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KRUSE RESIGNS AS CHAIR OF ED COMMITTEE
Kruse Resigns As Education Committee Chair, Raatz Takes Over
From Indiana Public Media
Dennis Kruse (R-Auburn) resigned Friday as the chairman of the powerful Education & Career Development Committee. He said in a statement the position is rewarding, but it has also been demanding for him and his family.
He led the committee for 10 years, during which he oversaw huge changes in the state’s education policy, including the teacher evaluation system and private school vouchers.
Controversy surrounded Kruse in 2013 when he introduced a bill that would allow reciting the Lord's Prayer at public schools each day.
Sen. Jeff Raatz (R-Centerville) will become the new committee chairman in the 2019 General Assembly.
IPS SCHOOL BOARD UPSETS
How backlash to big changes in Indianapolis Public Schools fueled board upsets
A community “votes back” against reform that has wasted tax dollars and diverted resources from students.
From Chalkbeat
Two outsiders who have been critical of the Indianapolis Public Schools board defeated incumbents Tuesday, a change that could prove pivotal for a district that has garnered a national reputation for its partnerships with charter schools.
For over three years, Indianapolis Public Schools has offered a blueprint for an approach to education that blurs the line between charter schools and traditional public districts by launching and rapidly expanding schools run by charter or nonprofit operators but that remain under the district’s umbrella. This year, more than one in four district students attends one of those 20 innovation schools, as the district calls its hybrid model.
But those policies face mounting resistance. Two newly elected school board members could, for the first time, pump the brakes on the dramatic changes the current board has supported.
The results show that “the community is not happy with where IPS is going,” said Dountonia Batts, executive director of the IPS Community Coalition, a grassroots group that got funding from a national teachers union. People, she said, “believe that the community does have power at our public schools, and they don’t want to see that power slip away.”
SCHOOL LETTER GRADES
How many Indiana schools got As in 2018? Depends if state or feds are doing the grading.
Chalkbeat says, "The two grades illustrate differences in priorities..."
The two grades also illustrate the futility of trying to "grade" schools using a single letter grade. In the end the grades are determined by parental income levels. Where are the grades for the legislators from whose failed policies "F" schools originate?
From Chalkbeat
In the upcoming annual release of A-F grades, Indiana schools are receiving not one, but two ratings — and for many of those schools, the two grades are not the same, a sharp contrast that could cause confusion over how well schools are serving students.
One set of grades from the state’s rating system gave higher marks to about one-third of schools, a state presentation shows. The other set, based on new federal standards of the Every Student Succeeds Act, gave far fewer top ratings to schools.
The two grades illustrate differences in priorities — and in politics. Some national experts say the federal standards are tougher on schools than Indiana’s model because they require schools to count more students, such as those in remedial programs, and include other data not pulled from state tests, such as students who are chronically absent or the fluency of those learning English as a new language.
GARY SCHOOLS EMERGENCY MANAGER
New emergency manager for Gary schools is former Griffith superintendent
From The Chicago Tribune
Former Griffith Public Schools school chief Peter Morikis is the new emergency manager for Gary Community School Corp., replacing Peggy Hinckley who announced her retirement Thursday.
EARLY SCHOOL YEAR START
SACS approves earlier school year start
From The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
The first day of school will come earlier for Southwest Allen County Schools students beginning in 2020.
In a narrow vote – and against input from nearly 2,500 staff, students, parents and community members – school board members on Tuesday approved a 2020-21 district calendar that begins Aug. 5 in exchange for a weeklong fall break in October.
ARIZONA VOUCHERS
Arizona: Ducey, Koch Brothers, and DeVos Are Already Scheming to Bring Vouchers Back from the Dead
From Diane Ravitch
“Gov. Doug Ducey may have gotten a second term but he also took a powerful punch to the gut as his plan for a massive expansion of school vouchers was killed.
“Arizona voters didn’t just defeat Proposition 305. They stoned the thing, then they tossed it into the street and ran over it.
“Then they backed up and ran over it again.
“Voters defeated Ducey’s voucher plan by more than 2-1."
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| Carl Sagan: November 9, 1934 - December 20, 1996. Still Teaching from the Grave. |
DEVOS REJECTED
Good News in Michigan: Voters Reject DeVos Agenda!
From Diane Ravitch
"...By electing Whitmer, voters repudiated the DeVos agenda of defunding and decimating public schools in favor of the for-profit schools that took root in Michigan and failed to help kids. Whitmer will champion expanded healthcare and safe drinking water, and will fight for decency and fairness to put a check on President Trump’s cruel and inhumane agenda. I was proud to spend Election Day campaigning for Whitmer, and AFT members look forward to a governor who will work with us to make life better for Michiganders.”
ED-"REFORM" DAMAGES PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Public schools' struggle correlates directly to state voucher support
From The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
• Since 2010, the total state budget has risen 17 percent.
• Since 2010, the consumer price index (cost of living) has risen 17 percent.
• Since 2010, the education budget has only risen 10 percent.
• Vouchers cost $150 million a year, and the cost is diverted from public school funding, resulting in an actual 7 percent increase in public school funding. (More than half the Indiana voucher recipients never attended public schools.)
• Without vouchers, every public school would get an additional $150 per student.
• Property tax caps have resulted in millions of dollars lost for many school districts.
• Public schools in poor communities annually experience a 10 percent to 60 percent property tax shortfall, equaling tens of millions of lost dollars for some.
• Remedies for lost revenue are no longer provided by the state. Districts now depend on local referendums.
• Lost property taxes that pay for school debt, construction and transportation must be replaced from state dollars intended for student instruction.
• A portion of state tuition support called the “complexity index” provides special funding to meet the needs of the poorest students. Not only has the complexity index dollar amount been decreased to “equalize” the dollars per student among all schools, but the state has decreased the number of students qualifying – for some schools – by half.
• Forbes magazine points out that Indiana is ill advisedly attempting to fund three systems of schools – traditional public, charters and vouchers – with the same budget it once used for only traditional public schools.
• The “money follows the student” mantra for charter school students creates a loss of school funding that is significantly and disproportionately more damaging than the simple sum of the dollars. If a district loses 100 students, the loss can be spread over 12 grades. A classroom still needs a teacher if it has 25 students instead of 30, but the district has lost $600,000 in funding.
• Of the 20 schools or districts receiving the highest per-pupil funding, 18 are charter schools, none of which are required to report profit taking.
• Since 2010, teacher salaries have dropped 16 percent.
CHARTER-LOVING BILLIONAIRES DUMP MONEY INTO ELECTIONS
From South Carolina to California, charter school-loving billionaires are plowing money into midterm local and education races
From The Answer Sheet
Written by Carol Burris and Diane Ravitch
The objective could not be clearer — influence districts to expand their charter sector until eventually all, or nearly all, schools are privately operated and managed. Those district offices that remain could be filled not by educational leaders but by managers and technicians hired to ensure that buses run on time, schools are opened, closed or transferred to other operators, enrollment is managed, and funding is distributed. Public voice is stifled. Schools become publicly funded businesses.
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