Tony Bennett: A Lysenko for our times ... and corrupt, to boot.

Every single time Tony Bennett's name comes up, I think back to Trofim Lysenko.

Howey, Bennett, Lysenko and Daniels.

I'll make this point a final time: Tony Bennett is one hell of a crooner, but he didn't invent the strategy of cooking the numbers to suit ideological imperatives. It isn't for nothing that I've been comparing amok Bennettism with the crazed genetics theories of Soviet half-scientist Trofim Lysenko.

Lysenkoism is a synonym for "scientific quackery."

Lysenkoism

Under Lysenko's guidance, science was guided not by the most likely theories, backed by appropriately controlled experiments, but by the desired ideology. Science was practiced in the service of the State, or more precisely, in the service of ideology. The results were predictable: the steady deterioration of Soviet biology. Lysenko's methods were not condemned by the Soviet scientific community until 1965, more than a decade after Stalin's death.

In the Courier-Journal, via TheStatehouseFile.com, John Krull hammers a few more coffin nails. As for Bennett's future, I wonder if they're hiring greeters at Wal-Mart?

Bennett, a train wreck in slow motion

 ... It turns out that, if the inspector general's investigators are to be believed, there was a great deal of evidence that Bennett and his team used state time, state employees, state equipment and state money to help him run his doomed re-election campaign. Among the highlights, it appears Bennett routinely used state computers to store his campaign databases, traveled to campaign and political events using state vehicles and state drivers and made campaign fundraising phone calls on state time ...

... Despite the fact that Indiana's education leadership structure is in shambles and the evidence that he bent or broke both rules and the law willy-nilly is piled high enough to reach skyscraper proportions, Bennett and the members of his dwindling amen corner still insist he did nothing wrong.

Strangely, Bennett and his partisans actually seem to believe what they're saying.

And the fact that they can't see just how wrong they were may explain how they made such a mess of the state's education system and got themselves into so much trouble.

Howey, Bennett, Lysenko and Daniels.

I'll make this point a final time: Tony Bennett is one hell of a crooner, but he didn't invent the strategy of cooking the numbers to suit ideological imperatives. It isn't for nothing that I've been comparing amok Bennettism with the crazed genetics theories of Soviet half-scientist Trofim Lysenko.

Me? Hey, I never doubted that Lysenko sincerely believed it to be sheer coincidence that his genetic theories jibed with those of Joe Stalin. And the Astros are on track for a Series win next year.

Bennett's down; good riddance, except that Mitch Daniels, his enabler survives to slur Howard Zinn. That's a higher injustice, don't you think?

HOWEY: The hollow facade of Tony Bennett, by Brian Howey (N and T)

... These past eight months, after one of the most rapid rises in Indiana politics and education, we’ve watched the precipitous fall of Supt. Tony Bennett, culminating with his stunning upset loss to little-known Democrat Glenda Ritz last November, and as of Thursday, his resignation as Florida’s education superintendent.

Bennett’s ultimate Sunshine State downfall had its roots in Indiana, where emails obtained by the Associated Press’s Tom LoBianco revealed Bennett’s willingness to take liberties with the A through F numbers of Christel House, a charter school founded by Indiana philanthropist Christel DeHaan. It looked even worse when it was reported that DeHaan had contributed $130,000 to Bennett’s reelection campaign.

How sweet it is: Sour grapes and fluffery from St. Daniels.

I never doubted that Barack Obama would win, but at no time did I ever foresee the sheer entertainment value afforded us during the weeks since.

Tony Bennett had wheelbarrows of out-of-state cash, and yet lost his re-election bid to an under-funded opponent whose advisors evidently read "Moneyball" and profited from the lessons therein.

Thus, these crazed sour grapes from the departing Colossus of the Prairie, uttered at a circle jerk of a symposium devoted to Republicans giving screw-the-people awards to each other. Attendees listened as Mitch Daniels began babbling about reaction, never realizing he was looking in the mirror of the men's room, reminding us that when it comes to fluffing, it's all about location, location, location.

Bennett lost neither because teachers used school time to undermine him, nor owing to voters suddenly becoming dispassionate analysts of impenetrable school "reform" information. He lost because of his day in, day out demeanor. Bennett cannot read a lawnmower instruction manual aloud without coming across as pompous, arrogant and a good deal snarky, rather in the fashion of his fellow GOP loser, Richard Mourdock, although Mourdock always seemed less arrogant than entirely detached from daily reality, like that guy at the end of the bar who's off his prescriptions but firmly on the gin.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels claims teachers used illegal tactics in election (Courier-Journal)

“Despite the great progress that's been made in states like ours, the forces of reaction never quit,” Daniels said. “The last twitch of the dinosaur's tail can still kill you and that's what happened.”

"None of these qualities that make me who I am, can be tested."

Indiana's state schools superintendent wants to start giving school districts letter grades on an A-to-F scale to hold them accountable for how their schools perform.
-- Courier-Journal, 8/5/11

PowerPoint Putrid: Rest assured, it's TB -- not TR.

Bennett campaign for school changes not done

Gutting of public education proceeds apace; Indiana's conservative architects of douchbaggery now rendering us a world laughingstock.

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.

HB 1003: "It would shatter the separation of state funding and religious schools established by our Constitution 160 years ago."

While I've no clue as to Senator Brent Steele's overall ideological grounding, other than the generally justifiable presumption that as an Indiana Republican, his politics probably fall somewhere in the territory of a Franco or Peron, but I am struck by the tone of his thoughts in this letter, as passed along to me with last week's edition of Vic's Statehouse Notes.

St. Daniels is rushing toward an ideologue's abyss with the drooling, worshipful assistance of eager young operatives like our own state representative (Ed as smart, ambitious and conniving) and far older political has-beens like our state senator (Ron, who apparently never read a book about any human topic not directly connected to the practice and profit of pharmacy).

It looks gloomy now, but history and pendulums have a way of swinging back. It will be a laborious process, but in future years, we'll be able to gather the pieces of a fair, civil society currently being strewn around the Romper Room like plastic toys by petulant, privileged and primarily white male children, place them back into the framework of reason, and begin anew toward achieving a recognition of human life as something more than the quantification of dollars, and beyond the GOP's only genuine raison d'etre: Keeping the majority of the country's wealth in the hands of a minority of the country's inhabitants.

In the context of educational reform, St. Daniels' roughshod disregard for the principes of church-state separation is contemptible, if trendy among those who are not at all unwashed and illiterate, but sufficiently well versed to know better, and to leverage their cynicism in pursuit of political power. Whatever the fate of legislation discussed below, I nonetheless feel vindicated in my life's work of opposing the imposition of top-down Christian theocracy in America, where Godly fascism runs counter to the founders' intent -- whether or not modern day Republicans care, or are able, to grasp it.
---

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #78 – April 15, 2011

Dear Friends,

The Senate Education Committee passed the voucher bill (HB 1003) on a party line vote on April 13th. The Charter Bill (HB 1002) passed the Senate on a 29-20 vote on Tuesday. April 12th. Here are the details:

Senate Education Committee

The stage is now set for Senate floor action and the historic vote on the voucher bill. This one is for history. Following the lead of Caleb Mills and the I851 Constitution, Indiana has not given public money for private school tuition vouchers in the 160 years since the Constitution was written. The 50 members of the Indiana Senate will decide this historic issue early next week.

The Senate Education Committee amended the bill as follows:

1) Amendment #19, which passed 7-3 on a party line vote, removed the requirement that to be eligible for vouchers, the school must verify compliance with the Americans for Disabilities Act, fire safety requirements, and health standards under federal law. It also removed the requirement that eligible private schools must adhere to “state teacher evaluation requirements”, such as those in Senate Bill 1.

2) Amendment #21, which passed on a unanimous 10-0 vote, inserted “An eligible school may not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin.” A similar amendment (#22) which added language implying religion could be added to this list was not considered by the committee.

3) Amendment #23, which passed 8-2, added a section “to honor the autonomy of nonpublic schools that choose to become eligible schools under this chapter.” It would be worth your time to read the rest of the amendment verbatim to fully grasp what your tax dollars would be supporting:

“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.”

Sen. Schneider brought this amendment, saying the language came from a Texas law to say that the “state can’t change the curriculum away from a faith-based approach.” Sen. Skinner asked if he thought religious schools should be held accountable in terms of the percentage of teachers with teaching licenses. Sen. Schneider said the amendment only speaks to private school authority.

[Editorial note: This amendment is clearly a declaration of independence for nonpublic schools. They are trying to avoid the strings that are inevitably attached to money that supports the schools. It leaves the question for Senators: Should private and parochial schools receiving public money have this kind of independence?]

4) Amendment #24, which passed 9-1, changed the tax credit portion of the bill in a significant way. Sen. Kenley brought the amendment, saying it would keep the bill from needing to be recommitted to Senate Appropriations to vote on the “enormous fiscal” related to the tax credits. He described the amendment as keeping the current (2009) tax credit “as is” but raising the state dollars available for tax credits from $2.5 million to $5 million.

With that brief explanation from Sen. Kenley, the vote was taken. Sen. Yoder described this as “a tough vote” for him after he worked with Sen. Kenley on the amendment, and then he voted yes.

After the meeting, proponents of the bill were clearly not pleased with the trim given to the tax credit side of the bill.

Equally interesting is what the amendment deleted that was not discussed in the meeting. A section was deleted giving a supplemental distribution to school corporations and charter schools from the state savings due to transferring students from public schools to cheaper private school using vouchers. It is not clear why this section was taken out or why.

When all the amendments were completed, the roll was called: 7 Republicans in favor and 3 Democrats opposed. The bill will now go to the floor for second reading amendments and a vote early next week.

Now is the time to contact Senators to vote NO on the voucher bill. Much has been said, but to me, these are the key points of opposition:

It would shatter the separation of state funding and religious schools established by our Constitution 160 years ago.

It would transfer $58.5 million from public school students to private school students over the next two years.

There is no cap on private school vouchers after two years. Private school entrepreneurs will start building capacity with state support while public schools close.

The income eligibility rules leave 45% of all students eligible for a full voucher ($40,000 for a family of four) and approximately 20% more eligible for a partial voucher ($61,000 for a family of four), making roughly 650,000 Hoosier students (two-thirds) eligible for public tax money for their private school tuition.

Contact Senators on these and other points. The vote could come as early as Monday afternoon (April 18th). I have attached for your reference the letter of opposition sent to all legislators by Sen. Steele (R-Bedford).

Senate Action on the Charter School Expansion Bill – HB 1002

The final Senate vote on HB 1002 came Tuesday, April 12, passing by a margin of 29-20. Surprisingly, seven Republican senators opposed one of the Governor’s priority bills. Joining all 13 Democrats in oppositions were: Sen. Becker, Sen. Head, Sen. Landske, Sen. Paul, Sen. Steele, Sen. Tomes and Sen. Waterman.

These and all other senators should be approached about opposing the voucher bill as well.

The Senate made several significant changes in the charter bill compared to the House version. Whether the House members will accept the Senate changes or will ask for a conference committee to try to restore some of the House provisions remains to be seen.

I and others in the Indiana Coalition for Public Education had tried to remove private colleges as charter school authorizers, arguing that private entities not subject to the open door law and transparency laws like private colleges should not be given powers to commit public tax money to create public charter schools. Our opposing arguments failed. Thirty private colleges are listed by name in the bill as potential authorizers. Ironically, the 30th and final private college listed is Wabash College, founded in 1834 by none other than Caleb Mills, who had no problem with sectarian colleges but convinced his generation and many to follow, until our generation, that common school education should be non-partisan and non-sectarian.
Good luck in contacting Senators to oppose vouchers in the historic vote coming as early as Monday.

Join the Indiana Coalition for Public Education

Again I urge you to join us or ask your public school friends to join us using the form below. We need every public school advocate in our membership. Your $20, $50, $100, or $250 or other donation is vitally important to continue this legislative battle! Thanks!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

Tax dollars for religious schools? It's so simple even a Republican can periodically grasp it.

Town hall meetings and mad hatters, this Friday at Floyds Knobs Elementary.

It is being reported on Twitter and Facebook that Representative Ed Clere will join Senator Ron Grooms and Dale Chu, Assistant Superintendent at the Department of Education, at a Town Hall meeting to be held this Friday, March 11, at Floyds Knobs Elementary (4484 Scottsville Rd) from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

It's BYOCS -- Bring Your Own Charter School. There will be ecumenical prayers to Saint Daniels, and wallet-sized photos of Tony Bennett strangling education in a bathtub. William Howard Taft is optional.

Alas, I must honor a long-standing obligation to entertain visiting dignitaries on Friday evening, and cannot attend this event. If readers are aware of further meeting details, projected protests, picketing or the like, please leave a comment here. Thanks.

Grooms utterly baffled by opposing viewpoints, directions for programming his obsolete VCR.

I don't understand it at all.

Why didn't Grooms just delete the dissenting speakers, just like he and the Clere Channel camp deleted anti-toll messages on Facebook? I guess his campaign tech geek went back to college or something.

Senator hears opposition at town hall forum; Local parents, educators express concerns about two House bills, by Joseph Dever (News and Tribune)

“I learned today about the passions the folks here have for their schools,” Grooms said. “It was good to hear that feedback. In session, we don’t get this kind of response from the community. I didn’t fully understand the concerns about charter schools and vouchers.”

How on earth can Ron Grooms have failed to note that not everyone locally supports the Mitch and Tony Gut Public Education Hour? Does he even read newspapers? How's that old adage go? Garbage in, garbage out?

Perhaps there is still hope of petitioning Hugo Chavez for foreign aid.

I believe in it. Then again, I'm not a Republican.

Photo borrowed from the Associated Press.