Here are the passionate remarks from ICPE President Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer that she shared at our Presidents Day Zoom “Rally” earlier this week:

“Every year, I think. What’s it going to take? What will it take for Indiana to stop the defunding of our public schools and finally lean in and support them? What will it take for Democrats and Republicans alike to recognize that public education is the best way for our democracy to thrive, for our children to know a world in which they can grow up to follow their passions, support themselves and their families, and have work that contributes to a thriving economy? That public education is the best way by which our kids can learn what they need to learn in order to be thoughtful effective citizens in this pluralistic society—learning alongside those who think differently, believe differently and recognize that these differences make us better and stronger?

Does it take a pandemic in which we can see, now more than ever, the essential need for public schools?

Well, this year is a budget year and a budget reflects our priorities.

 So, what is our legislature prioritizing?

While the governor’s commission on teacher pay has determined that we need around $600 million more in order to make up for the abysmally low rate of pay in this state, we are getting NO FUNDING targeted to pay our teachers.

Teachers who are working more than one can imagine as humanly possible, reaching out to connect with students in person, with masks and distance, and through cyber space with care and attention, holding the heavy weight of children in crisis on their shoulders, not to mention their own concerns for the health and safety of themselves and their family. This is how they are prioritized?

As a mother I know now more than ever that it’s not just teachers who serve our kids in public schools. What about the aides, the bus drivers, the cafeteria folks, the custodians, nurses, social workers, counselors and all of the essential people who work so hard to keep our kids fed, safe and healthy, so that they are ready to learn?

And what of those children struggling in this pandemic crisis? As the rate of children living in poverty rises, contending with the effects on learning that that brings, what is the legislature doing to help care for these kids and meet their needs? Instead of increasing the overall funding for public education significantly where ALL children are accepted, instead of also increasing the special funding that targets these kids in poverty, the complexity funding, our legislature is proposing a CAP on the amount that public schools can receive to address the highest need students. While at the same time…

THEY ARE LIFTING THE CAP to kids receiving vouchers, sending millions more of our tax dollars in this entitlement program– even to families that make $170,000 a year!

Who are they prioritizing?

While our state has failed to recoup the millions of our tax dollars wasted on virtual charter schools—schools that have been found to have scammed the public out of precious monies, schools that do not have the same transparency and accountability measures that truly public schools do—our legislature is poised to increase the funding they receive to 100% ADM.

What are they prioritizing?

And, in the face of a failure to put guardrails and accountability on all of these ways by which our public funds leave the public schools into private hands, in the face of known corruption and little accountability, they are seeking to increase this practice through the debit card education program of Education Savings Accounts.

We know this type of program. We have seen how it was used in Arizona to pay for things like beauty supplies, sporting goods and goodness knows what else. Our house education committee chairman and the authors of this bill, 1 imagines this type of education policy as an a la carte model—paying for a class here, paying for services there. All the while taking tens of millions of dollars that should be going to our public schools, to the common good, for ALL of our children. Schools that accept all children—regardless of background or ability.

Schools that are accountable to the public through laws that require accountability and transparency.

Schools that are often one of the largest employers in their county.

Schools that are the heart of our communities. 

Public schools are essential to our democracy and to the future for our children. They are a public good and a social responsibility, not a cafeteria for a consumer making choices, where you can order a la carte. Not a place where some children eat gruel while others get a four-course meal.

Public schools are essential to our democracy and to the future for our children. They are a public good and a social responsibility, not a cafeteria for a consumer making choices, where you can order a la carte. Not a place where some children eat gruel while others get a four-course meal.

It’s time that we come together and fight this destruction of our Common Good. If we are going to prioritize our children, if we are going to prioritize the kind of world we want for our children and for their future, then we must act on their behalf.

Join us at ICPE. We need your energy, your membership and your passion. We need thousands of you across the state to help us inform our neighbors, family and friends and say, enough is enough. It is time we make public education and children our #1 priority.”