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

Dear Friends,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The House Vote

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bipartisan Opposition and Partisan Support

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

Republicans Voting to Oppose HB 1005

Democrats Voting to Oppose HB 1005

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

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

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

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

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

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

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969. I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor. I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009. I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana. In April of 2018, I was honored to receive the 2018 Friend of Education Award from the Indiana State Teachers Association.

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #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:

• 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.

Making this $202 million bill a supermajority priority makes a mockery of all claims that there is no money to improve teacher pay.

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 and
(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.

In the table at the end of these notes, the Governor’s proposed budget can be compared with the previous seven K-12 budgets.

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.

House Bill 1005 would wipe out the income tiers and raise the income eligibility, giving all families of four earning up to $109,000 a 90% voucher in 2021-22. Then in 2022-2023 this level would rise to give families of four earning up to $145,000 a 90% voucher. This would give millions to families who are already attending private schools.

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?

House Bill 1005 provides no protections to taxpayers on these questions.

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.

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 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.

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:

• 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.

Then email Governor Holcomb to tell him that he must oppose Education Savings Accounts if he is sincere in saying in his State of the State address: “ those options shouldn’t come at the expense of the public school system, which educates 90% of Hoosier children.” Education Savings Accounts would put the public school system in a death spiral.

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.

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.

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #309 – January 17, 2018

Dear Friends,

Thank you for the messages you sent to legislators opposing “Education Savings Accounts.”!

Your messages of opposition have apparently stalled this radical proposal before it got off the ground in the short session.

The deadlines for filing bills in the House and Senate have come and gone, and Senator Raatz never filed his “Education Savings Accounts” bill for special education students that he filed in 2016 and 2017.

Representative Lucas never filed his “Education Savings Accounts” bill for all students as he did in the budget session in 2017.

Representative Tim Brown, the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, filed an ESA bill for all students in 2016, but not in 2018.

It’s good news for now, but remember the concept of “Education Savings Accounts” because they could show up as an amendment to another bill or as a new bill next year in the budget session to try to privatize our public schools.

A Radical Proposal

“Education Savings Accounts” is truly a radical proposal. With the support of wealthy backers who donate heavily to legislators, it has been passed in six states: Florida, Tennessee, Nevada, Arizona, Mississippi and North Carolina. It would:

• give approximately $6000 per student directly to parents on a debit card, or up to $15000 for special education students, allowing parents to spend the education money on their child unsupervised and unaudited.

• subtract that money away from the funds that normally go to the local school district, a “foot in the door” to the real intent espoused by Milton Friedman of undermining public education itself. ESAs subvert the very concept of schooling.

• require parents to provide a bare minimum education in “reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies and science” (no art, no music, no health, no physical education, no vocational courses) with no standards and no obligation for annual testing or public accountability.

• fund home schools for the first time and remove all income limits in order to give public money to high income parents of special education and Section 504 students, leading to an estimated cost of up to $206 million according to a Legislative Services Agency fiscal note for the 2017 version of the bill.

• not provide any fraud detection department nor would it define penalties for parents who commit fraud nor would it exclude parents with past records of crime or neglect or abuse or welfare fraud or addiction.

This plan to bring “Education Savings Accounts” to Indiana must not stand.

During the past fall, this plan appeared to be moving. The concept got “baked in” to the constituent surveys that Republican legislators send out before the session, surveys that are printed far in advance of the session. Then no bill was filed.

Thank you for your vigilance. Stay alert to amendments to bills this session and to bills next year that would undermine our public schools with “Education Savings Accounts.” For now, no bill on this topic has been filed as was done in the previous two sessions.

Thank you for actively supporting public education in Indiana!


Best wishes,

Vic Smith

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

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

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

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

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

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969. I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor. I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009. I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #308 – December 31, 2017

Dear Friends,

It was confirmed in a survey in my mailbox.

A direct attack on public education is coming in the short session starting January 3rd. Public education parents and advocates need to be ready to fend off a new form of privatization.

This attack would put in place Milton Friedman’s blueprint to end public education by giving public money directly to parents on a debit card. My previous notes (#307, Dec. 18, 2017) detailed this plan called “Education Savings Accounts”.

Confirmation that this new attack on public education will be a high priority in the General Assembly came in my mailbox.

When I read the annual survey from my State Senator, Senator Ruckelshaus, one of only six questions asked whether I would support or oppose giving $6000 on a debit card to unsupervised home schools for special education students. Actually, this is my description of the Educational Savings Account proposal. Here is how the survey question read:

“Do you support or oppose giving parents of children with special needs the option to use state educational funding for services such as private-school tuition, tutoring or online courses?”

Questions don’t get on the legislative survey unless the issue has support.

This deceptive language tries to normalize a radical idea to give taxpayer tuition money to home schools for the very first time. It leaves out a lot of details:

• It does not clearly say that parents of disabled children can already get a voucher for private-school tuition, so that would be nothing new.

• It does not clearly say parents of disabled children will be given $6000 or more in taxpayer money on a debit card to be home schooled without supervision in exchange for giving up their right to a “free appropriate public education” and their right to an “individual education plan (IEP)” approved by the parent which has been guaranteed by federal law since the 1970’s.

• It does not clearly say parents of disabled children could leave out teaching about our democracy if they want to. With this proposal, democracy is in peril.

The Battle to Come

Wealthy advocates for private school vouchers such as Fred Klipsch have contributed heavily to the campaign funds of Indiana legislators, so legislators will take it seriously when private school advocates ask for a radical plan like Education Savings Accounts. Plans like this have been passed in Florida and five other states with the support of the Jeb Bush Foundation.

This will be a major battle which needs your participation.

What Can You Do?

1) Let your legislator know how much you oppose diverting $6000 to $15,000 per student from our public schools to give to unsupervised and unaudited parents.

2) Share this alert with parents of special education students and ask them to get involved to stop this attack on special education programs in our public schools. This proposal will damage stable, high performing special education programs as budgets drop when money is diverted to unsupervised parents.

3) Speak against this radical plan at the hearing in the Senate Education Committee. The initial hearing on Senator Raatz’s bill to give debit cards to parents instead of sending money to their school will come at a 1:30pm Senate Education Committee meeting on a Wednesday afternoon, either Jan. 10, 17, 24 or 31. Please get ready, because no doubt the proponents are ready. Last year two speakers were flown in to the hearing from out of state by the Jeb Bush Foundation to tout the proposal.

Why Would “Education Savings Accounts” Undermine Public Education in Indiana?

Public education advocates should be ready to oppose this “foot in the door” attack to allow public school tuition money to be diverted directly to parents. Here is a brief summary of the problems of “ESA’s” which I described in depth in my last “Notes” dated December 18th:

1) Based on bills filed in both the House and the Senate in 2016 and 2017, ESA’s would put in place Milton Friedman’s blueprint to end public education by giving public money directly to parents on a debit card. Parents of special education students would be eligible for $6,500 to $15,000 currently given to the school to pay for services for various levels of disability. Senator Raatz’s bill which was given a hearing in February 2017 applied to special education and Section 504 health impaired students.

2) To get the money, parents merely have to sign an agreement to educate their child in “reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies and science.” That’s all! It’s an unregulated and narrow education. No art, no music, no physical education, no health, no vocational subjects. This would allow parents to lower standards for students while standards for public school students are being raised to ever higher levels for testing and for graduation. That is not right.

3) The plan includes no obligation for annual testing or evaluation or public accountability of student achievement. This is just wrong.

4) ESA’s would remove all income limits in order to give public money to high income parents of special education and Section 504 students. Currently, the State gives vouchers to disabled students when families earn less than $89,900 for a family of four. This vast expansion led LSA to cite Senator Raatz’s bill filed in 2017 to cost “between $144 million and $206 million.”

5) ESA’s would give the entire amount of public money for special education students directly to parents. This is a “foot in the door” to 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 plan undermines the very concept of schools.

6) ESA’s 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.

7) The plan has no defined penalties for parents who commit fraud. Parents with past records of crime or neglect or abuse or welfare fraud or addiction are not excluded.

In a year when radical federal policies have been normalized, the “Education Savings Account” plan tries to normalize a radical plan to bypass schools and give taxpayer money directly to parents without accountability checks or audits. This plan should not be normalized but should be seen as the radical concept that it is.

Our Indiana Constitution calls for the General Assembly to provide, “by law, a general and uniform system of Common Schools”. This proposal would hurt our Common Schools.

Our Indiana Constitution calls for educational improvements “by all suitable means”. This proposal is not suitable because it would harm our Common schools and the students that rely on them for services.

Republican leaders in the General Assembly typically have avoided allowing radical proposals to gain traction in an election year because they would make large numbers of public education parents and leaders angry. This proposal would make public education parents angry. You can help the leadership understand this fact so that they decide to back off in this short session.

I urge you to participate in turning back this attack on our public schools of Indiana.

Thank you for actively supporting public education in Indiana!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

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

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

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

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

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

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969. I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor. I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009. I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #307 – December 18, 2017

Dear Friends,

The short session of the General Assembly beginning January 3rd will bring another frontal attack on public education to privatize education in a new way.

This attack will be in addition to debates about whether to fund controversial unfunded mandates for new graduation requirements passed by the State Board of Education on December 6th.

Demoralized public school educators don’t need another attack on public education. They came out in force to oppose the graduation requirements because adequate funding and specifics were not clear. The pleas of over 60 educators and parents who spoke against the plan were ignored by the State Board in a 7-4 vote.

Now a new attack is coming from a different direction.

Senator Raatz has again prepared a bill to undermine public school programs for special education students by creating “Education Savings Accounts”, a terrible idea promoted heavily by well funded groups that support privatizing education. The idea is detailed below.

The concept of “Educational Savings Accounts” for special education students is so detrimental to high educational standards and to maintaining accountability with public tax money that it should be rejected outright as soon as possible. It undermines the very concept of schooling.

After noting the huge problems of “Education Savings Accounts” listed below, I urge you to do three things:

1) Contact your own legislators in the House and Senate to tell them you deeply oppose “Education Savings Accounts”. Urge them to say absolutely no to ESA’s in their caucus meetings. The strongest voices for this effort would be parents of special education students who don’t want to see the services and funding for their children’s school programs eroded by this plan. Tell legislators that giving serious attention to radical ideas that undercut public education contributes to the demoralization of dedicated public schools educators, a direct cause of early retirements, reduced recruitment of young teachers and teacher shortages.

2) Contact Senator Kruse, chair of the Senate Education Committee, and urge him to stop the bill on “Education Savings Accounts” by not giving it a hearing. In February 2017 he allowed a hearing on Senator Raatz’s Senate Bill 534, but he announced before the hearing began that he would not allow a vote on the bill after the hearing. That move to stop the bill in the 2017 session was greatly appreciated. Ask Senator Kruse to protect the concept of public education in 2018 by stopping Senator Raatz’s bill on “Education Savings Accounts” again.

3) Contact Senator Raatz of Richmond to ask him to give up the idea of “Education Savings Accounts” due to their toxic impact undermining the funding for special education programs in public schools across Indiana that are doing outstanding work and clearly need stable funding.

Why would Education Savings Accounts threaten the existence of public education? Why are Educational Savings Accounts so detrimental to education standards in Indiana and to accountability?

Changes may be made in new bills filed in the 2018 session. This list of serious concerns is based directly on “Education Savings Account” bills filed in both 2016 and 2017.

1) Based on bills filed in both the House and the Senate in 2016 and 2017, ESA’s would put in place Milton Friedman’s blueprint to end public education by giving public money directly to parents on a debit card. All parents would get a debit card of approximately $6000 which currently goes to schools. Parents of special education students would be eligible to get an additional $500 to $9000 currently given to the school to pay for special education services for various levels of disability. Senator Raatz’s bill which was given a hearing in February 2017 only applied to special education and Section 504 health impaired students. Other bills have been filed in the House in 2016 and 2017 which would apply to all students.

2) To get the money, parents merely have to sign an agreement to educate their child in “reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies and science.” That’s all! It’s an unregulated and narrow education. No art, no music, no physical education, no health, no vocational subjects. This would absolutely lower standards for students while standards for public school students are being raised to higher and higher levels for testing and for graduation.

3) The plan includes no obligation for annual testing or evaluation or public accountability of student achievement. This is just wrong and in total contrast to testing and accountability laws for Indiana schools.

4) ESA’s would give public money to high income parents of special education and Section 504 students. For these students, all income limits would be removed. Under current law, the State gives vouchers to disabled students when families earn less than $89,900 for a family of four. This vast expansion led LSA to cite Senator Raatz’s bill filed in 2017 to cost “between $144 million and $206 million.” Unacceptable!

5) ESA’s would give the entire amount of public money for special education students directly to parents, paving the way 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 thus undermines the very concept of schools.

6) ESA’s 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.

7) The plan would give public money to parents with extremely weak provisions for fraud protection and no defined penalties for fraud. Parents with past records of crime or neglect or abuse or welfare fraud are not excluded.

8) While public schools are pushed to ever higher standards, individual families would be allowed to adopt lower standards. That is not right.

If this concept is not decisively rejected, it will confirm the theory that all of the standards and testing regulations heaped upon our public schools have just been techniques to make privatized vouchers and Education Savings Accounts look attractive to individual parents, giving them an incentive to leave the public schools or even the voucher schools 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. 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 make 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. Legislators should absolutely reject “Education Savings Accounts.”

Let your legislators, along with Senators Kruse and Raatz as noted above, know that you support strong and well funded public education and that you oppose “Education Savings Accounts” that would lower educational standards and undermine funding for our public schools. This attack must be resisted.

Thank you for actively supporting public education in Indiana!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

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

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

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

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

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

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969. I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor. I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009. I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #277 – February 17, 2017

Dear Friends,

Five updates on public education in the Statehouse:

UPDATE #1: Join us in the Statehouse this Monday on Presidents’ Day (Feb. 20th) for “A Celebration of Public Education”! We need your voice and the voices of your family and friends on issues updated below!

Lunch (if pre-registered) at 12:30. Choirs at 1:30. Speakers at 2:00 in the North Atrium.

The League of Women Voters has joined the list of sponsoring organizations:

AFT Indiana

American Association of University Women

Concerned Clergy

Indiana Coalition for Public Education

Indiana Parent Teacher Association

Indiana Small & Rural Schools Association

Indiana State Teachers Association (lunch & display sponsor)

Indiana Urban Schools Association

League of Women Voters

Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education

Speakers at 2:00 pm in the North Atrium are being coordinated by the Indiana Coalition for Public Education, and Joel Hand will serve as MC.

Displays on the 3rd and 4th floor will highlight a sampling of great things happening in public schools.

Bring new and gently used classroom supplies for ISTA ReSupply and book donations to celebrate Read Across America.

I hope to see you as we celebrate public education!

UPDATE #2: Senator Kruse announced Wednesday before the hearing that SB 534 (Education Savings Accounts for Special Education) would not advance. It is dead for this session. Senator Kruse deserves your thanks for stopping this bill!

He went ahead with the hearing on the bill after announcing its fate. An expert from the Foundation for Excellence in Education in Florida, funded by Jeb Bush and the Gates Foundation, extolled the virtues of Education Savings Accounts, which as I have written would undermine the entire concept of public education. No doubt we will fight this fight again in the future.

UPDATE #3: The Senate bill to expand pre-kindergarten programs (SB 276) passed the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday with no link to a lifetime K-12 voucher such as that passed in House Bill 1004. SB 276 now goes to the Appropriations Committee. In its present form, it deserves the full support of public school advocates!

UPDATE #4: Both bills to make the State Superintendent of Public Instruction into a secretary of education appointed by the Governor are ready for a final vote on as early as Monday. If you oppose taking power from the voters to select our State Superintendent, this is your last weekend to appeal to your Senator or House member to oppose Senate Bill 179 and House Bill 1005. Both bills require no experience in Indiana and, unbelievably, no experience in education! Since they are identical, they could be signed into law very soon.

UPDATE #5: It appears that the Indiana House is sending a message to our K-12 students that they can’t give them adequate support this year because our roads are bad!

The House budget released Wednesday gives even less for tuition support than did the Governor’s meager budget released in January.

• The Governor asked for $70 million the first year (1.0% increase) and $210 in the second year (2.0% increase above the first year) or a total of $280 million new dollars.

• The new House budget invests $77 million in the first year (1.1% increase) and $196 million in the second year (1.7% increase above the first year) or a total of $273 million new dollars.

• In 2015, the final budget invested $157 million in the first year (2.3% increase) and $317 million in the second year (2.3% increase above the first year) or a total of $474 million new dollars. 

Is Indiana so poor this year that the support for public education must slip this much compared to 2015? The latest Consumer Price Index from the federal government showed the annual inflation rate in January 2017 to be 2.5%. Our school programs can’t even keep up with inflation next year when the increase is only 1.1%.

Legislators have not made increased funding for public schools a priority this year. The supermajority is trying to set an expectation that this is all that schools will get, but this is totally inadequate. They need to hear more from public school advocates!

In addition, the House budget would raise the amount for tax credits for private school scholarships from $9.5 million to $12.5 million each year. For the two-year budget, that means an increase of $6 million for private school tuition scholarships. This is the first point that public school advocates should press legislators on, so that at least $6 million could be shifted to shore up the clearly inadequate K-12 funding. If you talk with your legislator in the Statehouse when you come on Monday, this is an important point to make to stop the expansion of taxpayer money going to private schools!


Thanks for your advocacy for public education! I hope you can get to the “Celebration of Public Education” in the Statehouse on Monday!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

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


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

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

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


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

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969. I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor. I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009. I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #267 – November 23, 2016

Dear Friends,

Death by a thousand cuts.

That is the likely future for public education unless public education advocates are willing to rally to defend it vigorously against two proposals in the weeks and months ahead.

The November 8th general election has left public education under severe threat from those who would diminish and dismantle it at both the state and federal level. The defense should begin now by talking with members of the General Assembly and with members of Congress.

At the state level, the expensive proposal called Education Savings Accounts which would give state funding for the first time to unregulated home schools and would give a financial incentive for parents to leave the public schools will go forward, most likely as a part of the budget and touted incorrectly as a way to save money. It was sponsored in the 2016 short session by Ways and Means Chair Dr. Tim Brown in the House and by Senator Jeff Raatz in the Senate.

At the federal level, Donald Trump’s proposal to shift $20 billion from current federal education funding, presumably from Title 1 reading programs for low income students, to pay for private school tuition will go forward. He detailed his proposal in a speech in Cleveland on September 8th. His choice today of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education, well known as a critic of public education and as a wealthy promoter of private school vouchers, is aligned with his stated plan to give public money for private school tuition in all 50 states.

The concept of public education is now in direct jeopardy both in Indiana and at the federal level.

In Indiana’s bicentennial year, the privatizers won the election.

Will Public Education Survive in Indiana?

The irony that these attacks on public education in Indiana are continuing during Indiana’s bicentennial year is astounding. It is as if we are celebrating our past with no awareness of how much of our success as a state can be attributed to our hard won battles to bring a strong public education to all.

Progress in Indiana can be directly linked to public education efforts written into our first Constitution in 1816 and strengthened in our second 1851 Constitution after public education advocates led by Caleb Mills gained influence in the 1840’s. Caleb Mills was the founder of Wabash College in Crawfordsville which ironically is now represented in the House by Representative Brown, the sponsor of the program to dismantle public education called Education Savings Accounts. Caleb Mills believed that public education serving all children and paid for by taxpayers should be both non-sectarian, so as not to offend the taxpayers who would balk at funding schools that are teaching a faith they could not support, and non-partisan, so as not to offend the taxpayers who would balk at funding schools that are teaching political views they could not support. This fundamental tenet of Caleb Mills held sway until 2011, when the voucher bill gave state funds for students to attend sectarian religious schools which can teach partisan points of view on public issues in line with their religion.

Now Dr. Brown’s plan to establish Education Savings Accounts would have taxpayers pay for totally unregulated home schools or any unregulated private school. The requirements of the voucher program to take state tests and comply with state letter grade requirements would be not be applied to home schools, but they would still get state money with no obligations or accountability.

To pass this extreme proposal would be to say that even though teachers can’t be trusted to teach without having the state require student test scores and extensive criminal background checks to monitor them, home school parents can be trusted with no accountability checkups. It’s a recipe to further demean teachers in Indiana and worsen the teacher shortage.

Education Savings Accounts

The Education Savings Account proposal being pushed by Chairman Brown is a radical proposal. It would:

• give approximately $6000 on a debit card to any parent who signs a state agreement. This money would go directly to parents and would no longer go to school districts.

• narrow and weaken the curriculum and remove students from Indiana’s new standards. Parents getting the money only have to agree to provide an education in “reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies and science.” No music! No art! No physical education! No foreign language! No health! No vocational subjects! Who would think this bill would provide a good education? Yet the current broken high stakes testing program in Indiana’s schools would give incentives to parents to take the money and get their kids away from oppressive tests. Perhaps setting up an overbearing testing program was part of a plan all along to unravel the entire public school system.

• end accountability for many students. Parents could take their child out of any school and pay “a participating entity”, which may be an individual, a tutoring agency, a distance learning program, or a licensed occupational therapist approved by the Indiana Treasurer. No requirement to take the state test is included unless students are enrolled in a voucher school.

• expand vouchers to more students. The ESA bill would give public money to families earning up to $97,000 for a family of four. Families earning $97,000 would get a 70% voucher, far more than the 50% voucher now given to families earning $65,000 or less. Family income limits would disappear completely for special education students, giving even high income families taxpayer money for private schools. Currently for special education students, eligibility for taxpayer vouchers is capped at incomes of $85,000 for a family of four. Indiana’s voucher program was passed in 2011 as a program for low income families, but that rationale has now disappeared.

• pay textbook fees for private schools while public school parents get no help with textbooks. The ESA bill makes textbooks for private programs a taxpayer expense.

• allow parents to divert money intended for K-12 education to their 529 college fund. Parents who can afford to pay for their current private school have an incentive to enroll in the program, take the money intended for K-12 education and put it in a 529 college account instead.

• give money to parents directly without strong fraud protection. The ESA bill has a weak section of fraud consequences for a “participating entity”, but no mention is made of parents who neglect their duties or commit fraud with their child’s money.

• omit criminal background checks for parents taking K-12 money. Background checks are being expanded for public school teachers but this bill would give public money to parents without comparable background checks. Can all parents be trusted without background checks?

The Education Savings Account proposal brings to life Milton Friedman’s plan to end public education and give tax money directly to parents to educate their children. The scheme has gaping holes which must be brought to the attention of Indiana legislators as soon as possible.

One of the holes is the extra fiscal cost to the state when home school students who do not currently get any state payments are included in the state budget. If the estimate of 20,000 home school students is accurate and parents get on average $5000 on a debit card for each student, the program would cost Indiana taxpayers $100 million dollars per year, far more than current costs for pre-school ($10 million), summer school ($18 million) or even for state testing ($45 million). While those who take the incentive to leave the public schools would reduce the $100 million price tag by some amount based on the difference between the current amount per student given to the school district and the somewhat smaller amount given to parents on the debit card, the huge new cost of paying for home school students is clear.

Fortunately, State Superintendent-Elect Jennifer McCormick told the ICPE members meeting in Indianapolis on August 27th that she opposes the Education Savings Account proposal because it would take money from public schools. Based on this, she should be an ally in your efforts to defeat this proposal, even though the main sponsor of this proposal is the Institute for Quality Education which was Jennifer McCormick’s main financial backer in the election. We will soon see where she stands.

Will Public Education Survive in the United States?

Donald Trump’s plan to mandate private school vouchers to students in all 50 states would be the biggest federal intrusion into state education policy in US history. In a September 8th speech in Cleveland, Donald Trump said he would use the power of the Presidency to have all 50 states use public tax money to pay for private and religious school tuition. He said it would cost $20 billion in federal dollars and $110 billion in state dollars.

At this point, 20 states have completely resisted entwining church and state and completely avoided using public dollars for private and religious schools. They have very good reasons to resist. Of the other 30 states, some have very limited programs for special education students.

Under Article 10 of the US Constitution, education matters should be left to the states. Now Donald Trump wants to ignore Article 10 and push a federal mandate for private school vouchers in the name of school choice.

Does America want Donald Trump to dismantle public education in the United States?

I think not.

Donald Trump’s voucher program was nearly ignored during the campaign and certainly the voters did not give him a mandate to end public education based on one overlooked speech.

From its roots in the 1830’s, public education has brought the United States to a position of world power with its system of non-sectarian, non-partisan, publicly funded schools supervised by school boards elected following the rules of democracy and pledged to transparent public access and accountability in their records.

Now Donald Trump wants to spend billions in federal dollars to pay for tuition at sectarian and potentially partisan schools that are not run by elected officials and do not have to offer public access to records. In Betsy DeVos, he has chosen a well known advocate for private school vouchers to lead his side of this coming fight. The battle lines are drawn.

Tell members of Congress that you oppose Donald Trump’s plan and that you strongly oppose public money from any source paying for private and religious school vouchers.

What Can Public Education Advocates Do?

Many areas have meetings with members of the General Assembly and with members of Congress about upcoming legislative sessions. Start talking with elected leaders now about your opposition to Education Savings Accounts and to the federal intrusion of mandated vouchers.

This is a radical set of proposals. Let legislators know how they would damage the heart of our communities—our public schools.

Then join the Indiana Coalition for Public Education to support ICPE lobbyist Joel Hand as he works in support of public education in the Indiana General Assembly and against all proposals that would damage public education such as Education Savings Accounts. ICPE needs your support!

Thank you for your dedicated 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 will represent ICPE in the new budget session which begins January 4, 2017. We need your memberships and your support to continue his work. We welcome additional members and additional donations. We need your help and the help of your colleagues who support public education! Please pass the word!

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


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

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969. I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor. I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009. I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.

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