TAKE ACTION: Parent Trigger Bill

“TAKE ACTION”

Email your legislators to urge opposition to HB 1219 as currently drafted. HB 1219 would allow for the conversion of a public school into a charter school upon the petition of 51% of the students' parents OR a simple majority of the school board.

When a public school converts to charter school status, teachers' collective bargaining rights are eliminated because the school board is no longer the employer. Prior law required at least 60% of the teachers to agree to the conversion, as well as parental input. In 2011, the General Assembly removed the teacher input from these decisions. ISTA asks that a "teacher trigger" be reinstated into the process.

Click on the Take Action link: http://keepthepromiseindiana.org/take-action_1

Don’t hesitate to call if that works best. HOUSE SWITCHBOARD: 800-382-9842 or 317-232-9600.

Talking Points:

1. Teachers want to be a part of the partnership in these issues where their experience, knowledge of learning, and professional understanding of children is valued and embedded in the process.
2. Under existing law and under this proposal, if a conversion occurs, bargaining rights go away as the employer is a different entity. HB 1219, absent some assurances in this regard, becomes an anti-teacher/bargaining bill.
3. Prior law (prior to last year), bargaining was preserved in school conversions and teachers were a partner in the conversion. There is a simple fix if there is a willingness. Inasmuch as bargaining rights are currently limited to salary and wage-related benefits, instilling some threshold of teacher participation in developing a conversion should not be an issue anymore. Teacher buy-in and meaningful partnering, instead, should be an integral part of what would make any conversion workable.
4. There is no provision in law (existing or proposed) to “reverse” a conversion.
5. Because this would apply to any public school in the state, the potential for ongoing, chronic community upheaval in terms of “bureaucracies” and “who runs this/that” grows. School communities should be assured that the main discussions center on instructional/programmatic review and direct student learning issues and not these “who’s in control” issues that deflect from job 1.
6. The existing law is just a few months’ old. There is little reason to make such a substantive and extreme change during a hurried short session when there was so much discussion last session.

www.keepthepromiseindiana.org

xposted at EAEA

ISTA President Nate Schnellenberger wants you to be an ISTA Activist.

Because of your concern about the critical issues facing public education in Indiana, your involvement in your professional community and your desire to make a difference you can “be the change” by signing up to serve as an ISTA Activist.

As an ISTA Activist, you can be as involved as your time and energy allow. No matter how much time you can devote to your role as an ISTA Activist, through this program you will be able to influence public policy at all levels of government.

We know that you will find this work to be important and valuable.

This new Association program allows you to visit the Activist tab on ISTA's Keep the Promise legislative website to see what you can do to assist in our important work of supporting and protecting great public schools in Indiana. The Activist tab will be updated weekly throughout the legislative session.

As an ISTA Activist, you can “be the change” needed to support, protect and strengthen Indiana’s public schools.

Today is a great day to visit the Activist tab on the Keep the Promise Indiana website to get started on your journey.

www.keepthepromiseindiana.org

xposted at EAEA

Keep The Promise Web Site Update

Keep The Promise

On January 3, 2012, the new & improved ISTA legislative website will launch to keep you up to date and informed during the upcoming session of the Indiana General Assembly.

The Keep the Promise website is e-Democracy in action.

Visit the site . . .

• to read daily updates from ISTA's Lobbying Team from the halls of the State Capitol Building.
• to know ISTA's positions on education legislation as it moves through the legislative process.
• to contact your elected officials and let them know how your feelings about the impact that individual bills will have on you, your students and your profession.
• to submit personal photos of you & your colleagues keeping the promise to Indiana's children.
• to get more involved in ISTA's legislative activities.
• to stay connected to your professional association!

You can make a difference by interacting more directly with ISTA and with your elected officials.

On January 3, bookmark www.keepthepromiseindiana.org/

xposted at EAEA

ISTA on the Job: Voucher Lawsuit Update

December 19, 2011

Marion County Judge Hears Oral Arguments on school voucher lawsuit today

INDIANAPOLIS -- Marion County Judge Michael Keele today heard oral arguments for summary judgment, as well as motions to dismiss filed earlier by defendants, in the case against Indiana's new school voucher program, the Choice Scholarship Program, brought against the state by 12 defendants supported by ISTA and NEA.

Supporters of the lawsuit against the state's unconstitutional school voucher program hope that Judge Keele will rule on the pending motions promptly after today's hearing. When Judge Keele issues his final judgment, the case will then proceed to either the Court of Appeals or the Indiana Supreme Court.

"The issue here is simple," said Teresa Meredith, ISTA Vice President and a plaintiff in the lawsuit. "Indiana's Constitution prohibits the use of public funds to pay for teaching religion, and the vast number of schools receiving these voucher dollars are private, religious schools that teach religion as an important part of their educational programs."

ISTA and NEA continue to reaffirm their determination to continue to litigate the constitutionality of the Choice Scholarship Program.

ISTA strongly believes in the merits of the plaintiffs’ claims and hopes to get a final decision on those merits as quickly as possible.

December Newsletter

Click on the images of the FWEA Experience and the FWEA Experience Insert below to download and read the latest issue.

In this issue: 

• Aging FWCS Buildings
• State Intervention Comparisons: How does FWCS compare to other districts around the state?
• Teachers Using Social Media: Review FWCS Policy
• What do you get for your Union Dues?  

Download the insert for 

• Voucher Numbers from around the state 
• FWEA Membership numbers
• Information on Teacher Awards
• Important Dates

Click the picture to download the FWEA Experience as a pdf file (Adobe Acrobat Reader required*).

Click the picture to download the insert to the FWEA Experience as a pdf file (Adobe Acrobat Reader required*).

*Click to download Adobe Acrobat Reader

Research Doesn't Back Up Key Education Reforms

Research doesn’t back up key ed reforms
By Valerie Strauss
There is no solid evidence supporting many of the positions on teachers and teacher evaluation taken by some school reformers today, according to a new assessment of research on the subject.

The Education Writers Association released a new brief that draws on more than 40 research studies or research syntheses, as well as interviews with scholars who work in this field.

You can read the entire brief (written by Education Week assistant editor Stephen Sawchuk), but here are the bottom-line conclusions of each section:

Q) Are teachers the most important factor affecting student achievement?

A) Research has shown that the variation in student achievement is predominantly a product of individual and family background characteristics. Of the school factors that have been isolated for study, teachers are probably the most important determinants of how students will perform on standardized tests.

Q) Are value-added estimations reliable or stable?

A) Value-added models appear to pick up some differences in teacher quality, but they can be influenced by a number of factors, such as the statistical controls selected. They may also be affected by the characteristics of schools and peers. The impact of unmeasured factors in schools, such as principals and choice of curriculum, is less clear.

Q) What are the differences in achievement between students who have effective or ineffective teachers for several years in a row?

A) Some teachers produce stronger achievement gains among their students than others do. However, estimates of an individual teacher’s effectiveness can vary from year to year, and the impact of an effective teacher seems to decrease with time. The cumulative effect on students’ learning from having a succession of strong teachers is not clear.

Q) Do teacher characteristics such as academic achievement, years of experience, and certification affect student test scores?

A) Teachers improve in effectiveness at least over their first few years on the job. Characteristics such as board certification, and content knowledge in math sometimes are linked with student achievement. Still, these factors don’t explain much of the differences in teacher effectiveness overall.

Q) Does merit pay for teachers produce better student achievement or retain more-effective teachers?

A) In the United States, merit pay exclusively focused on rewarding teachers whose students produce gains has not been shown to improve student achievement, though some international studies show positive effects. Research has been mixed on comprehensive pay models that incorporate other elements, such as professional development. Scholars are still examining whether such programs might work over time by attracting more effective teachers.

Q) Do students in unionized states do better than students in states without unions?

A) Students tend to do well in some heavily unionized states, but it isn’t possible to conclude that it is the presence or absence of unions that cause that achievement.

Good News from ISTA President Nate Schnellenberger

November 9, 2011

In a historic, decisive and crucial victory, last night our neighbors in Ohio voted overwhelmingly to repeal Senate Bill 5 – Gov. John Kasich’s attack on public employee collective bargaining rights. By a nearly two-to-one margin, Ohio’s voters told Gov. Kasich and members of Ohio’s legislature that “enough is enough” – the attack on teachers, firefighters, nurses and other public employees needs to stop.

According to a leader in the We Are Ohio organization, Ohioians sent a message to all politicians last night: We don’t turn our backs on people who watch ours, and they used their citizen veto to reject Senate Bill 5.

Hoosier educators and others who support our state’s middle class need to take Ohio’s enthusiasm and make sure it spreads during the upcoming legislative session and 2012 election campaign. I am sure that if collective bargaining rights were put on the ballot in Indiana, we would see similar results to what happened yesterday in Ohio. Overwhelmingly, Hoosiers support the rights of teachers and other public employees.

Ohio’s results should give us hope as Hoosiers that we, too, can get ready now for tomorrow’s victories. This battle isn’t about Republicans. It isn’t about Democrats. It’s about giving educators and other middle class workers a voice on their jobs. It’s about protecting and growing middle class jobs.

Please take a few minutes to celebrate Ohio’s victory, but keep in mind that Indiana educators, their friends and families need to find their own energy and commitment to stop the continued attacks against them orchestrated during the last session of the General Assembly.

Let’s remind Indiana’s policymakers to take a long, hard look at the message that Ohio voters sent to their governor and legislature yesterday. We are all in this fight together – and we all need to do whatever we can for us to be successful.

Let’s learn from what our Ohio colleagues accomplished yesterday – they spoke up, they knocked on doors, they phone banked, they spoke at public forums, they never backed away from discussing or debating the issues with their friends, their neighbors, their policymakers or with the media. They spoke truth to power. And they won.

We can certainly take hope and inspiration from our neighbors to the east.

Some early and interesting analysis from We Are Ohio:

• The vote to repeal Senate Bill 5 won in 82 of Ohio’s 88 counties.
• 2,145,042 No votes were cast for repeal – 255,862 more votes than Gov. Kasich received in his 2010 election win.
• Statewide turnout was nearly 3.5 million votes – the highest turnout in decades for an off-year election in the state.

There's also good election news from our neighbor to the north, the Michigan Education Association. They targeted for recall the chairman of the House Education Committee for his support of policies that weakened teacher tenure and cut funding to public education. Last night, after the results were in, Republican state Rep. Paul Scott accepted the results showing he had been recalled by the voters in his district.

MEA officials said the recall vote reflects backlash over anti-public education policies adopted since Gov. Rick Snyder became governor this year and his political party gained control of both legislative chambers.