In last week’s series of Statehouse Notes I told you that Senate Bill 255 is a stunning proposal to give control of education funding to parents. I deeply oppose this plan and urge you to oppose it as well.

Senate Bill 255 is dead for this session, but Senator Mishler says it will be in the budget debate in 2025, which means we can ask candidates to take a stand on it before the election.

Let’s talk about democracy.

Indiana’s Constitution Requires a System of “Common Schools,” yet Senate Bill 255 provides the opposite of common schools.

Unsupervised, unaccountable, unaccredited homeschools are not the “Common Schools” required by our Indiana constitution. Article 8, Section 1 says the General Assembly has a duty “to provide, by law, for a general and uniform system of Common Schools, wherein tuition shall be without charge, and equally open to all.”

The General Assembly does not have a duty to fund unaccredited homeschools or unaccredited private schools.

Over time, it would bleed enrollment from our public schools as parents sign up for an online account while the public school district in which they reside loses $7000, crippling the public school with uncertainty and slowly falling revenues. Many public schools would enter a death spiral, just like Milton Friedman wanted when he proposed this plan many years ago to get rid of public schools.

Gaping Flaw #3: Teaching about democracy and our Constitution would no longer be required of all students who get state funding.
The current mandates to teach about our democracy and our elections in Indiana law would be unenforceable in home schools or micro schools. The new civics course mandated for all high school students could be ignored. Extremist parents could easily teach hate, anti-Semitism and discrimination in their homeshcool. No one would know.Under SB 255, parents are not required to pass criminal background checks to get control of the $7000 tax money, nor are providers approved for payment by the Indiana Treasurer required to pass criminal background checks.
· No criminal background checks are required.
· Parents convicted of neglect are not excluded from SB 255 as they should be.
· Without criminal background checks, the safety of students is in jeopardy.

Gaping Flaw # 4:

Under SB 255, parents are not required to pass criminal background checks to get control of the $7000 tax money, nor are providers approved for payment by the Indiana Treasurer required to pass criminal background checks.
No criminal background checks are required.
Parents convicted of neglect are not excluded from SB 255 as they should be.
Without criminal background checks, the safety of students is in jeopardy.

Gaping flaw #5: When each parent takes control of the $7,000 account to run their own homeschool or independent school, that same amount is subtracted from the tuition support for the public school district in which they reside, cutting resources for all the remaining public school students in that district.

All public school students are damaged when a few students secede from their school and take their state money with them.

One superintendent testified on SB 255 on January 18 that some parents in his experience withdraw their child to homeschool in order to escape discipline recommended by the school. This could quickly dig into the school’s budget.

This Must Become an Election Issue

Let voters decide about a stunning proposal to give control of education funding to parents schools!

Too many times, proposals that hurt our public schools have been quietly ignored during the election campaign and then passed after the election without a robust debate. SB 255 is so damaging to public schools that it must get the attention of candidates and voters during the general election campaign.

From now until November, ask candidates in the 2024 election to make their position known on whether they support or oppose the radical plan that is now in SB 255. Then the voters can decide the future of public education in Indiana by voting for candidates that support public education and rejecting candidates that favor this extreme proposal.

Our public schools that have served as the backbone of our democracy for 170 years deserve our support.

Thank you for your active support of public education in Indiana!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith vic790@aol.com

Vic’s Statehouse Notes and ICPE received one of three Excellence in Media Awards presented by Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, an organization of over 85,000 women educators in seventeen countries. The award was presented on July 30, 2014 during the Delta Kappa Gamma International Convention held in Indianapolis. Thank you Delta Kappa Gamma!

ICPE has worked since 2011 to promote public education in the Statehouse and oppose the privatization of schools. We need your membership to help support ICPE lobbying efforts. We need all ICPE members to renew their membership if you have not done so.

Our lobbyist Joel Hand has represented ICPE extremely well in the 2023 budget session. We need your memberships and your support to continue his work. We welcome additional members and additional donations. We need your help and the help of your colleagues who support public education! Please pass the word!

Visit ICPE’s website at www.indianacoalitionforpubliced.org for membership and renewal information and for full information on ICPE efforts on behalf of public education. Thanks!

Vic Smith is a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969, serving as a social studies teacher, curriculum developer, state research and evaluation consultant, state social studies consultant, district social studies supervisor, assistant principal, principal, educational association staff member, and adjunct university professor.

Vic received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, he was named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education and received the 2018 Friend of Education Award from the Indiana State Teachers Association.