In Indiana, Governor Mike Pence and the Legislature have embarked on a radical scheme to privatize public education. Since State Superintendent Glenda Ritz stands in their way, they are passing legislation to strip her of all authority. A reader, anonymous, but using a moniker suggesting that he or she is a college professor, writes:
We cannot stop it — GOP Supermarjority wants to control schools — well, the funding of schools and privatize education based on “school failure.” Are you starting to see the pattern here? Only 37% of Hoosiers that could vote did vote in 2014. Young people? It was only 12%. Bloody red Indiana can do as it wants, and it wants to destroy public education. Property taxes are rising as the taxpayer is now supporting traditional schools and all its infrastructure, privately run public schools that take the money from traditional schools and charge high building rents and utilities, and then vouchers to all kinds of private schools — with little oversight. Teachers are leaving the profession in droves, and the educated population — they are leaving the state in higher numbers. Poverty is around 16% but really is about 28% when considering the working poor; food stamps have doubled since 2009, and homeless persons have greatly increased in number. And, our governor thinks he can be President. Sounds like a real successful state, right?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I live in Indiana and my child attends parochial school. While we have quality public schools, the classes are large…32 kids per class with only one teacher and no aid. My son’s school has 17 with a teacher and a part time aid. My son in third grade is learning things that his neighborhood friends haven’t yet or won’t learn (like cursive handwriting) at the public school because one teacher can only do so much in the allotted time. Our school has less “snow days” each year than the public school to make-up at the end of the year. I do support my public schools with my tax dollars and any student who comes to my door to solicit for fundraisers happily. I cannot save my money for my son’s college education later because I need him to learn the basics now and to do so, he gains more in the smaller, parochial environment.
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As a native Hoosier and former Indiana teacher, I am embarrassed by the antics of Pence, predecessor Daniels and the GOP gang hellbent on wrecking our public schools. Glenda Ritz outpolled Pence and is now the target of the vengefulness. Shame!
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It won’t be long before NYS is in the same boat. Cuomo is a democrat and is demolishing public education in New York. We won’t go down quietly or quickly…Cuomo has awoken a sleeping giant…now parents and teachers and administrators must be heard.
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Native Hoosier…and educated professional with disposable income…here. I left Indiana after college and wouldn’t move back there for anything. I visit my family there but could never reside there again. The actions by Daniels, Pence, and the legislators on the issues of women’s health, gay rights, and education (not to mention disenfranchising Hoosier voters), to name a few, are disgusting and backwards and are ruining the state. No one will want to live there before too long.
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Add Ohio to that list. Governor John Kasich hates public schools and public school teachers. He wishes to privatize education to help all of his rich friends.
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SUPPORT GLENDA RITZ RALLY (Guest speaker, Glenda Ritz)
Friday, February 20, 2015 @ 4:00 PM
Adams High School
808 South Twyckenham Drive
South Bend, IN
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To give some idea of the idiocy, following is a letter I wrote to Pence with statistical data gathered by one of our local superintendents.
………………………………………………………………………………
By what convoluted sense of logic are you and the legislature trying to kill our public schools? The following statistical data speaks for itself.
East Porter County School Corp. Superintendent Rod Gardin put together a chart showing the bottom 10 percent of school districts ranked by the amount of state funding they receive per pupil.
Of those 36 school districts, 10 are from Northwest Indiana:
South Central Community School Corp., $5,237.90
Duneland School Corp., $5,210.83
Hanover Community School Corp., $5,5153.95
Tri-Creek School Corp., $5,152.12
Crown Point Community School Corp., $5,115.42
Porter Township School Corp., $5,081.02
Union Township School Corp., $5,075.97
Lake Central School Corp., $5,050.29
East Porter County School Corp., $5,043.41
School Town of Munster, $5,013.13
Of all 36 districts on the list, 34 were rated A and two rated B by the Indiana Department of Education.
Compare that with the top 10 percent of charter schools. There were just three rated A, four B’s, one C, 14 D’s and 10 F’s. Here are the local schools on that list:
Gary Middle College, $8,611.71, NA
Aspire Charter Academy, $7,845.81, D
21st Century Charter School of Gary, $7,562.85, D
East Chicago Lighthouse Charter, $7,274.22, D
East Chicago Urban Enterprise Academy, $7,167.75, D
Charter School of the Dunes, $7,038.26, F
Thea Bowman Leadership Academy, $7,017.65, D
There is more but this gives some idea of what is going on.
Please note the rally to be held on Monday as Dr. Ravitch has pointed out in another blog AND my addition to call or e mail the governor and legislators.
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Thank you for the revealing statistics, Mr. Wilder.
Unfortunately, Mr. Pence (as well as his predecessor Mitch Daniels and toady, disgraced former Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Tony Bennett) are allergic to statistics, facts, and reason.
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There is a blog called Curmudgucation that has a funny yet distressing write up about exactly this topic. I don’t know how to link it here or I would. I think you can just google and get it. Someone with technical talent should post it here or Diane as a post if the author in agreement. I cried and laughed at same time when I read it. These are tough days in Hoosier land for anyone who cares about kids.
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try cumudgucation.blogspot.com
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http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2015/02/whats-matter-with-indiana.html
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This is what happens when the Tea Party takes over state government. This has become a terrible state to raise a family in.
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Another blog post blasting the Indiana GOP for trying to strip Glenda Ritz of her rightful chairmanship of the State Board of Education:
http://neifpe.blogspot.com/2015/02/vics-statehouse-notes-201-february-12.html
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Vic Smith, a frequent visitor to the Indiana statehouse gave this testimony On Wednesday, February 11, 2015 (link at bottom)
Testimony on SB 470 February 11, 2015
Submitted by Dr. Vic Smith, Indianapolis
I rise in opposition to SB 470. After all the talk that helped the voucher bills pass about private schools being accountable using ISTEP and school letter grades, now that vouchers are in law we see a proposal to allow voucher schools to ignore the ISTEP test and gain exemption from school letter grades. That is an amazing step backward for accountability, and I hope the Senate will turn it down
in the name of the accountability that was promised when the voucher bills were narrowly passed by the Senate in 2011 and 2013.
When taxpayer money is used for programs, there should be full transparency and public access to information. This proposal is going in the wrong direction toward less transparency. Because of this, this bill should be a non-starter as far as the notion that voucher schools do not have to be accountable in the same way public schools are accountable.
The public dollars being spent on private school vouchers is growing every year. The days when vouchers saved the state money ended after two years when vouchers were expanded in 2013, giving voucher eligibility to large numbers of students who had always been in private schools and had never before been in the count for state funding. In the most recent financial report issued June 17, 2014, the data for 2013-14 showed that 39% of the 19,809 vouchers went to students who had never enrolled in an Indiana public school and had always been in a private school. This created an
outright fiscal cost of $16 million in 2013-14.
For the current school year of 2014-15, we have only been told that the number of vouchers has gone up to 30,000. If the same total of 39% of vouchers again went to students who had always been in private schools, the projected new fiscal cost for this current year would be about $24 million. Governor Pence’s budget proposals would add at least another $4 million to this total.
If taxpayers are paying out anywhere between $16 million and $24 million for vouchers, they expect to know how the schools and teachers are performing just as they do in public schools.
Since 2011, vouchers have created an intensely competitive marketplace of schools in Indiana. All schools are judged in this competition by their performance on ISTEP and school letter grades. Now this bill would remove voucher schools from the ISTEP program and deny the public the information needed to consider the performance of all schools on a common test. That is wrong, and the Senate should reject this bill.
In summary, this proposal is both surprising and disappointing. I hope this committee and the Senate will turn down SB 470 as a giant step backward on accountability.
Thank you for listening to these concerns.
https://drive.google.com/a/phm.k12.in.us/file/d/0B6mEXsmcLXeCNzJ6RjNwcnk4Wlk/view
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Look at what happened in Wisconsin. They had almost 50% of the people trying to fight this movement. Wisconsin was always an intelligent state, and 47% is a very high number. Indiana… Yes, there are “some” smart people in Bloomington, and scattered around Indianapolis, etc. (Purdue), but there are also many, many ignorant, illiterate, redneck people in Indiana. You’re surrounded by a sea of ignorance, not many bookstores, lots of carnivals with bikers and Amish people. I’ve been there many times. No offense. Good luck to you!
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John, thanks for visiting Indiana. Yes, we do have some uninformed folks here. And through the lack of information they have I guess that you could say that they are ignorant of less apparent matters. Most are pretty intelligent about getting the information they are seeking as far as their own priorities, but I would say there is a tendency to be selective and not work hard to seek information that is not made obvious. And I think this is typical of folks everywhere. It would be awesome to see a big turn out at the statehouse Monday. However, most will likely take their workday off to do something other than attend an education rally or bookstore. Not that these folks are not intelligent….they just don’t think of it as a good use of their time to seek information that they think they don’t need. Those who have no children, whose kid have grown up, finished with education and probably moved out of state due to lack of opportunity for meaningful work do not really pay any attention. The poor have their own issues. Teachers and parents of children in the schools are swamped with responsibility. But there are a few people who have been promoting getting the word out over the last few years. They may not be as noticeable as carnival goers, Amish or bikers. But they are working hard to get information to those who are paying attention. In fact, Diane has posted a letter from one parent who has become quite active. So, please don’t write everyone off. There will be a tipping point and thank you for your wish of luck. Can’t help but notice that you didn’t comment on Notre Dame but thanks for pointing out IU and PU!
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It’s all over America. Thinking people are surrounded. We are shouting our message, but no one can understand use. It is a tyranny of the idiot majority, isn’t it? Many simply don’t vote, and probably shouldn’t be voting. Let’s be honest about that.
The energized right wing always votes out of anger and against their self interest (except the rich). I simply don’t see voting as any way out of this. A Democracy doesn’t work in our situation. Democracy only really works in highly-educated countries like Germany or maybe France. I did feel in Germany like I was surrounded by people who read books, and had their own thoughts about things. Many people in Germany knew things that only a small percentage of Americans know. In America, unless I am talking to my doctor or I am in a college, I don’t feel that I am around thinking people – at all. Even most “successful” businessmen don’t have much to say outside of their little area of expertise. This has probably being going on since the very beginning of America. At least here on this blog, you know that there are at least 100 people in the country that understand what you are talking about. But 100 people in a sea of 340 million lost souls is sadly not enough to change anything. It probably makes more practical sense for thinking people to move to a country where other intelligent people live -Germany, Denmark, Sweden, etc.
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