Blog & Statehouse Notes
This space serves as vital resource for those who are dedicated to preserving and enhancing public education in Indiana. Through insightful articles, updates, and analysis, ICPE provides timely information on legislative actions, policy changes, and advocacy efforts impacting Indiana’s public education system. We strive to empower stakeholders with the knowledge and tools necessary to support and defend public education.
Tell Indiana legislators – It makes no sense
The Indiana legislature is prepared to increase spending on private school vouchers by 70% ($1.1 billion) compared to a mere 5% increase for traditional public schools. Nearly 90% of Hoosier kids attend public schools, while 7% are in voucher schools. This is...
Speak Out at the Statehouse: Prioritize Public School Kids
Come to the Statehouse to speak up for our public schools next Thursday, March 16th. Plan to arrive by 10am. The School Funding Subcommittee begins immediately following the session that morning, but we have no idea how long that session will go. You must sign up...
Defend your public schools
At the half-way point Did you feel the collective sigh last week? It was every legislator, every staff member, and every citizen who cares about public education and has been following bills before the Indiana General Assembly. The session is at the half-way point. ...
Budget reflects priorities – leaky bucket of school funding
It's another budget session–one where we get to see the priorities of Indiana's legislature. We see already that charters and vouchers will likely wind up as winners. In fact, of the new money proposed in the House's version of the education budget, 37% of it will go...
“Indiana’s Billion Dollar Bake Sale”
During ICPE's Day of Action at the Statehouse held on February 20, 2023 (Presidents' Day), we hosted a mock bake sale to illustrate that no amount of fundraising can make up for the losses to public school budgets that have been caused by harmful education...
2023 Legislative Update – The Sucker Punch
2023 Legislative Update We’re well into the 2023 legislative session, and some of us are asking: Do our legislators understand that public schools* are essential infrastructure in communities across Indiana—rural, urban, and suburban? If so, why do they keep moving...
Vic’s Statehouse Notes #372
Dear Friends, Are extremist neo-Nazi parents going to teach hate to their students in Indiana home schools funded by you, the taxpayer? Senate Bill 305 would allow every parent (there are no funding limits in the current bill) to sign up online for an Education...
Meet us at the Statehouse Presidents Day!
Do you remember your first rally or day of action at the Statehouse to support your public schools? Or maybe next Monday will be your first Statehouse experience. There is so much energy when we are all there together. You get to see people you’ve heard of but never...
Vic’s Statehouse Notes #371 – Partisan School Boards
Breaking long Hoosier traditions, Senate Bill 188 would change school boards from non-partisan to partisan. It’s time to contact Senators before the bill is heard on Monday to express your strong opposition to this damaging change to our public schools. Making school...
Vic’s Statehouse Notes #370 – A radical plan
Dear Friends, The Indiana Senate Education Committee approved a bill Wednesday that would freeze out community members, taxpayers and even state leaders from any influence over what the students of Indiana study. It would mark the end of state standards. Yes, you read...
Oppose SB 305 – In support of standards
After graduating from Arsenal Technical High School and earning an electrical engineering degree from Purdue, my dad started a business in 1959 to calibrate equipment to verify that the equipment met standards established by what is now the National Institute of...
Vic’s Statehouse Notes #369 – Threat to existence of public education
Dear Friends, We have until Wednesday, January 25, to convince Senate Education Committee members that Senate Bill 305 would fatally wound public education. The Threat to the Existence of our Community Public Schools Fifty years ago the economist Milton Friedman...
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