Indiana Coalition for Public Education

IT'S TIME FOR MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS!

The Indiana Coalition for Public Education (ICPE) is a bi-partisan non-profit organization. Its mission is to focus public tax dollars on the K-12 education of public school students by opposing legislation in the Indiana General Assembly that would:

• fund private school vouchers
• expand private school tax credits
• privatize charter schools by allowing private colleges and agencies to be authorizers
• put for-profit managers in place to take a profit from operating public schools
• privatize public schools through any other means

The membership year of the ICPE is July 1, 2012-June 30, 2013. Membership renewals are vital to maintain a strong lobbying presence in the long session of the legislature which begins in January.

Membership (including renewal) forms are available at the ICPE web site.

http://www.icpe2011.com/Join_ICPE.html

Mail checks to: ICPE, PO Box 7093, Fishers, IN 46037

New PAC supports public education

(from ICPE)

A new bi-partisan political action committee, Hoosiers for Public Education, deserves your support. It is researching and endorsing candidates from either party who support public education. The lobbying ICPE does is essential, but it is effective only when we have legislators who are willing to listen.

The PAC has identified 10 key Indiana General Assembly races in 2012 where there is a good chance of electing a legislator who will stand up for public education.

Hoosiers for Public Education will make financial contributions to new candidates in key races as well as incumbents who have been great friends to public schools.

Hoosiers for Public Education welcomes participation and financial contributions from ICPE members and other supporters. We believe public education advocates will have a more effective voice to elect candidates if we combine our resources and concentrate them where they will have the greatest impact.

To learn more or to donate, visit the website at www.HoosiersForPublicEducation.org. Tell your friends!!

ICPE Candidates' Forum

From: Mark A. Burkhart
Date: Mon, Apr 30, 2012 at 4:33 PM
Subject: ICPE Candidates' Forum

Friends of Public Education:

The Delaware County Chapter of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education (ICPE) is sponsoring a legislative candidates’ forum Tuesday afternoon, May 1, 2012. The forum will be held at the Muncie Area Career Center Presidents’ Room, 2500 N. Elgin Avenue, Muncie (park in the south lot for nearest entry). Indiana House of Representatives candidates from all districts (31-32-33-34-35) covering Delaware County have been invited A meet-and-greet with light refreshments will start at 4 p.m. with a formal program at 4:30 p.m. It is anticipated that the entire event will conclude no later than 5:30 p.m. Please invite anyone interested in public education. Thanks.

Mark Burkhart
External/Corresponding Secretary
Delaware County ICPE

Public education is under attack

...from the Indiana Coalition for Public Education -- Monroe County and South Central Indiana

Guest Column

Public education is under attack. Reformers, driven by private, free-market profiteers and by the politicians whose pockets are lined with their money, are seeking to undermine and weaken our public schools.

In 2011, the Indiana Legislature adopted the nation’s most comprehensive “school choice” program whereby all parents may now take a standard deduction of up to $1000 per child for private school expenditures. Among the many benefits to private schools and their supporters are the vouchers or “Choice Scholarships.”

Last year more than 3,900 vouchers were granted by the Indiana Department of Education at an average value of $4,150. This year 15,000 vouchers will be available. Next year, there will be no legal limit. Every dollar of voucher money is subtracted from our schools’ general fund, money that supports the ECAs for thousands of students, helps control class size, and provides special programs for special needs children, among countless other benefits. The state keeps any overage between the cost of the voucher and the state per-pupil support. The public school keeps nothing. Parents are left with paying for lost or reduced services and programs, either directly or through referenda.

Vouchers to private schools erode local control over how taxpayer money is spent. Transparency and open records for voucher schools are not covered by the same state rules as for public schools. Private schools can essentially choose which students will be welcome. If a child has a learning disability or has English as a new language, private schools are not required to admit them. Public schools are open to all. Public schools’ mission is to educate each and every child who walks through their doors.

Here is the big question: who benefits from this legislation? Unsurprisingly, the forces backing vouchers stand to make an enormous profit. To them, the nation’s $600 billion public education pie is there for untold profit. Slick marketing, accompanied by the endless repetition of “failure, failure, failure,” attempts to shape the argument in their favor. They use the inadequate education of the poor, the underserved and neglected urban municipalities as their justification for vouchers and private schools. These efforts are funded and supported by the test and textbook industries, the data and tech firms, corporate contractors and hedge fund managers selling stock in companies managing private, profit-generating charter schools. The major contributors to the campaigns of Tony Bennett and Mitch Daniels (see, for example, HERE) tell the whole story.

Public schools are succeeding. Our Indiana schools are at or near their highest scores ever in attendance rates, SAT math, ACT, National Assessment, ISTEP+, and percentage earning Academic Honors diplomas and Core 40 diplomas (ICPE website). But our students are more than just test scores. They are children of diverse backgrounds, abilities and needs who are learning in an increasingly pressured and stressful environment. The caring and dedicated teachers and administrators who are facilitating this growth are doing an amazing job, given the enormous constraints placed on them by legislators who know nothing about education or child development. Should our schools be taken over by for-profit companies? Should the dollar become the bottom line?

The Indiana Coalition for Public Education (ICPE), Monroe County, has been recently formed. We are a bi-partisan, non-profit organization whose purpose is to support public education and oppose any public policy which detracts from that purpose. Only through the concerted effort of organized parents and citizens across the state can we stop big money and special interests from overtaking the cornerstone of our democracy: the public schools.

Public Dollars Should Stay with Public School Students

...from the Indiana Coalition for Public Eduation.

7 Reasons Why Public Dollars Should Stay with Public School Students and Should NOT Be Diverted To Private Schools

(Click here to download a copy)

1) PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE OPEN TO ALL -- Public schools proudly take every student who comes to enroll. Private schools can pick and choose among applicants and can reject any student without an explanation. The inclusiveness of public schools requires support and resources.

2) PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE THE BEDROCK OF DEMOCRACY -- Public schools have been the key institution responsible for teaching about and perpetuating our democracy. Public schools are required by law to provide good citizenship instruction (IC20-­‐30-­‐5-­‐6), to display the flag, and to “provide a daily opportunity to for students of the school corporation to voluntarily recite the Pledge of Allegiance in each classroom”. In private schools, these matters are optional and unregulated.

3) PUBLIC SCHOOLS NEED FINANCIAL STABILITY -- Public schools need stable support to maintain and improve programs. Incentives created by the General Assembly to use public funds to attract students to private schools means less money for the public schools since the money follows the child. This dollar drain undercuts the stability of public school programs.

4) PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE CENTERS OF THE COMMUNITY -- Public schools bring the entire community together. Shifting to a publicly funded set of small private schools will fragment the community along religious and philosophical lines.

5) PUBLIC SCHOOLS SERVE ALL INCOME LEVELS -- Claims that vouchers are being directed to low income families ring hollow; the private school tax credit enacted in 2009 provides scholarships to families earning up to $82,000 for a family of four. The voucher program helps those making up to $62,000 for a family of four, which qualifies about two-­‐thirds of all Hoosier students.

6) PUBLIC SCHOOLS HAVE STEADILY IMPROVED -- Claims that Indiana’s public school performance is declining are simply untrue. Steady improvement over the past 20 years in Indiana’s public schools has been clearly documented. Currently, Indiana’s public schools stand at or near their highest marks in history on attendance rate, SAT math, ACT, National Assessment, ISTEP+, and percentage earning Academic Honors diplomas and Core 40 diplomas. Indiana outperforms Florida on 4th & 8th grade math, 8th grade reading, and 4th & 8th grade science on the National Assessment. Of course, more improvement is needed to meet global economic competition, but outsourcing students to private schools will undercut support and hamper further improvement in public schools. Parents who press leaders to fund improvements for their public schools will simply be told to take their child to a private school if they don’t like their public school.

7) PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE NOT SECTARIAN -- Regarding school choice, of course many families choose religious schools for their children for religious reasons. Taxpayers, however, should not be obligated to send students to parochial schools even if that is the choice of the parents. That is why the Indiana Constitution says: “No money shall be drawn from the treasury, for the benefit of any religious or theological institution.” Our public policies must avoid financial entanglements with religious schools. School choice should be offered within the arena of public schools, through neighborhood schools, magnet schools, tuition transfer to nearby districts, charter schools and virtual schools now available.