Our reader Carolmalaysia received a letter from the Indiana State Teachers Association, protesting two bills to undercut public schools, teachers and librarians. She signed the petition.
1.] TAKE ACTION: Tell legislators to prioritize public schools and reject private school voucher expansion in radical state budget
All kids, no matter where they live, should be able to pursue their dreams in a great public school. However, the currently proposed radical budget increases spending on private school vouchers by 70%, while increasing traditional public school funding, where 90% of Hoosier students attend, by only 5%.
The current budget would provide more than $1 billion for wealthy families making up to $220,000 to attend private school for free, while neighborhood public schools continue to struggle to provide enough resources for students and pay hard-working educators a competitive salary.
Urge lawmakers to prioritize public education and oppose this huge expansion of unaccountable private school vouchers in the budget. Ask them to increase their commitment to public schools.
2.] TAKE ACTION: TELL LEGISLATORS TO OPPOSE A BILL THAT WOULD REMOVE LEGAL PROTECTIONS FOR TEACHERS AND LIBRARIANS
02/17/2023
SB 12 is yet another culture war bill furthering a false narrative about our public schools. Rather than locally addressing issues over content, the bill would open teachers and librarians to criminal prosecution over educational materials. The bill would remove existing legal defenses schools and school libraries may use when locally determining educational materials. These matters will end up in litigation without administrative steps.
This bill has passed out of the Senate and is now under consideration by the House. Tell your representative to oppose SB 12.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I stand with our Teachers and Community Leaders .
xoxoxo
The Walton Family Foundation/Arnold Ventures (2018-2022) are listed on the grant portion of the cv of Prof. Sarah Cohodes at Columbia. The Future of Children is a publication of Princeton and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. I was disappointed that a 2018 article in the publication about charter schools written by Cohodes didn’t identify the grant sources.
If the grants were listed and I didn’t see them, a correction would be appreciated.
The public’s concept of a faculty member’s independence in his/her research
requires a leap of faith. Transparency is not an end goal. It is a step.
If the teachers are serious about winning, they will have to acknowledge that they are fighting the behemoth political machine of the Catholic church.
In adjacent Ohio, the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland posted earlier in March, “SB 11 Ed Choice hearing in Columbus delayed until March 21….A lot of energy and activity is taking place at the state government level in Columbus and Frank O’Linn, superintendent of Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Cleveland is actively involved…This could be the biggest seismic shift in school choice…It will require our sustained voice…”
The site has links to “tips” for writing to senators, advice for testimony in person in the capitol, etc.
That political machine doesn’t stop until it gets what it wants, taking away women’s rights to abortion, exempting its schools from civil rights employment law, prayer in public schools, tax money for its schools,… Taxpayers have made Catholic organizations the nation’s 3rd largest employer.
Catholic nationalism is a greater threat to the nation than Christian nationalism.
Jefferson- in every country, in every age, the priest aligns with the despot.
Indiana has a super majority machine of Republicans. They are dedicated to ending public education and have been hard at it for years. They have gerrymandered relentlessly to prevent any challenge. We must get people to participate in elections, even though it appears impossible to win. The ALEC playbook is Indiana.