Vic’s Statehouse Notes #394 – Legislative Alert: Taxation Without Representation & Calls To Action
Dear Friends,
NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION!
Many people don’t realize that school board members at charter schools are not elected by voters, but instead are appointed by charter school leaders.
They are hand-picked. It’s not democracy. There are no elections.
Yet, Senate Bill 518 would require giving property tax money to charter schools. For the first time, SB 518 mandates that traditional public school boards and charter school boards divide the property tax money that is raised if a local referendum is passed by the community public schools.
This violates the idea that started American independence nearly 250 years ago: No taxation without representation.
Representation
Currently, if property tax payers don’t like what the traditional school board is doing with their tax money, they can vote them out of office or they can run for the board themselves. They have representation!
Not so for charter school board members who are appointed by unelected school officials. They are not required to live near the school. They don’t even need to live in Indiana.
Instead of supporting charter schools with property tax money, the General Assembly could lift financial support for charter schools from sales tax and income tax revenues without getting into the business of mandating that property taxes be taken away from traditional public schools.
Take Action!
SB 518 could be amended into HB 1001, the budget bill or into SB 1, the major property tax bill. Contact your Senator or Representative, or any legislator, to say they should leave the concept of SB 518 out of the final package of bills.
Tell them that as long as taxpayers have no representation on charter school boards, the property tax payers should not be mandated to pay for charter schools.
Additional Legislative Alerts
NOTE: I want to make you aware of several other legislative alerts that have just hit our website today. Please click the links below to read and take action on the following issues ASAP:
SB 287 (Partisan School Boards – keep up the pressure)
SB 373 Amendment #9 (more taxation without representation)
More alerts will likely be posted early next week. Your calls and emails are getting their attention. Please keep up the good work.
Grassroots support of public education makes all the difference. Thank you for your active support of public schools 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.
Our lobbyist Joel Hand is representing ICPE extremely well in the 2025 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!
Go to www.indianacoalitionforpubliced.org 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.