John Stoffel, a teacher in Indiana, is disgusted with the politicians who are intent on undermining public schools in his state. He wanted you to know how bad things are.
“Just how corrupt is Indiana’s Republican-controlled state leadership? Look to the position of State Superintendent of Education this decade for the answer.
“In 2012, Republican State Superintendent Tony Bennett is ousted despite millions of dollars of out-of-state edu-business support, becoming the only Republican to lose this statewide office in 40 years.
“In order to circumvent Glenda Ritz, the new Democrat superintendent, Indiana Republicans create a duplicitous education department and change the leadership structure of the state board of education to remove her as leader.
“In 2016, Republican Jennifer McCormick is elected. Republicans in Indiana pass a law to make the position appointed in 2024. When McCormick cites she will not run for re-election due to being “naive”, thinking she could help kids in this state, Republicans move quickly to make the position appointed in 2020.
“McCormick,a Republican, blasts Indiana Republican lawmakers by saying they aren’t about helping kids or schools, they’re about making deals with edu-businesses at the expense of our children.
“A Republican in the driver’s seat of education is bearing witness to the corruption in Indiana’s education system. Hopefully voters will listen.
“The Republican party in Indiana is no longer about “small government” or “family values,” they are about backroom deals and crony capitalism.”
John Stoffel
Huntington, IN
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé and commented:
More evidence of the United States and it’s Constitution being subverted into an autocratic klpetocracy.
Indiana is a horrible example in the field of education. Govs Pence and Daniels thumbed their noses at the state constitution’s Art. I, Sections 4 and 6, as did the state’s Suoreme Court.
… and then Pence decided a state wasn’t enough power, so rode the coat tails of low brow celebrity all the way up to the top echelon of government. It has been horrifying to watch.
Examples of governmental corruption drive some to support libertarian approaches to government. The logic, not born of the Kochs but of scandal, goes this way: both parties are corrupt, all government is corrupt, so we need to do away with government.
Others suggest an alternative logic: government is corrupt, we should throw the corrupt people in jail and elect honest people.
For some reason, the idea that we can police government with a free press and a written body of law brokered by honest, independent judges and funded by equitable taxation seems to have disappeared from the dialogue on how to clean up corruption. But neither of the two approaches to government above have any hope of success.
The liberitarian approach assures that very powerful individuals anoint themselves philosopher king, assuring that we have things like the privatization movement we discuss here so often.
In order for the second approach to work, we need the honest, independent judiciary and proper funding of police investigative capabilities described in the third paragraph above. Those who want to throw all the bums out would end in a sort of corruption based on the cult of an individual, a sort of Stalinist state.
Under the present two party system, we are dependent on honest people within the two parties being willing to disavow their own. It is not looking good for this approach right now. Maybe the republican above is the beginning of a change.
The examples of Indiana and Florida and Tennessee and North Carolina prove that an independent press and judiciary are extraordinarily important.
BTW, it was Governor Mike Pence and his pals in the Indiana General Assembly who decided to do an end-run around the elected Superintendent of Public Instruction in Indiana, Glenda Ritz, and to confer much of her authority on others whom they controlled. This is what democracy means to the Republicans of the state of Indiana.
Pence and his fellow Republicans stripped away Glenda Ritz’s authority when she was elected state superintendent of instruction. Pence created a parallel department to diminish Ritz’s power over education. Then he and his cronies decided to make it an appointed position. They hate democracy. They want to win all the time, without the consent of the voters.
Diane: “They hate democracy. They want to win all the time, without the consent of the voters.”
I wonder if voters know or even care about the corruption.
Don’t put too much intelligence on the voters in Indiana. They voted for Mitch Daniels and Pence…although it is probable that he wouldn’t have won one more term as a governor. BUT they voted just in Senator Mike Braun who won by saying he was the STRONGEST Trump supporter. Senator Todd Young is a sycophant to Trump. The legislature is dominated by Republicans.
There is much in this state that doesn’t get done because of the tax laws and tight fiscal restraint that underfunds.
Bravo, Mr. Stoffel. I take it that he meant to write “create a duplicate education department,” not “create a duplicitous education department.” But as the duplication was also duplicity, both adjectives fit.
A wonderfully appropriate double entrendre
yes 🙂
Thank you, Diane. I sent this posting with my comments to state Representative Chris Chyung [D-IN]. He supports public schools and needs to become aware of just how bad politics in education is in Indiana.
Those of us in Indiana are well acquainted with these monstrosities.
Sadly democracy itself is non exi;stent when such a small percentage of
people vote and too many of those who do vote will not take the trouble
to research what is REALLY going on but choose to listen to sources
of “information” which agrees with their myopic understandings.
Obviously, I hope obviously we are now at a MAJOR point in history.
Do we wish to have h a president or a dictator. Sadly too many
have already chosen the latter. Unless the courts intervene or a
sufficient number of Republicans become statesmen, not politicians – [good luck]
that choice may already have been made.
Public school disintegration is only one of the many ways in which dictators foist
themselves into power. [Watch the “dictators playbook{ on PBS.
Educators should be in the front to prevent this catastrophe.
BUT, they have been lied about, their power mitigated ad nauseum.
.
Ha, ha–Chicago was named the most corrupt city in the U.S. (according to a University of Chicago study) &, hopefully, we will see a turnaround in Tuesday’s mayoral & aldermanic elections (but I’m not betting on it).
ILL-Annoy is the 3rd most corrupt state (after Louisiana &–not sure–New Jersey–?).
TN is high on the list of the most corrupt states.
Indiana teacher pay raise proposal dies as House GOP budget plan advances
Indiana House Republican budget advances without an amendment that would have given teachers a 5 percent raise each of next two years
…Now the education groups that had lined up to support the GOP’s teacher pay plan at the start of the legislation session are saying it’s not enough.
“Educators and the students they serve expect more and deserve more,” said Teresa Meredith, president of the Indiana State Teachers Association. “Hoosiers understand that the future of our state and the success of our kids depends on a high-quality public education system. And if we’re serious about our kids’ futures, we need to get serious about doing what works.
“That means investing in educators – paying them as professionals. That means making sure our kids have the resources they need to be successful and productive citizens. It’s time for our elected officials to deliver on their commitment to make teacher compensation a priority this session.”
Check out this story on IndyStar.com: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2019/02/19/indiana-teacher-pay-proposal-dies-house-gop-advances-state-budget/2913807002/
I would love to see Indiana teachers strike even though it is illegal. I’m tired of the GOP politicians who continuously pat themselves on the back saying what a great job they are doing for education. I was in Indianapolis for the worker protest in which Right to Work laws were passed, even though thousands of workers throughout the state came and protested.
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As pay debate plods on, Indiana teachers unions want more. Will they walk out?
Indiana’s legislative leaders are pledging to find money to increase teacher pay, which, at an average salary of around $50,000, ranks the lowest among neighboring states. But so far, their proposals have included studying the problem, asking districts to save money to fund the raises, and funneling small increases to schools in the hopes that teachers could get pay bumps.
These lukewarm proposals, plus an overall concern that Indiana lawmakers don’t value teaching, could create conditions that lead to a teacher walkout. State teachers union leaders aren’t encouraging action just yet, but other local leaders say they want lawmakers to know that teachers are fed up and fired up…
Some teachers accuse lawmakers of damaging the teaching profession through past laws that weakened unions’ bargaining powers, handed down testing mandates, and hinged teacher evaluations on student test scores…
Teachers showed up at the Statehouse in force in 2011, flanked by other union workers to fight an effort to reduce collective bargaining rights. But they still lost, and teachers unions were stripped of the ability to negotiate factors such as class sizes and school calendars.
https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/in/2019/02/14/as-pay-debate-plods-on-indiana-teachers-unions-want-more-will-they-walk-out/?utm_source=email_button
The great state of Indiana comes through again. [Sarcasm]
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Indiana Tax Service Turns Away Same-Sex Couple Because Of Owner’s Religious Beliefs
Two Indiana women said a local tax service refused to do their returns because they are a married couple.
Bailey and Samantha Brazzel told the Indianapolis Star they visited Carter Tax Service in Russiaville, Indiana, Feb. 12 to have their taxes done. The company previously prepared Bailey Brazzel’s taxes for several years. The women wed in July 2018, and this was the first time Bailey Brazzel expected to file a joint tax return.
Unfortunately for the Brazzels, their experience at Carter Tax Service “went downhill” immediately after they told owner Nancy Fivecoate they were married. At that point, they said, Fivecoate told them she couldn’t file their taxes because doing so for a same-sex couple would violate her religious beliefs.
“I didn’t go in there to talk about my marriage,” Bailey Brazzel told NBC affiliate WTHR. “I went in to file my taxes, that was it ― that’s all I wanted.”..
Article: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/indiana-tax-service-lgbtq-couple_n_5c6dbabde4b0e2f4d8a233c1