SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT THE RESPONSIBILITY OF DOE

Written by: Dr. Tony Lux

It has been proclaimed by at least one State School Board member that the State Board should not be in the school takeover business.  If that means public schools being taken over by for-profit education organizations, I couldn’t agree more.  However, the business the State Board of Education should absolutely be in is the school improvement business, and that responsibility should be carried out by the Department of Education under the auspices of the State Superintendent of Public Education.

The Governor’s recent decision to disband the Center for Education and Career Innovation has been lauded as a move towards improving relations between the State Board and the State School Superintendent.  However, the creation of another State organization to be responsible for implementation of State laws related to “underperforming” schools receiving Ds and Fs results in a new form of bypassing the State Department of Education and the State Superintendent.  Couple that with the announced effort to have State legislation that strips the State Superintendent as Chair of the State Board, moves the top education official ever closer to a position of irrelevancy.

The education community of this State, as well as the 1.3 million voters who selected Glenda Ritz as the top education official, should be outraged to see the will of the people marginalized and diminished.  The Governor’s advertised intention to expand Charter Schools and private school vouchers is just more of the same ineffective and cost inefficient school reform that resulted in the public ouster of Tony Bennett in favor of Glenda Ritz in the first place.

True school reform needs to be based on giving underperforming schools options regarding the replication and implementation of proven instructional strategies, teacher training, and pre-school and during-school intervention for disadvantaged and under-achieving students.  The Governor’s plan for fostering Charter School proliferation and discriminatory private school vouchers to compete with so-called “failing schools” is nothing more than a hit or miss approach with buyer beware risks. It relies on hope and prayer for raising student achievement, rather than on education research for school improvement overseen by the DOE.

Over six thousand petitioners are calling for an end to Charter School and private school expansion so that scarce State tax dollars can be used for improving public schools and raising student achievement. Let the State Superintendent and DOE do their job. Public Schools Deserve Better.    Join the petition by clicking here!

Time To Support Public Schools

This 'Viewpoint' article was written by Dr Tony Lux and printed in the 2014 Fall/Winter edition of the Northwest Indiana Business Quarterly magazine, page 80. 

*Click the image below to visit the pdf version of the magazine to read in full* page 80

Make the improvement of Public School Education a Priority!

A petition to the Governor of Indiana, Mike Pence and all Indiana Legislators, 

 CLICK HERE TO SIGN THIS PETITION

Public Schools deserve better.

The time has come to end the political ideology of flight from, and the demeaning of, our public schools. I do not support the diminishment and diversion of funding from public schools.

 On November 6, 2012 over 1.3 million Voters elected Glenda Ritz to replace Tony Bennett and the ideology that abdicates responsibility for improving and supporting public schools. The Voters action is a mandate that State legislators should shift focus to public schools instead of proliferating unproven Charter Schools and diverting public tax dollars to private school vouchers that only serve to fund high achieving private school students, rather than adequately and equitably funding improvements for all of our public schools that serve all children.

Public Schools deserve better. The time has come to end the political ideology that spends more money on private school students who never attended public school ($16 Million) than on non-English speaking students ($5 Million), pre-school for disadvantaged children ($10 Million), and teacher improvement ($0 million).

Public Schools deserve better. The time has come to end the political ideology that maintains a State budget surplus of $2 Billion taxpayer dollars while schools serving our children of poverty go unsupported for needed improvements, and many of our highest performing schools face millions of dollars in lost revenue due to tax caps, tax reductions and tax reallocations. This formula serves to decline and diminish the inherent value of public education.

Public Schools deserve better. The time has come to end the political ideology that requires local referenda as the only means to support lost and insufficient public school revenue. The Voters know that this is a divisive and debilitating political strategy forcing local communities to battle amongst themselves for resources. This ideology is inherently inequitable in that it increases the divide between high and low wealth communities.

 I ask you, Governor Pence and Indiana Legislators, to do what is best for all of our Indiana students. Join together with voters across the state that believe - our public schools deserve better.

 MAKE AN ADEQUATELY AND EQUITABLY SUPPORTED PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION FOR STUDENTS OUR HIGHEST PRIORITY ONCE AGAIN!

 Sincerely, Dr. Tony Lux

  CLICK HERE TO SIGN THIS PETITION