Vic’s Statehouse Notes #353 – March 4, 2021

Dear Friends,

Milton Friedman, the famous economist who passed away in 2006, wanted to end public schools and get the government out of education. He proposed to just give tax money directly to parents to let them pay for their child’s education from vendors or schools in a competitive private marketplace.

He didn’t see public education as a public benefit to teach about democracy to each student in each new generation. He wrote in Free to Choose (1980):

• “compulsory attendance laws are the justification for government control over the standards of private schools. But it is far from clear that there is any justification for the compulsory attendance laws themselves.” and
• “The possibility exists that some public schools would be left with the dregs.”

Amazingly, Friedman’s stark view of parent-run schools has been approved for Indiana by the Indiana House in House Bill 1005 for 187,000 eligible students, about one in six Hoosier students. No supervision, no accountability, no community responsibility.

The parent grants to be given out through an online portal estimated to cost $5 million and run by the Indiana Treasurer are now called Education Scholarship Accounts (ESA’s).

Eligible students in House Bill 1005 include special education, activity military, and foster students. The real goal pursued for years by Friedman’s wealthy followers who have spread campaign cash across Indiana and the United States is to give ESA’s to all parents and to end public education.

In HB 1005, the ESA camel’s nose is under the tent.

The House Vote

The vote was 61-38. While 9 Republicans opposed this caucus-priority bill, it was not enough to stop it. The roll call is listed below. Now it must be stopped in the Senate.

Representative Behning, the author of HB 1005, cleverly mixed the radical Friedman plan into the bill alongside a “traditional” expansion of payments for current private school vouchers. Most of those who testified for the bill wanted to see bigger voucher payments, and that section of the bill is what the media has focused on. Bigger voucher payments would cost over $60 million over the next two years.

The real danger, though, is giving money to the parents of eligible students (approx. $7000 plus up to $9100 for special education students) with no regard to their support of extremist ideologies or their support of the U.S. Constitution. Parents can get these public funds simply by applying online but the flaws are obvious:

• the parent “must agree that” they “will use part of the money” for the “student’s study in the subject of reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies, or science” or the student’s “individualized education program”. These quotes are directly from HB 1005.

• That’s all! It’s the lowest standard imaginable, and no one will monitor even this parent responsibility because the bill specifically bans curriculum oversight by the state.

• Criminal background checks, required for teachers, are not required for parents to get their ESA money. Parents with records of neglect or abuse or fraud are not excluded by HB 1005. No restrictions on parents are included in the bill!

HB 1005 carries the seeds of fraud and partisanship. Home schools using taxpayer funds to teach extremist ideology are an obvious possibility. Did the proponents really read this bill before approving it?

Bipartisan Opposition and Partisan Support

Those voting against HB 1005 in the House represented a bipartisan opposition:

Republicans Voting to Oppose HB 1005

Democrats Voting to Oppose HB 1005

Those voting to support HB 1005 in the House were all Republicans:

The 9 Republicans and 29 Democrats who opposed HB 1005 and stood up for public education deserve messages of thanks from public school advocates.

What Can You Do to Protect our Democracy from ESA’s in the Second Half of the General Assembly

Bills now switch Houses for consideration, so House Bill 1005 will be considered by the Senate. Write the Senators on the Senate Education Committee to let them know of your strong opposition to the flawed and dangerous threat to our democracy, House Bill 1005.

House Bill 1005 is not currently on the committee agenda for March 10th but could be heard in committee as early as Wednesday, March 17th.

Let the Senators on the committee know you oppose the dangerous concept of Education Scholarship Accounts and the expensive expansion of the current voucher system, especially when teacher pay has not been addressed. The committee members (click on the name for email addresses) are:

Senator Jeff Raatz
Senator Scott Baldwin
Senator Brian Buchanan
Senator John Crane
Senator Stacey Donato
Senator J.D. Ford
Senator Dennis Kruse
Senator Jean Leising
Senator Eddie Melton
Senator Fady Qaddoura
Senator Linda Rogers
Senator Kyle Walker
Senator Shelli Yoder

In the final days of the first half of the session, Senate Bill 412 was not passed out of committee. Senate Bill 413 was amended to reduce voucher expansion to only one element: foster students would become eligible for Choice Scholarships. It passed 32-15 and now goes to the House. Your messages certainly helped tamp down these flawed Senate bills.

Thank you for your active support of public education in Indiana!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

“Vic’s Statehouse Notes” and ICPE received one of three Excellence in Media Awards presented by Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, an organization of over 85,000 women educators in seventeen countries. The award was presented on July 30, 2014 during the Delta Kappa Gamma International Convention held in Indianapolis. Thank you Delta Kappa Gamma!

ICPE has worked since 2011 to promote public education in the Statehouse and oppose the privatization of schools. We need your membership to help support ICPE lobbying efforts. As of July 1st, the start of our new membership year, it is time for all ICPE members to renew their membership.

Our lobbyist Joel Hand is again representing ICPE in the new budget session which began on January 3, 2017. We need your memberships and your support to continue his work. We welcome additional members and additional donations. We need your help and the help of your colleagues who support public education! Please pass the word!

Go to www.indianacoalitionforpubliced.org 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. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana. In April of 2018, I was honored to receive the 2018 Friend of Education Award from the Indiana State Teachers Association.

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #312 – February 16, 2018

Dear Friends,

Plans are ready! Come to the “Celebration of Public Education” this Monday!

Here is your chance to stand up for public education! Come to the Statehouse on Presidents’ Day!

On February 19, 2018, you along with your friends, family and colleagues are invited to a “Celebration of Public Education”.

Visit displays of public education programs throughout the day.

Lunch is available courtesy of ISTA at 12:30 (reservations required at http://bit.ly/IndyRally2018).

Speakers begin at 2:00 pm in the South Atrium.

These are difficult times for public education, an institution that has undergirded our democracy for 180 years:

• Those who would privatize public education hold power at both the federal and state levels. We must protect our public schools!

• Further efforts to expand vouchers can be expected next year in Indiana in the budget session.

• Efforts are expected after the 2018 elections to give public money directly to parents without accountability or oversight, a concept which goes by the deceptive phrase “Education Savings Accounts.”

With your support, these attacks can be turned back.

Public education has been under attack for a long time. For an even longer time, public education has been a tremendous cornerstone for progress in Indiana.

It’s time to celebrate and support public education!

Public officials in the Statehouse need to put a higher priority on PUBLIC education. Only constituents and voters can get them to do that. That’s where we need your presence in the Statehouse. I hope to see you there!

Event Partners

The Indiana PTA has added their name to the event partners since my previous listing!

Here is the list of event partners to date:

AFT Indiana

American Association of University Women

Concerned Clergy

Indiana Coalition for Public Education

Indiana Parent Teacher Association (PTA)

Indiana Student Education Association

Indiana State Teachers Association

ISTA-Retired

Indiana Urban Schools Association

IPS Community Coalition

Indiana Small & Rural Schools Association

Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education (NEIFPE)

Rev. Dr. Charles Luke, a strong advocate for public education representing Pastors for Texas Children and a former school superintendent, will be a special guest speaker at the rally.

I hope to see you as we celebrate public education!

A rally flyer you can share with friends and colleagues is attached.

Bring friends! Bring posters!

Thank you for actively supporting public education in Indiana!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

“Vic’s Statehouse Notes” and ICPE received one of three Excellence in Media Awards presented by Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, an organization of over 85,000 women educators in seventeen countries. The award was presented on July 30, 2014 during the Delta Kappa Gamma International Convention held in Indianapolis. Thank you Delta Kappa Gamma!

ICPE has worked since 2011 to promote public education in the Statehouse and oppose the privatization of schools. We need your membership to help support ICPE lobbying efforts. As of July 1st, the start of our new membership year, it is time for all ICPE members to renew their membership.

Our lobbyist Joel Hand is again representing ICPE in the new budget session which began on January 3, 2017. We need your memberships and your support to continue his work. We welcome additional members and additional donations. We need your help and the help of your colleagues who support public education! Please pass the word!

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. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.

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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

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

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.

Questionable Questionnaire Question

News Release

Indiana State Teachers Association
150 West Market Street, Suite 900
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204-2875

Office: 317-263-3400, 800-382-4037
FAX: 317-655-3400, 800-777-6128

The following release was sent to the statewide media earlier today.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Some Legislators Open Session with Questionable Survey Question

Monday, January 7, 2013

Contact: Mark Shoup, 317.263.3369 / Kathleen Berry, 317-263.3321

Some Legislators Open Session with
Questionable Questionnaire Question

INDIANAPOLIS - Just as the 2013 session of the General Assembly is set to open today with hopes of bi-partisan cooperation and meaningful debate on important issues facing the state, Hoosier voters in several legislative districts received a taxpayer-funded survey from some Republican caucus members of the House of Representatives that raised eyebrows and simultaneously lowered expectations that policy over partisanship might just prevail in 2013.

The reason for the new-found skepticism?
One of the questions reads (as if some major issue facing the state):

..."Currently, the teachers' union can automatically deduct fees and dues from teachers' paychecks. In many cases, these dues are used to support candidates or political organizations that a teacher may disagree with. Would you support a law that requires the union to receive authorization from a teacher before it can deduct fees and dues from their paycheck."

It's important for Hoosiers to know the facts: Indiana law already requires all of this.
One could argue that legislators who included this question in their survey should have known this, too.

Indiana law already requires prior written authorization from any educator who voluntarily chooses to automatically deduct from his/her paycheck association dues. (see IC 20-29-5-6) In addition, those deductions must be consistent with other laws that govern all other entities and employers/employees relative to wages. (see IC 22-2-6; IC 22-2-7; IC 20-28-9-18) This practice is not out of the ordinary, but is both a routine and rather perfunctory option granted to employees all across the state: Think health insurance premiums, think retirement contributions, think United Way and a myriad of other not-for-profit/charitable contributions, think professional association dues and fees, think garnishments, on and on.

Teacher union dues are not given nor diverted to political candidates or political campaigns (period). VOLUNTARY political action contributions are distributed through a separate political action committee (in the case of ISTA, the political action committee is called I-PACE) and are governed by a different set of laws.

With all of the major issues facing our state and nation - creating jobs, improving the economy, funding our schools, protecting Hoosier children in the state welfare system, etc... legislators should be sensitive to creating false "policy issues" that take up valuable space in a constituent survey ostensibly designed to foster meaningful exchange. At the very least, legislators who disseminated this question should alert their constituents to the fact that the question's entire set of premises is faulty and that the concerns they raised about teachers, teachers unions, and salary deductions are, in fact, non-issues as they have already been covered under existing Indiana law.

"We still hope that this session will be one focused on cooperation and bipartisanship," said Nate Schnellenberger, ISTA President. "We fully intend to reach out to all legislators as the session unfolds on behalf of Indiana's public school students and the school employees-teachers and educational support professionals-who have dedicated their professional lives to them."