Vic’s Statehouse Notes #255 – March 5, 2016

Dear Friends,

Senate Bill 334 to expand vouchers by allowing spring semester transfers to voucher schools will be given a final up or down vote in the Senate on Monday, March 7th.

This will be the final vote. If it passes, it will go to Governor Pence for his signature.

You have one final opportunity to send a message to your Senator or to other Senators that you oppose the expansion of the voucher school recruiting season to go four additional months, instead of ending September 1 as the voucher program works currently. Opening the door for mid-year transfers is not wise public policy.

On Friday, Senator Yoder concurred with the House amendments on Senate Bill 334. Late Friday afternoon, the Senate leadership scheduled SB 334 for a final concurrence vote on Monday in the session beginning at 1:30pm.

If you are opposed to the continuous expansion of vouchers in Indiana, send a message to Senators by Monday afternoon.

What’s the Problem with Senate Bill 334?

Senator Yoder explained in the Senate that this bill was proposed after The Crossing, a private religious school, came to him to get help for drop outs and expelled students that come to The Crossing in the spring semester. Representative DeVon, sponsor of the bill in the House who said he has been on the board of the The Crossing for several years, gave the same reason for the bill.

The problem is that the bill language does not affect only drop outs and expelled students. It is written in such a way that it will impact schools all over Indiana when any K-12 student wants to leave mid-year to enroll in a voucher school. This means the season of marketing, advertising and recruiting for school choice will not end as it does now when the voucher enrollment period ends September 1. The competition in which all public and private schools now participate in for survival will go on until January.

Points of Opposition: Please share one or more of these concerns with your Senator by Monday

• Sponsors in both the Senate and the House said the bill would help a private school called The Crossing get funding to help drop outs, but the language of the bill says nothing about drop outs.

• The bill should have been amended to focus on helping drop outs instead of allowing a huge increase in midyear general voucher transfers, estimated by the Legislative Services Agency to cost $2.1 million per year.

• This LSA estimate makes SB 334 the biggest voucher expansion since Governor Pence’s 2013 voucher expansion which ended up costing taxpayers $40 million extra dollars, according to the annual financial report on Choice scholarships.

• The current window for private school voucher applications is March 1 to September 1. SB 334 would establish a new enrollment window from September 2 to January 15. This extension would mean that the marketing and recruitment competition between private schools and public schools would go on for 10.5 months instead of the current 6 months.

• Private schools have always had to have a marketing program to gain enrollment, but marketing and recruiting is new to public schools since Indiana was transformed into a school choice marketplace in 2011. Now just like private schools, if public schools don’t recruit students, they won’t survive. A superb public school with superb teachers must still be marketed well to parents or it may falter in the competition for enrollment. SB 334 proposes to extend the intense competition by four and a half months.

• Marketing and recruiting take money and staff time that public schools don’t have, but now they must find it. To compete, public schools have to take money from other important services to budget for marketing and recruiting. Currently, marketing is largely confined to spring and summer months. Once fall enrollments are in place, schools can pay full attention to instruction while marketing and recruitment take a back seat. Now SB 334 would extend the competitive marketing pressure all the way through January 15th.

• SB 334 also removes a provision in current law that says if a voucher student leaves the voucher school for which the student was awarded a Choice scholarship, the student is responsible for the payment of any tuition required for the remainder of the school year. Removing this provision is moving backward on accountability to the taxpayer. If families make a bad choice, the result would be extra costs falling on the taxpayers.

• Legislators should say no to ever- increasing voucher expansion. The ISTEP crisis and the transition to tougher standards deserve the full attention of our General Assembly and our school personnel, and not another battle over voucher expansion.

• We don’t need a sweeping expansion of spring semester vouchers that will extend the advertising wars all year long that are currently confined to the summer recruiting period.

Take a moment to send a message to Senators to oppose Senate Bill 334 because it wasn’t focused on drop out recovery, the stated purpose of the sponsors. Tell them they should not expand vouchers generally to promote spring semester transfers. Tell them the expansion of vouchers is the wrong bicentennial message to send to our public schools in 2016.

Just let them know you are following their actions on SB 334 and that you oppose any expansion of private school vouchers. The length of your message is not as important as the number of messages Senators receive. Write on!

Thanks for standing up for public education!

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 continues to represent ICPE during the 2016 short session. 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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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #254 – March 4, 2016

Dear Friends,

Once again, the push by the current leadership of the Indiana General Assembly to expand private school vouchers marches on. Yesterday, the leadership flexed its muscles and the vote was not close.

Yesterday (March 3rd) on the House floor, Senate Bill 334 to expand vouchers by allowing spring semester transfers to voucher schools passed by a vote of 60-33.

The bill now goes back to the Senate for either a concurrence vote on the House amendments or a conference committee. The Senate sponsor Senator Yoder will decide which path the bill will take next week in the Senate.

If you would like to express your opposition to the steady drumbeat of voucher expansion in the Indiana General Assembly, contact your Senator or other Senators to tell them you object to the general mid-year voucher transfers allowed by Senate Bill 334.

Details of the Third Reading Vote on SB 334

Representative DeVon, House sponsor of the bill, introduced SB 334 Thursday afternoon right after the House resumed business after the inauguration of Lt. Governor Eric Holcomb.

Representatives Errington, Wright and Vernon Smith spoke strongly against voucher expansion. Representatives Tim Brown and DeVon spoke for it. Then came the roll call.

The opposition was bipartisan, with 6 Republicans and 27 Democrats voting NO.

Republicans (6) voting no: Representatives Arnold, Cook, Dermody, Koch, Truitt and Washburne.

Democrats (27) voting no: Representatives Austin, Bartlett, Bauer, C. Brown, DeLaney, Dvorak, Errington, Forestal, GiaQuinta, Hale, Harris, Kersey, Klinker, Lawson, Macer, Moed, Moseley, Niezgodski, Pelath, Pierce, Porter, Pryor, Riecken, Shackleford, V. Smith, Stemler and Wright.

Public education advocates should thank all 33 for their no vote.

Support for the bill was not bipartisan, with 60 Republicans voting YES.

Republicans (60) voting yes: Representatives Bacon, Baird, Behning, Beumer, Borders, Braun, T. Brown, Burton, Carbaugh, Clere, Cox, Culver, DeVon, Eberhart, Ellington, Fine, Friend, Frye, Gutwein, Hamm, Harman, Heaton, Huston, Judy, Karickhoff, Kirchhofer, Lehe, Lehman, Leonard, Lucas, Lyness, Mahan, Mayfield, Miller, Morrison, Morris, Negele, Nisly, Ober, Olthoff, Price, Rhoads, Richardson, Saunders, Schaibley, Slager, Smaltz, M. Smith, Soliday, Speedy, Steuerwald, Sullivan, Thompson, Torr, VanNatter, Wesco, Wolkins, Zent, Ziemke and Speaker Bosma.

Five Representatives were absent and excused: Republican Representatives Cherry, Frizzell and McNamara and Democrat Representatives Goodin and Summers.

Two Representatives did not vote: Republican Representatives Aylesworth and Davisson.

Observations about the vote

The leadership of the House starting with Speaker Bosma has strongly supported voucher expansion since they took control of the House in 2011. It takes great conviction for a Republican to go against leadership and oppose voucher expansion.

Leadership has strong leverage to keep members in line on the voucher issue, a fact that no doubt influenced the following:

• Representative Slager voted against SB 334 in the Ways and Means Committee but changed to a Yes on the final vote.

• Representative Davisson voted against SB 334 in Ways and Means but did not vote on the final vote.

• Representatives Dermody and Truitt are retiring from the House and could oppose the bill without concern about consequences next year.

• SB 334 provides for the biggest expansion of vouchers since the enormous $40 million 2013 voucher expansion which was opposed at the time by Representatives Bacon, Baird, Leonard, Mahan, Saunders, Soliday and Wolkins. All seven decided to get back in line with leadership on SB 334.

Contact Senators This Weekend

Your messages opposing the general voucher expansion to spring semester have made SB 334 one of the most controversial bills of the session. It didn’t start out that way when it began in the Senate, but your concerns about the continuous drumbeat of voucher expansion made it contentious in the House. It was the final bill to pass out of committee on Monday, and it was not passed on third reading until the final day.

Thank you to all public school advocates who have raised your voice on this issue. Keep it up!

Now it is time to reconnect with your Senator or other Senators to let them know you strongly oppose SB 334. Let them know that giving more and more attention to making private school vouchers easier to get and less and less attention to the vast and crucial needs of public education is taking Indiana in the wrong direction.

When parents have made the choice to send 94% of the students of Indiana to public schools, public education in our bicentennial year deserves the full support of legislators.

Take a moment to send a message to Senators to oppose Senate Bill 334 unless it is amended to focus the bill on drop out recovery, in line with the purpose stated by the bill sponsors. Tell them they should not expand vouchers generally to promote spring semester transfers.

Thanks for your strong support of public education!


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 continues to represent ICPE during the 2016 short session. 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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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #253 – March 2, 2016

Dear Friends,

Today (March 2) on the floor of the House, Senate Bill 334 to expand vouchers by allowing spring semester transfers to voucher schools received no amendments related to voucher expansion. The final third reading vote to expand vouchers in the spring semester will be tomorrow, March 3rd.

The House is scheduled to begin at 9am tomorrow.

If you would like to express your opposition to the broad expansion of vouchers in Senate Bill 334, please ask your House member or other House members to vote NO before tomorrow’s vote.

The Debate Today on Amendments to SB 334

When SB 334 came up today for second reading amendments, Representative Behning offered an amendment to begin a fund to help teachers who need to get additional courses and degrees to comply with new rules for dual credit courses. This concept was in a bill which did not make it through the Senate. The amendment passed 87-3.

Minority Leader Pelath then immediately moved that the bill be recommitted to Ways and Means since the rules of the House have been interpreted to say that the creation of any new fund, even though it has no money in it, must be approved by Ways and Means. He said this rule was used to kill two bills sponsored by Democrats this session, and he made a strong case that the same rules should be applied here to send this bill to Ways and Means. His motion was strongly supported by Representatives Austin, Vernon Smith, DeLaney, Bauer, Forrestal and Porter, all speaking to the theme: Do the rules mean anything? His motion was opposed by Representatives Tim Brown, Torr, Lehman, and Frizzell. After a lengthy debate which might have killed the bill on procedural grounds, the roll call to recommit failed on a party line vote, 28-65.

Next Representative Porter offered an amendment to give up textbook tax credits of up to $100 to the parents of public school students. He pointed out that home school parents and private school parents already get a tax break for textbooks, but not public school parents. His amendment was defeated 27-65 on a party line vote.

Then Representative Vernon Smith offered an amendment to delete the voucher expansion elements of SB 334 and the proposed second special education count, but leaving in the section on background checks and confidentiality agreements. Representative DeVon opposed the amendment, saying the bill would help students who have “dropped out or been expelled” get help from The Crossing school in a second ADM count. He said The Crossing now has 28 schools and helps kids who truly need help. He said he has “three great public schools in his district” and all they need from him is to get out of their way, but the kids at The Crossing need help.

Representative Smith in response said the voucher program is hurting his community. He is trying to stop the bleeding from choice scholarships because it is hurting not helping his community. He said The Crossing is a “great program”, but public school corporations are already funding The Crossing.

Then he withdrew his amendment.

Editorially, I would note that the purpose of SB 334 was once again cited by the bill’s sponsor Representative DeVon as helping drop outs, but no language limits the bill to drop outs or expelled students. It will have a broad impact across the state as it is now written to allow mid-year transfers that have nothing to do with drop out recovery. It will expand the advertising, marketing and recruitment season to 10.5 months out of the school year instead of the current six months.

The points of opposition still hold. Please review them and send a message before tomorrow’s final vote:

• Sponsors in both the Senate and the House said the bill would help a private school called The Crossing get funding to help drop outs, but the language of the bill says nothing about drop outs.

• The bill should be amended to focus on helping drop outs instead of allowing a huge increase in midyear general voucher transfers, estimated by the Legislative Services Agency to cost $2.1 million per year.

• This LSA estimate makes SB 334 the biggest voucher expansion since Governor Pence’s 2013 voucher expansion which ended up costing taxpayers $40 million extra dollars, according to the annual financial report on Choice scholarships.

• The current window for private school voucher applications is March 1 to September 1. SB 334 would establish a new enrollment window from September 2 to January 15. This extension would mean that the marketing and recruitment competition between private schools and public schools would go on for 10.5 months instead of the current 6 months.

• Private schools have always had to have a marketing program to gain enrollment, but marketing and recruiting is new to public schools since Indiana was transformed into a school choice marketplace in 2011. Now just like private schools, if public schools don’t recruit students, they won’t survive. A superb public school with superb teachers must still be marketed well to parents or it may falter in the competition for enrollment. SB 334 proposes to extend the intense competition by four and a half months.

• Marketing and recruiting take money and staff time that public schools don’t have, but now they must find it. To compete, public schools have to take money from other important services to budget for marketing and recruiting. Currently, marketing is largely confined to spring and summer months. Once fall enrollments are in place, schools can pay full attention to instruction while marketing and recruitment take a back seat. Now SB 334 would extend the competitive marketing pressure all the way through January 15th.

• SB 334 also removes a provision in current law that says if a voucher student leaves the voucher school for which the student was awarded a Choice scholarship, the student is responsible for the payment of any tuition required for the remainder of the school year. Removing this provision is moving backward on accountability to the taxpayer. If families make a bad choice, the result would be extra costs falling on the taxpayers.

• Legislators should say no to ever- increasing voucher expansion. The ISTEP crisis and the transition to tougher standards deserve the full attention of our General Assembly and our school personnel, and not another battle over voucher expansion.

• We don’t need a sweeping expansion of spring semester vouchers that will extend the advertising wars all year long that are currently confined to the summer recruiting period.

Take a moment to send a message to House members by the vote tomorrow and to Senators next week to oppose Senate Bill 334 unless it is amended to focus the bill on drop out recovery, the stated purpose of the sponsors. Tell them they should not expand vouchers generally to promote spring semester transfers.

Senate Bill 334 has been changed by the House, so if the bill is approved in the House this week, it will have to return to the Senate for a concurrence vote on the House version or else a conference committee to resolve the differences. It is not too early to send messages to your Senator about your opposition to the expansion of private school vouchers In SB 334. It has been announced that the session will be adjourned on March 10th, just eight days from today.

Let members of the House and the Senate know that you think the drumbeat for more and easier private school vouchers and less attention and support for public education has to stop.

The priority and publicity given to privatizing public education is taking us in the wrong direction and putting at risk in our bicentennial year our long heritage of public education in Indiana, the achievement of countless dedicated public servants.

Thank you for your willingness to stand up for public education!


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 continues to represent ICPE during the 2016 short session. 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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March 10 Meeting

The ISTA-R Allen County Chapter will meet at 12:00 noon on March 10, 2016 at the...

Country Heritage Winery
185 Co. Rd. 68
LaOtto, IN.

...for a tour of the Winery, wine tasting and snacks. Go North on Highway 3 and it is on the left side of the highway shortly after passing the Allen County Line. We will have a meeting and updates on what is happening in the legislature in their wine tasting room.

After the meeting, we will go back to the Cosmos restaurant (260-444-4802) at

9807 Lima Road

It is on the west side of the road by Aldi's and Walmart.

Please RSVP by Tuesday, March 8, 2016, to let us know if you will be going on the tour of the Winery and if you will be going to lunch at Cosmos. Call me at 260-436-2326 or e-mail Dorthy Epple.

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #252 – February 29, 2016

Dear Friends,

Again, the push by the current leadership of the Indiana General Assembly to expand private school vouchers marches on. Today, the vote was close.

Today (Feb. 29) in the Ways and Means Committee, Senate Bill 334 to expand vouchers by allowing spring semester transfers to voucher schools passed by a vote of 12-10.

An amendment offered by Representative Porter to give a tax credit for textbook rental payments to public school parents failed in committee before the final vote.

The bill now goes to the floor of the House for second reading amendments.

It’s time to send a message to your House member or to all House members that you oppose any expansion of private school vouchers and you think they should amend this bill to focus on helping drop outs, the stated purpose of the bill as described by the bill’s sponsor.

Senate Bill 334 has been changed by the House, so if the bill is approved on the House floor this week, it will have to return to the Senate for a concurrence vote on the House version or else a conference committee to resolve the differences. It is not too early to send messages to your Senator about your opposition to the expansion of private school vouchers. It has been announced that the session will be adjourned on March 10th, just eleven days from today.

Details of SB 334 in the House Ways and Means Committee

Today was the final day for bills to pass out of committees. Senate Bill 334 was the final bill of five called up today by Ways and Means Chairman Tim Brown. Dr. Brown is a strong supporter of private school vouchers and filed the radical bill this session to give all parents including home school parents the right to directly receive the taxpayer funds for schooling on a debit card to pay for tutors or private teachers with no public oversight. Mercifully, that over-the-top bill was not given a hearing.

ICPE Board President Tim Skinner was present at the hearing to testify against the bill on behalf of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education. Chairman Brown, however, did not allow testimony on Senate Bill 334 even though he had invited brief testimony on the other bills that came earlier in the meeting.

Discussion on the bill started with Representative Porter’s attempt to amend the bill to give tax credits to public school parents for payments they make for textbook rental. Currently, home school and private school parents can claim a deduction for textbooks on state taxes, but no deductions or credits are available to public school parents. The amendment failed on a party line vote, 7-15.

Representative Goodin, who is a public school superintendent in Crothersville, spoke strongly against several provisions of the expansion of vouchers in SB 334. Then came the committee vote on the bill.

Three Republicans joined seven Democrats in opposing the bill. They are:

Republicans (3): Representatives Davisson, Slager and Truitt

Democrats (7): Representatives Porter, Goodin, Klinker, Niezgodski, Pryor, Riecken and Stemler

All ten should be thanked for their vote.

Twelve Republicans voted for the bill: Representatives Baird, Karickhoff, Leonard, Thompson, Clere, Huston, Mayfield, Negele, Ober, Sullivan, Braun and Chairman Brown.

Representatives Cherry and DeLaney were not present and excused from the vote.

If one more committee member had voted against SB 334 voucher expansion, the bill would not have advanced. Put another way, any one of the twelve House members voting yes could have stopped the bill but chose not to.

Keep writing and calling your legislators about your opposition to voucher expansion in SB 334. Clearly, more legislators are starting to hear your messages.

Let members of the House and the Senate know that you think the drumbeat for more and easier private school vouchers and less attention and support for public education has to stop.

The priority and publicity given to privatizing public education is taking us in the wrong direction and leaving our long heritage of public education in Indiana, the achievement of countless dedicated public servants, at risk of further unraveling in the midst of Indiana’s bicentennial celebration.

Your messages to legislators make all the difference in the last week of the session, especially in an election year which is the season when politicians are most likely to listen.

Take a moment to send a message to House members this week and to Senators next week to oppose Senate Bill 334 unless it is amended to focus the bill on drop out recovery. Tell them they should not expand vouchers generally to promote spring semester transfers.

Thanks for your strong support of public education!


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 continues to represent ICPE during the 2016 short session. 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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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #251 – February 26, 2016

Dear Friends,

The push by the current leadership of the Indiana General Assembly to expand private school vouchers marches on.

Yesterday (Feb. 25) in the House Education Committee, Senate Bill 334 to expand vouchers by allowing spring semester transfers to voucher schools passed by a vote of 8-4. An amendment to focus the bill on the sponsor’s stated purpose to help drop outs failed on a 4-8 vote.

On the House floor debate on Senate Bill 93, a second reading amendment to delete the recommendation for a summer study on special education debit card savings account vouchers never materialized. A summer study of how special education funding can be given directly to parents via debit cards with no public oversight remains in the bill along with a long list of various unrelated provisions.

The authority of leadership makes sure that voucher bills will pass.

The clear theme of this session is that even in an election year the leadership of the General Assembly will continue to push Indiana to more and more private school vouchers any way they can.

A Case in Point: What Took So Long to Pass Senate Bill 334 Out of Committee?

Normally, when Chairman Behning hears a bill in the House Education Committee, he holds a vote on the day of the hearing. He held the hearing on SB 334 on Tuesday, Feb. 16th. The bill, however, didn’t pass the committee until the fourth meeting it was on the agenda on Feb. 25th. What took so long?

Representative Behning clearly supported SB 334 from the start. He has been the leading proponent of voucher expansion in the General Assembly, but when he held the SB 334 hearing on Feb. 16th, he no doubt realized he had a problem.

The hearing unexpectedly attracted more opponents than supporters by a ten to six margin. Opponents who testified represented both individuals from the community and a wide variety of school organizations. The main point of the opponents was that the bill’s stated rationale was to help The Crossing get help in the second semester for drop outs that need help. Calls to focus the bill on that population led to comments vocalized by committee members from both parties showing interest in narrowing the bill to drop out recovery.

Chairman Behning, father of the voucher program, no doubt wanted to maintain a broad voucher expansion and not limit the bill to helping drop outs. Senator Yoder, after all, the sponsor of SB 334, has been his key partner in the Senate in pushing the expansion of private school vouchers.

He had to do something to turn around the momentum of the bill and the support obviously building to narrow the focus to helping drop outs.

He did not take a vote after the Feb. 16th hearing, saying it would be put on the agenda for the next meeting on Feb. 18th. Feb. 18th came, and he announced it would be postponed until the Feb. 23rd meeting.

No doubt conversations with Republican members of the committee were starting that week to keep them in line behind the biggest expansion possible and against a limitation to focus on drop outs. On the voucher issue, starting with the historic voucher battle of 2011, I have heard stories from Republicans who did not support leadership on key voucher issues being “taken to the woodshed.” No doubt some of that was going on during the first week after the hearing.

Then on Feb. 23rd, to sweeten the deal and gain more advocates for the bill, Chairman Behning introduced amendments to SB 334 which had nothing to do with voucher expansion. One amendment, a concept which the Indiana Department of Education had asked for in a different bill, would add a second count date for special education enrollment each year, in addition to the current December 1 count. The second amendment added language to tighten up the identification of misbehaving teachers and protect students from abuse following the investigations at Park Tudor and the national study of similar investigations printed recently in the Indianapolis Star. Chairman Behning took extensive testimony on the amendments addressing these two themes, taking up the entire Feb. 23rd meeting on these new topics. Voucher expansion was not mentioned. He still did not take a vote.

By the time of yesterday’s House Education Committee meeting (Feb. 25th), any Republican members who had thought about narrowing the voucher expansion to drop out recovery were back in line except one. Representative Cook, a retired public school superintendent, courageously opposed the chairman and voted for an amendment to limit the spring semester vouchers to “eligible choice scholarship students who have been expelled from a public or an accredited nonpublic school.” This concept, Amendment 7, was offered by Representative Austin and was defeated 4-8, with Representative Cook joining the three Democrats present, Representatives Vernon Smith, Terri Austin and Sue Errington.

The final voucher expansion bill, with an new amendment to begin an “information-only” second special education count and a new amendment to address misbehaving teachers, was then passed 8 - 4, with the same four representatives opposing the voucher expansion.

Public education advocates should thank Representatives Cook, Vernon Smith, Austin and Errington for standing up for public education and opposing the biggest voucher expansion bill since the 2013 expansion.

Senate Bill 334 now goes to the House Ways and Means Committee scheduled to meet at 8:30 am on Monday, February 29th in Room 404. If you don’t like the way voucher expansion bills keep rolling out from the current Indiana General Assembly, write next to the members of the House Ways and Means Committee and let them know where you stand.

Take a moment to send a message by 8:30 Monday morning to the House Ways and Means Committee members to oppose Senate Bill 334 unless it is amended to focus the bill on drop out recovery. Tell them they should not expand vouchers generally to promote spring semester transfers.

Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee include Representative Tim Brown, chair; Representative Cherry, vice-chair; and Representatives Karickhoff, Baird, Truitt, Thompson, Leonard, Braun, Clere, Davisson, Huston, Mayfield, Negele, Ober, Slager, and Sullivan.

Democrats on the committee include Representative Porter, ranking member; and Representatives DeLaney, Goodin, Klinker, Niezgodski, Pryor, Riecken and Stemler.

Democracy is not a spectator sport. Your messages make all the difference!

Thanks for your strong support of public education!

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 continues to represent ICPE during the 2016 short session. 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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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #250 – February 23, 2016

Dear Friends,

Here are brief updates on the two bills which would expand vouchers and further privatize our public schools in Indiana.

Action has been delayed on both issues, which means you should continue to send messages about your opposition to voucher expansion if you have not done so already.

Senate Bill 334 – Amend to focus on helping drop outs

Senate Bill 334 is the bill that the sponsor said he introduced after a private school called The Crossing came to him to get funding to help 189 drop out students that enrolled in the spring semester, but the language of the bill says nothing about drop outs. It expands the window of voucher applications, which currently ends September 1, from September 2 to January 15.

The full list of talking points against Senate Bill 334 is found in “Vic’s Statehouse Notes #248” on Feb. 18th.

Amendment 7 has now been filed which would focus the bill on drop outs in line with the stated rationale. It adds this line: “Applications for choice scholarships for the spring semester of the current school year under subdivision (2) shall be limited to eligible choice scholarship students who have been expelled from a public or an accredited nonpublic school.”

This amendment focuses the language on drop outs and deserves support. We don’t need a general expansion of spring semester vouchers which LSA estimated would cost $2.1 million per year.

When the House Education Committee met this morning, the expectation was that this amendment and others would be dealt with and the committee would then vote on the bill. That did not happen.

Instead, additional amendments on major new subjects distributed at 10pm Monday night were the sole focus of discussion and testimony this morning. The major new topics addressed (1) a second count date for special education, (2) school reports of child abuse, and (3) employment agreements and egregious misconduct, the latter two dealing with issues related to the investigation at Park Tudor.

The House Education Committee will meet on Thursday, Feb. 25th at 8:30 to vote on amendments and then on the bill.

I urge you to send messages to the committee to support Amendment 7 to focus the bill on helping drop outs. If these latest amendments are added, the bill will gain broad support, so it is important that Amendment 7 be added to prevent a broad expansion of vouchers through spring semester transfers.

Senate Bill 93 – Amend to delete the summer study on special education debit card vouchers

Floor action for second reading amendments on Senate Bill 93 was expected today, but the bill was not on the agenda. The next opportunity for second reading amendments will be on Thursday, Feb. 25th.

In “Vic’s Statehouse Notes #249” on Feb. 21st, I made the case that while Senate Bill 93 has many positive elements, the last provision contains the seeds for the destruction of public education in Indiana. It would provide for a summer study of special education funding being given directly to parents via debit cards with no public oversight.

This provision deserves your strong opposition. Messages to your legislators are important at least until Thursday.

Public education advocates can help protect public education on these two issues.

1) Take a moment to send a message by Thursday to the House Education Committee members to adopt Amendment 7 for Senate Bill 334. Tell them they should not expand vouchers to promote spring semester transfers.

Republicans on the committee include Representative Behning, chair; Representative Rhoads, vice-chair; and Representatives Braun, Burton, Cook, DeVon, Fine, Lucas and Thompson.

Democrats on the committee include Representative Vernon Smith, ranking member; and Representatives Austin, Errington and Moed.

2) Take a moment to send a message by Thursday to any or all House members saying they should remove on second reading the summer study on special education savings accounts from Senate Bill 93. Tell them they should decisively reject the idea of funding debit card vouchers with no public oversight.

Your messages make all the difference. Thanks for your vital support of public education!


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 continues to represent ICPE during the 2016 short session. 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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