Thanks for the forward. The vote comes today. Contact Ron Grooms and register your voice for posterity, even if his consumption of Kool-Aid probably precludes any possibility of independent thought.
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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #80 – April 19, 2011, 10:30pm
Dear Friends,
Unbelievably, an amendment was added to the voucher bill today which would give an income tax deduction to home school parents.
Yes, you read this correctly.
Home school parents, a group that had never even been discussed related to HB 1003 since the bill was introduced in January, would get the first tax break for home school expenses in Indiana history. Sen. Miller, the author of the amendment, said the tax break would have a fiscal cost to the state of $3 million.
This was already an historic bill in breaking the 160 year vision set by the 1851 Constitution that public money should go to public school students and not to religious or private schools. Now, add another “first”: The first state funding for home school parents. This gives you one more reason to contact your Senator or other Senators tonight or first thing in the morning to oppose the bill.
After nearly four months of debate, the historic vote on vouchers will come tomorrow, Wednesday, April 20th. According to their website, the Senate will convene at 1:30pm. Assure Senators that you contact that their votes will be remembered forever, either way. This is not just another vote. This is the “2011 Voucher Battle” vote. This one will determine the future direction of public education in Indiana.
Will the direction be to privatize schools or to support public education?
Details of the Voucher Bill Amendments
Three amendments were added to HB 1003 today on second reading. Let me begin with the details of the income tax deduction cited above:
1) Amendment 17, offered by Sen. Miller, would give a $1000 deduction “against the taxpayer’s adjusted gross income” multiplied by the number of dependents “for whom the taxpayer made educational expenditures in the taxable year.” Expenditures are defined as “tuition, fees, computer software, textbooks, workbooks, curricula, school supplies (other than personal computers), and other written materials used primarily for academic instruction or for academic tutoring, or both.” The deduction is for unreimbursed expenses “in a private elementary or high school education program” which is defined as “(A) home schooling; or (B) attendance at a private school.”
Do public school parents get to take a deduction for public school textbooks or fees? No.
This is a small savings for home school and private school parents, but it is a “foot in the door” to bigger deductions after the precedent is set. If $1000 is deducted from income, the savings per child is $34 dollars for the parent, based on the state income tax of 3.4%.
The fiscal cost cited by Sen. Miller for this new benefit is $3 million. It seems strange that the Senate could endorse $3 million for this new benefit for home school parents and private school parents in this tight budget. Compared to the 2009 school budget, a $1 million cut has been proposed in the much needed fund for ESL students and $5 million of state funding for professional development was zeroed out.
Members of the public must stay alert to items added with little discussion at the end of a session.
2) Amendment 18, offered by Sen. Steele, passed on a 48-0 vote. It would require private and parochial schools eligible for vouchers to follow mandates that apply now to public schools regarding citizenship instruction, patriotic practices, and detailed curriculum requirements taking three full pages to enumerate. Included in the requirements is a flag displayed in every classroom and teaching music, art, health education and “the effects of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and other substances.” It says “An eligible school, charter school, or public school shall not teach the violent overthrow of the government of the United States.”
Then at the end, it reads “The department shall, at a minimum, annually visit each eligible school and charter school to verify that the eligible school or charter school complies with the provisions of IC 20-51-4, the Constitutions of the state of Indiana and the United States.”
At first reading, this supervisory function of IDOE, approved unanimously today by the Senate would seem to contradict another part of the bill inserted by Sen. Schneider in a committee amendment. Sen. Schneider’s language reads as if the state may have no supervisory authority over private schools that accept vouchers:
“A nonpublic eligible school is not an agent of the state or federal government, and therefore: (1) the department or any other state agency may not in any way regulate the educational program of a nonpublic eligible school that accepts a choice scholarship under this chapter, including the regulation of curriculum content, religious instruction or activities, classroom teaching, teacher and staff hiring requirements, and other activities carried out by the eligible school; (2) the creation of the choice scholarship program does not expand the regulatory authority of the state, the state’s officers, or a school corporation to impose additional regulation of nonpublic schools beyond those necessary to enforce the requirements of the choice scholarship program in place on July 1, 2011; and (3) a nonpublic eligible school shall be given the freedom to provide for the educational needs of the students without governmental control.”
Juxtaposing this language with Sen. Steele’s amendment regarding citizenship mandates requires an amazing level of mental gymnastics. Both of these sections are in the same bill. It’s enough for someone to say, “Enough! Send this bill to a summer study committee for further review!”
3) The third amendment adopted today, offered by Sen. Yoder, removed two restrictions on Scholarship Granting Organizations, making it easier for them to operate.
That is what happened today. I hope you will get involved in what happens tomorrow. Contact your Senator one more time tonight or early on Wednesday.
Is this the generation of leaders that will privatize Indiana’s public education system?
Will Indiana become the nation’s biggest state for private school vouchers?
We’ll find out tomorrow. It could be a very close vote. This is your last chance to let your Senator and other Senators know how you feel about vouchers.
Everything about this seems completely unconstituitonal. In particular that tax money would go to any religious private school. If that's not crossing the line of church and state I don't know what is. We are cutting school budgets and letting go teachers during a time of already high unemployment and now were spending money this garbage. This will do next to nothing to improve kids performance in schools. I'm of tired of these Republithugs and their far right agenda that is destroying this country. My first inclination is to call these people scoundrels but that would be an insult to scoundrels.
ReplyDeletePassed something like 26-22 with 9 Republicans voting against. Now it goes to the House, I'm sure it will have no problems passing there. Then on to the courts, hopefully.
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