Pence reveals voucher plans

Gov. Mike Pence announced his Roadmap 2014 Education plan Tuesday.

One part of the plan is to establish a voucher pre-K program for low-income families.

Kim Fidler, a UniServ director for the Indiana State Teachers Association, has forwarded the education plan to teachers.

Fidler said Pence is missing the point on extending the voucher program. She said there is no cap on the number of vouchers given, and there will be no restrictions.

“Families who already have children in private schools can claim a voucher and get money even if they can afford it,” Fidler said. “His arguments for expanding the voucher program don’t hold water.”

Fidler said the voucher program was meant for students who do not have any other options to get out of a failing public school because they cannot afford private school tuition.

“We don’t have an issue with the true intent to help those kids that are struggling and need another option,” Fidler said.

Another component of Pence’s education plan is the “Choices for Teachers” program. This program would be created to provide a stipend to traditional public school teachers who get hired by underperforming public schools or charter schools with at least 50 percent of their students on free and reduced lunch.

“Research shows that effective teachers can have an immediate impact on test scores and improve long-term outcomes for low-income students,” according to the plan.

Fidler said because many charter schools are not organized like public schools with contracts and unions, “Choices for Teachers” might be a problem.

“We feel like that’s another attempt to take the best teachers from public schools as well,” Fidler said.

Though teachers who switch to charter schools may see a raise in salary for their first year, pay for the second year may be significantly reduced because charter schools do not usually have contracts, she said.

Fidler said she hopes if a teacher was considering the “Choices for Teachers” program they would contact the ISTA or other teachers to find out the drawbacks to not being in a public school.

“It looked like his education plan is good if you don’t understand all the background information and what it really will lead to in the big picture,” Fidler said.

Follow reporter Mary Hauber on Twitter @mary_hauber.