INDIANAPOLIS —
Supporters of Indiana’s charter schools and private school vouchers packed a Statehouse corridor with hundreds of children from those schools for a rally Monday as they back expansion of those programs.
Republican Gov. Mike Pence and the GOP House and Senate leaders all told the crowd of perhaps a couple thousand children and adults that the charter school and voucher programs had helped spur greater competition for improvement in the state’s education system.
The “Ed Reform Rocks” rally happened as the Legislature is considering a proposal to expand Indiana’s 2-year-old voucher system that already is the nation’s largest. A bill already approved by the Indiana House this year would allow kindergartners and some other children to be eligible without first spending a year in public schools.
Pence called the rally a “celebration” of Indiana’s “school choice” initiatives that now have some 30,000 students in charter schools and about 9,000 students receiving vouchers.
“If we give parents more choices and teachers more freedom to teach, education in Indiana will continue to rock,” Pence told the crowd.
Sixth-grade students from Anderson’s Liberty Christian Elementary School were there to sing the national anthem at the rally.
The voucher bill now pending in the state Senate makes several exemptions from the requirement included in the 2011 law that all students spend at least one year in public schools before becoming eligible for a voucher. It eliminates that requirement for siblings of current voucher students, for children in military and foster families and for children with special needs.
Susan Andrews, who attended the rally with her daughter’s third-grade class from St. Mary’s Catholic school in Rushville, said while her family isn’t in the voucher program she believed it helped give parents more options in the rural county about 40 miles east of Indianapolis.
“I just think it’s wonderful that we have that choice in our county,” Andrews said.
Democratic legislators have questioned expanding the voucher eligibility, saying the state is stretching itself thin to fund three school systems — traditional public schools, charter schools and private schools through the voucher program.
Rep. Terry Goodin, D-Austin, said last year’s election of Democrat Glenda Ritz, a voucher opponent, as state school superintendent was a sign that Republicans were pushing too soon for a bigger voucher program.
“They were passed under the guise of pilot projects, so let’s see if they’re working,” said Goodin, superintendent of the Crothersville school district. “One year doesn’t get that done.”
Former Indiana Pacers star Jalen Rose told the rally crowd about the charter school he helped open in his hometown of Detroit to give troubled high school students another chance. Rose said Indiana has been on the forefront of change in education and that he wanted to steal some of its ideas.
“I’m now going to take this back to the state of Michigan and stand on the table to get vouchers for our students,” Rose said.
Paris Witherspoon of Portage attended the rally with students from Charter School of the Dunes in Gary, which two of her children now attend.
Witherspoon said she believed the additional school options were helping children in the Gary area where many of the public schools have for years been troubled by low test scores and graduation rates.
“Why are we turning out a generation of kids that we’re just letting go through?” she said. “It doesn’t prepare them for the real world.”
Local Politics
Rally backs charter school, voucher programs
- Local Politics
-
-
County cities and towns ready to resume road maintenance
Madison County municipal officials are feeling a sense of relief following the County Council’s reinstatement of the excise surtax and wheel tax earlier this week.
-
Madison County reinstates wheel tax in split vote
After a one-year hiatus, the owners of vehicles in Madison County will once again have to pay an excise surtax and wheel tax beginning in January.
-
“Paddle protest” travels White River
A rainy morning did not keep about 50 environmentalists from kayaking and canoeing Saturday in protest of the proposed Mounds Lake Reservoir.
-
Love note: Nothing to hate about truck stop
A detailed presentation by Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores executives about the company’s truck stop plans at Interstate 69 and Indiana 13 Thursday night seemed to calm some — but not all — of the concerns Summerlake residents have about the project.
-
‘Protest Paddle’ will call attention to reservoir impact
Critics of the proposed Mounds Lake Reservoir are planning a “protest paddle” Saturday on the White River.
-
Convenience stores sue for right to sell cold beer
Indiana gas stations and convenience store owners want the federal courts to overturn a state law that bans them from selling cold beer.
-
Testimony split over wheel tax reinstatement
Critics of reinstating the excise tax surcharge and wheel tax Monday night characterized it as burdensome and implored the Madison County Council to live within the fiscal constraints of this year’s budget.
-
New law shifts remediation from college to high school
Legislation signed into law by Gov. Mike Pence will require high schools throughout Indiana do a better job of determining whether their students are ready to go college.
-
County Council to hear testimony Monday in wheel tax
Madison County will receive nearly $2.3 million in new road funding over the next two years under the $30 billion budget Gov. Mike Pence signed into law last week.
-
Anderson City Council votes to support reservoir
As they voted for a resolution to support a second phase of study for the proposed Mounds Lake Reservoir Thursday night, members of the Anderson City Council pledged that they will not forget about residents who might be displaced by the project.
- More Local Politics Headlines
-
