A reader in Indiana appeals for help to stop the ALEC-inspired takeover and privatization of public education in that state:
Tony Bennett is the lead character in Alec’s plan to privatize public education. Alec has always been populated by nearly every Indiana state senator and representative, but these past few years have seen Indiana overly represented with State Representative Dave Frizzell as president of the board of directors and a Senator Jim Buck as a member of the board. The recent education reform laws were word for word the laws that Alec wrote several years ago. Tony Bennett and these radical conservatives have set the stage for a disgusting takeover of public education. They know that Mike Pence will be elected governor and with a GOP legislature they will implement a school corporation take over law. With that in hand they will take over Indianapolis Public Schools and possibly try for Gary and Fort Wayne. These people are worse than disgusting; they will say anything to discredit and dismantle public education to see their dream of bringing in corporate education. Sadly there are some Democrats that help with this such as former Indianapolis mayor Bart Peterson and several Dem legislators who have bought into the Arne Duncan style of Democrats for Education Reform. Indiana is being sucked into a black hole and the educators are screaming for help. We need national attention which would bring some bigger dollars to help Bennett’s opponent, Glenda Ritz get elected. Diane help us, please spread the word of this dire situation!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
To your Indiana Reader – Believe me, Indiana has been on the radar with almost every other state for quite some time. I recommend you seek out a local grassroots organization or affiliate that is fighting this so-called reform agenda to privatize our schools.
For assistance and support please go to http://www.saveourschoolsmarch.org and provide your contact information so that we can connect you with members in your state. We are a growing national coalition formed in 2010 determined to Save Our Schools by educating the public and policy makers. I am from Louisiana where we are knee deep in the stuff of reform. I’ve been working with SOS and our own Coalition for Louisiana Public Education since I retired in 2010. Only a strong united voice and deliberate action will stand up against the powerful highly financed campaign of reformers. http://Www.geauxteacher.net.
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Another good resource is Parents Across America, which has a website.
And the Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education, which has a Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/NEIFPE
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Thanks for the information. Diane posted my comment I made Wednesday after the nauseating speech our state school superintendent, Tony Bennett made Tuesday evening. Sadly Indiana is being used much like New Orleans to make a point for these corporate education believers and it is our children who will pay the price.
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Specifically, how can we help?
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call your friends at IU.
Organize, protest.
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Go to Glenda Ritz website http://www.ritz4ed.com/ and donate. She is challenging Tony Bennett and is also a fantastic candidate.
Also call or write your state legislators if you are an Indiana resident.
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Diane, I regularly read your posts and I’m not usually inclined to comment online or on blogs, I but feel like I should speak up a bit as I live just outside of Indianapolis.
Today Indiana students have access to more schools (public, charter, private) and Indiana parents/guardians have real leverage and participate on a more level playing field now (with schools and boards) because of our new school choice laws.
Isn’t this a good thing?
If, for the purpose of pursuing a good education, public funding can go directly to families (vouchers, ESAs) and directly to schools (district, charter) then doesn’t this encompass and support a more expansive, flexible, and family-friendly definition of “public education?”
– Paul
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No, Paul, choice is not consistent with having a strong public education system.
Japan has a strong public education system; so does Korea and Finland.
The only nation that has gone the choice route is Chile, and Chile is now having student protests against privatization.
I don’t see any evidence that privatization improves the quality of education, not even test scores.
Many of the choices in Indiana are for-profit charters and for-profit virtual charters.
They don’t get better results than public schools.
They encourage people to think as consumers, not as citizens.
The purpose of public education is to create citizens, not consumers.
I can’t think of a good reason to favor for-profit charters, or come to think of it, charters that skim off the best students.
We used to call that a dual system of schools. Segregated by class, not race.
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Diane,
Paul left out an important point. Indiana removed the barriers of enrollment for public schools three years ago. Because we are funded from a general funding formula based partially on the number of students, a child in Indiana could attend any public school they desired without any costs. So there has been choice available for many years, but only public schools as mandated by our state constitution. Transportation was not included, but in Indianapolis any student attending an IPS school could easily take a city bus to the suburbs and attend one of the suburban township schools if they were dissatisfied with the urban school district. There was no reason to have vouchers for private schools particularly when the
testing proves that private and charter schools perform no better and mostly worse than the pubic schools. The voucher law and school choice was only established to destroy public education and sell it off to the company that has the closest ties with Tony Bennett.
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Choice does not have t have anything to do with privatization or segregation. It can, in fact, be a tool to undermine both.
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Southern districts in 1955 clamor end for choice
Freedom of choice meant segregated schools
Diane Ravitch
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Diane, I know we’ll probably always disagree about the definition of public education.. and full disclosure: I am a product of Pittsburgh Catholic schools (loved my experience); we will send our children to local district schools (very enthusiastic about the possibilities for our girls); and as you know, I work for an organization that focuses on school choice issues. So that’s brief context for my perspective.
My view is that the essential character of public education is twofold. First, governments should allocate funds (ideally, directly to families) so that students can have access to good schooling options, no matter what kind of school that is as long as it meets certain rules and norms expected of schools. (academic curriculum, respect civil rights, etc.) The operation of schools should not have a conflict of interest with the funding (and politics) of schools.. The second essential characteristic is citizenship, and I think we may agree on this fundamental value and mission of schools, no matter what type. Patrick Wolf has done excellent work scoring many research studies showing private schools (particularly Catholic schools) doing at least as good a job as public schools instilling democratic and values and good citizenship and voluntarism.. I mean the evidence is there that – not taking anything away from public schools – private schools also do a very good job instilling democratic values and good citizenship.
This is not at all meant to be snark, but I wanted to – in the spirit of the current football season – tackle some of your claims..
>>>> The only nation that has gone the choice route is Chile, and Chile is now having student protests against privatization.
The protests in Chile are not to shut down the voucher system, but to keep it and make it more equitable.. My understanding is that the conflict is not over whether vouchers are good or bad. Most would say it has been a good policy for the country, but the design needs to improve. I’m not an expert on international experiences, but here is a recent presentation that might be of interest that gives an overview of Chile’s education system: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/pepg/conferences/July_2012_Presentations/Elacqua_Chile_2.pptx
A number of other countries use some form of voucher system, including at least Sweden, Colombia, Netherlands, Alberta (Canada), Denmark, Czech Republic.. And there are now 21 states that have public-funded school choice policies.
>>>>> I don’t see any evidence that privatization improves the quality of education, not even test scores. Many of the choices in Indiana are for-profit charters and for-profit virtual charters. They don’t get better results than public schools.
This is a direct quote from the 2011 CREDO report on Indiana’s charter schools (most in/around Indianapolis):
“Overall, charter school growth in Indiana and Indianapolis outpaced the growth of traditional public schools. Looking at the distribution of school performance, 98% of the charter schools grew with similar or better rates than traditional public schools in reading and 100% of charter schools grew with similar or better rates in math compared to traditional public schools. Charter schools of all ages in Indiana on average grow at better rates than traditional public schools and charter school students grow at higher rates compared to their traditional public school peers in their first 2 years of enrollment in charter schools.”
Click to access IN_State_Report_CREDO_%202011.pdf
>>>> They encourage people to think as consumers, not as citizens. The purpose of public education is to create citizens, not consumers.
I completely agree with the last statement.. but for reasons stated above, and my own experience in Catholic schools, the first sentence could not be further from the truth. Charter families that I have met want their children to be good citizens like the rest of us.
>>>>> I can’t think of a good reason to favor for-profit charters, or come to think of it, charters that skim off the best students.
Charters look a lot like the nearby district schools. And I believe the weight of evidence shows no cream-skimming.
>>>>>> We used to call that a dual system of schools. Segregated by class, not race.
Show me a typical American metro area, and we are more likely to see segregation across public school districts than we will see across school types in that area…
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Paul, I support Catholic education. I support keeping Catholic education private.
I disagree with your characterization of the research. The charter research–including CREDO’s well-known national survey of charters, says that charters do not on average outperform public schools.
Charters have become a means for privatizing public education. And, in Indiana, Michigan, Florida, and some other states, a lucrative cash cow for their owners.
Diane
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Teresa, This is from the Indiana School Boards Association website, explaining open enrollment in Indiana:
http://www.isba-ind.org/Legal/StudentTransfer.htm
4. May a Student Attend a School Corporation in Which the Student Does Not Have Legal Settlement?
A student may attend another school corporation in the state if: (1) the student or the student’s parent(s) pays transfer tuition to another school corporation and the school corporation is willing to accept the student; (2) the student can be better accommodated in another school corporation; or (3) the student has been placed in a licensed health care facility, child care facility, or foster home in an area outside the student’s legal settlement.
… There is a significantly high barrier and burden for families under most open enrollment (inter or intra- district choice) policies. In terms of being user-friendly, there is no comparison to the voucher system.
We should have vouchers that include public schools (and can replace onerous bureaucratic obstacles under current open enrollment) but that is another design consideration for vouchers and school choice.
>>> There was no reason to have vouchers for private schools particularly when the testing proves that private and charter schools perform no better and mostly worse than the public schools.
This is pretty much wrong. Sorry to be that blunt. Some questions are legitimately open and left to be answered in coming years.
And what if parents want to send their kids to schools for reasons besides purely academics? Some people may want to get their kids out just to keep them safe, away from bad peer influences, or have more personal attention from teachers.
>>>> The voucher law and school choice was only established to destroy public education and sell it off to the company that has the closest ties with Tony Bennett.
By all accounts Tony Bennett is a good person, just as I’m sure Glenda Ritz is s a good person. They just have different philosophies and visions for the state. I’ll leave it at that.. 🙂
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Diane, I think we all can definitely agree we don’t want to go back to Segregation and Jim Crow.. That’s for certain.
Time will tell, especially for these new, large programs in Indiana, Arizona, and Louisiana, but (and I agree with Deborah’s point) I do think we are going to see a lot more diversity (race and class) within schools – public, charter, or private/voucher – in these states.
I don’t want to overstay my welcome on this blog thread. I appreciate the points of view here and the discussion.
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Also please contact and support the Indiana Coalition for Public Education http://www.icpe2011.com/ and Hoosiers for Public Education http://hoosiersforpubliceducation.org/
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