Sharing from Parents & Educators against the Daniels & Bennett Educational Reform: Vouchers! What a mess! Currently, there are at least 7 groups weighing in on this topic, the new one being quite a surprise. This is a list of all the “sides” of the issue of expanding vouchers: 1. Governor Pence: A “willy-nilly” approach..Just expand vouchers by lifting the caps on income and numbers. 2. Constitutionalist: No vouchers~~Site Article 1; Sec. 4 of Indiana Constitution: Section 4: ”No preference shall be given, by law, to any creed, religious society, or mode of worship; and no person shall be compelled to attend, erect, or support, any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry, against his consent.” 3. Most Public School supporters: No expansion of vouchers; tax money is for Public Education only. 4. Rep. Scott Schneider—expand voucher payments, but no ISTEP (vouchers w/no accountability) 5. The “let’s take a minute and look at voucher outcomes before we increase them” crowd 6. The Democrat leadership in the General Assembly asking for separate funding for traditional public schools, charter schools, and vouchers. 7. And, now, a new faction: “The Indianapolis Star/letters to the Editor, January 19, 2015” LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Not all conservatives support voucher expansion Given The Indianapolis Star’s recent reporting that conservative Hoosiers will applaud any expansion of school vouchers, which one article referred to as the “catnip” of the Republican Party, it’s hard to understand why you didn’t cover this month’s release of an education platform that addresses this issue and was sponsored by 39 conservative organizations from across the state. It’s not every day that this many organizations come together to speak in such a united fashion. The platform, “ A Call for Empowerment: Liberating Indiana Schools for Success,” clarifies that the membership of organizations, such as the American Family Association, Eagle Forum, Hoosiers Against Common Core and dozens of tea parties, will not support an expansion of school voucher unless the legislature simultaneously cuts the Common Core-aligned strings and burdensome regulations that accompany them. It notes that Indiana’s program has been ranked by the national Center for Education Reform as the secondworst in the country on “infringing on private school autonomy.” This explains why although Indiana’s is the largest voucher program in the country, it has one of the lowest school participation rates, with two-thirds of Indiana private schools not participating. If Gov. Mike Pence and the Republican supermajority in the Indiana General Assembly are wise, they will heed the recommendations put forth by these groups and liberate all schools by giving them the freedom to choose from a variety of nationally normed assessments, as well as from a variety of high, internationally benchmarked non-Common Core standards, such as Indiana’s former ones. They will realize it is time to restore state sovereignty over education in Indiana, by telling the feds to take a hike with their No Child Left Behind waiver, which Indiana doesn’t need and shouldn’t want! Laura Cole
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 19:31:01 +0000