Governor Mitch Daniels told Indiana voters on Nov. 2nd, he was "finally going to give children an education centered on them." The irony of this statement is that the legislation his party is proposing in the statehouse, has nothing to do with improving learning conditions or providing new learning opportunities for children. It has everything to do with degrading and marginalizing public schools. The barrage of legislation he has aimed at public school educators and children of public schools will have a huge affect on the capacity of our schools to continue to provide quality fine arts learning opportunities. Take for example HB1002: Charter school expansion will only transfer more public money away from the same pot of money that funds public schools. This bill and the voucher bill being proposed in the Indiana State House will certainly degrade public schools capacity to maintain existing fine arts programs.
Never before has there been so many education bills from Indiana State lawmakers aimed at crippling public education and public school educators. I listened to Governor Daniels at the Capitol last Tuesday chide a group of anxious teachers who questioned him on his education policy initiatives. His response? “Teachers make 22% more than the average taxpayer.”
What we have here is a declaration of War on Indiana Public School Educators and this is not right.
If you have not sent your messages of support for public education to your legislators, please do so as soon as possible.
Check in with your colleagues and professional associations on the latest coming out of the State Capitol.
If you have not contacted your legislators yet, you can find them here:
http://www.in.gov/legislative/2345.htm
Thursday, January 27, 2011
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