Friday, October 14, 2022

Vic’s Statehouse Notes #367

Vic Smith, founder and board member of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education (ICPE), sent out this email about the upcoming midterm election.

Click the link at the end to read the entire post.
Vic’s Statehouse Notes #367

Dear Friends,

The threat to public education by Education Scholarship Accounts (ESAs) is clear. ESAs could be expanded to all students in the upcoming session of the Indiana General Assembly.

Before the election, ask every candidate for the Indiana House or the Indiana Senate: Will you oppose expanding Education Scholarship Accounts (ESAs) to all students?

If the candidates don’t answer with a clear “YES” to oppose ESAs, they should not get your vote.

Take action before the election on November 8.

This election could decide whether public education is further privatized and undermined in Indiana.

What are ESAs?

For those who would privatize our public schools, their goal is in sight.

Followers of Milton Friedman in Indiana have long had a plan to undercut our public schools and give tax dollars for K-12 education directly to parents rather than to our public schools. In Indiana, the mechanism is called Education Scholarship Accounts.

The 2021 General Assembly, despite our vigorous opposition, already approved ESAs for special education students by attaching the proposal to a popular budget. Now, a proposal to expand ESAs to all students, known as universal Education Scholarship Accounts, the holy grail of school privatizers, is getting behind-the-scenes support from key leaders in the General Assembly. That support appears to be enough to put ESAs in a glide-path to be included in the budget.

The only apparent way to stop ESAs is the election.

Read the rest at Vic’s Statehouse Notes #367

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Thursday, October 6, 2022

President's Letter - October 2022

Phyllis Davis, President 260-403-3550

Dear Allen County Retired Educators,

Our second of four 2022-2023 annual meetings will be held on WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2022 at Coyote Creek Golf Club, 4935 Hillegas Rd, Ft. Wayne 46818. We will begin our luncheon at 11:00 a.m. Please arrive by 10:30 – 10:45 a.m. to check in and pay for your lunch and meet with friends and colleagues.

Most of you are receiving this meeting notification via email. As we discussed at the last meeting, we cannot continue to print and send letters due to excessive costs. We appreciate your understanding as we use email to save our limited funds.

RESERVATIONS: Please make your reservations with MARY JO PURVIS at 260-492-6992 or mpurvis1111@gmail.com by WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19th . Your lunch will cost $20.00 payable when you arrive (cash or check made out to AREA).

PROGRAM: Lorelei VerLee, founder of “Creative Women of the World” will share how she assists women from around the world with entrepreneurial resources to develop sustainable businesses and access income for their families.

DUES: This October meeting is the 2nd meeting of the 2022-2023 AREA year. For those of you who paid your dues at the August meeting, thank you. Our treasurer will collect $20 dues from those of you who are paying at this meeting. In addition, if you need to change your personal information or add an email for the AREA directory, please send any changes to Pam George at 260-471-5952 or pamgeorgeph@comcast.net. She also has information regarding IRTA (Indiana Retired Teachers’ Association) membership. You might consider automatic dues deduction from your TRF pension to join IRTA. Membership is $35/year. Membership support is greatly needed to impact state retirement benefits and education change.

EYEGLASSES: Bring your used eyeglasses to any meeting and they will be forwarded to the Lions Club by Nancy Caryer.

FUTURE 2022-2023 MEETINGS:

Tuesday, April 25, 2023, at Pine Valley Country Club, 10900 Pine Mills Rd., Ft. Wayne, IN

Monday, June 26, 2023, TBD