Teacher, Lawmaker Discuss Education Reform Plans
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Teacher, Lawmaker Discuss Education Reform Plans
By David [email protected]
Indiana legislatures are working on passing bills that they say will reform education for the better.
But parts of the proposals have caused concern for some teachers.
Warsaw Community Education Association has 400 members, all in the Warsaw Community School Corp. The association is the exclusive representative of local teachers in contract negotiations and workplace conditions.
In a Wednesday interview, Terry Sims, president of the association, said the biggest concern is with the Indiana House approving a bill Tuesday expanding charter schools in Indiana and how that will affect public school funding.
According to the Associated Press, the House approved the proposal Tuesday on a 59-37 mostly party-line vote following hours of debate. The bill next heads to the Republican-controlled Indiana Senate for consideration.
The legislation, supported by Gov. Mitch Daniels, aims to expand charter schools, which are public schools that are free of certain state regulations and often free of union contracts.
Currently only school boards, the mayor of Indianapolis and public colleges that offer four-year degrees can start charter schools. The state currently has more than 60 charter schools.
Sims said state funding money follows the students. While that is fair, charter schools will take money away from public schools. It also will force school corporations to provide transportation for charter school students, taking additional dollars from the public schools. If a school corporation has an empty building, the corporation also would be required to hand it over to a charter school.
"The big concern is, on one hand the state says it is cash strapped, but on the other hand, it wants to invest in charter schools," said Sims. "I think it's a bad thing for the state to take money away from public schools. Reform is OK, but I don't see how charter schools does that."
Sims said he thinks charter schools will be for a select few, not all. A better idea, he said, would be to put that money in programs, or in current programs, or in reforms they are proposing.
"There should be accountability for the money. I have no problem with that. If they want (schools) to be accountable, show us what you want us to do and fund it. The state is notorious for unfunded mandates," Sims said. "I don't think diluting public education is improving it. It's the first step in privatization. I do think that eventually that is the direction the state will go."
Privatization hasn't worked with the prison system or IBM taking over the state welfare programs, Sims said, and it's too early to tell how privatizing the toll road will work out.
"I think the future will be interesting to watch. I think this is the first step," Sims said.
In a telephone interview Friday night, State Rep. Dave Wolkins, Winona Lake, said the state wasn't trying to privatize education.
"The goal is to do whatever works for the improvement of education for students," he said. "We want to give every kid and parent a choice in schools to get the best education."
Wolkins supports most of the reforms being considered by the legislature. He is undecided on the state providing vouchers to students to attend private schools because the money would be public dollars going to private schools. There's concern there for him because of separation of church and state, so his approval would depend on how the voucher system is set up.
He does support the charter school bill, merit pay for teachers and a bill in the Senate limiting collective bargaining for teachers.
Sims said he contacted Indiana Superintendent of Instruction Dr. Tony Bennett regarding an e-mail Bennett sent out. Sims' e-mail stated he was concerned about charter schools and the government's reforms, and he felt the reforms were punitive. Sims received a response back from Bennett's office that it wasn't thought there will be that many charter schools so public schools won't lose that much money.
"So my point was, what is the point?" Sims said.
Wolkins disagreed with Sims that the state supporting "charter" schools takes money away from "public" schools.
"Charter schools are public schools," Wolkins said. "They are not private schools. We are redistributing public money."
Wolkins said charter schools probably won't be an issue in the Warsaw area.
While he understood that there was an effort underway for a charter school in Silver Lake, he said, "I don't think Silver Lake will be real successful. Charter schools come in when you have troubled schools. I don't see a need because we have good schools in the area."
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Indiana legislatures are working on passing bills that they say will reform education for the better.
But parts of the proposals have caused concern for some teachers.
Warsaw Community Education Association has 400 members, all in the Warsaw Community School Corp. The association is the exclusive representative of local teachers in contract negotiations and workplace conditions.
In a Wednesday interview, Terry Sims, president of the association, said the biggest concern is with the Indiana House approving a bill Tuesday expanding charter schools in Indiana and how that will affect public school funding.
According to the Associated Press, the House approved the proposal Tuesday on a 59-37 mostly party-line vote following hours of debate. The bill next heads to the Republican-controlled Indiana Senate for consideration.
The legislation, supported by Gov. Mitch Daniels, aims to expand charter schools, which are public schools that are free of certain state regulations and often free of union contracts.
Currently only school boards, the mayor of Indianapolis and public colleges that offer four-year degrees can start charter schools. The state currently has more than 60 charter schools.
Sims said state funding money follows the students. While that is fair, charter schools will take money away from public schools. It also will force school corporations to provide transportation for charter school students, taking additional dollars from the public schools. If a school corporation has an empty building, the corporation also would be required to hand it over to a charter school.
"The big concern is, on one hand the state says it is cash strapped, but on the other hand, it wants to invest in charter schools," said Sims. "I think it's a bad thing for the state to take money away from public schools. Reform is OK, but I don't see how charter schools does that."
Sims said he thinks charter schools will be for a select few, not all. A better idea, he said, would be to put that money in programs, or in current programs, or in reforms they are proposing.
"There should be accountability for the money. I have no problem with that. If they want (schools) to be accountable, show us what you want us to do and fund it. The state is notorious for unfunded mandates," Sims said. "I don't think diluting public education is improving it. It's the first step in privatization. I do think that eventually that is the direction the state will go."
Privatization hasn't worked with the prison system or IBM taking over the state welfare programs, Sims said, and it's too early to tell how privatizing the toll road will work out.
"I think the future will be interesting to watch. I think this is the first step," Sims said.
In a telephone interview Friday night, State Rep. Dave Wolkins, Winona Lake, said the state wasn't trying to privatize education.
"The goal is to do whatever works for the improvement of education for students," he said. "We want to give every kid and parent a choice in schools to get the best education."
Wolkins supports most of the reforms being considered by the legislature. He is undecided on the state providing vouchers to students to attend private schools because the money would be public dollars going to private schools. There's concern there for him because of separation of church and state, so his approval would depend on how the voucher system is set up.
He does support the charter school bill, merit pay for teachers and a bill in the Senate limiting collective bargaining for teachers.
Sims said he contacted Indiana Superintendent of Instruction Dr. Tony Bennett regarding an e-mail Bennett sent out. Sims' e-mail stated he was concerned about charter schools and the government's reforms, and he felt the reforms were punitive. Sims received a response back from Bennett's office that it wasn't thought there will be that many charter schools so public schools won't lose that much money.
"So my point was, what is the point?" Sims said.
Wolkins disagreed with Sims that the state supporting "charter" schools takes money away from "public" schools.
"Charter schools are public schools," Wolkins said. "They are not private schools. We are redistributing public money."
Wolkins said charter schools probably won't be an issue in the Warsaw area.
While he understood that there was an effort underway for a charter school in Silver Lake, he said, "I don't think Silver Lake will be real successful. Charter schools come in when you have troubled schools. I don't see a need because we have good schools in the area."
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