Dear Friends,

Our public education students and schools need a Governor who will protect their funding.

Candidate Mike Braun has proposed a cut in property taxes which solves the property tax problem on the backs of public school funding and local government funding. Under current law, public schools fund vital services with property tax money:  bus transportation, maintenance and repairs, debt service for new buildings and referendum funding.

Mike Braun could have presented a plan that replaced the money that would be cut from schools with state sales or income taxes, but he didn’t.  He didn’t even release a fiscal analysis showing the amount public schools would lose.

This has happened before.  When property tax caps were put into the Indiana Constitution, public schools and local government lost funding. “Replace, don’t erase” was the rallying cry to resist the loss of public school funding.  Replacement of lost funding is again the issue that leaves public schools wondering how to maintain current programs for public school students.

Mike Braun is not protecting public education students, but Jennifer McCormick’s new property tax plan issued August 15th aims to do so, offering “targeted relief to those who need it most without cutting essential police, fire and school services to Hoosiers,” according to a fact sheet released by her campaign team about the complex plan.  She also found a way to provide a fiscal estimate of her plan, which Mike Braun did not do.

It Wasn’t Always Like This in Indiana

Governor Robert Orr protected public education in his two terms as Governor, 1981-1989.  In a letter to supporters as he ran for his second term in 1984, he wrote:

“This letter is one which you might never have expected to receive from me.  It asks for no commitment and no campaign contribution from you.  All it asks for is your time and attention for a few minutes to read what I think is an accurate description of my record of commitment and support to Indiana’s public schools since I took office in 1981.”

Governor Orr turned out to be the last Republican Indiana governor to protect and prioritize public education.

Governors Daniels, Pence and Holcomb, the next three Republican Governors, all signed major school voucher expansions which damage public education, diverting half a billion dollars each year in the current 2023-2025 two-year budget to private schools instead of public schools.

Support Jennifer McCormick!

The Indiana Coalition for Public Education board members have endorsed Jennifer McCormick, a candidate for Governor who knows public schools thoroughly and will protect and prioritize public education.

She will be speaking at the Indiana Coalition for Public Education All-Member Meeting, 2 PM, August 24th, at the Washington Township Education Center, 86th St. and Woodfield Crossing Blvd, Indianapolis.

If you support public education, please join the meeting!!

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

Best wishes,

Vic Smith      vic790@aol.com

About Vic’s Statehouse Notes and ICPE…

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 rely on memberships to help support ICPE lobbying efforts and outreach across the state. Our lobbyist Joel Hand represented ICPE extremely well in the 2024 short session. We need all ICPE members to renew their membership if they have not done so. We also welcome new members and general 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/join for membership and renewal information and for full information on ICPE efforts on behalf of public education. Thanks!

Some readers have asked about my background in Indiana public schools.  Thanks for asking!  Here is a brief bio:

I am a lifelong Hoosier and began teaching in 1969.  I served 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.   I worked for Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools, the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, the Indiana Department of Education, the Indianapolis Public Schools, IUPUI, and the Indiana Urban Schools Association, from which I retired as Associate Director in 2009.  I hold three degrees: B.A. in Ed., Ball State University, 1969; M.S. in Ed., Indiana University, 1972; and Ed.D., Indiana University, 1977, along with a Teacher’s Life License and a Superintendent’s License, 1998.  In 2013 I was honored to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU School of Education, and in 2014 I was honored to be named to the Teacher Education Hall of Fame by the Association for Teacher Education – Indiana.  In April of 2018, I was honored to receive the 2018 Friend of Education Award from the Indiana State Teachers Association.