Indiana Coalition for Public Education — Monroe County
  • About Us
    • Mission & Vision
    • Our Beliefs
    • By-Laws
    • Who Is Our Lobbyist
    • Why We Need to Defend Public Education
    • Board Members
    • Friends
    • How You Can Help
  • How to Join
  • Meetings & Events
    • Meetings & Calendar
    • Events
  • Podcast
  • Blog
  • Press
    • Contact the Press
    • In the News
    • Press Releases
    • Videos
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters

Pence's Education Plan Isn't an Olive Branch

12/30/2014

 
Make no mistake. Governor Pence was not trying to appease Superintendent Ritz nor the 1.3 million voters who elected her when he announced that part of his new education plan was to dissolve his shadow department of education, the CECI (Center for Education & Career Innovation).   

Claiming this was "in the interest of restoring trust and harmony,” he then announced his intention to allow his appointed state board members to elect their own chairman, unseating Ritz. If the governor were truly concerned with trust and harmony, he would trust Glenda Ritz to represent the people of Indiana.  He should remember why Indiana voters chose her.

Glenda Ritz ran on a platform of keeping public funds in public schools. Now the governor wants to bleed more of that funding into private schools through unlimited vouchers and charter schools that have no democratically-elected, accountable boards.  Every Indiana child has the constitutional right to a free, high quality public education.  What the governor is proposing is that we now fund three separate (but equal?) systems of education with our tax dollars: public schools, charters and voucher/private schools.

The governor calls this tenet of his policy plan: “Fairness in Funding.” Orwell would be proud.

What is fair about redirecting public money to private and charter schools that play by different rules with different kids? Public schools accept all children regardless of background and ability.

Glenda Ritz ran on a platform of more teaching and less testing.  Now the governor wants to push for more test-driven obsession, further tying teacher pay and even school funding into his test-based, warped system of grading (labeling, stigmatizing) schools. Achievement on standardized tests closely tracks socioeconomic status of students’ families. Grading schools according to test scores means punishing poor communities for poverty.  It makes it a liability for teachers to work with children from low-income families or those with special needs. With the threat of a stigma, loss of funding, loss of jobs, loss of status, tests are the focus and the curriculum is narrowed.  The creativity, the hands-on projects, the joy, are being lost in a data-collecting “accountability” frenzy.

Governor Pence calls this policy point: “Freedom to Teach.”

1.3 million voters went to the polls to choose a direction in education in 2012: Glenda Ritz.  The resistance that the governor is meeting is that people do not want to continue this corporate education “reform” where the rich make money off of "failing" schools and the poorest children get jerked around from one school to the next.  Voters elected Ritz because they wanted schools to be for children, not testing factories or for-profit ventures. Voters elected Ritz because they wanted educators to guide what happens in the classroom, not politicians in the statehouse or business executives in a board room.

Public education is the cornerstone of our democracy. Voting is its lifeblood. Our governor, who received far fewer votes than Glenda Ritz, has shown that he clearly has no respect for the democratic process nor democracy as a whole. 


Comments are closed.

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Categories

    All
    Accountability
    A To F Grades
    Call To Action 2020
    Call To Action 2022
    Cathy's Speeches
    Charter School Program (CSP)
    Charter Schools
    Covid 19
    CRT
    Death By A Thousand Cuts $
    Democracy
    Diploma
    Education Scholarship Accounts (ESAs)
    Equity
    Events
    Follow The Money
    Free Lunch
    ILEARN
    IPS
    Kindergarten
    Petitions
    Race/history
    Redistricting
    Referendum Sharing
    Religion
    Reopening
    School Board
    School Choice
    School Marketing
    Special Education
    Statehouse
    Teachers
    Tech Trep
    Testing
    Textbooks
    Vic's Statehouse Notes
    Vouchers
    Year In Review

    Archives

    April 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    September 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    February 2014

    Friends

    Vic's Statehouse Notes
    Network for Public Education
    Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • About Us
    • Mission & Vision
    • Our Beliefs
    • By-Laws
    • Who Is Our Lobbyist
    • Why We Need to Defend Public Education
    • Board Members
    • Friends
    • How You Can Help
  • How to Join
  • Meetings & Events
    • Meetings & Calendar
    • Events
  • Podcast
  • Blog
  • Press
    • Contact the Press
    • In the News
    • Press Releases
    • Videos
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters