Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #295 – April 19, 2017

Dear Friends,

Thanks to all who came to Tuesday’s rally for better K-12 funding!

The letter delivery and contacts with legislators afterward brought excellent conversations such as mine with Senator Ruckelshaus. Joel Hand and Indiana PTA leader Deb Fox were both interviewed on Channel 59 to get the message out that we need to do better for our K-12 students in the budget.


House Bill 1004 - PreKindergarten

This afternoon (Wed., April 19) the Conference Committee Report on the prekindergarten bill (HB 1004) was released. The final bill will be voted on tomorrow.

The final version, while it narrowed the problem, did not break the link between getting a pre-K grant and getting a K-12 voucher. The final version thus creates a new eighth pathway to K-12 vouchers. Those who get a pre-K grant will be eligible for a K-12 voucher in many cases.

This is a provision that has nothing to do with the pre-K experience but will help private and religious schools build their voucher program.

The final version of the 1004 also reverses a ban on using pre-K grants funds to expand capital facilities. This reversal would allow private or public preschools to use the grant funds for facility expansion. This would of course be especially helpful to expand private facilities that serve K-12 voucher students.

If you oppose the K-12 voucher expansion in the pre-K bill, please contact your Senator or any Senator tonight or tomorrow morning to let them know you oppose the final version of HB 1004 and ask them to vote against it.
  • Remind them that the Senate version passed with no language to expand K-12 vouchers and that’s the way it should be. The path to universal vouchers should not go through the pre-K program.
  • Remind them that the pre-K pilot program has been running just fine with no provision to give pre-K students a lifetime K-12 voucher.
  • Remind them if pre-K students go to private schools that want them to stay for K-12 enrollment, they can get a School Scholarship from the vastly expanded tax credit program run by Scholarship Granting Organizations. The new budget is going to give $3 million additional dollars each year (a 31% increase) to the tax credit School Scholarship program, bringing the annual total available to $12.5 million. This should adequately cover any tuition need for pre-K students to enroll in private K-12 schools.
Thank you for any contacts you can make with Senators tonight or tomorrow and for your active support of public education in Indiana!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

“Vic’s Statehouse Notes” and ICPE received one of three Excellence in Media Awards presented by Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, an organization of over 85,000 women educators in seventeen countries. The award was presented on July 30, 2014 during the Delta Kappa Gamma International Convention held in Indianapolis. Thank you Delta Kappa Gamma!

ICPE has worked since 2011 to promote public education in the Statehouse and oppose the privatization of schools. We need your membership to help support ICPE lobbying efforts. As of July 1st, the start of our new membership year, it is time for all ICPE members to renew their membership.

Our lobbyist Joel Hand is again representing ICPE in the new budget session which began on January 3, 2017. We need your memberships and your support to continue his work. We welcome additional members and additional donations. We need your help and the help of your colleagues who support public education! Please pass the word!

Go to www.icpe2011.com for membership and renewal information and for full information on ICPE efforts on behalf of public education. Thanks!

Some readers have asked about my background in Indiana public schools. Thanks for asking! Here is a brief bio:

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969. I served as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor. I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009. I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998. In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.

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