The forum began, predictably, with a Betsy DeVos joke.
Nearly 100 community members and public education advocates gathered Tuesday night to discuss bills to support and to be wary of during the 2017 legislative session.
Thoughts of DeVos, who was confirmed earlier that day by the Senate as President Trump’s education secretary, and her openly pro-school choice agenda seemed to settle heavily on many speakers who made references to the crisis state of the United States’ public education system.
The event, coordinated by MCCSC at its Education Resource Center, included panelists representing the school corporation, the Indiana legislature, the Indiana Coalition for Public Education, the Indiana School Boards Association, the Monroe County Education Association and the Indiana State Teachers Association.
“Who would’ve thought that there’d be anything to talk about in education today?” said Monroe County Community School Corporation Board Member Keith Kelin, prompting chuckles from the crowd.
DeVos’ confirmation was a blow to many in the public education advocacy community because of her support of charter schools. A topic of contention in recent years, charter schools have been criticized by opponents for segregating on the basis of wealth and race and for not being held to the same standards of oversight as other publicly funded schools.
“Today we discovered that we’re in a national school-choice party,” said Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer, MCCSC school board member and chair of ICPE Monroe County. “This is about a country where we should care about all children. This is sort of the big context about what’s been going on.”
Fuentes-Rohwer also harped on House Bill 1004, a pre-K grant expansion bill that passed through the Indiana House today, 61-34, according to the Indiana General Assembly website.
Democrats and Republicans alike agree that pre-K expansion in the state is necessary, but public school advocates have bristled over the addition of a private school voucher expansion to the bill. The same bill in the Senate doesn’t include the voucher addition.
It’s not surprising that the House education committee would sneak a voucher expansion into HB 1004, Fuentes-Rohwer said.
Sen. Mark Stoops, a member of the Senate education and career development committee, echoed this sentiment. Republicans thought they’d just put Democrats who want to expand the Pre-K grant but don’t support vouchers in a tough place with this addition, Stoops said.
“The House couldn’t help itself,” Stoops, D-Bloomington, said. “There’s some political games going on there.”
Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, also mentioned that under the new bill, students have to qualify for the voucher at the preschool level but family income won’t be re-evaluated thereafter, so if the family suddenly came into large amounts of money, the state would still continue to shell out cash to them in the form of a voucher.
The voucher addition is an “insidious incremental program,” Pierce said.
“They’ve been expanding it out and they’ll keep doing it until pretty much anybody can have a voucher,” he said.
Panelists also discussed concerns over a bill that would replace the controversial ISTEP statewide test. Last legislative session, lawmakers created a commission that would study and suggest ways in which the test could be improved. ISTEP had been criticized for not matching up to state education standards.
The commission is problematic because no Democrats were allowed to appoint individuals to it, Pierce said.
The House education committee met Tuesday to discuss the bill that would replace ISTEP with a new test called ILEARN.
Rep. Ed DeLaney, D-Indianapolis, was concerned with the likely two-year transition period between tests. Committee Chairman Rep. Robert Behning, R-Indianapolis, said for the next two years a test essentially the same as the current ISTEP would be distributed before the state could fully switch to new assessment. This prompted concern from DeLaney that legislators would be misleading the public.
“Now it’s just purely a rebranding exercise,” Pierce said. “You cannot have a discussion about the test and what test is best unless you have a discussion about what the test is supposed to do.”
The discussion also touched on two other bills the panelists viewed as problematic: House Bill 1005, which would make the state school chief position appointed rather than elected, and House Bill 1382, which would take purview of some charter schools out from under the umbrella of the Indiana Department of Education.
Panelists also spent time discussing bills they support this legislative session. Sandy Steele from ISTA applauded Senate Bill 409, which would shift the school collective bargaining timeline, which would be helpful to bargainers who need to know how many students they have before beginning the bargaining process. Terrence Mason, dean of the IU School of Education, said he supports Senate Bill 240, which bolsters school counseling pilot programs.
Many speakers reiterated the importance of staying educated and involved in the state legislative process and commended the full audience for doing their part to be informed.
Fuentes-Rohwer said the best thing community members can do to help save public education in the country is to call legislators, who aren’t used to such opposition.
Though DeVos was confirmed, an unprecedented amount of people rose up in opposition to her appointment and pestered legislators with phone calls.
Fuentes-Rohwer also recommended that people make the drive to the Statehouse to give testimony on issues that resonate with them.
“We’re going to try to remind our legislators in the Statehouse that we care very much about public education,” Fuentes-Rohwer said. “And that we’re watching them.”
