If you are interested to see what big names are donating money to candidates or state-level PACs, you can search the following names in the “contributor” field.

• DeVos - Betsy and Dick DeVos are billionaire heirs to the Amway. They are proponents for school choice. They have financially supported the American Federation for Children, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and the Alliance for School Choice.
• Fred Klipsch - Founder of speaker company Klipsch. He is an advocate for school choice and has served on the Board of Directors of EdChoice (Indiana-based nonprofit devoted to the privatization of schools through the promotion of an educational voucher system, founded by Milton Freeman). He founded pro–school privatization PAC, Hoosiers for Quality Education. Close friends with Betsy DeVos. 
• American Federation for Children - Pro–school privatization group. Supports school choice, vouchers and tax credits. Helps ALEC create model school privatization legislation. The group was organized and funded by the billionaire DeVos family. Betsy DeVos was chairman until she became the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. 
• Oberndorf - William and Susan Oberdorf are billionaire supporters of school choice. William Oberndof succeeded Betsy DeVos as chairman of the American Federation for Children.
• Walton - The family that owns Wal-Mart, has a foundation (Walton Family Foundation) that advocates and donates to education reform efforts. The foundation has supported the charter school movement. Billionaire Alice Walton makes her own personal donations and has done so to American Federation for Children and Hoosiers for Quality Education over the past few years. 
• K12  - A for-profit online education company. The company was started with $10 million from convicted junk-bond king Michael Milken and $30 million more from other Wall Street investors. It is a member of ALEC and lobbies for virtual education. It generates large annual revenues at the expense of taxpayers. In 2019 it generated over $1 billion in revenue. 10.7% increase from the previous year. K12 operates multiple schools and online programs in Indiana. 
• Allan Hubbard -  Assistant to President George W. Bush for Economic Policy and former Indiana Republican Party chairman, who played a role in major 2011 education reform legislation in Indiana. He has supported efforts by Indianapolis Public Schools to partner with charter schools and outside groups to open new school models or turnaround failing schools. Hubbard donated to school board candidates who back this reform.
• Red Apple Development - Develops and manages the facilities operated by Charter Schools, USA. Makes money buying, selling, and building charter schools. Based in Florida. 
• ​Christel DeHaan - Former owner of RCI (timeshares) and founder of Christel House, she was a school privatization supporter. When her charter school received a C in 2012 under the state’s new grading formula, the former state superintendent, Tony Bennett, scrambled to make the grade an A. 
• Charter Schools USA - For-profit management organization based in Florida that manages schools in Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, and North Carolina. It managed three schools in Indianapolis until last year when IPS cut ties and the state did not renew the contracts. While it was against IPS policy to work with for-profit operators, the three schools were under state takeover and the state chose Charter Schools USA as manager.  
• Hoosiers for Great Public Schools - A PAC created by former mayor of Indianapolis, Bart Peterson. Bart Peterson is currently president and CEO of Christel House International. PAC was registered by Caryl Auslander on April 30, 2020. She is director of Advanced Energy Economy. Her consulting firm is Torchbearer Public Affairs. She was formerly vice president of Education and Workforce Development Policy, and Federal Relations for the Indiana Chamber. 
• ​Hoosiers for Quality Education - is an education reform PAC founded by businessman Fred Klipsch. It is the political arm of the Institute for Quality Education and is formerly known as Hoosiers for Economic Growth. It supports private school vouchers and charter school expansion.

​For example, here is a DeVos result, which suggests we should ask the question: Who have Indiana’s past three governors worked for?

And here is a more specific result using “Hoosiers for Quality Education” as the contributor and “Rogers” as the recipient. State Senator Rogers was the author of the controversial “share referendum dollars with charter schools” amendment in 2020 HEA 1065. $51,500 from Hoosiers for Quality Education is a significant amount for a legislator who has only been in office since 2018. See the second image above. You will see she is near the top in terms of campaign amounts received. Again, we should ask the question: Who does Linda Rogers work for? ​

As we citizens ask questions such as

• Why does our district need a referendums?
• Why do parents and caregivers have to pay for textbooks and technology out of pocket when this is not the case in almost every other state?
• Why is my local public school closing?
• Why hasn't the state recovered the millions of dollars from Indiana Virtual?
• Why is my child's class so large?
• Why doesn't my child's school have a nurse or librarian?
• Why does my child's curriculum feel test-driven?
• Why is there a teacher shortage? 
• Why is teacher pay behind surrounding states?

and so on, we all need to ask: Who do our elected government officials work for?

When you head to the voting booth or complete your ballot by mail, be sure to do your research. Be an educated voter and vote for public education.   


Sources: Brendan Fischer, “Former Indiana Superintendent, Lauded by ALEC and Education Privatizers, Cheats on School Grading Formula for Top Donor,” PR Watch, July 30, 2013, https://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/07/12198/former-indiana-superintendent-lauded-alec-and-education-privatizers-cheats-school; Wikipedia.com, Sourcewatch.com,  K12.com, accessed September 16, 2020 ; and Eric Weddle, “Indy’s Al Hubbard Bows Out of Consideration for No. 2 U.S. Education, Job,” WFYI.org, June 4, 2017, https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/indys-al-hubbard-bows-out-of-consideration-for-no-2-us-ed-job.

COVID-19 cases in Indiana are climbing, coinciding with the planned beginning of our school year. Across our state, local school boards are faced with difficult decisions about how to educate children and serve their communities during a pandemic. Meanwhile, the Trump administration wants our schools to move into full-bore reopening and has reframed guidance from the CDC to downplay safety protocols. 

So far, Indiana has not issued specific metrics that could guide decisions about opening schools in person. Parents, teachers, and others are scrambling to read news reports and check coronavirus dashboards as they attempt to balance their desire to have children in school with the need to keep students, teachers, and staff safe.

In this ongoing emergency, we affirm:
 

1. Safely returning to in-person education should be the goal of our school systems. Children need relationships with their teachers and peers for their social and emotional health, just as they need the academic structure and inquiry of their classrooms. But children also need their families and their teachers. The benefits of in-person learning need to be weighed against the potential for spreading illness among children, their caregivers, and school personnel.
2. Online interaction is a weak substitute for in-person education. Because of differences in families’ access to wi-fi, technology, and space at home to work and play, online education tends to amplify inequities.
3. Teachers must feel safe in their schools. They must be participants in the development of plans for school buildings, and those plans should be required by the state to meet specifications laid out by public health experts and/or the state of Indiana. Teacher safety also means that teachers who fall into high-risk categories, or who are caregivers for others at high risk, should be given the option to teach virtually.
4. The prevalence of COVID-19 in a community is out of schools’ control and has a direct impact on whether schools can open in a way that supports community health.  

THEREFORE:

1. We call on Governor Holcomb, the State Department of Health, and the Indiana Department of Education to issue clear guidance developed with epidemiologists and public health experts on:
   
   a. The metrics that would show when it is safe to open schools according to local conditions. Is it a certain raw number of cases, or a rate per 100,000? Is it declining cases over a period of several weeks? Is it a certain positivity rate or lower? (New York has specified an average rate of 5% over two weeks before schools may open.) Similarly, we need to know the metrics that would indicate that schools should be closed.
   
   b. The procedures to be implemented in schools if a child or a member of a child’s family is found to be infected, including testing and contact tracing, disinfecting of the space, who requires isolation, and what impact HIPAA will have on communications to families. 
   
   c. Gradual, phased reopening for cohorts of students.
   
   
2. We call on the Indiana Department of Education to identify categories of children who should receive priority to be offered in-person education. For example, even if we are again in lockdown as a state, it might be that schools could offer in-person education to children of essential workers and children with high special needs. Among other countries, France and the UK have done this.
3. We call on our governor and on the federal government to provide the funding that will allow our schools to open safely, with more certified teachers, social workers, and counselors; with small class sizes; with adequate space, safety equipment, and cleaning supplies; and with healthy ventilation and outdoor education space.
4. We call on our governor and State Board of Education to cancel standardized testing and to spend the money saved on urgent school needs. Nothing will be standard about testing conditions this year.
5. We call on our government to make sure that workers are supported so that they can maintain employment while balancing their roles as caregivers and employees.
6. We call on local political leaders and community authorities in both public and private health to collaborate and support our schools as we navigate this reopening.

School is crucial to our children’s development as citizens, seekers of knowledge, and people who care for others and for their world. Childhood is brief and matters exponentially. Our state must do what is necessary to constrain this virus and bring infections steadily down so that our children, teachers, and staff can safely go back to school.


Indiana Coalition for Public Education–Monroe County
Indiana Coalition for Public Education
Washington Township Parent Council Network
Northwest Indiana Coalition for Public Education

Please contact us at contact@keepeducationpublic.org or message our Facebook page if you are a group or organization that supports schools and would like to sign on to this statement.

People often ask, how do I support public education? Here are a number of ways. Some are very current.

Local

1. Register your child for public school be it in-person or online. State tuition support follows the child in Indiana.   
2. ​Support your local school's PTO by volunteering for events, sponsoring events, and making donations.
3. Support your local education foundation. Many public school districts in Indiana have one. 
4. Attend your local public school board meetings, read the minutes, or watch them on local public access. 
5. Run for your local school board. You can find information here. 
6. Follow local education reporters. You can find them in our press list. ​

State

Write your legislators. 

1. Ask them to use the count date from 2/2020 to determine tuition support funding for the 2020-2021 school year, unless the school population is higher. 
2. Ask them to press pause on charter school and voucher expansion.
3. Ask them to vote for public education, always. 

Sign a petition. 
Here is a petition to suspend standardized testing in Indiana for 2020.   

Vote for public education.

1. Educate yourself on who to vote for. Know who supports public education. ICPE's legislator report card will be released in late August 2020. Previous report cards can be found here. 
2. Tell your family and neighbors about pro-public education candidates to support.

​
Federal

Write your legislators. 

1. ​Ask legislators to pass the "HEROES Act." Sign this petition here. 
2. Ask legislators to past the Senate bill "Childcare is Essential Act." Sign this petition here. Read more here. 
3. Ask legislators to pass House bill "Childcare is Infrastructure Act."

And, of course, join us! 

Did you know that school funding is tied to the student in Indiana? Most folks—including educators—don’t.  It’s top-level. It’s complex. There is even a portion of state education funding called complexity.  
 
Simply put, in Indiana, each student is a backpack full of cash. The cash follows them to the school district they attend. There are added complexities (there’s that term again), but that is the heart of it. If you decide to enroll your child in a privately managed virtual school, like Connections Academy (Pearson) or Indiana Digital* (K12 Inc.), instead of sending them back to your neighborhood public school, then the state funding that went last year to your child’s public school goes instead to the virtual school. If you choose to enroll them in a private, out-of-state, out-of-pocket school, you get little to no assistance. If you decide to homeschool in the traditional sense, you get little to no assistance. 
 
I get it. We’re in a pandemic. Some of us can NOT send our child back to school. (On the flip side, some of us MUST.)
 
However, if children do not return to their local public school, then the school district collects less funding than prior years from the state. Since the bulk of public school funding comes from state funds, the results of less state funding will be layoffs, larger class sizes, fewer support staff, fewer field trips (when we’re out of the pandemic), fewer extracurriculars and specials, etc.

​This hurts children. Most of whom thrive better in smaller classes where teachers can devote more one-on-one time with them.
 
This hurts the future of communities. 
 
This hurts low-income children and low-income communities the most.
 
Stuart Greene, a school board member in South Bend, explains how it can truly hurt in this article.  

To help protect districts from large financial losses, Senator Eddie Melton and other legislators have stressed that state funding for Indiana’s schools for the 2020–21 year should be based on the last student count (ADM, average daily membership) before the pandemic, which was in February 2020. In addition, he and others believe that the schools must also be financially supported by emergency federal funding as educating children during a pandemic will not cost less. In fact, it will cost much more. 
 
Still, some of us can NOT send our children back to school. I get it. But please be patient. Chances are your school district may offer an online option. Choosing that online option affords your child more local resources than an online option that is not local.  
 
What can I do? 
 
Five things: 

1. Register your child for school today. Put it at the top of your to-do list. 
2. Let your state legislator know that 2020-21 tuition support funding should follow February 2020 ADM, unless the school population is higher.
3. Let your federal senators know that public schools need federal financial support to make it through this pandemic. 
4. Attend your local school board meetings. Make noise for those that can't.
5. Vote for candidates who support public education. Always. Public schools are the heart of the community. 

 
–Keri Miksza

* Indiana Digital is classified as a traditional public school, but it is a virtual school that serves students across the state much like a virtual charter school. ​