To keep up to date on FWEA information visit the FWEA Home page.
https://www.fortwayneeducationassociation.com
https://www.fortwayneeducationassociation.com
###
Saturday, April 17, 2021
Friday, March 5, 2021
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):
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:
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.
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.”
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!
Bipartisan Opposition and Partisan Support
Those voting against HB 1005 in the House represented a bipartisan opposition:
Republicans Voting to Oppose HB 1005
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.
###
Tuesday, February 2, 2021
Vic’s Statehouse Notes #350 – February 2, 2021
Dear Friends,
Shock and awe!
Public education in Indiana is truly under attack.
In a late move that I did not hear about until this morning, the Senate Education Committee has also scheduled their version of the Education Savings Accounts bill to be heard on the same afternoon as the House version. The Senate Education Committee begins tomorrow (Feb. 3) at 2pm, and the House Education Committee begins at 3:30pm.
The Senate version in Senate Bill 412 differs from the House version in House Bill 1005 in several ways:
Senate Bill 412 would also authorize the Indiana Treasurer to set up an online portal costing, according to the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency, as much as $11 million to let parents take the money that now goes to schools (approximately $7000 per student) so the parents can run unsupervised home or independent schools. The Treasurer can hire a bank to do the work and can keep 3% (instead of 1%) of every account for the trouble.
Senate Bill 412 makes 186,000 students eligible for these grants, 60,000 less than the House Bill. Again, the ultimate goal of Milton Friedman and his followers in the Indiana Senate is to make all students eligible for grants and let parents spend all education money without state supervision.
This is the Milton Friedman path to end public education in Indiana.
SB 412 is scheduled for a hearing this Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 2:00 in the Senate Education Committee.
You’re getting much practice in contacting legislators. Can you contact Senators about SB 412?
This is clearly the most serious attack on public education that I have ever seen.
Let Senators on the Education Committee listed below know that you support public schools and oppose bills that hurt public schools.
Email Senators on the Education Committee by Wednesday Afternoon
Here is the list:
Senator Jeff Raatz Senator.Raatz@iga.in.gov
Senator Scott Baldwin s20@iga.in.gov
Senator Brian Buchanan Senator.Buchanan@iga.in.gov
Senator John Crane Senator.Crane@iga.in.gov
Senator Stacey Donato Senator.Donato@iga.in.gov
Senator J.D. Ford s29@iga.in.gov
Senator Dennis Kruse Senator.Kruse@iga.in.gov
Senator Jean Leising Senator.Leising@iga.in.gov
Senator Eddie Melton Senator.Melton@iga.in.gov
Senator Fady Qaddoura Senator.Qaddoura@iga.in.gov
Senator Linda Rogers Senator.Rogers@iga.in.gov
Senator Kyle Walker s31@iga.in.gov
Senator Shelli Yoder Senator.Yoder@iga.in.gov
SB 412 contains Milton Friedman’s Plan to End Public Education. Please send your objections!
My testimony seen below has been sent to Senate Education Committee members. Feel free to use points from this and then add your own.
-----
Testimony on SB 412 submitted by Dr. Vic Smith, Indianapolis RE: Hearing on February 3, 2021
I strongly oppose SB 412. Personalized Education Grants are the same as Education Savings Accounts, Milton Friedman’s method of ending public education, and will open the door to giving public education money to unsupervised and unaccountable parents instead of to accountable and transparent schools. Under SB 412:
The concept of “Personalized Education Grants” for special education and 504 students and foster students included in SB 412 is so detrimental to high educational standards, so dismissive of maintaining accountability with public tax money, and so potentially dangerous to our democracy that it should be rejected outright as soon as possible.
Why would Personalized Education Grants, as known as Education Savings Accounts, be so detrimental to education in Indiana?
This concept of Personalized Education Grants, also known as Education Savings Accounts, is too radical and potentially damaging for any further consideration. The Senate turned down this concept in the 2017 session, and they should do so again.
Thank you for considering these major concerns.
-----
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.
Shock and awe!
Public education in Indiana is truly under attack.
In a late move that I did not hear about until this morning, the Senate Education Committee has also scheduled their version of the Education Savings Accounts bill to be heard on the same afternoon as the House version. The Senate Education Committee begins tomorrow (Feb. 3) at 2pm, and the House Education Committee begins at 3:30pm.
The Senate version in Senate Bill 412 differs from the House version in House Bill 1005 in several ways:
- SB 412 calls the money taken from schools and given to parents “Personalized Education Grants” instead of “Education Savings Accounts.”
- SB 412 makes no changes in the income tiers of Choice Scholarships.
- The Legislative Services Agency says SB 412 will cost $112 million over two years for the “grants”, less than the $202 million price tag over two years for HB1005. This reflects the omission of extra money in SB 412 for expanded Choice Scholarships.
Senate Bill 412 would also authorize the Indiana Treasurer to set up an online portal costing, according to the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency, as much as $11 million to let parents take the money that now goes to schools (approximately $7000 per student) so the parents can run unsupervised home or independent schools. The Treasurer can hire a bank to do the work and can keep 3% (instead of 1%) of every account for the trouble.
Senate Bill 412 makes 186,000 students eligible for these grants, 60,000 less than the House Bill. Again, the ultimate goal of Milton Friedman and his followers in the Indiana Senate is to make all students eligible for grants and let parents spend all education money without state supervision.
This is the Milton Friedman path to end public education in Indiana.
SB 412 is scheduled for a hearing this Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 2:00 in the Senate Education Committee.
You’re getting much practice in contacting legislators. Can you contact Senators about SB 412?
This is clearly the most serious attack on public education that I have ever seen.
Let Senators on the Education Committee listed below know that you support public schools and oppose bills that hurt public schools.
Email Senators on the Education Committee by Wednesday Afternoon
Here is the list:
Senator Jeff Raatz Senator.Raatz@iga.in.gov
Senator Scott Baldwin s20@iga.in.gov
Senator Brian Buchanan Senator.Buchanan@iga.in.gov
Senator John Crane Senator.Crane@iga.in.gov
Senator Stacey Donato Senator.Donato@iga.in.gov
Senator J.D. Ford s29@iga.in.gov
Senator Dennis Kruse Senator.Kruse@iga.in.gov
Senator Jean Leising Senator.Leising@iga.in.gov
Senator Eddie Melton Senator.Melton@iga.in.gov
Senator Fady Qaddoura Senator.Qaddoura@iga.in.gov
Senator Linda Rogers Senator.Rogers@iga.in.gov
Senator Kyle Walker s31@iga.in.gov
Senator Shelli Yoder Senator.Yoder@iga.in.gov
SB 412 contains Milton Friedman’s Plan to End Public Education. Please send your objections!
My testimony seen below has been sent to Senate Education Committee members. Feel free to use points from this and then add your own.
-----
Testimony on SB 412 submitted by Dr. Vic Smith, Indianapolis RE: Hearing on February 3, 2021
I strongly oppose SB 412. Personalized Education Grants are the same as Education Savings Accounts, Milton Friedman’s method of ending public education, and will open the door to giving public education money to unsupervised and unaccountable parents instead of to accountable and transparent schools. Under SB 412:
- Partisan extremists could use state home school money to teach their children to disobey the U.S. Constitution. They will get public money, but no civic education about our democracy is required.
- Racist parents could use state money to teach racist ideology in their home or independent school. SB 412 bans any state supervision of independent school curriculum.
- Parents of special education students could spend state money on therapy that does not work. There is no evaluation of student progress required.
- The State Treasurer would be required to promote the tax advantages of the Personalized Education Grants as an incentive to get parents to leave their school districts and sign up for the program. Every student in the grants program takes about $7000 out of the budget of the student’s public school district. This would obviously hurt the public schools that educate 90% of our students. The State Treasurer gets to keep 3% of the grants for their work.
The concept of “Personalized Education Grants” for special education and 504 students and foster students included in SB 412 is so detrimental to high educational standards, so dismissive of maintaining accountability with public tax money, and so potentially dangerous to our democracy that it should be rejected outright as soon as possible.
Why would Personalized Education Grants, as known as Education Savings Accounts, be so detrimental to education in Indiana?
1) The grants would give public money on a debit card to parents who sign an agreement to educate their child in “reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies or science.” That’s all! The bill actually says “or” in this list, so studying just one subject would fulfill a parent’s obligation. It’s an unregulated and narrow education. No art, no music, no health, no vocational subjects. This would absolutely lower standards for students just as standards for public school students in recent years have been raised.If this Education Savings Account concept is not decisively rejected, it will confirm the theory that all of the standards and testing regulations heaped upon our public schools in the past decade have just been techniques to make privatized vouchers and grants look attractive to individual parents, giving them an incentive to leave the public schools in order to run home schools or independent schools with taxpayer money. This concept is taken from Milton Friedman’s plan to end community public schools. It should be totally and promptly rejected.
2) The plan includes no obligation for annual testing or public accountability except for students who enroll in schools giving ILEARN. No accountability is required of students in home or micro schools.
3) The bill would give 100% of ADM money (more than a 90% voucher) to high income parents of special education and 504 students and foster children. It would even allow wealthy parents who are already paying private school tuition to get a grant and put it in a Coverdell college fund.
4) The bill would give the entire amount of public money for eligible students directly to parents, paving the way in a few years for the real goal to give the entire amount of public money to parents of all students on a debit card. These bills to privatize schooling would immediately divert money away from our public school students and over time would undermine funding for all students in both public schools and private voucher schools. This bill undermines the very concept of schools.
5) The bill would allow parents to home school their child with public money, paying for an approved provider, for a tutor and for textbooks. Public school parents would surely like to have the state pay for their textbooks as well, but public school parents must pay their own textbook rental.
6) The bill would give public money to parents with very weak provisions for fraud protection. Parents with past records of felonies or neglect or child abuse are not excluded.
This concept of Personalized Education Grants, also known as Education Savings Accounts, is too radical and potentially damaging for any further consideration. The Senate turned down this concept in the 2017 session, and they should do so again.
Thank you for considering these major concerns.
-----
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.
###
Vic’s Statehouse Notes #349 – February 1, 2021
Dear Friends,
Is this the end of public education in Indiana?
Is Indiana following Milton Friedman’s playbook to give education money to parents and not to the schools?
House Bill 1005 would authorize the Indiana Treasurer to set up an online portal costing, according to the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency, as much as $11 million to let parents take the money that now goes to schools (approximately $7000 per student) so the parents can run unsupervised home or independent schools. The Treasurer can hire a bank to do the work and can keep 1% of every account for the trouble.
House Bill 1005 makes 246,000 students (about a quarter of all Hoosier students) eligible for these accounts, which are called Education Savings Accounts (ESA’s). Obviously the ultimate goal of Milton Friedman and his followers in the Indiana House of Representatives is to make all students eligible for ESA’s and let parents spend all education money without state supervision.
This is the path that ESA’s provide to end public education in Indiana. I oppose ESA’s and House Bill 1005.
HB 1005 is scheduled for a hearing this Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 3:30 in the House Education Committee.
This is the moment.
All who support public schools should contact the members of the House Education Committee to express your opposition. HB 1005 has been made a priority bill by the Republicans in the House. This is the most serious attack on public education that I have ever seen.
Will you send a note of opposition to HB 1005?
It need not be as long as my written testimony that I sent today, which you can read below. Just put in your own words what would happen if our state no longer had strong public schools.
Instructions for Submitting Written Testimony by Wednesday Afternoon
Here are the instructions from Joel Hand about submitting written testimony against HB 1005 before the House Education Committee hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 3rd:
If you really want your testimony to be sent to the committee members, you will need to email it directly to each of them.
Here is a list of the legislators on the House Education Committee and their email addresses:
Chairman, Robert (Bob) Behning (R) h91@iga.in.gov
Vice Chairman, Jack Jordan (R) h17@iga.in.gov
Martin Carbaugh (R) h81@iga.in.gov
Edward Clere (R) h72@iga.in.gov
Tony Cook (R) h32@iga.in.gov
Michelle Davis (R) h58@iga.in.gov
Chuck Goodrich (R) h29@iga.in.gov
Jake Teshka (R) h7@iga.in.gov
Jeffrey Thompson (R) h28@iga.in.gov
Ranking Minority Member, Vernon Smith (D) h14@iga.in.gov
Ed Delaney (D) h86@iga.in.gov
Sheila Klinker (D) h27@iga.in.gov
Tonya Pfaff (D) h43@iga.in.gov
If you wish to testify in person, you must fill out an appearance form. The form is available at this link:
Appearance Form
HB 1005 contains Milton Friedman’s Plan to End Public Education. Please send your objections!
My testimony seen below has been sent to House Education Committee members. Please send your own thoughts to the email addresses above.
-----
Testimony on HB 1005 submitted by Dr. Vic Smith, Indianapolis RE: Hearing on February 3, 2021
I strongly oppose HB 1005. Education Savings Accounts, Milton Friedman’s method of ending public education, will open the door to unacceptable practices. We all lose when children are not well educated. Under HB 1005:
LSA puts the fiscal cost of HB 1005 at $202 million for two years. HB 1005 says on p. 32 that this money will come from the tuition support budget. That means that Gov. Holcomb’s proposed tuition support increase of $377 million for two years is actually only $175 million, clearly not enough for all the rest of the K-12 schools.
The concept of “Educational Savings Accounts” for special education students and other groups included in HB 1005 is so detrimental to high educational standards, so dismissive of maintaining accountability with public tax money, and so potentially dangerous to our democracy that it should be rejected outright as soon as possible.
Why would Education Savings Accounts be so detrimental to education in Indiana?
I oppose all parts of HB 1005. In particular, the Education Savings Account concept is too radical and potentially damaging for any further consideration, so at the outset, I urge you to delete pp. 25 to 38 (Chapters 1-6) of the bill regarding Education Savings Accounts.
Thank you for considering these major concerns.
-----
Grassroots support of public schools makes all the difference. 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.
Is this the end of public education in Indiana?
Is Indiana following Milton Friedman’s playbook to give education money to parents and not to the schools?
House Bill 1005 would authorize the Indiana Treasurer to set up an online portal costing, according to the non-partisan Legislative Services Agency, as much as $11 million to let parents take the money that now goes to schools (approximately $7000 per student) so the parents can run unsupervised home or independent schools. The Treasurer can hire a bank to do the work and can keep 1% of every account for the trouble.
House Bill 1005 makes 246,000 students (about a quarter of all Hoosier students) eligible for these accounts, which are called Education Savings Accounts (ESA’s). Obviously the ultimate goal of Milton Friedman and his followers in the Indiana House of Representatives is to make all students eligible for ESA’s and let parents spend all education money without state supervision.
This is the path that ESA’s provide to end public education in Indiana. I oppose ESA’s and House Bill 1005.
HB 1005 is scheduled for a hearing this Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 3:30 in the House Education Committee.
This is the moment.
All who support public schools should contact the members of the House Education Committee to express your opposition. HB 1005 has been made a priority bill by the Republicans in the House. This is the most serious attack on public education that I have ever seen.
Will you send a note of opposition to HB 1005?
It need not be as long as my written testimony that I sent today, which you can read below. Just put in your own words what would happen if our state no longer had strong public schools.
Instructions for Submitting Written Testimony by Wednesday Afternoon
Here are the instructions from Joel Hand about submitting written testimony against HB 1005 before the House Education Committee hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 3rd:
If you really want your testimony to be sent to the committee members, you will need to email it directly to each of them.
Here is a list of the legislators on the House Education Committee and their email addresses:
Chairman, Robert (Bob) Behning (R) h91@iga.in.gov
Vice Chairman, Jack Jordan (R) h17@iga.in.gov
Martin Carbaugh (R) h81@iga.in.gov
Edward Clere (R) h72@iga.in.gov
Tony Cook (R) h32@iga.in.gov
Michelle Davis (R) h58@iga.in.gov
Chuck Goodrich (R) h29@iga.in.gov
Jake Teshka (R) h7@iga.in.gov
Jeffrey Thompson (R) h28@iga.in.gov
Ranking Minority Member, Vernon Smith (D) h14@iga.in.gov
Ed Delaney (D) h86@iga.in.gov
Sheila Klinker (D) h27@iga.in.gov
Tonya Pfaff (D) h43@iga.in.gov
If you wish to testify in person, you must fill out an appearance form. The form is available at this link:
Appearance Form
HB 1005 contains Milton Friedman’s Plan to End Public Education. Please send your objections!
My testimony seen below has been sent to House Education Committee members. Please send your own thoughts to the email addresses above.
-----
Testimony on HB 1005 submitted by Dr. Vic Smith, Indianapolis RE: Hearing on February 3, 2021
I strongly oppose HB 1005. Education Savings Accounts, Milton Friedman’s method of ending public education, will open the door to unacceptable practices. We all lose when children are not well educated. Under HB 1005:
- Partisan extremists could use state home school money to teach their children to disobey the U.S. Constitution. They will get public money, but no civic education about our democracy is required.
- Racist parents could use state money to teach racist ideology in their home or independent school. HB 1005 bans any state supervision of independent school curriculum.
- Parents of special education students could spend state money on therapy that does not work. There is no evaluation of student progress required.
- The State Treasurer would be required to promote the tax advantages of the Education Savings Account program as an incentive to get parents to leave their school districts and sign up for the program. Every student in the ESA program takes about $7000 out of the budget of the student’s public school district.
LSA puts the fiscal cost of HB 1005 at $202 million for two years. HB 1005 says on p. 32 that this money will come from the tuition support budget. That means that Gov. Holcomb’s proposed tuition support increase of $377 million for two years is actually only $175 million, clearly not enough for all the rest of the K-12 schools.
The concept of “Educational Savings Accounts” for special education students and other groups included in HB 1005 is so detrimental to high educational standards, so dismissive of maintaining accountability with public tax money, and so potentially dangerous to our democracy that it should be rejected outright as soon as possible.
Why would Education Savings Accounts be so detrimental to education in Indiana?
1) ESA’s would give public money on a debit card to parents who sign an agreement to educate their child in “reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies or science.” That’s all! The bill actually says “or” in this list, so studying just one subject would fulfill a parent’s obligation. It’s an unregulated and narrow education. No art, no music, no health, no vocational subjects. This would absolutely lower standards for students just as standards for public school students in recent years have been raised.If this Education Savings Account concept is not decisively rejected, it will confirm the theory that all of the standards and testing regulations heaped upon our public schools in the past decade have just been techniques to make privatized vouchers and savings accounts look attractive to individual parents, giving them an incentive to leave the public schools in order to run home schools or independent schools with taxpayer money. This ESA concept is taken from Milton Friedman’s plan to end community public schools. It should be totally and promptly rejected.
2) The plan includes no obligation for annual testing or public accountability except for students who enroll in schools giving ILEARN. Students in home or independent schools have no accountability.
3) The bill would give 100% of ADM money (more than a 90% voucher) to high income parents of special education and 504 students, children of active duty military and disabled veterans, and foster children.
4) The bill would give the entire amount of public money for eligible students directly to parents, paving the way in a few years for the real goal to give the entire amount of public money to parents of all students on a debit card. These bills to privatize schooling would immediately divert money away from our public school students and over time would undermine funding for all students in both public schools and private voucher schools. This bill undermines the very concept of schools.
5) The bill would allow parents to home school their child with public money, paying for an approved provider, for a tutor and for textbooks. Public school parents would surely like to have the state pay for their textbooks as well, but public school parents must pay their own textbook rental.
6) The bill would give public money to parents with very weak provisions for fraud protection. Parents with past records of felonies or neglect or child abuse are not excluded.
I oppose all parts of HB 1005. In particular, the Education Savings Account concept is too radical and potentially damaging for any further consideration, so at the outset, I urge you to delete pp. 25 to 38 (Chapters 1-6) of the bill regarding Education Savings Accounts.
Thank you for considering these major concerns.
-----
Grassroots support of public schools makes all the difference. 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.
###
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Vic’s Statehouse Notes #348 – January 26, 2021
Dear Friends,
Heads up! Public education is under the most serious attack ever seen in Indiana. Will you help defend it as you have for the last decade?
Taking advantage of the pandemic and reduced citizen access to the Statehouse, private education advocates in the House of Representatives are pushing to divert hundreds of millions in public funds to private and home schools and to establish in Indiana a radical new program called Education Savings Accounts that undermines the very concept of community public schools.
House Bill 1005 would expand private school vouchers and, for the first time, give significant tax dollars to unsupervised home schools. The non-partisan Legislative Services Agency says the bill would cost $202 million dollars over two years:
Voucher Costs Come Out the K-12 Tuition Support Budget
Governor Holcomb just proposed a budget increase of $377 million for K-12 tuition support. His budget lifts K-12 funding by 2% in the first year and by 1% in the second year of the two year budget.
He should, however, have signaled that public schools may get less than 2% and 1%. In his State of the State address, he said parents “deserve to have options.” Choice Scholarships (vouchers) are paid from the same K-12 tuition budget as are public and charter schools. House Bill 1005 would reduce the Governor’s plan by $65 million, according to the LSA fiscal estimate for expanded vouchers, diverting $34 million in the first year of the budget and $31 million in the second year to private schools and away from public schools that badly need the money.
That would actually leave an increase of $116 million for Indiana public schools in the first year, instead of the $150 million in the Governor’s plan, an increase of 1.5%, not 2%. The Governor’s increase in the second year, announced as $77 million or 1%, would turn out to be $46 million, after $31 million (40% of the proposed increase) is diverted to Choice Scholarships, according to the LSA estimate of voucher expansion costs. That results in a percentage increase of 0.6%.
Governor Holcomb included a line in his State of the State saying, “at the same time, those options shouldn’t come at the expense of the public school system, which educates 90% of Hoosier children.” If he is serious about this statement, he will oppose House Bill 1005, because
HB 1005 Topic 1: Expanding Choice Scholarships
House Bill 1005 is a statement by the Republican leadership that giving more money to private school parents for tuition to private schools is a higher priority than raising teacher pay.
Currently, according to the latest income figures from IDOE for 2020-21:
Again, the Legislative Services Agency says this generous government handout to higher income families would cost $34 million during 2021-22 and $31 million during 2022-23, for a total of $65 million taken from the K-12 tuition support budget.
HB 1005 Topic 2: Education Savings Accounts Go Directly from the Treasury to Home School Parents
The concept of an Education Savings Account is a radical idea. It was defeated once before in 2017 when Senate Bill 534 died in committee after superb opposition testimony from special education parents who saw how this maneuver would decrease funding for the quality special education programs that were so crucial in helping their children.
It has been resurrected under the guise of giving some parents options during the pandemic, but it plants the seeds for the disintegration and resegregation of community public schools. It is a plan proposed by Milton Friedman who wanted to end public schools and distribute education money to parents in the manner proposed by HB 1005, which makes special education and 504 students, children of active duty members of the military, children of disabled veterans and foster children eligible for grants estimated by LSA to cost $131 million dollars if they sign away their spot in an Indiana school.
ESA’s should not be confused with Choice Scholarship vouchers where at least we know your tax dollars are sent to a school that has some level of accountability to the state of Indiana. ESA’s are sent to parents directly from the Indiana Treasurer with no supervision. In fact, HB 1005 includes language that guarantees no curriculum supervision by the state.
In the midst of threats to our democracy and calls for racial justice, I would first ask two questions of anyone who thinks ESA’s are a good idea:
There is no accountability for the home schools receiving public funds through Education Savings Accounts. The only ILEARN testing might come if parents use their accounts to pay tuition at a private school that is giving ILEARN, but parents can spend their accounts completely on tutors with no required accountability. That is wrong.
Why would Education Savings Accounts be so detrimental to education in Indiana?
If this concept is not decisively rejected, the future of public education in Indiana is bleak. Our hard working but demoralized teachers and administrators in Indiana would take this bill as a signal that General Assembly is ready to put public education into a death spiral, and some would confirm plans to leave for other states or other vocations, making our teacher shortage even worse.
This concept is too radical and potentially damaging for any further action. Our schools must pass on the tenets of democracy to every student if our democracy is to survive for another generation. Events of the past month at the U.S. Capitol show this is no trivial concern. Our democracy and the survival of the US Constitution are at stake. There is no way to check on whether Education Savings Accounts are funding independent anti-democracy extremist schools.
If the General Assembly is willing to give millions to home schools with no accountability, then they should remove all accountability measures for traditional public schools that at least have publicly chosen boards which supervise all expenditures.
Contact Your Legislators and Members of the House Education Committee!
This comes at a time when our democracy is imperiled. Public education has been a pillar of democracy in Indiana for over 170 years. Are you ready to defend it?
A hearing on House Bill 1005 could come as early as next week when the committee meets on February 3rd. Don’t wait. Send your messages now to your own legislators and to committee members.
Contact House Education Committee members:
Republican Representatives Behning (h91@iga.in.gov), Jordan (h17@iga.in.gov), Carbaugh(h81@iga.in.gov), Clere (h72@iga.in.gov), Cook (h32@iga.in.gov), Davis (h58@iga.in.gov), Goodrich (h29@iga.in.gov), Teshka (h7@iga.in.gov), Thompson (h28@iga.in.gov)
Democrat Representatives Smith (h14@iga.in.gov), DeLaney (h86@iga.in.gov), Klinker (h27@iga.in.gov), Pfaff (h43@iga.in.gov)
______________________________________________________________________________
INDIANA SCHOOL FUNDING INCREASES FOR THE PAST SEVEN BUDGETS FOR COMPARISON WITH GOV. HOLCOMB’S BUDGET PROPOSED ON JANUARY 13, 2021
Source: The summary cover page from the General Assembly’s School Formulas for each budget
Prepared by Dr. Vic Smith, 1-22-21
When the school funding formulas are passed every two years by the General Assembly, legislators see the bottom line percentage increases on a summary page. Figures that have appeared on this summary are listed below for the last seven budgets that I have personally observed as they were approved by the legislature.
Tuition support and dollar increases have been rounded to the nearest 10 million dollars.
Total funding and percentage increases were taken directly from the School Funding Formula summary page. Sometimes in the first year of two budget years, the previous budget amount was not fully spent and the adjusted lowered base was used by the General Assembly to calculate the percentage increase.
*As presented by the Governor. Adjustments discussed above showing diversions to private schools are not included here.
Your messages to legislators on this issue are crucial. Let your legislators know how you feel about House Bill 1005.
Grassroots support of public schools makes all the difference. 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.
Heads up! Public education is under the most serious attack ever seen in Indiana. Will you help defend it as you have for the last decade?
Taking advantage of the pandemic and reduced citizen access to the Statehouse, private education advocates in the House of Representatives are pushing to divert hundreds of millions in public funds to private and home schools and to establish in Indiana a radical new program called Education Savings Accounts that undermines the very concept of community public schools.
House Bill 1005 would expand private school vouchers and, for the first time, give significant tax dollars to unsupervised home schools. The non-partisan Legislative Services Agency says the bill would cost $202 million dollars over two years:
- Expanding vouchers to give more money to higher income private school parents (Choice Scholarships) would cost $65 million over two years, according to LSA.
- Education Savings Accounts to fund home schools would cost $137 million over two years according to LSA, which includes at least $6 million to create an online portal which would distribute the money directly to parents through the State Treasurer, of all things, without the involvement or supervision of any education official. This concept is based on Milton Friedman’s plan to end community public schools and simply distribute money to parents. It should be totally rejected by the General Assembly.
Voucher Costs Come Out the K-12 Tuition Support Budget
Governor Holcomb just proposed a budget increase of $377 million for K-12 tuition support. His budget lifts K-12 funding by 2% in the first year and by 1% in the second year of the two year budget.
He should, however, have signaled that public schools may get less than 2% and 1%. In his State of the State address, he said parents “deserve to have options.” Choice Scholarships (vouchers) are paid from the same K-12 tuition budget as are public and charter schools. House Bill 1005 would reduce the Governor’s plan by $65 million, according to the LSA fiscal estimate for expanded vouchers, diverting $34 million in the first year of the budget and $31 million in the second year to private schools and away from public schools that badly need the money.
That would actually leave an increase of $116 million for Indiana public schools in the first year, instead of the $150 million in the Governor’s plan, an increase of 1.5%, not 2%. The Governor’s increase in the second year, announced as $77 million or 1%, would turn out to be $46 million, after $31 million (40% of the proposed increase) is diverted to Choice Scholarships, according to the LSA estimate of voucher expansion costs. That results in a percentage increase of 0.6%.
Governor Holcomb included a line in his State of the State saying, “at the same time, those options shouldn’t come at the expense of the public school system, which educates 90% of Hoosier children.” If he is serious about this statement, he will oppose House Bill 1005, because
(1) the voucher expansion section of the bill undermines the funding available to public schools by $65 million andIn the table at the end of these notes, the Governor’s proposed budget can be compared with the previous seven K-12 budgets.
(2) the Education Savings Account section of the bill incentivizes parents to abandon the public schools and undermines the central purpose of public education to teach every student about democracy and the US Constitution. This section funds unsupervised home schools, following the blueprint of Milton Friedman to end public education.
HB 1005 Topic 1: Expanding Choice Scholarships
House Bill 1005 is a statement by the Republican leadership that giving more money to private school parents for tuition to private schools is a higher priority than raising teacher pay.
Currently, according to the latest income figures from IDOE for 2020-21:
- families of four earning $48,000 or less get a 90% voucher.
- families of four earning $48,000 to $60,000 get a 70% voucher.
- families of four earning $60,000 to $96,000 get a 50% voucher.
Again, the Legislative Services Agency says this generous government handout to higher income families would cost $34 million during 2021-22 and $31 million during 2022-23, for a total of $65 million taken from the K-12 tuition support budget.
HB 1005 Topic 2: Education Savings Accounts Go Directly from the Treasury to Home School Parents
The concept of an Education Savings Account is a radical idea. It was defeated once before in 2017 when Senate Bill 534 died in committee after superb opposition testimony from special education parents who saw how this maneuver would decrease funding for the quality special education programs that were so crucial in helping their children.
It has been resurrected under the guise of giving some parents options during the pandemic, but it plants the seeds for the disintegration and resegregation of community public schools. It is a plan proposed by Milton Friedman who wanted to end public schools and distribute education money to parents in the manner proposed by HB 1005, which makes special education and 504 students, children of active duty members of the military, children of disabled veterans and foster children eligible for grants estimated by LSA to cost $131 million dollars if they sign away their spot in an Indiana school.
ESA’s should not be confused with Choice Scholarship vouchers where at least we know your tax dollars are sent to a school that has some level of accountability to the state of Indiana. ESA’s are sent to parents directly from the Indiana Treasurer with no supervision. In fact, HB 1005 includes language that guarantees no curriculum supervision by the state.
In the midst of threats to our democracy and calls for racial justice, I would first ask two questions of anyone who thinks ESA’s are a good idea:
- How will taxpayers know whether they are funding a home school that teaches extremism supporting the overthrow of the US Constitution?
- How will taxpayers know whether they are funding a home school that teaches racism?
There is no accountability for the home schools receiving public funds through Education Savings Accounts. The only ILEARN testing might come if parents use their accounts to pay tuition at a private school that is giving ILEARN, but parents can spend their accounts completely on tutors with no required accountability. That is wrong.
Why would Education Savings Accounts be so detrimental to education in Indiana?
1) ESA’s would give public money on a debit card to parents who sign an agreement to educate their child in “reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies or science.” That’s all! The bill actually says “or” in this list, so studying just one subject would fulfill a parent’s obligation. It’s an unregulated and narrow education. No art, no music, no health, no vocational subjects. This would absolutely lower standards for students just as standards for public school students have been raised.If this Education Savings Account concept is not decisively rejected, it will confirm the theory that all of the standards and testing regulations heaped upon our public schools in the past decade have just been techniques to make privatized vouchers and savings accounts look attractive to individual parents, giving them an incentive to leave the public schools or voucher schools in order to run home schools or independent schools with taxpayer money. This bill’s concept is based on Milton Friedman’s plan to end community public schools. It should be totally and promptly rejected by the General Assembly.
2) The plan includes no obligation for annual testing or public accountability of student achievement. This is in total contrast to testing and accountability in Indiana law.
3) The bill would give public money to high income parents of special education and 504 students, children of active duty military and disabled veterans, and foster children. HB 1005 would remove all income limits for receiving money from these accounts.
4) The bill would give the entire amount of public money for eligible students directly to parents, paving the way in a few years for the real goal to give the entire amount of public money to parents of all students on a debit card. These bills to privatize schooling would immediately divert money away from our public school students and over time would undermine funding for all students in both public schools and private voucher schools. This bill undermines the very concept of schools.
5) The bill would allow parents to home school their child with public money, paying for an approved provider, for a tutor and for textbooks. Public school parents would surely like to have the state pay for their textbooks as well, but public school parents must pay their own textbook rental.
6) The bill would give public money to parents with very weak provisions for fraud protection. Parents with past records of crime or neglect or abuse are not excluded.
If this concept is not decisively rejected, the future of public education in Indiana is bleak. Our hard working but demoralized teachers and administrators in Indiana would take this bill as a signal that General Assembly is ready to put public education into a death spiral, and some would confirm plans to leave for other states or other vocations, making our teacher shortage even worse.
This concept is too radical and potentially damaging for any further action. Our schools must pass on the tenets of democracy to every student if our democracy is to survive for another generation. Events of the past month at the U.S. Capitol show this is no trivial concern. Our democracy and the survival of the US Constitution are at stake. There is no way to check on whether Education Savings Accounts are funding independent anti-democracy extremist schools.
If the General Assembly is willing to give millions to home schools with no accountability, then they should remove all accountability measures for traditional public schools that at least have publicly chosen boards which supervise all expenditures.
Contact Your Legislators and Members of the House Education Committee!
This comes at a time when our democracy is imperiled. Public education has been a pillar of democracy in Indiana for over 170 years. Are you ready to defend it?
A hearing on House Bill 1005 could come as early as next week when the committee meets on February 3rd. Don’t wait. Send your messages now to your own legislators and to committee members.
Contact House Education Committee members:
Republican Representatives Behning (h91@iga.in.gov), Jordan (h17@iga.in.gov), Carbaugh(h81@iga.in.gov), Clere (h72@iga.in.gov), Cook (h32@iga.in.gov), Davis (h58@iga.in.gov), Goodrich (h29@iga.in.gov), Teshka (h7@iga.in.gov), Thompson (h28@iga.in.gov)
Democrat Representatives Smith (h14@iga.in.gov), DeLaney (h86@iga.in.gov), Klinker (h27@iga.in.gov), Pfaff (h43@iga.in.gov)
(Email all members of the committee at once...go to this site)
Tell them you oppose HB 1005:
Compare the Governor’s Proposed Budget with Seven Previous Budgets
Study the table below to see how the new 2019 budget matches up with recent budgets going back to 2007.
Tell them you oppose HB 1005:
- The $202 million price tag for only the first two years is huge and should instead be directed to boosting teacher pay.
- It is wrong in this economic climate to prioritize giving extra tax money to high income private school parents who are already able to pay private school tuition.
- Chapters 1 through 6 on pages 25-38 of HB 1005 should be deleted altogether to prevent public dollars from going to home schools and independent unaccredited schools with no accountability and no supervision checking on whether these independent schools are teaching anti-democracy extremism.
- HB 1005 would divert millions from public schools at a time they need stable support.
Compare the Governor’s Proposed Budget with Seven Previous Budgets
Study the table below to see how the new 2019 budget matches up with recent budgets going back to 2007.
______________________________________________________________________________
INDIANA SCHOOL FUNDING INCREASES FOR THE PAST SEVEN BUDGETS FOR COMPARISON WITH GOV. HOLCOMB’S BUDGET PROPOSED ON JANUARY 13, 2021
Source: The summary cover page from the General Assembly’s School Formulas for each budget
Prepared by Dr. Vic Smith, 1-22-21
When the school funding formulas are passed every two years by the General Assembly, legislators see the bottom line percentage increases on a summary page. Figures that have appeared on this summary are listed below for the last seven budgets that I have personally observed as they were approved by the legislature.
Tuition support and dollar increases have been rounded to the nearest 10 million dollars.
*As presented by the Governor. Adjustments discussed above showing diversions to private schools are not included here.
Your messages to legislators on this issue are crucial. Let your legislators know how you feel about House Bill 1005.
Grassroots support of public schools makes all the difference. 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.
###
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)