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

A Month of Misleading Education Misinformation From Governor’s Appointees

The month of July was a blitz of guest commentaries from the Governor’s State Board of
Education and “shadow department of education” (known as Center for Education and Career
Innovation a.k.a. CECI) appointees to influence the public that Glenda Ritz is the problem and
not them.

No less than three commentaries appeared in The Times. Two were from members of
the State Board of Education (Tony Walker and Gordon Henry) and one from Ashley Gibson of
CECI. All of them placed full responsibility on State Superintendent Glenda Ritz for the State’s
probationary status by the US Department of Education regarding its No Child Left Behind
Waiver. In addition, the CECI executive director publicly undermined the State Superintendent’s
waiver submission to the feds thereby exacerbating the dysfunction and putting the waiver in
jeopardy.

Times reporter, Dan Carden, accurately reported last June that the USDOE based its
complaints on what occurred during Tony Bennett’s tenure, NOT RITZ’S TENURE. Bennett
promised the feds to implement Common Core and participate in a Common Core testing
consortium. The Republican dominated Legislature put Common Core on hold. The State
Board of Ed officially rejected Common Core.

Tony Walker and Ashley Gibson reported that the USDOE cited concerns that the
Indiana Department of Ed “could not demonstrate adequate assistance to failing schools or an
adequate evaluation system…”. What they left out, as reported by Dan Carden, was that the
time period of concern was from February, 2012 to August, 2013 - primarily Tony Bennett’s
tenure. Glenda Ritz took office January, 2013.

Further, Tony Bennett’s philosophy of “assistance to failing schools” was takeover by
Charter Schools. The DOE was gutted of education specialists and school support staff at the
start of his tenure. There was a legislative philosophy of “flight and abandonment” of public
schools in favor of unproven Charter Schools and uncontrolled tax dollars for vouchers for
students already in private schools (now at $16 million which exceeds State budgets of only $5
million for non-English speakers, $10 million pre-school, $13 million for Gifted, and $0 for
teacher development).

The responsibility for improving pubic schools was abdicated by Bennett and the
Legislature and only now resurrected by Glenda Ritz’s outreach counselors for underachieving
schools.

Update: the civil lawsuit against the SBOE has been allowed to continue. At stake is
whether State Board members can conduct “meetings” electronically among themselves to gain
agreement and carry out formal action (even awarding contracts) prior to a public meeting. This
“strategy” has recently evolved into the SBOE’s proposal to allow itself unprecedented authority
to circumvent the State Superintendent and present new agenda items without advanced notice
to the public, or the State Superintendent, and then vote on them immediately.

1.3 million voters elected Glenda Ritz because they were dissatisfied with Tony Bennett’s
abandonment of public education. A new effort is underway to coordinate those same voters to
elect pro-public education candidates, hold legislators accountable for making public education
funding a priority, and equalizing accountability for any recipient of public tax dollars. Stay
tuned.

State Chamber Diatribe on HS Counselors Another Example of Hypocritical Public School Funding Decreases

In a recent letter to the editor, Derek Redelman of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce,
claims that school counselors aren’t meeting student needs regarding preparation for college
and careers. His source of information is a survey conducted by the Chamber regarding how
much time school counselors spend on various school duties. Based on the fact that the majority
reported that they only spend 25% of their time on post-secondary counseling, Mr. Redelman’s
implies that counselors aren’t properly doing their jobs to meet the Chamber’s vision of
having 90% of high school graduates properly ready for college or career training.

This reveals the incredible hypocrisy of business and legislators who expect their needs
for a highly qualified workforce (at perhaps the lowest entry level pay possible?) to be a priority
for schools while at the same time decry excessive school spending and then legislate for reduced
and diverted public school funding. Big business, and big business legislators, push for
business tax cuts that significantly reduce State revenue, then insincerely bemoan the lack of
revenue for school funding.

Counselors are considered, by the State, as “instructional support” and not in the same
category as classroom teachers. When schools are forced to make personnel cuts where does
everyone think they make the first cuts? Answer, instructional support staff.

The vast majority of high schools in Indiana don’t meet the recommended ratio of students
to counselors. When “non-essential” support staff and administrators are reduced, how
are the tasks regarding student attendance, enrollment, course selection, monitoring passing
and failing, course selection re-scheduling, administering State exams, SAT, ACT, processing
new enrollments, withdrawals, etc. going to be re-assigned? In most cases, the first person
sought out are counselors (those that are left after cuts are made). These tasks are added to
their responsibilities to not only give guidance for course selection, college choice, scholarship
applications and other post-secondary career planning, but also to deal with personal conflict,
family trauma and social, medical and personal complications for individuals and their peers.

When the expectations are to not only get more students to graduate, but to also graduate
at a higher achievement level, it is not just the classroom teacher that makes that happen. It
is the result of also having sufficient “instructional support” staff as well.

If legislators and business people would realize that the answers to better prepared
graduates are not to be found in minimally prepared “adjunct teachers”, hired at lower salaries,
bare bones funding for public schools forcing them to reduce “instructional support staff” (like
Counselors), diluting the educational landscape with a flood of underperforming Charter
Schools, or simply diverting public school funding with a type of “musical chairs” movement of
already high performing students from public to private schools, perhaps they would not make
business tax cuts a priority over proper funding of public schools. Then, there could be sufficient
Counselors and other support staff to actually meet the needs of our students, as well as,
of course, the goals of our esteemed State Chamber of Commerce.

State Board of Ed Real Life “House of Cards

Just like the despicable back room government machinations that take place in the TV
show “House of Cards”, the Indiana State Board of Education (SBOE) and Governor have proceeded
to manipulate education policy procedures regardless of public preference or even legislative
promulgations.

Glenda Ritz received 1.3 million votes to oust Tony Bennett and his policies even before
it was discovered that he changed the school grading parameters to make the Charter School
performance of a wealthy donor reach “A” status, and before he admitted to unethical political
use of his staff on the tax payer’s dime.

As Glenda Ritz revealed herself to be a true professional educator with the best interests
of students in mind, not political platforms, the Governor autonomously created a parallel Department of Education named CECI (Center for Education and Career Innovation) to ensure political agendas would be forced on the public.

The SBOE has now put in place procedures that allow it to override any decision or proposal
from Supt. Ritz.

The CECI has publicly second guessed Supt. Ritz’s federal funding waiver, putting millions
of dollars of federal funding at risk.

Supt. Ritz’s educationally sound proposal to add Reading to the State assessment has
been rejected by Governor.

The SBOE, against the judgement of every professional educational organization in the
State, is moving towards approving “adjunct” teachers who would have no formal training.

The State Legislature banned growth measures that use peer growth comparisons of
students based on ISTEP scores, the SBOE is taking action to continue this practice anyway.

The SBOE has just given itself permission to raise any proposal for a vote without any
advance notice to the public.

Perhaps the writers of “House of Cards” will borrow SBOE minutes as a script in an upcoming
episode.

Voice disapproval at www.in.gov/gov/2333, rguffin@ceci.in.gov, tony@walkerlawgroup.
biz (local SBOE rep)

OF BOGEYMEN AND SCAPEGOATS

the goblins will git ‘cha if you don’t watch out

Does anyone else think that much of the verbiage and some legislation coming from
some State officials involves the creation of goblins and bogeymen about which the public is
supposed to be afraid? It’s been about denial of Climate Change and Evolution; fear of
Immigration, Gay Marriage, and especially Big Government…impending doom, war on
religion….woooo, scary!

The most recent legislative enacted Bogeyman has been withdrawal from The Common
Core (Thriller music please). Couched in rationalizations about how Indiana must not be
controlled by Big Government, Indiana is opting to create its own independent State Standards
that are to be the strongest in the nation. And, of course, the new standards (due out soon) are
not supposed to be in any way similar to the dreaded Common Core. The problem here, of
course, is that neither the general public, nor most government officials, have any idea what is
included in the Common Core. There really has not been any detailed list of exactly what
elements of the Common Core are representative of unnecessary and damaging Big
Government educational expectations.

It is also interesting to note that one of the other major Bogeyman is that US kids are not
college and career ready, nor prepared for global competition with kids from other countries.
So, if Indiana kids are not educated to the same standards as kids from other States, nor for the
new modifications in national assessments (ACT and SAT) which are being based on Common
Core, and are found wanting by US Colleges and Universities who are looking for evidence of
mastery of Common Core standards (designed to gain a global edge), how will we ever
overcome our bogeyman fears? Hopefully, the general public and government officials will hold
a deaf ear to any fear mongers who claim Indiana’s new standards are too similar to Common
Core.

Indiana must realize that all the attention on “What should all students
know?” (Standards) and “How do we know if all students have learned them?” (the new State
ISTEP that will have to be developed at who knows how much cost) continues to avoid focus on
the most important question “What do we do when students haven’t learned?”

Interventions, re-teaching, summer school, after school, and pre-school are having funds
diminished and many school systems are forced to reduce or end summer school. The State
budget no longer provides full funding for summer school students in grades 4-8 who fail our
current State ISTEP exam, while continuing to scapegoat teachers and schools for not having
higher percentages of students at grade level or college and career ready.

Hopefully, candidates for State Representative and State Senator will be evaluated by
the public on their beliefs in Bogeymen and Scapegoats.

Where is the Public Outrage Over Discriminatory and Harmful Public Education Legislation?

As the 2014 Legislative Session comes to a close, legislative trends and efforts are
clearly earmarked by examples of discrimination, favoritism for religious interests and
increased profit making for businesses and investors at the expense of public
education. Here are some questions about education along with the “answers” that
2014 legislators are considering.

Q: Public schools not doing well enough?
A: Take more money away from them rather than earmark money for
improvement.

Q: Not enough money in the State coffers to increase funding for education?
A: Cut taxes for business owners that will further reduce school funds.

Q: Concerned about discriminatory hiring practices in the workplace and
withholding services from anyone (e.g. sexual orientation) on the basis of religion?
A: State Senators Delph and Bosma going on record to rebuff giving State
money grants to institutions who discriminate hiring on the basis of religion.
A: But allow Charter and Private Schools that receive State tax dollars to
discriminate based on ability, special needs and religion (sexual orientation?).

Q: Charter Schools and private schools supposedly better?
A: Allow discriminatory selection based on academic ability and religion,
insuring the lowest performing students remain in public schools while the private and
Charter Schools can reject students who would drag down their performance, or whose
needs they don’t want to meet.
A: Allow private voucher schools to be exempt from State exams and
meeting accommodations for Special Needs students.

Q: Need better teachers in under-performing schools with the most
disadvantaged students?
A: Provide financial incentives for highly qualified teachers to transfer to
underperforming Charter Schools, but not underperforming public schools.

Q: School shootings and student safety a concern?
A: Allow concealed guns in cars in school parking lots.

Q: Is there verified research, that pre-School programs for the most
disadvantaged children will raise achievement?
A: Do not allow a pilot program because it will cost money.
A: Remain one of only a few States in America without mandatory
Kindergarten and State funded pre-school program.

Q: Want high State education standards?
A:  Reject Common Core Standards due to objection from religious and
private schools.

Q: Concerned about filling the void left by rejecting Common Core Standards?  !
A: Create ridiculously short timeline to develop the highest educational
standards and new State test. Fail to consider time for re-tooling curricula, instructional
strategies, and costs.

Can it be any more obvious that:
A) Many Legislators are not qualified to make coherent, logical
educational decisions;
B) current Legislative decisions are being motivated by financial
incentives/welfare for business and private/religious interests by taking money from
pubic education and from the needs of our most disadvantaged children?

How long will the public endure and accept such obvious illogical contradictions,
hypocrisies and discriminations in legislative actions and proposals regarding public
education?

Contact both Republican and Democrat lawmakers.! !

Please consider joining the Indiana Coalition of Public Education Network (ICPE)

Governor’s Education “Innovation” Is Nothing More than Education Desperation

The latest chapter in Indiana Education “Reform” now includes the Governor’s intention
to seek more education “innovation”. This is a publicly appealing refrain. It implies that current
education efforts aren’t adequate and therefore new, innovative approaches are needed to
achieve better educational results. The Governor hopes to accomplish this by creating more
Charter Schools. This is nothing more than a “cross your fingers and hope for the best”
approach to improving education. Surely, if enough Charter Schools are created and thrown up
against the wall of education, something successful will have to stick.

The concept of Charter Schools as the answer to improving the achievement level of
students must continue to be challenged, not because there aren’t good people administering
and teaching in Charter Schools, but because there is a fundamentally false premise (and
implied promise) that for-profit education businesses hold some kind of secret solution that
public schools don’t.

There is a concerted effort to convince the public that public schools are inadequate
simply because they suffer from a kind of bloated bureaucracy, strangled by teacher unions and
ineffective teachers. The premise also contends that if schools could operate at the level of
complete autonomy (unbridled by rules and requirements), creative and innovative new
strategies will be developed and then carried out by truly effective teachers. These “free
market” schools, unfettered by teacher unions, could hire and fire at will, be fiscally conservative
by offering overall low wages and minimum benefits (offset by sporadic rewards for the most
effective teachers), and achieve new heights of student achievement primarily because they
would only retain the best teachers.

So where has this premise got us so far? Charter Schools continue to do significantly
worse than public schools. Charter School performance has been so tenuous that it has led to a
scandal involving the changing of school grading criteria so that a flagship Charter School could
maintain its “A” status.

Further, the lack of credentialed teachers in Charter Schools became so severe, it lead
to the watering down of teacher licensing requirements. Even with significant shortcuts to
gaining licensure, there is still a shortage. The shortage is so desperate that now the Governor
wants to bribe teachers to leave public schools by supplementing those “fiscally responsible”
Charter School salaries with additional State tax dollars (to be taken away, I’m sure, from public
school funds).

The public needs to ask itself how many more wing and a prayer acts of desperation
(otherwise known as “innovation”) are going to be paid for by siphoning more and more public
education tax dollars from the public schools that continue to raise ISTEP scores, national
assessment scores and graduation rates to all time highs.

The public also needs to challenge the false and misleading storyline that the teacher is
the only variable for learning that stands in the way of student achievement. It is so much more
complex than that but the Governor seems to prefer acts of desperation for learning rather than
acts of investigation for learning.

(There are  actually 4 variables that affect student learning - To be addressed in my next
column.)