Volunteer Opportunity

We received the following from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education...

Good afternoon,

As you may have heard, the Indiana Commission for Higher Education is offering a new scholarship this year to aspiring teachers, the Next Generation Hoosier Educators Scholarship. The scholarship provides up to $7,500 annually to high-achieving students who agree to teach in Indiana for five years upon graduating. The Commission received over 640 applications for the 2017-18 academic year, with applicants from 84 of Indiana’s 92 counties representing 273 high schools.

In order to select the final 200 recipients, the Commission will interview over 400 finalists at eight regional locations over three weekends in March. 74 finalists from the Commission’s Northeast Outreach Region (this map shows which counties the region encompasses) have been invited to interview at Columbia City High School in Columbia City, Indiana on Saturday March 18, 2017.

Current educators, administrators and community leaders have volunteered to serve as interviewers. Many of you may have already volunteered, but the Commission can still use more volunteers! Additionally, current educators are eligible to receive one Professional Growth Point for each hour they participate in the interview.

To volunteer for the Northeast Region Interview Day, please click on this link to volunteer. If you have previously indicated an interest in volunteering, you will need to go to the link and confirm.

Please share this with other community leaders in your network to let them know about this opportunity to select students from your area for this prestigious award. Questions regarding the interviews may be directed to Liz Walker (lwalker@che.in.gov).

Sincerely,

Zach Smith

Policy Analyst
Indiana Commission for Higher Education
101 W. Ohio Street, Suite 300
Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 232-1069
zsmith@che.in.gov
www.che.in.gov

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Indiana EdCast Episode #6

Tom Mellish of IRTA is joined by Steve Beebe to talk about the past week in the legislature and what is coming up next week. Topics include the passing of Rep. Gutwein's 13th Check Bill, contacting legislators about the need for a COLA, and HB 1437 DC Option Only.

Listen to the 20-minute podcast right here.

Indianapolis Events: February 20, April 4

IRTA LEGISLATIVE LUNCH

On April 4th, IRTA is sponsoring a Legislative Brunch. Members will be speaking to legislators in the morning about retired teachers' pensions/stipend check and other concerns of retired public schoolteachers. Carpools will be organized and members should contact AREA President, Barb Kanning, if you would like to attend.


CELEBRATION OF PUBLIC EDUCATION

The following is an excerpt from Vic's Statehouse Notes, written by Vic Smith of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education.

You can reach Vic to subscribe to the notes by emailing him at: vic790@aol.com

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #274 – February 10, 2017

Dear Friends,

Here is your chance to stand up for public education! Come to the Statehouse on Presidents’ Day to support public education!

On February 20th, you along with your friends, family and colleagues are invited to a “Celebration of Public Education”.

Lunch is available at 12:30 (register by Feb. 15). Student choirs begin at 1:30. Speakers begin at 2:00 in the North Atrium.

These are difficult times for public education, an institution that has undergirded our democracy for 180 years:

• On Tuesday US Senators voted to confirm a private school voucher advocate with no professional experience in public schools as US Secretary of Education.

• Governor Holcomb has recommended a meager 1% budget increase in general fund tuition support during a time when inflation is now running at 1.7%. Public school programs would have to be cut just to keep up with inflation. His recommended increase in the second year of the biennium is only 2% but his budget would keep a surplus of $2 billion.

• Bills filed in both the House and the Senate seek to end the concept of public education and common schools written into Indiana’s 1851 Constitution and give public money directly to parents without accountability or oversight, using the deceiving name “Education Savings Accounts.”

• House Bill 1004 would use the high-profile and popular pre-kindergarten expansion bill as a tool to expand private school vouchers, giving a lifetime K-12 voucher to students who have received a pre-K grant “at any time.”

Public education has been under attack for a long time. For an even longer time, public education has been a tremendous cornerstone to the progress in Indiana that we celebrated in last year’s bicentennial.

It’s time to celebrate and support public education!

Public officials in the Statehouse need to put a higher priority on PUBLIC education. Only constituents and voters can get them to do that. That’s where we need your presence in the Statehouse. I hope to see you there!

Partners and Details

Many groups are in the coalition partnering to support the “Celebration of Public Education” on Presidents’ Day. Others may be added. In alphabetical order, they are:

AFT Indiana

American Association of University Women

Concerned Clergy

Indiana Coalition for Public Education

Indiana Parent Teacher Association

Indiana Small and Rural Schools Association

Indiana State Teachers Association

Indiana Urban Schools Association

Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education

Speakers at 2:00 pm in the North Atrium are being coordinated by the Indiana Coalition for Public Education, and Joel Hand will serve as MC.

Displays highlighting a sampling of great things happening in public schools are invited. If you want to reserve a display table for your group or school, go to: ista-in.org/celebration

Lunch will be available on the 4th floor courtesy of the ISTA. A lunch count is requested by February 15th by emailing: dcrum@ista-in.org

Bring new and gently used classroom supplies for ISTA ReSupply and book donations to celebrate Read Across America.

I hope to see you as we celebrate public education!

Best wishes,

Vic Smith

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IRTA Scholarship, 2017

Each year, the Indiana Retired Teachers Foundation (IRTF) awards scholarships (one in each Area) to help promote our profession and assist college students who have a passion for the classroom.

Scholarships are awarded to juniors or seniors in an Indiana college or university who are in a program leading to a degree in education.

You can download a scholarship application form by clicking on the IRTF image below.

The first page contains all of the guidelines of who may apply and the deadline, April 28, 2017, for the completed application.

If you have a relative who is currently a college sophomore or junior, this could be an important help financially if they are an education major.

If you know of any of our members who are not online and would have a family member that qualifies, please print it out and give it to them.

Click on the image below to download a copy of the 2017 scholarship application form.

or go to the IRTA web site and fill out the application online, at

www.retiredteachers.org/forms/foundation-scholarship-application/

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Vic’s Statehouse Notes #273 – February 6, 2017

The following is an excerpt from Vic's Statehouse Notes, written by Vic Smith of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education.

You can reach Vic to subscribe to the notes by emailing him at: vic790@aol.com

Dear Friends,

In its meeting last Tuesday (Jan. 31), the House Education Committee passed the biggest K-12 voucher expansion since the 2013 session.

This voucher expansion is in a high profile bill to expand pre-kindergarten, House Bill 1004.

Senate Bill 276 also expands pre-kindergarten but without expanding vouchers. SB 276 deserves your active support while HB 1004 deserves your active opposition.

I urge all public school advocates to contact members of the Senate Education Committee before they vote on Wednesday February 8th (1:30pm) to support Senate Bill 276 as it stands with no link to K-12 vouchers.

The members of the Senate Education Committee are:

Republican Senators Kruse, Raatz, Bassler, Crane, Freeman, Kenley, Leising and Zay

Democratic Senators Melton, Mrvan and Stoops

Lifetime Vouchers for Pre-K ($6 M to $10.5 M): Approaching Half the Annual Funding for Pre-K Itself

House Bill 1004 gives a lifetime K-12 voucher to any student that gets a pre-kindergarten grant. The bill sets the income cap for this voucher expansion at a high level: $89,900 for a family of four. This is 200% of the reduced lunch income level and higher than most pathways to vouchers which are capped at 150% of the reduce lunch level.

The bill also doubles the number of families that can apply for a pre-K grant and thereby qualify for a lifetime voucher by raising the pre-K income cap from $31,000 to $67,000 (for a family of four).

This expensive voucher guarantee would eventually lead to voucher eligibility for all students.

Universal vouchers have long been the Holy Grail for voucher advocates like Representative Behning. Obviously if they can hitch vouchers to pre-K, they can ride the pre-K escalator up as it eventually expands to reach the goal of universal vouchers.

The expense of the voucher provision hurts the funding available for pre-K students. The non-partisan Legislative Services Agency estimated that giving vouchers to all pre-K students could cost the state between $6 and $10.5 million annually. The pre-K plan itself will cost the state $20 million annually. Clearly the money to be spent on vouchers would be better spent on raising the funding to help more pre-K students.

Senate Bill 276 expands the pre-K program without the expensive baggage of expanding the K-12 voucher program. Let Senators know that you support their approach and oppose using the pre-K bill as a cover to further expand K-12 vouchers.