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Join the Indiana Coalition for Public Education–Monroe County along with co-hosts Monroe County Branch of NAACP and Monroe County Black Democratic Caucus for a screening of “Fighting Back,” Episode 2 of the award-winning civil rights documentary Eyes on the Prize. This episode traces the struggle by Black students and activists to integrate schools in the South following the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision.
What: "Fighting Back," Episode 2 of the civil rights documentary Eyes on the Prize When: Tuesday, February 25 Where: Monroe County History Center 202 E. 6th Street Bloomington, IN 47408 Golden Hoosier Award recipient Elizabeth Mitchell, a historian and documentarian, will introduce "Fighting Back" and discuss the history of segregated schools in Monroe County. Professor Stephanie Power-Carter will address the ongoing challenges of integration and equity in the present. 
January 20, 2020 UPDATE: Friends pointed out to us that HB 1002 removes the requirement that teacher evaluations be based, in part, on objective measures of achievement. This has been passed by the full House and is now in consideration in the Senate. Please contact your state senator to encourage them to vote in favor of it. (Reasons include those given below.) CALL TO ACTION Message: Hear SB 59, Teacher evaluations (sponsored by Senator Leising), in committee! What SB 59 does: It limits the use of state test scores in teacher evaluations. Provides that objective measures of student achievement and growth, including student results on a statewide assessment, may not account for more than 5% of the total performance evaluation score or result. Why SB 59 is needed: Tying scores to teacher evaluations is harmful because:
For these same reasons, we should get rid of the A-F system of grading schools and districts, which is based on test scores. But this bill doesn’t do anything about that. Where SB 59 is in the process: SB 59 has been referred to the Senate Committee on Education and Workforce Development, but has not been heard. Who needs to hear from us about SB 59: Members of the Senate Committee on Education and Workforce Development: Please call the committee chair, Senator Raatz, at 800-382-9467, and ask him to hear this bill in committee. Also, you can email committee members at the addresses below. Republicans: Raatz, Crane, Buchanan, Donato, Freeman, Kruse, Leising, Rogers, Spartz Democrats: Melton, Mrvan, Niezgodski, Stoops Senator.Raatz@iga.in.gov, s24@iga.in.gov, Senator.Buchanan@iga.in.gov, s18@iga.in.gov, Senator.Freeman@iga.in.gov, Senator.Kruse@iga.in.gov, Senator.Leising@iga.in.gov, Senator.Rogers@iga.in.gov, Senator.Spartz@iga.in.gov s3@iga.in.gov, s1@iga.in.gov, s10@iga.in.gov, s40@iga.in.gov Thanks for advocating for kids and teachers! 2019 was a year of leadership transition for us. Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer stepped down as chair and Judy Maki stepped down as treasurer. In January, we voted in new officers: myself as chair, Keri Miksza as vice chair, Charlie Savage as secretary, and Pam Bessler as treasurer. In these new roles, we are buoyed by the support of our hardworking board. How fortunate we are to have this energetic team with deep and diverse experience in public education. In June, Cathy became president of our state-level ICPE. We know the skill and vision she brings to advocacy and organization-building and are excited for the future. How We Spent the Annual Membership Fees Membership fees and general donations provide essential support for our efforts. Here is how we spent your contributions last year. Keep in mind that $25 of every combined state/local membership goes to the state-level ICPE to support them and our lobbyist, Joel Hand. Joel attends education committee meetings at the Statehouse, gives testimony representing ICPE’s positions, and learns what bills may be headed our way. In addition, a large amount was spent on reimbursing the state for their costs in our lawsuit. Although we did not prevail, we are proud that we did challenge the law. We are deeply grateful to Alex Tanford, Bill Groth, and Janet Stavropoulos, the legal team who donated their expertise and time to our cause. Read more about the lawsuit.  Here’s a Quick Review of What We Accomplished Last Year
We Followed Legislation and Stayed Focused on the State Budget The 2019 legislative session was a budget year—a year where the biennium budget for the next two years is set—and we called for substantial increases in public school funding. Despite our efforts, the budget bill gave increases of 10.3% to charters, 5.25% to virtual charters, 9.3% to vouchers, and just 2% to public schools (and 89 districts were projected to actually lose money). Representative Behning wanted to require public school districts to share referendum dollars with charters (HB1641), but we participated in a strenuous, and for the time successful, resistance to that. We Collaborated with Other Institutions and Organizations In February, with MCCSC and the IU School of Education, we co-sponsored an evening with State Superintendent Jennifer McCormick. In April, with the Community Committee on Educational Equity, we co-sponsored a screening of “America to Me”—a documentary about race in a big, diverse public high school in Chicago—followed by a compelling panel moderated by our board member Byron Turner. And we worked with Hoosier Action to urge voters to contact legislators about the budget to demand a 3% increase each year for public schools. We Honed Our Message and Reached Out In the winter and spring, our presentation committee met regularly to distill and organize our message, with the goal of producing a set of slides that we could use to present to groups in their own spaces. Cathy presented to the Rotary Club in the spring, and this past fall we visited many PTOs and several classes at IU. If you belong to a group that cares about children, education, and the common good, we would absolutely love to share the information that we have. Please let us know if your group would be interested. In the summer, we showed the film Rise Above the Mark at the Buskirk-Chumley, followed by a panel that included producer Dr. Rocky Killion, Brown County Schools superintendent Laura Hammack, retired teacher Kathy Fox, and Indianapolis activist Charity Scott. Our friendly volunteers at the Children’s Expo (one day) and at the Farmers’ Market (all season) were always eager to have conversations about public schools. Many thanks to those who took time out of busy schedules to staff our table. Keri Miksza designed Vote for Public Education yard signs and drove across the state to deliver them in advance of the 2019 local elections. Be sure to get yours for the 2020 elections (May 5 and November 3) before we sell out. You can order one. Proceeds will go to pro-public education candidates in 2020. Excitingly, our longtime (and founding) members Joan and Phil Harris are working on a documentary and have interviewed a number of state and local ICPE members for that project. We Examined the Data On our blog, we looked at the voucher dollars going to religious schools in Indiana (99.4%, it turns out). We graphed the connection between the free lunch rates of schools and their ILEARN scores…a consistent and strong connection that holds across public, charter, and private schools. And our newest blog post examines the startling rise in free and reduced lunch rates in south central Indiana school districts. Looking Forward On November 19, 2019, 15,000+ educators and public education supporters rallied at the Indiana statehouse. More than half the school districts in Indiana closed for the action day. Among the demands was adequate funding for schools. So far, legislators are resisting demands to open up the budget. Will there be consequences in 2020? 2020 is a big election year. It is also a short legislative session (it’s a non-budget year). State-level ICPE has put out its legislative positions. Will any of them be addressed? We’ll be following the short session and issuing calls to action (follow us on Facebook to see alerts). Our state group grades legislators in election years, so we will be publicizing those grades at the end of August, following the annual state-level meeting where they are officially released. We’ll also host a school board candidate forum in the fall for the two public school districts in Monroe County. WE NEED YOU If you have ideas or passions that you’d like to focus on, please reach out. If you can spare some money, please send it our way! Whatever you can contribute—whether it's time, expertise, funds, or spreading the word to friends—we really need your help. You can renew or join, or just reach out to get in touch. The greater our membership, the more we can do. Here’s to another active year! Jenny P.S. If you have already renewed for the membership year that runs July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020, many thanks! If you joined in June or later, your membership applies to this current year. If you are uncertain about your membership status, our wonderful treasurer Pam Bessler will be glad to answer any of your questions. Her e-mail is treasurer@keepeducationpublic.org.
The Great Recession is over, right?
In a recent hearing about school complexity funding (an additional boost of funds to schools with more disadvantaged kids) at the Indiana Statehouse, State Representative Tim Brown was quick to assert that Indiana is doing better financially. We are not as poor as we were. Maybe he's right according to the metric he uses. However, when we look at free and reduced lunch rates (FRL), we see a different picture.
Background on Free and Reduced Lunch Rates
FRL is part of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, which began in 1946 under Harry Truman. Most states--32—use FRL rates to measure poverty in schools. The FRL income rates are federally determined by multiplying the current year’s federal income poverty guidelines by 1.30 (free meals) and 1.85 (reduced price meals). For example, the 2019 federal income poverty level for a family of four is a maximum $25,750 annually. Multiply that amount by 1.30, and the maximum annual income for free lunch is $33,475. Multiply it by 1.85, and the maximum annual income for reduced lunch is $47,638. In addition, the following qualify for free lunch: children who are in households that receive benefits from SNAP Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), children who are in HeadStart, children who are in foster homes, and children who meet the definition of homeless, migrant, or runaway.
Complexity funding in Indiana was based only on FRL rates for a number of years. However, in 2015 lawmakers decided to shift to using the number of students who receive food stamps (SNAP), welfare (TANF), or are in foster care (keep in mind that education funding has not kept up with inflation in Indiana, so districts were, and still are, grabbing for fewer dollars). That narrowed the group of students, and funding since 2015 to help educate disadvantaged students has fallen by 30 percent. School administrators are concerned that the current method is undercounting high-need students. Granted, FRL is not a perfect indicator of poverty. This was mentioned by Daniel Thatcher from the National Conference of State Legislators in the hearing about complexity funding at Indiana’s Statehouse in October. The same meeting where Rep. Brown said “Indiana isn't as poor anymore.” While some critics may say that the data captures those up to 185% above federal poverty level, and that that's too high, it's important to note that families, especially those with children under 18, face economic stress even if they aren't earning below the federal poverty level. “The federal poverty level is not a very good measure of need. It’s too low,” said Elaine Waxman, a senior fellow studying food insecurity with the Urban Institute, a think tank that also presented at that hearing on complexity funding. Another problem with FRL is that it is self-reported. If a parent or guardian chooses not to report for whatever reason—pride, immigration status, inability to read the paperwork, too busy working too many jobs, etc.—then funding that should go to the student can be lost. On the flip side, it’s possible for a household to not be honest about its income in order to receive free or reduced price meals. Another problem is that since 2010, kids who qualify for SNAP, TANF, or are in foster care automatically qualify for FRL. This slightly bumps up FRL numbers from 2010 onwards, capturing kids that may have slipped through the cracks in prior years due to the self-reporting flaw. Problems aside, FRL is a metric used by IDOE. It indicates relative poverty. It is used to analyze data from attendance, and graduation rates to homelessness and test scores. It is present on Compass going all the way back to 2005. There is value in this metric, even with its flaws.
Free and Reduced Lunch Rates from 2005-06 to 2019-20
How are families with kids in school faring in 2019–20 compared to similar families in 2005–06? In Monroe County and surrounding areas, families with school-aged children appear to have gotten poorer—in some districts, dramatically so. FRL rates have climbed. Collectively, these families aren't in the same financial position as their 2005–06 counterparts. 
* In 2007–2008 MCCSC's Reduced Lunch Rate is lacking from state data, which is why it drastically goes down and then back up the following year.
The FRL rates for the years 2005–06 and 2018–19 are as follows. Note the percentage change between the first and second numbers, which is presented in the last column. Of this group of neighboring districts, Monroe County Community School Corporation had the lowest percentage increase in FRL, at 7.9%, whereas North Lawrence saw an increase of 63.9%.
Not Only Is Poverty Higher, Rural Populations Are Shrinking
Some rural communities are losing residents. Industries may have shut down. People may have moved elsewhere for work. People may be having fewer children, or may be sending their children elsewhere for schooling. Since school funding is based mainly on per-student tuition support, fewer kids means less money for schools.
The Problem Is Greater than the Schools
The hollowing out of rural populations, and the intensification of poverty in rural areas, is not something that a school district or city can fix alone. It requires state-level decisions like reforming the tax system, addressing minimum wage, and truly investing in infrastructure, including in public education.
What You Can Do
When poverty goes up, so does the importance of public schools in children’s lives as stable places with caring adults. For example, many schools now serve supper in addition to breakfast and lunch to ensure children are fed. Your attention to the environment in your child’s school matters. Faced with a budget crunch, some school districts are consolidating and cutting programs like arts and languages. Some may lack full-time nurses, librarians, and counselors. Consistently ask your child about what’s going on in school. Talk to your child’s teachers. Ask them if you can help in any way. Attend school board meetings. Call your legislator and meet with them to talk about the problems in your community. Get engaged. Vote for public education.
–Keri Miksza and Jenny Robinson
P.S. How Are the Schools in Tim Brown's District?
It occurred to us that maybe the schools in Tim Brown's district were actually faring better than the ones in Monroe County and surrounding areas, and maybe that would be why he sticks to his one metric and insists that Indiana is doing better. So, we looked it up. While only one school district in his area has FRL rates over 50%, both Western Boone and Sheridan Community Schools have seen their free lunch rates almost double since the 2005–06 school year. Representative Brown is choosing to keep company with facts that are different than the ones on the ground, in the schools and homes where the kids in his district spend their days. It may be that he doesn’t regard the free and reduced lunch rates as relevant. After all, back in 2015 he said, “Did Mary’s mother get arrested the night before? Did Johnny not come with shoes to school? Those to me are not core issues of education.”
* Lebanon CSC FRL number for 2005-06 is 2006-07 because the 2005-06 reported number is incomplete.
*All table and graph data presented in this post come from IDOE Compass.
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