains the current plan.

Meanwhile the battle for control of education policy rages on. Indiana taxpayers are now funding three different systems of schools, and Governor Pence’s 2014 legislative agenda does nothing to relieve the funding agonies of the biggest and largest of the three, Indiana’s community public schools.

School Letter Grades

The flaws of the current A-F system have been ignored in the news about State Board members trying to speed up letter grade announcements. In their controversial October 16th email action, now the subject of a lawsuit in Marion County filed by Bill Groth saying that State Board members violated the Open Door law, ten members asked legislative leaders to have the Legislative Services Agency calculate the letter grades without notifying their chair, Superintendent Ritz. The fact that this is all about a flawed and discredited formula has been ignored in the media.

No one should forget that the members of the General Assembly heard so many complaints about the unfair A-F system unveiled in 2012 that they voided it, or at least thought they did. The inadequacies of the system are fourfold:

Flaw #1: It is based primarily on the percent passing, rather than on improvement as PL221 called for.

Flaw #2: The bonuses for growth are anemic compared to the weight given to percent passing.

Flaw #3: The growth model used for bonus points is based on peer comparison statistics. This leads to capricious and unpredictable results about low-growth and high-growth students.

Flaw #4: In the final analysis, the current A-F system was badly miscalibrated. Many good schools received low grades, damaging the economic development efforts of communities all over Indiana as they try to explain to prospective businesses why their strong local schools ended up with a low grade using a flawed grading system. The current system is not fair to Indiana’s schools.

I presented details on these four points in public comments to the State Board meeting on November 8th. My comments on that day are attached for those who want a one-pager on the problems of our current system and the reasons the General Assembly lost confidence in it. Yet the members of the State Board apparently want to use it this year and for two additional years to grade our schools.

That makes no sense and challenges the rule of law. I wonder if any members of the General Assembly have noticed that the members of the State Board have somehow found a way to deny their legislative intent in HEA 1427.

Legislators heard your outrage about this letter grade system in 2012. I hope they will do so again this year.

I would hope that all public announcements about school letter grades by state or local officials will include a reminder to the public that this current system has been voided by action of the General Assembly and is in the process of being replaced with one that could deserve public confidence.

Three Different and Competing School Systems

In August, Governor Pence created the Center for Education and Career Innovation, a $5 million duplicative education bureaucracy, to divert control of Indiana education policy from Superintendent Ritz to his office. He was willing to do this, risking his national reputation for efficiency and small government, because of deep differences on educational policy.

As a result of seismic changes in the 2011 General Assembly, Indiana taxpayers are now funding three school systems which compete in a marketplace of schools:

1) Community Public Schools, established in Indiana’s 1851 Constitution, serving 291 communities or geographic areas, open to all students, tuition free, governed by a school board which is in most cases elected, non-sectarian and non-partisan, unionized under Governor Bowen’s collective bargaining law passed in 1973 which was revised in 2011, serving over 1 million students in over 1800 schools.

2) Charter Public Schools, established by the General Assembly in 2001, not linked to a geographic area and open to any student in the state, tuition free, governed by an authorizer and an appointed school board, non-sectarian, non-unionized, serving about 30,000 students in about 80 schools.

3) Voucher Private Schools, established by the General Assembly in 2011, not linked to a geographic area, open to students whose application is accepted by the private school, tuition paid or subsidized by taxpayer funded vouchers and by taxpayer subsidized scholarships from Scholarship Granting Organizations, governed by appointed school boards, primarily sectarian religious schools (98%), non-unionized, serving about 100,000 students with about 20,000 receiving vouchers.

In the deep controversy between Governor Pence and State Superintendent Ritz which has now reverberated to the pages of the New York Times, each official is identified with different elements of this tripartite system.

Superintendent Ritz was elected as an advocate for community public schools, the largest of the three systems. She has said she supports community-based charter schools but not the efforts to bring to Indiana large scale for-profit charter school networks. She has in the past opposed the use of public dollars to subsidize tuition with vouchers for private schools, although after her election she resolutely pledged to enforce all voucher laws enacted by the General Assembly in 2011 and 2013.

Governor Pence was elected as an advocate for voucher schools and for charter schools. He put his power behind a major expansion of vouchers in the 2013 General Assembly which raised the voucher count to 20,000 this past fall. In his 2014 legislative agenda, his “Roadmap”, he has singled out charter schools for help, such as a plank to strengthen the state’s hand in taking underutilized buildings from local school boards for use by charter schools. Another plank would give state money to pay the differential to excellent public school teachers who want to transfer to low-performing charter schools that now pay teachers on average $12,000 less. Needless to say, this is not a hit with public school leaders who would lose excellent teachers from their schools due to this state incentive. Even an internal memo from his new education agency, the CECI, says that “the program has the appearance, rightly or wrongly, of showing favoritism towards charter schools.”

There is the word: favoritism. Since his election, the Governor has favored voucher schools and charter schools over community public schools. His new 2014 agenda contains nothing to help community public schools. His first budget gave a 2% increase for public school funding in the current year 2013-14 and only a 1% increase in 2014-15, the lowest non-recession funding increases since I started watching the General Assembly in 1997. Low funding levels have led to community-shaking agonies in Muncie, Carmel, Fortville (Mt. Vernon Schools) and others. Several districts face the loss of bus transportation funding due to property tax caps. The Indianapolis Public Schools, facing a $30 million deficit, has seen layoffs for three years in a row threaten the stability of remarkably improved programs such as the Harshman Magnet Middle School, recently highlighted in the Indianapolis Star.

In the intense conflict among these three competing school systems, the Governor is taking every legal edge to take policy control away from Superintendent Ritz and to maintain the growth of the two new systems at the expense of community public schools.

Governor Pence vs. State Superintendent Ritz

The Governor has all the power in this dispute with the State Superintendent. He has appointed State Board members who vigorously pursue his positions and join in his steady campaign to reduce the influence of the State Superintendent. If any vote is held, he will win. It is not surprising that a CECI memo discussed a plan to seek legislative changes to remove the State Superintendent as chair of the State Board. It is also not surprising that Superintendent Ritz reacted strongly to the CECI spending state-funded time outlining options for her demise as chair.

These are high stakes battles. The outcomes will shape the future of education in Indiana. The Governor has taken the lead in supporting charter schools and voucher schools while diminishing the funding for community public schools, just the opposite of the positions taken by Superintendent Ritz on this tripartite school mixture.

In the long run, however, the power is in the hands of the people. It is not yet clear that the people of Indiana want to let community public schools slowly disintegrate due to poor funding and high class sizes, leaving them to students of poverty and disability, while parents flee to voucher schools and charter schools.

The Future of Community Public Schools

Public schools have served Indiana well for over a hundred years. They are non-partisan and non-sectarian forums that bring whole communities together in ways that a fragmented system of private and charter schools could never do. Voting citizens are just waking up to the depth of this issue for our democracy and for the future of our communities. The final analysis in a democracy will be made by the voters, a very slow process.

Actually, the process began in 2012 when the voters chose Glenda Ritz over Tony Bennett. Without the voters, there would be no “Governor vs. State Superintendent” controversy, and Indiana would be rolling faster down the road to more vouchers and weaker community public schools in the vision of Governor Pence.

The people are deciding now which of the three school systems they want to support. Instead of taking politics out of education, as the Governor has said he wants to do, he has put it on the front burner. For advocates for public education, it needs to be on front burner to reverse the hard times that continue for too many of our community public schools.

The fact is that Indiana doesn’t have enough money to appropriately fund three different school systems. As one system is given preference, another system is diminished.

The voters will soon have a turn in 2014, this time in the form of legislative races for the Indiana House and the Indiana Senate. What priority will candidates give to the three different systems in Indiana? Will they back community public schools, charter public schools or voucher private schools? Will they support Governor Pence or Superintendent Ritz on education policy? The stakes in Indiana have never been higher.

I urge you to keep your legislators informed about the problems with school letter grades and the obvious policies of favoritism that are undermining and diminishing community public schools. Your participation in this generational battle on behalf of community public schools is greatly appreciated!


Best wishes,

Vic Smith


ICPE is working to promote public education and oppose the privatization of schools in the Statehouse. We are preparing for the next session of the General Assembly beginning January 6th. Joel Hand will again serve as ICPE lobbyist for the session. We need your membership to help support his work. Many have renewed their memberships this fall, and we thank you! If you have not done so since July 1, the start of our new membership year, we urge you to renew by going to our website.

We need additional memberships to pay for our lobbying efforts which begin in January and to carry on our advocacy for public education. We need additional members and additional donations. We need your help!

Go to www.icpe2011.com for membership and renewal information and for full information on ICPE efforts on behalf of public education. Thanks!


Some readers have asked about my background in Indiana public schools. Thanks for asking! Here is a brief bio:

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969. I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor. I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009. I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998.

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CECI Plans to Remove Superintendent Ritz as chair of State Board of Education

The job of the Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction is being threatened!

The Indiana Department of Education posted information about how the Center for Education and Career Information (CECI) is making political plans to remove Superintendent Ritz as chair of the State Board of Education. The post referred to CECI documents describing the plan.

Here's an excellent synopsis of the CECI document from Jenny Robinson:

[The CECI document] includes recommendations on a number of things, including redefining the role of the state superintendent so that a governor-appointed state board member would chair the policy-making state board of education...but also on liquidating "unused" or "underutilized" public school buildings, seizing the associated local property tax funds, and potentially channeling those assets into the private sector. Direct quote: "...removing the requirement of maintenance of buildings from school corporations allows school corporations to focus on educating children rather than on facilities maintenance." Has CECI posted this document anywhere publicly? Thanks to Ritz's DOE for posting it and shedding some light on this shadowy agency.

Also, under "Pre-Kindergarten": "It is critical that any pre-K program have strong accountability based on outcome data that measures whether or not providers are preparing students to be ready for Kindergarten. Work has already been done to develop pre-K standards and assessment, but we must connect pre-K to K-3 policy, including a strong emphasis on literacy. Consistent with having high levels of accountability, providers who do not meet expectations for Kindergarten preparedness should face strong penalties including removal from the program.

We should let Governor Pence know that this is not the direction we would like for public education in Indiana. Contact the Governor by clicking on the following link:

http://www.in.gov/gov/2333.htm

Scroll down the center for the telephone number, postal mail address, or an email form.

Below is the press release which, Daniel Altman, press secretary for the Indiana Department of Education posted on the DOE web site on Wednesday:

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Indiana Department of Education Releases CECI Roadmap

Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Daniel Altman
Press Secretary
(317) 232-0550
daltman@doe.in.gov

INDIANAPOLIS – In response to a reporter’s question about attempts by the State Board of Education and Governor Pence’s Center for Education and Career Innovation (CECI) to remove her power, Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz today reaffirmed her position that the CECI is seeking to have her removed as Chair of the State Board and lessen her authority.

Below is a document that was sent from a CECI attorney regarding the CECI’s plans to remove Superintendent Ritz as chair. Section five of the document details those plans. The document is CECI’s roadmap to:

-Remove the elected Superintendent as chair of the State Board;

-Continue the corporatization of public education to the detriment of public education in our state;

-Transfer and erode local control over school facilities; and

-Take away authority statutorily given to the Department of Education.

“Last year, I was elected to lead the Indiana Department of Education and chair the State Board of Education,” said Superintendent Ritz. “This document shows that the CECI is attempting to change a governing structure that has worked for over 100 years, under both Democrats and Republicans.”

Also below is a preliminary draft of a bill that was circulated at an interim summer study committee that would take away authority from the Department of Education over carefully protected student privacy data.

“As an educator and a parent, I know that the protection of student information is one of the key roles of the Department.

“I am committed to ensuring that the elected Office of the Superintendent continues to serve as chair of the State Board while preserving the authority of the Department to protect the voice of the voters and the integrity of public education in Indiana."

A copy of the documents can be found here.

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ISTA Take Five for Glenda and Public Education

TAKE ACTION: Contact Governor Pence to encourage him to stop diminishing the authority of Superintendent Ritz and the Department of Education.

Governor Mike Pence’s Office: 1 (317) 232-4567

Consider the Following: ISTA members saw the result of the governor-appointed members of the State Board of Education continuing to undermine the authority of Indiana’s duly-elected State Superintendent Glenda Ritz.

“A year ago, voters elected Ritz to lead our state’s educational programs,” said Teresa Meredith, ISTA President. “Soon after bills were drafted undermining her authority. When those efforts failed, Gov. Mike Pence, ignoring 1.3 million voters and through an executive order the legality of which ISTA continues to question, created at taxpayers’ expense a duplicate Department of Education – the Center for Education and Career Innovation (CECI).”

Through these actions, Pence perpetuates the ugly climate and escalates the gridlock displayed at the November 13th State Board of Education Meeting.

In a letter to the Indianapolis Star this afternoon, Gov. Pence criticized the present of politics in education policy making. “It’s time to put conflict behind us and work together for the benefit of our kids and their futures,” Pence wrote.

Actions speak louder than words, Governor, and the very existence of CECI diminishes the authority of Supt. Ritz and the Department of Education. The creation of and efforts to expand CECI can only be viewed as both political and inflammatory.

Talking Points

• Governor, Indiana’s children need you to govern and be a bridge builder between your appointed-board members and the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

• Glenda is the duly elected Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction—Indiana’s Chief State School Officer.

• Taxpayers lose with CECI creation as it attempts to duplicate duties performed by the Department of Education and Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Make your voice heard today!

November 14 Meeting

The ISTA-Retired Allen County Chapter will meet on Nov. 14, 2013 at noon at

Salvatori's Authentic Italian Eatery
10337 Illinois Road, Fort Wayne

Salvatori's is located in a small shopping center on the southwest corner of Illinois Road, (St. Road 14) and Scott Road. Turn off of Illinois Road onto Scott Road and turn right at the first driveway into the shopping center and its about the fourth or fifth place on your left. (About the center of the stores.)

Our speaker is Marjorie Stephens from the Northeast Indiana Better Business Bureau. The topic is "Senior Fraud and Too Good To Be True Schemes." We will also get updates on what is happening with FWCS and the State Legislature.

We hope to see you all there. Come and bring your Spouse and/or Friends.

Please RSVP by Monday, November 11, 2013 to Dorthy Epple.

Happy Veteran's Day and Happy Thanksgiving.

Message from Teresa Meredith

Since her stunning election last November, ISTA has witnessed a growing and rarely subtle display of disrespect for Glenda Ritz' authority as Indiana's duly-elected Chief State School Officer from the governor-appointed members of the State Board of Education--the board that she is by law called upon to chair.

Those who have been around state government for decades have never witnessed anything quite like the "group dismissiveness" that she has faced from the balance of the appointed board--those who should have "gotten over it" a long time ago and become her colleagues in Indiana's education policy-making.

ISTA has watched Glenda Ritz be a model of patience and professionalism while trying to fulfill her twin roles as State Superintendent of Public Instruction and statutory chairperson of the State Board of Education.

You name it, she's faced it: Springing surprise resolutions at board meetings diminishing her authority, creating "shadow" policy-making committees chaired by someone other than her with calculated odds stacked against her, wasting taxpayer resources to essentially duplicate the work of the DOE by hiring lawyers, special assistants, and executive directors, being told with a straight face that blatantly Republican members of the board are independent, and inheriting an A-F school accountability system that needed to be overhauled from the ground up.

And so now, faced with yet another bit of "medicine" meted out by this board with which she's been dealt, while she was out of the country on business no less, Glenda responded--leveraging the very laws that she swore to uphold. And, yes, now, people are watching.....and supporting her all over again.

It is hoped that her action will better encourage and ultimately lead to increased transparency in government and education policy-making...and it is further hoped that the balance of Indiana's state board might take a moment to exhale and resolve to try to work with Glenda. Doubtful as that may be, wouldn't it be a mighty nice example of adult behavior modeling by which Hoosier children might benefit?

And yes, now, people are watching...and supporting her all over again.

-Teresa Meredith, ISTA President

Ritz Files Suit Against State BOE

Status Update
By Indiana State Teachers Association
October 22, 2013

Contact: Daniel Altman
daltman@doe.in.gov
Office: (317) 232-0550
Cell: (317) 650-8698

INDIANA SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION GLENDA RITZ FILES SUIT AGAINST GOVERNOR PENCE’S STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

INDIANAPOLIS – In response to apparent violations of the Open Door Law by members of the State Board of Education, Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz filed suit today naming ten members of the Board as defendants. The lawsuit alleges that the named members of the State Board violated Indiana’s Open Door Law by taking action in secret by drafting, or directing the drafting of, a letter they sent to President Pro Tempore Long and Speaker Bosma dated October 16, 2013. The suit seeks to prevent the State Board of Education from continued violations of the Open Door Law and declaratory relief.

Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that ten members of the State Board violated Indiana’s Open Door Law when they took action by requesting that Senator Long and Speaker Bosma appoint Indiana’s Legislative Services Agency to perform calculations to determine the 2012-2013 A-F grades for Indiana schools. The suit alleges that no public notice was issued for a meeting that allowed for this action and that Superintendent Ritz was not made aware of this action until after it was taken, despite her role as Chair of the State Board of Education.

“When I was sworn in to office, I took an oath to uphold the laws of the State of Indiana,” said Superintendent Ritz. “I take this oath very seriously and I was dismayed to learn that other members of the State Board have not complied with the requirements of the law. While I respect the commitment and expertise of members of the board individually, I feel they have over-stepped their bounds.

“Since my inauguration, I have worked tirelessly to communicate openly with the Board and the public. I do not take this action lightly, but my obligations as elected state Superintendent require it. I look forward to continuing to work to improve education for all Indiana students in a fair, transparent and collaborative manner.”

The suit is Ritz v. Elsener, et al and it has been filed in the Marion Circuit Court. The cause number is 49C01-1310-PL-038953. The Department of Education is using in-house counsel to avoid any additional costs to the state.

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Course Change on Annuity Accounts

October 21, 2013

Dear ISTA Members,

We want you to know that today's meeting of the Pension Management and Oversight Commission (PMOC) went well. Much of what happened today is the direct response to your thoughtful communications with members of the Commission.

Today, PMOC members sent a unanimous message about the direction it supports - not to privatize this annuity work but, instead, to find a better balance between what INPRS believes it needs and the needs of its members.

Today's motion from the Commission's final report reads:

1. The Commission considered the four proposals considered by the INPRS Board regarding the issuance of annuities to retirees for their ASAs.
2. The Commission recommends that INPRS pursue an option that would keep the annuitization of ASAs in-house and to not proceed with a 3rd party contract. Instead INPRS should periodically establish an interest rate that will not create an unfunded liability in their managed funds.
3. The Commission recommends the General Assembly not set a statutory interest rate at this time.
4. The Commission recommends that the date to undertake these activities occur not earlier than October 1, 2014.

Basically, the recommendation calls for NO PRIVATIZATION and that INPRS continue to annuitize in-house in a way that will not create an imbalance between what INPRS promises and what it can earn in investments.

This is a "non-binding" recommendation, but carries weight inasmuch as PMOC oversees the work of INPRS. INPRS will meet this Friday and it is hoped that INPRS will take new action to reflect PMOC's recommendations.

The reason for the Oct. 1, 2014 implementation date is to ensure that school employees interested in retiring next summer can do so under the current retirement system.

ISTA will continue to work to make positive impacts on behalf of members. Please stay tuned. We will keep you informed.

Please take time to thank Sen. Karen Tallian for her leadership on this issue and for offering her motion. Also, take time to thank the other legislative members of PMOC for voting for it.

Chairperson: Sen. Phil Boots (R-Crawfordsville): s23@in.gov
Sen. Gregory Walker (R-Columbus); s41@in.gov
Sen. Karen Tallian (D-Portage); s4@in.gov
Sen. Lindel Hume (D-Princeton); s48@in.gov
Rep. Jeff Thompson (R-Lizton); h28@in.gov
Rep. Woody Burton (R-Whiteland); h58@in.gov
Rep. Chuck Moseley (D-Portage); h10@in.gov
Rep. David Niezgodski (D-South Bend); h7@in.gov

ISTA knows this is a high-interest topic and will continue to hold its retirement workshops around the state as originally scheduled.

A Fall Message to Members

ISTA's Teresa Meredith message to members...

Questions for Teresa: 1-800-382-4037

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September 12, 2013 Meeting

ISTA-Retired Allen County Chapter meeting. Sept. 12, 2013, at 12:00 Noon.

Chops Steak and Seafood
6421 W. Jefferson St.
Ft. Wayne, IN

The ISTA-Retired Allen County Chapter will meet on Sept. 12, 2013, at noon, at Chops Steak and Seafood Restaurant on 6421 W. Jefferson St., Ft. Wayne, IN. Our featured speaker will be Monica Miller, a local author. Eric Pulley, from Big Brothers Big Sisters NE IN., will make a short presentation. We will have updates on what is happening with FWEA and Education in Indiana.

We will be collecting school/teacher supplies for college students who are members of ISEA (Indiana Student Education Association) which is the student membership category of ISTA. The students greatly appreciate all the supplies they are given. Any items you can donate will be welcomed. Thanks for your help. :)

Please RSVP by Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013. We hope to see you all on Thurs., Sept. 12th. Spouses and/ or friends are invited to attend.

Pence, Elsener Move to Take Power From Ritz

From ISTA...

Once again, the Indiana State Board of Education (SBE), consistent with its past experience, flouts rules, transparency, meaningful debate, and process in its latest power grab targeted against Glenda Ritz, State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

At today's SBE meeting, member Dan Elsener presented an action item in the form of a resolution, without prior notification to Superintendent Ritz, who chairs the SBE, and without properly placing his resolution on the agenda for the committee's and, more importantly, the public's benefit and future input.

Elsener's resolution calls for him to chair a SBE-controlled committee involving more outside consultants and taxpayer spending to develop Indiana goals-something that the current Department of Education could and should accomplish by way of making recommendations to the SBE.

"Unfortunately, this kind of presumptuousness has become common practice with this and the prior administration's state board of education," said ISTA President Teresa Meredith.

At today's meeting, in the wake of Superintendent Ritz mentioning the need for compliance with Indiana's Open Door laws, a board member seconded Elsener's motion and the board passed the resolution without any substantive debate nor objection except for Ritz' clear abstention.

ISTA encourages its members to contact Gov. Mike Pence and ask him to remind the people he has appointed to the State Board of Education to respect process, transparency and Superintendent Ritz, the elected official who chairs the State Board.

But wait . . . there's more . . .

It appears as though there are no bounds to the State Board of Education and the Governor's march to power-over and over-power Indiana's duly-elected state superintendent of public instruction, Glenda Ritz.

Today's lengthy SBE meeting began and ended with twin power grabs targeted squarely at Ritz.

The first resolution offered by member Dan Elsener called for him to chair a new committee that is tasked with setting the goals for Indiana's education system-something that has always been within the purview of the State Superintendent's office-who also happens to be the lawful chairperson for the State Board of Education. The publicly-funded "Elsener Committee" will contract out with outside consultants, spending additional taxpayer dollars along the way to do the Department of Education's work. Elsener did not give Glenda Ritz, as chairperson, the courtesy of prior notice of his resolution and then called for action on the resolution even though it was not part of the meeting's agenda. Ritz suggested Open Door Law issues with this and then abstained from voting.

After over six hours of handling bona fide agenda items, the power grab continued with another resolution (again, with no prior notice to Ritz) indicating that the State Board of Education was hiring its own executive director, its own general counsel, and will use the Governor's new Special Assistant, charter school advocate Claire Fiddian-Green as its "technical advisor." Ritz was the sole opponent to this move.

"Both of these resolutions are thinly-disguised vehicles to wrest authority over public education policy-making from Indiana's duly-elected state superintendent and they not only disregard Glenda Ritz but the 1.3 million voters who supported her," said ISTA President Teresa Meredith.

"These attempts at discrediting, diminishing, and disrespecting Glenda Ritz and the agency she leads are partisan arrogance at the least and voter nullification at the worst," added Meredith.

ISTA Responds to Announcement of Governor Pence’s Creation of Education Agency

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 23, 2013
For more information, contact:
Kathleen Berry Graham
317 263 3321
kberry@ista-in.org

ISTA Responds to Announcement of Governor Pence’s

Creation of Education Agency

INDIANAPOLIS—In a surprise power grab today, Gov. Mike Pence released information that he has created a new agency called the Center for Education and Career Innovation (CECI).

Pence claims that the Center will improve collaboration among Indiana’s public, private and non-profit education and workforce partners by aligning education and career and workforce training efforts. The governor’s release states that: “The agency will proactively engage and collaborate with a number of valuable partners in state government including the Department of Education, the Indiana Charter School Board, the Department of Workforce Development, the Commission for Higher Education and the Office of State-Based Initiatives. The Indiana Career Council, the Indiana Works Councils, the Education Roundtable and the State Board of Education, though functioning independently, will exist as part of the new agency.” Yet the Indiana Department of Education was not contacted by the governor about creation of the agency even though the agency appears to be absorbing various functions of the IDOE and thereby reducing the authority of newly elected Superintendent of Public Instruction, Glenda Ritz.

Following Pence’s announcement, a news release from the IDOE said: “Partnerships require communication. Unfortunately, Superintendent Ritz learned about the creation of this new agency—the impact on taxpayers yet unknown—through news reports, rather than from Gov. Pence. Superintendent Ritz has met with the governor on many occasions, including as recently as two days ago. However, neither he, nor his office, mentioned the creation of this new agency until this morning.”

“Like Superintendent Ritz, ISTA was dismayed by the announcement of this agency today,” said ISTA President Teresa Meredith. “We already have in place a Department of Education that works. ISTA is disappointed that the governor would choose to disregard the input of Superintendent Ritz and thousands of public school professionals.

“We are all in this together. Last November many of our members and the voters of the state voted for a change in direction for education and 1.3 million Hoosiers said that they trusted Glenda Ritz to run the Department of Education,” said Meredith. “And while teachers are always aware of the lessons they model for children, evidently some governors and their political appointees are not.”

For the full release from Gov. Pence’s office, go to:
http://www.in.gov/activecalendar/EventList.aspx?view=EventDetails&eventidn=121572&information_id=187047&type=&rss=rss

For the full release from Superintendent Ritz, go to:
http://www.doe.in.gov/news/statement-indiana-department-education-response-governor-pence’s-announcement

###

ISTA Settlement

August 13, 2013

You might have heard or read in the media today that a settlement has been reached with the Indiana Securities Commissioner and the Indiana school districts who participated in the I.S.T.A. Insurance Trust (Trust). When finalized, this settlement, the Naylor Case, resolves the last of the litigation over the failure of the Trust, which provided health and other insurance products to a small number of Indiana school districts.

Despite what you might read or see in the media, NO ISTA or NEA monies were used to fund this settlement . Since 2009 there has been an array of litigation over the failure of the Trust, including litigation brought by ISTA and NEA on behalf of the Trust, to recover from those individuals and entities whose conduct caused that failure. That litigation generated settlements from those individuals and entities. Only funds from those settlements were used to settle the Naylor case.

Please share this information with your members, and in particular share the fact that ISTA and NEA member dues money is not being used to pay this settlement.

ISTA is pleased that all of the pending litigation is being resolved on terms that are fair to Indiana's public school teachers who participated in the Trust.

Thanks for your continued support.

Greetings from Your Executive Committee

Summer is moving on, so here is the calendar for 2013-2014. Write these dates on your calendar for future reference.

Did you know that if you are an ISTA-Retired member you have access to:

• Insurance: Medicare supplement, life, auto, home, medical, dental, vision, long term care and liability insurance
• Attorney Referrals: two half-hour sessions per year
• Discounts: Lots of them. See NEAMB.com
• Opportunity to participate in political action to defend public schools
• BEST OF ALL, Five opportunities to have lunch with friends at chapter meetings

Dorthy will send e-mail reminders before each meeting so you can RSVP. To receive these reminders, indicate your interest by paying annual local dues of $10. You may pay them at the September meeting or you may send them to Dorthy Epple, Sec/Treas. See August mailing for more information.

Include your personal or updated email address. If you do not have e-mail, we will use US Mail. We do not share e-mail or postal addresses with other organizations.

2013-2014 Calendar

Thursday, September 12, 12:00 PM

Chops Steak and Seafood, 6421 W. Jefferson, Fort Wayne, IN

Speaker: Monica Miller, Local Author; Eric Pulley, Big Brothers Big Sisters NE IN

Thursday, October 10, 11:20 AM (NOTE Time Change)

Afternoon at Amish Acres, Napanee, IN

Lunch & Play, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"

RSVP by 9/30 to Sarah Borgman. See August mailing for details and cost.

Thursday, November 14, 12:00 PM

Salvatori's, 10337 Illinois Rd, Fort Wayne, IN

Program: Marjorie Stephens, NE IN BBB, "Senior Fraud & Too Good To Be True Schemes"

Thursday, January 9, 12:00 PM

At's Ice Cream, 211 E. Tillman Rd., Fort Wayne, IN

Program: Stacey Stumpf, Editorial Writer, J.G. "How to write and publish a letter to the editor"

Thursday, March 13, 10:30 AM (NOTE Time Change)

Sweetwater Sound, 5501 US 30 West, Fort Wayne, IN

Program: Tour of their facility followed by lunch in their restaurant. They only accept credit cards.

Thursday, May 8, 12:00 PM

Guest House Grill, 1313 W. Washington Center Rd., Fort Wayne, IN

Program: David Dew, Historian

Thanks for your support of ISTA-Retired Allen County.

Fran McIntosh, President

Jack Spindler, Vice President

Dorthy Epple, Secretary/Treasurer

Jim Clauser, Rep. to ISTA-R State Council and 1-L District Council

Vivian Johnson, Alt. Rep. to ISTA-R State Council
Angela Miller, Uniserv Director
Danielle Kraft, Uniserv Assistant

~~~

Update on Major Education Stories

July 30, 2013

Your ISTA wants to keep you updated on two major stories related to Indiana public education:

BENNETT CHANGED SCHOOL GRADES

Emails obtained by the Associated Press were released showing directly and clearly that former Indiana schools chief Dr. Tony Bennett and his staff worked last year to change the letter grade of an Indianapolis charter school supported by a prominent donor to Bennett's political campaign and to others in his political party.

ISTA has made it clear that there is absolutely no excuse for the actions taken by Bennett and his staff. The emails in question show that the Christel House Academy charter school's letter grade was knowingly manipulated and retrofitted by the very people who have created and championed Indiana's new accountability systems for schools and educators - unfortunately, many of those officials continue to serve in important policy-making positions in state government.

"The revelation of these emails has created zero confidence among public school educators. This manipulation of data is wrong and needs to be addressed by state leaders to ensure that a system is put in place that is fair to all and above reproach," said ISTA President Teresa Meredith.

Bennett and his staff have created yet another situation for Superintendent Ritz and her staff to "clean up" - efforts that will take a great deal of taxpayer resources as well as time taken away from helping children.

ISTA will continue to monitor this story, assist Superintendent Ritz in any way we can and outreach to legislators from both parties to create and implement policies that will ensure that these kinds of abuses will not occur again.

LINK TO STORY: http://www.indystar.com/viewart/20130729/NEWS05/307290048/Report-Grade-changed-Republican-donor-Christel-DeHaan-s-charter-school

ISTEP+ REPORT

In response to the widespread problems associated with CTB McGraw Hill's administration of the spring ISTEP+, Glenda Ritz, Superintendent of Public Instruction, hired Dr. Richard Hill of the National Center for the Improvement of Education Assessment to review the results. He released that report yesterday.

The report showed that because of the efforts of teachers, administrators, students and parents, as well as the swift and decisive actions taken by Ritz, the average negative statewide impact on scores was not measurable. However, this does not mitigate the effect the interruptions had on students, parents and teachers throughout Indiana.

At this time, the exact impact of interruptions at the individual, classroom and teacher level cannot be ascertained.

"I want to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of Indiana students, parents, teachers, administrators and the employees of the Department of Education," said Superintendent Ritz. Because of their dedication and hard work, the impact of these interruptions was limited. However, let me be clear, the problems with the ISTEP+ contractor were absolutely unacceptable," Ritz said. "I have given local schools the flexibility they need to minimize the effect these tests have on various matters, such as teacher evaluation and compensation. I have also instructed CTB McGraw-Hill to conduct enhanced stress and load testing to ensure that their servers are fully prepared for next year's test and ensure that this never happens again."

ISTA applauds the actions taken by Ritz and her staff to deal with this situation as quickly and effectively as possible.

Educators continue to be concerned. Despite the fact that the report concluded there was no impact on scores, the impact on students, educators and families has been far reaching. Test interruptions caused stress for students who had to stop and start throughout the test before completion or restart the entire test.
ISTA will also monitor Indiana's high-stakes testing because these interruptions diminish confidence in our state's expensive system and raise concerns as we look ahead.

LINK TO STORY: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013307290014
LINK TO FULL REPORT: http://www.doe.in.gov/sites/default/files/news/hill-report.pdf

ISTA 2013 Legislative Recap -- School Performance Awards

ISTA is Working for You!

Legislative Recap

Click here for a full recap of the 2013 Legislative Session compiled by the Indiana State Teachers Association.

Includes information on vouchers, charter schools, school funding and finance, school safety, superintendent licensing and more.


School Performance Awards

From ISTA Keep the Promise: Highly Effective/Effective Teacher Bonus Grants

Deemed “School Performance Awards,” the budget bill appropriates $30 million in the 2nd year of the biennium to be distributed based upon graduation rates or 5% improvement in graduation rates, student passage rates on ISTEP and End of Course assessments or 5% growth in these assessment results.

Click HERE for a district-by-district printout of the awards.

The Impact of Education Reform: What Next?

Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education

with

Parents Across America

Present

The Impact of Education Reform: What Next?

Join supporters of public education from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio for the second four state conference on organizing to stop the dismantling of public education.

The conference will provide an opportunity to share experiences and strategies with others from your state and from neighboring states. The conference will feature a panel discussion focused on examining the impact of the current reforms. Panelists include

• Vic Smith, Indiana educator and legislative watchdog
• Rob Glass, Superintendent of Bloomfield Hill Schools, Michigan
• Kathy Friend, Chief Financial Officer, Fort Wayne Community Schools, Indiana
• Stephanie Keiles, Teacher/Parent, Plymouth Canton Community Schools, Michigan
• Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer, Parent/Advocate, Chairperson, Indiana Coalition for Public Education--Monroe County and South Central Indiana.

~~~

Event Details

Where:

Plymouth Congregational Church
501 W Berry St.
Fort Wayne, IN 46807

When: Saturday 20 Jul 2013 from 9:45am to 4:00pm (US/Eastern)

Registration Due by: Thursday 18 Jul 2013 12:00pm (US/Eastern)

TO REGISTER AND RESERVE YOUR TICKET CLICK HERE.

Proposed Agenda

9-9:45 Registration, coffee
9:45-10:00 Welcome and Introduction
10:00-10:45 State Groups Meet - Determine common issues
and effective strategies
10:45-11:00 States Groups Share Most Important Issues
11:00-11:15 Break-coffee/restrooms
11:15-12:15 Panel and discussion
12:15-1:00 Lunch
1:00-2:00 Small groups focus on specific issues/strategies.
2-2:15 Break
2:15-3:15 Develop common strategies
3:15-4:00 Group action steps and closing

~~~

Additional Information:

Parking: Across from the church on Berry Street; additional handicap parking on west side of church.

Lunch: On your own. Bring your own and continue discussion with other attendees at the church or visit one of the nearby fast food restaurants (Arby's, McDonald's, Taco Bell, Rally's, Wendy's, Subway, Starbucks).

~~~

Report to the RA

Gail Zeheralis provided this report at the 2013 ISTA Representative Assembly

From: Zeheralis, Gail
Subject: The General Assembly adjourned sine die.

Tonight ended the 2013 general assembly. Members adjourned sine die at about 1:15 am.

The full measure of the “tale of the tape” will need to be written in the coming days, but your lobbying team needs to convey to you a couple of significant accomplishments today having to do with what did not pass—knowing full well that more information will follow on the many bills that did pass. You will need to know about the new laws just enacted concerning school funding, teacher performance awards, voucher expansion, charter schools, virtual schools, performance-qualified high school flexibility, common core, the A-F school grading system, REPA II statutes, 13th checks for retirees, and school safety. But, for tonight….

Sometimes the best laws are the ones that don’t pass.

Last Minute Budget Bill PERF/TRF Annuity Restrictions:

Thanks in large measure to your answering the call this morning to contact your legislators on a new issue that had popped up in the budget in the 11th hour relating to PERF/TRF pension benefits, we received word at about 6:30 pm that the language to limit PERF/TRF retirees’ annuity options was coming out of the budget bill. I cannot emphasize enough what a “team” effort this was.

It literally took the better part of the day—getting the word out first thing to our UDs and members, educating unsuspecting legislators (dozens of them), explaining the issue (which lends itself to some complexity) over and over again, urging their support and then their assistance to speak up in their respective caucuses, amassing some quick data to intelligently combat this new issue on the merits, continuing communications with you-- our members-- throughout the day to ensure that you were persistent, and engaging with outside partners (county workers (AIC), retired state employees (RIPEA), labor, superintendents) so that we were not alone.

Many legislators helped along the way—chief among them, Sen. Vaneta Becker (R-Evansville). Senator Becker grabbed onto this issue last night when ISTA shared it with her and worked closely with us throughout the day. She was tenacious and systematic. She was instrumental in galvanizing both Senators and House members and in acquiring some data that was helpful. Those who know Sen. Becker understand fully what I mean when I say there just was no “quit” in her.

Rep. Tom Dermody (R-LaPorte) was the first in the House to help marshal supporters and he was quickly followed by Rep. Mike Karickhoff (R-Kokomo). I hesitate to make a list because as the day wore on and more and more legislators became aware of the issue (remember the budget bill is 300+ pages and this was one issue), there was a snowball effect that cannot be denied and ISTA is grateful for all of the assistance. One Representative who is in the financial planning business, Rep. Martin Carbaugh (R-Fort Wayne) was uniquely helpful, too.

And it must be noted that both Democrat caucuses (House and Senate) were full-bore in support of our efforts throughout the day.

It helped that we had some good facts on our side and that this was a brand new issue, not vetted. But I must tell you that once a budget bill version is developed, it is EXTREMELY difficult to modify it on the last day. I can tell you that the lobbying effort on this was textbook and each and every one of you should be proud of the impact you had.

Here is a link to a news article written by a reporter from the Evansville Courier Press who interviewed ISTA on the background:

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2013/apr/26/indiana-legislators-labor-night-they-put-final-tou/

Dues/PAC deduction Prohibition Provision:

A threat to the organization unveiled itself not 2 weeks after the November 2012 election when it became public that the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce was going to push for a statewide ban on school employee Association dues and/or PAC deductions voluntarily requested by the school employee of his/her employer. Faced with supermajorities in both the House and the Senate, ISTA quickly organized its forces while the NEA assisted in providing a legislative crisis grant to help fund additional personnel, back home outreach events, and statehouse legislative events.

HB 1334 became the vehicle for the prohibition—first a dues prohibition and then a “contribution for political activities” prohibition. HB 1334 passed the House with this language in it, thereby keeping the issue alive for literally the rest of the session. It seemed as though every day there was a new rumor as to its resurrection and each rumor had to be tracked down and legislators had to be reminded that the entire effort is unfair, unwarranted, and punitive.

ISTA received final word from the Speaker just yesterday that the issue would not be resurrected this year.

While this is a positive accomplishment for our organization—and a testament to your persistence and communication skills and outreach—it does clearly demonstrate that the Association must devote an inordinate amount of time and resources into fighting this when there is an alternative available to us that gives us back our leverage. That alternative is what ISTA calls EASY PAY—our own tailor-made dues deduction system that would take this out of the hands of the general assembly completely….

I don’t mean to turn this into a commercial…but it is now after 2am and I am reflecting on how much better things would be if we could free ourselves from having to lobby this particular issue over and over again and be able to concentrate all of our efforts on the issues most important to you and public education.

‘Nuff said for today….again, from the bottom of our collective lobbying hearts, thank you for all that you do for children, our communities, and public education.

Gail Zeheralis
Roni Embry
John O’Neal
Brad Tracy

May 9 Meeting

The ISTA-Retired Allen County chapter will meet on Thursday, May 9, 2013, at 12:00 noon at the Hall's Guest House Grill at 1313 West Washington Center Road, Ft. Wayne. IN.

David Dew will be our featured speaker. His topic is "Lifting the Veil: The Life and Work of Booker T. Washington."

We will be collecting books to give to Kindergarten and/or First grade students.

We hope to see you all. Please come and bring your spouse and/or a friend.

Please RSVP by May 7, 2013 to Dorthy Epple at dmepple@aol.com or call me at (260) 436-2326 and leave a message.

Sincerely,
Dorthy Epple, sec'y/treas.

Oppose Conference Committee Report 1 - SB 189

April 24, 2013

SB 189

Major 'education reform' bill with minimal public input

URGENT

SB 189 originated as a bill to provide some flexibility to school districts that were deemed "A" districts.

One of the key issues embedded in ESB 189 has been enabling "high-performing" districts to have calendar flexibility (ie. to allocate the 180-day school year into equivalent hours/minutes and not be bound by 180 separate days of instruction).

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

WHERE IT IS AT NOW:

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

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

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

Additionally, there is no guidance as to what the criteria will be as developed by the SBE to become a "waiver" high school. There is an emergency clause in the bill to ensure that this gets implemented before the next general assembly convenes.

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

ACTION: TODAY, please contact both your Representative and your Senator to oppose Conference Committee Report #1 to SB 189.

Please take action today.

Click to email your legislators now

###

URGENT: Take Action!

IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED!

Contact your Senator TODAY and urge a NO vote on new Amendment No. 13 to HB 1003 which turns the current $1,000 tax deduction given to private school and home school parents for educational expenses they incur into a $5,000 tax deduction. Last year, this tax incentive cost the state $2.7 million in lost revenue. This amendment would increase that lost revenue FIVEFOLD.
There has been no demonstrated need for this increase. Amendments to HB 1003 will be voted on today, so your rapid response is necessary.

Our message to them is simple: VOTE NO ON AMENDMENT 13 ON HOUSE BILL 1003.

Click to email your Senator now

URGENT: Take Action

March 26, 2013

Contact Senate Education Committee members TODAY and tell them to VOTE NO on private school voucher expansion, HB 1003!

Tomorrow the Senate Education Committee will vote on an expansion of Indiana's private school voucher program that was ruled constitutional today by the Indiana Supreme Court.

In wake of today's court ruling, the Milton Friedman Foundation, one of the leading pro-school voucher organizations in the country, announced that Indiana's current program could make more than 530,000 Indiana students eligible for taxpayer-funded vouchers to attend private schools.

All public school districts will suffer, financially and in the loss of students, if the current voucher program is expanded under HB 1003. Millions of additional dollars will be shifted from public schools to private schools. That would result in fewer learning programs, less remediation, and larger class sizes for the state's one million public school students. All students deserve quality educations, not just those who receive vouchers.

Please join ISTA and other public school supporters from across the state and share your opposition to HB 1003. Contact members of the Senate Ed Committee today and share your support for strong and well-funded public schools in every Hoosier community.

Support public education by contacting the Senators listed below. Tell them to vote NO on HB 1003 tomorrow.

The future of public education is in our hands. Please email TODAY from your personal or home computer.

Senator Dennis Kruse (Chair): s14@iga.in.gov
Senator Earline Rogers: s3@iga.in.gov
Senator Carlin Yoder: s12@iga.in.gov
Senator Jim Banks: s17@iga.in.gov
Senator John Broden: s10@iga.in.gov
Senator James Buck: s21@iga.in.gov
Senator Luke Kenley: s20@iga.in.gov
Senator Jean Leising: s42@iga.in.gov
Senator Pete Miller: s24@iga.in.gov
Senator Frank Mrvan: s1@iga.in.gov
Senator Scott Schneider: s30@iga.in.gov
Senator Greg Taylor: s33@iga.in.gov

Stand up for yourself and ISTA

ACTION ITEM: Please contact your House Representative immediately to urge their opposition to HB 1334.

This is your chance to stand up for your profession and the Association that stands up for you.

This morning, the House Education Committee heard HB 1334 (Rep. Jeff Thompson, R-Lizton, a teacher himself), allowing the Department of Administration to contract for liability insurance for public and nonpublic teachers. This was the original bill (before an amendment) and basically invites state government to get in the teacher liability insurance business-hardly an example of free market principles generally espoused by members of the Republican caucus-but coincidentally a service that the ISTA provides as part of its membership dues.

Speaking of Association dues, Rep. Thompson then added an amendment to his bill in committee to do a number of things, chief among them, to prohibit a school employer from enabling the automatic deduction of union dues from the school employee's paycheck as voluntarily requested in writing by the employee.

Since this issue was highlighted in the Northwest Indiana Times and the Indianapolis Star beginning in November (after the election) as a legislative goal of the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce, ISTA has systematically contacted many members of the Republican House and Senate caucuses to ascertain the strength of support therein. Time after time, the response ISTA received in these intervening months centered on words and phrases like "unnecessary," "punitive," "retribution," and "does nothing to improve student achievement."

During public testimony on this issue, only one individual registered support specifically for the component of the bill that prohibits dues deduction-Kevin Brinegar, President of the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce.

ISTA testified in strong opposition and is greatly disappointed that, once again, the House Education Committee has chosen to focus on adults rather than programs in classrooms that help children succeed. The effort to take away teachers' own choice to deduct their dues, which is both voluntary and annually renewed, is disrespectful and is yet another attack on teachers-this time their professional Association.

During testimony, Rep. Thompson confirmed that his measure has nothing to do with cost and everything to do with his "philosophy" on the issue. This is not being billed as a fiscal savings measure and is surely not as demonstrated by the continued allowance of every other voluntary deduction one can conceive.

Recently, in other states with Republican-controlled legislatures, this same measure has been enacted-only to be found unconstitutional in court.

Ironically, Rep. Thompson embedded into his anti-teacher amendment the following initiatives:

(1) A $1000 state income tax deduction for certain expenditures made by teachers related to their instruction (this amounts to $34 annually);

(2) Excused from all professional growth requirements for re-licensure teachers deemed "highly effective;"

(3) Excused from 50% of the growth experiences the teacher would otherwise be required to accrue for re-licensure teachers deemed "effective;"

(4) In a blanket move, authorized "high performing schools" to seek waivers of all SBE rules.

The bill passed committee as amended along party lines with a vote of 7-3. Representative Kreg Battles (D-Vincennes) excused himself from the vote until he can seek legal counsel because, as a professional educator and dues-paying member of ISTA, he wants to ensure there are no conflicts of interest.

ACTION ITEM: Please contact your House Representative immediately to urge their opposition to HB 1334. This is your chance to stand up for your profession and the Association that stands up for you.

Contact your legislators

https://keepthepromiseindiana.org/_data/files/Copy_of_House_Senate_emails.pdf

ALERT! Anti-Public Education Bills

ISTA Members: Two anti-public education bills in the Indiana House need your attention and your response TODAY:

www.keepthepromiseindiana.org

PARENT TRIGGER ACCELERATION HB 1358
ATTACK ON TEACHERS' RIGHTS HB 1339

HB 1358:
Tuesday; House Education Committee will hear the accelerated "Parent Trigger" bill to enable a minority of parents to take over community-based public schools and convert them to charter schools run by corporate "lead partners".--HB 1358 (Rep. Todd Huston, R-Fishers).

WHAT HB 1358 DOES:

• Indiana's existing conversion charter school law is repealed (which requires both the school board and parents to agree on a conversion).
• That law is replaced with a model that solely enables 51% of parents in a school that is labeled in the bottom two categories for three (3) consecutive years to:

• take over the school by petitioning the state board of education to assign a "lead partner" to operate the school; and

• place the school under the most draconian of sanctions that currently attach to schools in the bottom two lowest categories for five (5) consecutive years.

• When is 51% not a majority? When parents are given multiple votes based upon the number of children they have in a school. Because parents are given "weighted" voting rights based upon the number of children then have in a school, a minority of parents can fundamentally change the focus, the governance, the scope of teachers' rights, and the framework of a local community-based public school. 

HB 1339:

• Teachers:

• Due Process: Repeals the law concerning the continuing effect of an individual teacher's contract. Without this law, contracts will terminate on their face annually and a teacher, "effective or not," will not be protected from arbitrary termination until a new contract is signed.

• Collective Bargaining: Relative to the pro rata member/nonmember composition on committees-states that all "discussion committees" fall under this pro rata framework. Existing law exempted the bargaining team from having to adhere to the member/nonmember composition because under law, the bargaining team is the EXCLUSIVE representative.

• States that the existence of a voluntary sick bank is bargainable but the terms of the sick bank policy are not. This reneges on the 2011 pledge that wages and benefits are bargainable. A voluntary sick bank is a benefit.

• Removes the provision authorizing the continuing effect of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) when agreement has not been reached. The whole point of the new collective bargaining law was to get to the point of agreement. There has been only one case in which agreement has not been reached---and that situation was created by allegations of unfair labor practices having occurred. In a case such as this, the party that committed an unfair labor practice should not be "rewarded" by terminating the existing CBA.

• Suspension without pay: Removes from law the requirement that a teacher who is subject to suspension without pay is entitled to a full statement of the reasons for the proposed suspension without pay and to be heard and to present the testimony of witnesses and other evidence. Also repeals the law that enables the school board to appoint an agent or attorney to issue subpoenas for the attendance of witnesses for either party at the hearing to suspend a teacher without pay.

• Teacher Compensation: Requires that each school district must submit its compensation model to the DOE and the DOE, the State Board of Accounts, and the IEERB and these bodies shall report any noncompliance to the State Board of Education -which is then required to take "appropriate action to ensure compliance."

• Virtual Charter Schools:

• Enables a virtual charter school to provide up to 90% of its program "virtually" and still qualify for state funding. Current law says 50% of instruction must be "real." The likely effect is to enable more home-schooled students to be virtually-instructed at the state's expense. There is no funding attached to this. There is no requirement that a student first attend a public school. Also, note in HB 1338, virtually funding was increased from 87.5% of Indiana's per pupil funding to 100% of Indiana's per pupil funding. The funding for these new students will come from existing public school k-12 funding.

• Repeals the law that requires the DOE to report to the state on virtual schools in Indiana.

• Charter Schools:

• As to charter school performance reporting on the DOE website, enables each charter school authorizer to develop its own performance framework in terms of the data reported (existing law says that the annual performance data for charter schools must include the same demographic and performance data required of every other public school).

• Administrators:

• Provides some of the same due process "protections" to administrators that teachers have. However, because most administrators have multi-year contracts, the consequences for cancelling a contract will likely not play out in the same fashion-that being, contracts with out-going administrators generally come with some form of buyout.

Please let your representative and every member of the House Education committee know TODAY you oppose HB 1358 & HB 1339

For additional information on these two bills and to email legislators, visit:
www.keepthepromiseindiana.org

ISTA-Retired Conference

NEA has approved the grant for the ISTA-Retired Conference to be held on March 13, 2013 at the Hilton Indianapolis North, 8181 North Shadeland, Indianapolis, IN 46250. Wrap up and super door prizes will be from 4:05 to 4:30. The conference is free to all retired members. (Non-members pay $65.00 registration).

This promises to be a great conference developed on the theme, "Building Stronger Affiliates." The morning motivational speaker will be Dr. Earl Wiman of the NEA Executive Committee. Break out session leaders will include Joanne Gay from Connecticut, Sandy Swellinger from Georgia, and our own Theresa Meredith, ISTA V. Pres., and Gail Zeheralis, Roni Embry and John O'Neal.

There will be a nice sit down lunch at noon and the afternoon break includes a yummy dessert.

Jim Clauser has worked hard with Sarah Borgman to organize this conference. So let's show them we appreciate their hard work.

Several from Allen County attended the conference last year and had a good time.

If members car pool, we will pay some gas money from the treasury.

The deadline for registering is March 6, 2013. You can find the registration form on line at https://ista-in.org/2013-retired-leadership-conference.

...or you can e-mail Jim Clauser or Fran McIntosh and we will send in your registration.

Let's get a good representation from the Allen County Chapter.

Keep The Promise: Kruse Commends Ritz

Senator Kruse Commends Superintendent Ritz

Last week, Senator Dennis Kruse (R-Auburn) opened his committee hearing (Senate Education and Career Development) with the following statement:

“We’re not going to hear any bills here in the Senate bills that reflect in any way against our new superintendent. She has been doing an excellent job so far and getting along with us very well, and I will continue to work with her the best I can,” Kruse said. [Thanks to Eric Bradner of the Evansville Courier and Press for including this in his blog, Capitol Journal]

Then, Senator Kruse publicly invited ISTA lobbyist Roni Embry to work on SB 330 (having to do with the school accreditation process) with Sen. Earline Rogers (D-Gary), and John Barnes (legislative liaison to the Department of Education) to ensure that the Department of Education is appropriately included in the bill.

All of this is very good news for school employees across the state and reflective of yourwork in sharing with Senators your concerns about bills that have been introduced that appear to seek to diminish the authority of the office of the State Superintendent.

ACTION ITEM: Please follow-up and thank Senator Kruse (s14@in.gov) for his public comments supporting Glenda Ritz and for his open invitation to your ISTA lobbyists to help improve bills in his committee.

2013 Legislature is Now in Session

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