State GOP Lawmakers Push to Expand Vouchers

Heather Coffy, at back, leaves St. Monica School with her children, left to right, Delano Coffy, 15, Alanna Marshall, 8, and Darius Coffy, 11, in Indianapolis. Indiana lawmakers are considering a proposal to create an ambitious new voucher program for low- and middle-income families. Ms. Coffy says her elder son was struggling in public school when she applied for a private school scholarship through an existing state program. The money she received helped put her children in Catholic school, where she says they are thriving.

—Michael Conroy/AP

Some legislation would extend eligibility to middle-income families

Republican governors and lawmakers are pushing for a major expansion of voucher programs, efforts that in some cases seek to give taxpayer money for private school tuition to a much larger swath of the population, including middle-income families.

Many of those legislative endeavors come as no surprise, given that GOP candidates for state office made historic gains across the country last fall, in many instances after promising to expand school choice—a longtime priority for many Republicans.

But the proposals put forward this year are notable both for the diversity of strategies they use in attempting to channel more public funding for nonpublic school options, and for their ambitious reach.

To date, many state voucher programs have limited eligibility to students from disadvantaged families or other targeted populations, a structure that helped generate political and public support for them.

But legislation in some states, such as Indiana and Pennsylvania, would establish relatively loose income requirements that would give access to families who are not impoverished. And a sweeping bill in Florida would allow broad public access to vouchers, though the bill’s sponsor says his goal is to have it approved by lawmakers in the Republican-dominated legislature next year, rather than this year.

Backers of the proposals contend that families of all backgrounds—including middle-income ones—deserve more educational options, and that providing funding for private and religious schools would compel traditional public schools to improve.

“We want to empower parents to make choices in education,” said state Rep. Robert Behning, a Republican sponsor of voucher legislation in Indiana. “To provide more choice for parents, you need to create more options. … It shouldn’t be limited to just those at the poverty level.”

Hospitable Climate

At least 51 different pieces of legislation offering some type of mechanism for providing public funding for private education services have emerged in 35 states this year, according to the Foundation for Educational Choice, an Indianapolis organization that supports vouchers.

Those proposals include both direct vouchers for families, tax credits to individuals or organizations that support scholarships for students to go to nonpublic schools, and accounts that cover a range of private education costs, such as tutoring.

Robert C. Enlow, the president and chief executive officer of the organization, said that this year’s spate of voucher and tax-credit bills is not unusually high, but that “no year in recent memory” offered better chances for as many proposals making it into law.

The new, decisively Republican look in statehouses—the party in November won control of a majority of governor’s offices and the highest number of legislative seats since the 1920s—has clearly created a more hospitable environment for vouchers, Mr. Enlow said. The overall interest among policymakers in making dramatic—and controversial—changes in education, including in areas such as collective bargaining and teacher tenure, has also helped generate interest in private school choice, he said.

“The political landscape is definitely part of the equation,” Mr. Enlow said. “It emboldened legislators to go further, farther, and faster.”

Voucher proponents recently scored a victory in the District of Columbia, when Congress reinstated a voucher program that federal lawmakers had voted to end two years ago. (“D.C. Vouchers Resurrected in Budget Compromise,” April 27, 2011.)

But they have also experienced several legislative setbacks this year.

Arizona Gov. Janice K. Brewer, a Republican, signed a measure to establish a voucher program for special education students. But she rejected legislation to expand the state’s allowance of tax credits for private school scholarships, which she fears would cost the state too much money. And a number of voucher bills in other states have stalled in legislatures and will not become law this year.

Indiana’s legislation, which is supported by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, would allow families to receive vouchers if they earn incomes up to 150 percent of the federal qualifications for free or reduced-price lunches. Families of four with annual household incomes up to about $62,000 would be eligible.

Poorer families would be eligible for a larger share of state support—about 90 percent of per-student public funding—while students from families with greater annual income would receive less, 50 percent. For children in grades 1-8, the maximum voucher amount would top out at $4,500 per year; for students in grades 9-12, the amount would vary by family income level. The maximum number of eligible students eligible for vouchers would be 7,500 the first year, 15,000 the second year, and unlimited after that.

State Sen. Earline S. Rogers, a retired teacher, argued that the measure would hurt public schools’ finances. She also questioned the need for vouchers—particularly for middle-income families—given the strong presence of charter schools in the state, including in her northwest Indiana district.

“We’ve made full use of choice through charters,” said Ms. Rogers, the ranking Democrat on the Senate education committee. Vouchers “could be a drain on the budgets of local school corporations,” she added, “because they would be losing students.”

Unsympathetic Public?

In Pennsylvania, a recent version of a GOP-backed bill would expand poor families’ access to vouchers over time—and give middle-income families access to “excess” public funding that was not spent on disadvantaged students through the program.

The legality of state voucher proposals depends on individual states’ constitutions, said Dick Komer, a senior lawyer at the Institute for Justice, a libertarian public-interest law firm in Arlington, Va., that supports vouchers and other forms of school choice.

Thirty-nine states have provisions in their constitutions that in some way bar the use of public funds for religious schools or institutions.

Traditionally, voucher supporters have set up state programs focused on helping poor families, rather than wealthier ones, for political rather than legal reasons, because providing educational choice to needy families is an appealing concept, Mr. Komer said.

By attempting to expand vouchers to middle-class families, backers of those efforts have the potential to sell the idea to a larger audience of parents whose experiences have probably been with public rather than private schools. The obvious risk is that the public will not be sympathetic to channeling taxpayer money to private institutions, he said.

The goal is to “broaden the base of political support by broadening the people who benefit,” Mr. Komer said.

Others, like Mary Kusler of the National Education Association, predicted the public would take a dim view of large-scale expansions of vouchers, at a time when policymakers in several states propose deep reductions to public schools’ budgets.

“There are scarce resources at the state level,” said Ms. Kusler, the manager of federal advocacy for the 3.2 million-member teachers’ union, and policymakers are “cutting public education at the same time they’re offering private tuition to families.”

Accountability Concerns

Legislation in Florida seeks to make one of the broadest expansions of public aid for private school services.

A sweeping bill would make vouchers—called education savings accounts—widely available to families across the state, not just those in poverty. The vouchers would be worth 40 percent of current state per-student funding, or approximately $3,100 a year, and could pay for private school tuition, virtual education services; private tutoring; and public or private college tuition, among other costs. The overall concept has been embraced by the state’s Republican governor, Rick Scott, who was elected last fall and who has backed the idea publicly.

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Florida was a pioneer in launching programs for private school choice, and today it offers vouchers to students with disabilities and provides corporations with tax credits to cover private school tuition costs for low-income students. But a broader voucher program, which provided taxpayer funds to students in struggling schools, was declared unconstitutional by the state supreme court in 2006, leading some to predict that an even farther-reaching proposal would meet the same fate. (“Fla. Court: Vouchers Unconstitutional,” Jan. 11, 2006.)

Candace Lankford, the president of the Florida School Boards Association, predicted that a large-scale, statewide voucher program would create the potential for fraud, because ensuring that so much public money was being used on private school costs would be difficult to track.

“Public accountability is not going to follow the public dollars,” she said.

State Sen. Joe Negron, the Republican sponsor of the current bill, said he does not expect it to become law this year, but hopes to build public and political support for passage next year. Mr. Negron, whose three children have all attended public schools, has heard criticism that the bill represents an overreach by voucher supporters, and that it would result in public schools’ losing large numbers of students and money, but he doesn’t buy it.

“That’s the traditional argument of a monopoly,” the lawmaker said. Over the next year, he predicted support for the plan would grow. “This is a big idea, and a transformative idea. I feel like we need to have a public airing of these issues.”

Good Morning!

This week we are going to talk about, study and look and make puppets! There will be a final puppet show on Friday just for the kids.

We will introduce all kinds of puppets, like hand puppets, paper puppets, shadow puppets and clay puppets. We will make, play and use them to create stories.

It’s going to be chilly all week. Please dress children to suit the weather.

There are no field trips or special events this week. It’s a “get ready for summer week.”

If you still have money out for field trips, it’s time to get that in.

Hoping it’s a cool, casual, relaxed week.

My daughter told me that her grocery bill is $350.00 per week for a family of five. I gasped. I’m not sure I spend that much to feed fifty children for a week. I know that groceries are climbing because of the rise in gas prices, so now more than ever homemades and scratch cooking make sense.

I really began to think about homemade food this morning as Terry and I had homemade bread and jam for breakfast. At lunch, we had swamp or soup made with left overs and a Monterrey cheese and bacon stuffed whole grain tortilla. When lunch was over, I made ice cream for dessert tonight. I had strawberries, and I spun them down in the Cuisinart and added them to the ice cream.

I got some ground meat and cheese and onions out for a cheese and onion stuffed meatloaf later, and remembered that we were out of yogurt so I made that too. I suppose we are living on more homemade foods than ever around here, and we take them for granted more and more. Tonight I will make bread again.

It’s hard to do if you don’t like to cook, but even the most lackluster cook can make these things. It’s a matter of having the machinery and wanting better quality foods that are always on hand. And no, I don’t spend my life in the store nor do I spend my life in the kitchen. Today I probably spent 20 minutes in the kitchen and an hour at the grocery, but I had to buy school groceries, and that takes some thought.

I have to admit that having the right equipment helps a lot and makes life a little easier. I have a bread making machine. It cost about $65.00. The simple recipes in the direction book are simple and easy to follow. It’s just a matter of doing it. I use whole wheat, rye, and regular bread flour.

I have a yogurt maker that cost $15.00. Yogurt is made with any milk and a starter of plain yogurt purchased from the store. Once you make yogurt, you can use a jar of your own yogurt as the starter. I make my yogurt from 40% cream. It makes richer better yogurt which is more like the thick Greek store purchased.

In a pan, you heat your milk to baby bath warm and add your starter yogurt. Then put your mix into the yogurt cups or in my case, pint canning jars. Plug in your machine and in 12 hours you will have yogurt.

I have an ice cream machine that cost $50.00. It has a tub that stays in the freezer until you are going to use it. You mix three cups of the 40% cream with 2/3 cup of sugar in a bowl, and then deposit your mix into the frozen ice cream machine, insert the paddle and turn it on. Today I added strawberries. Sometimes I add cocoa or marshmallows. In twenty minutes you have ice cream. It needs to be stored in the freezer.

My suggestion to young moms and people wanting to make their own food is to go on Amazon and buy those machines on sale that will save lots of money and make life a lot better. I also say, go to a restaurant supply store for your pots, pans and bake ware. These pots, pans and bake ware are indestructible and they are cheap. The variety is incredible, and the gadgets amazing.

The right equipment makes cooking so much easier, and the easier it is, the more fun it is.

Have a great Sunday.

Frequent TED lecturer Gever Tulley offers a radical concept for parents: Teach your children about safety by exposing them to risk. He believes that experimenting with “dangerous” things helps foster creativity and teaches problem solving by exposing children to explore the world around them with old-fashioned, hands-on learning.

It offers the suggestion that parents can think outside the box by letting their kids do the same. Letting children explore, tinker, and learn-by-doing boosts creativity and teaches them troubleshooting that will help later in life.

Some of the activities included in the book:

01 – Lick a 9-volt Battery

06 – Drive a Nail

10 – Play with the Vacuum Cleaner

24 – Construct Your Own Flying Machine

38 – Learn Tightrope Walking

46 – Superglue Your Fingers Together

Here is some video as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVxBKUTgI_A
http://www.ted.com/talks/gever_tulley_s_tinkering_school_in_action.html

Gever is a frequent lecturer at TED conferences around the world and founded Tinkering School to explore the notion that children could learn by building real things using real tools and real materials.

50 DANGEROUS THINGS is a great book as we head into summer, just in time for an entire summer break of exploring, creating, and experimenting! www.fiftydangerousthings.com.

Texas has been on fire and these are pictures one of my Texas friends sent. It’s a nightmare. It could happen anywhere. So glad it’s not happening in Indiana. Blessings on Texas.

From Wise Woman ezine Empower Yourself… Seed Carriers by JoAnne Dodgson Comment: I just loved this article from a favorite ezine I get every month from Susun Weed.

Seed Carriers http://www.wisewomanweb.com/
by JoAnne Dodgson
mentor at the Wise Woman University

“We’re Seed Carriers,” I said to Jasmine as I tenderly removed the burrs caught in her fur and tangled up in my woolly sweater. Seeds are ingenious, finding all kinds of ways to spread out to new places on the land. In the fiber of their being, seeds hold the blueprint for life – the knowing of who they are, of where and when and how to grow, of the resources and relationships that help them flourish and thrive, of what they have the potential to be. It’s all there, inside the body of the seed.

Touching the wisdoms of the seeds, I felt the magic of being a Seed Carrier and holding vast creative potentials for new life. Seed Carriers – that’s what we all really are. We too have innate genius to carry potent visions, to awaken new possibilities, to set the momentum of growth in a particular direction, to seek out essential resources and relate wholeheartedly.

With every thought we think, we plant a seed.

Our emotions and ideas are fertile seeds.

Every word and action touches others, affecting the world.

We may be spreading seeds containing judgment. Or joy and happiness. Or stress. Or fear. Or acceptance and love. Like the prickly burrs, these seeds get picked up and passed along. They may blossom and spread like wildflowers among new people and places on the land.

So just what do we want to be seeding?

What are we allowing to take root and grow, within us and all around?

What is the legacy we’re leaving behind?

The future grows out of the choices we make in the here and now experiences of our everyday lives. This is the Feminine knowing which instinctively lives in the present while tending to the generations to come.

When pregnant with a daughter, three generations are interwoven in the body of the mother. Her womb holds the daughter whose developing ovaries carry eggs – a precious new life already holding the potentials for creating future expressions of new life.

What’s going on in and around the mother’s body, spirit and mind directly influences the unfolding of the future – her children, her children’s children, the worlds they inhabit, envision and co-create.

Three generations interwoven in her body: the sacred lineage of the Feminine is a river flowing through time which nourishes the continuance of life.

Whether or not we are women or mothers, we all are Seed Carriers. Seed Carriers can choose to walk in the ways of the Feminine – holding the very blueprints for life, awakening new potentials, nourishing natural growth.

In the heart of the feminine nature of Seed Carriers lives the instinctual calling to be intentionally aware of the essence and influence of every thought and emotion, of each spoken word and action taken. Our personal and collective future – all that comes to be – grows out of our here and now choice-making.

So what do you want to be seeding…
…in your life?
…on the earth?
…for the generations to come?

Copyright © 2011 JoAnne Dodgson

Good Morning on this bright and beautiful sunny day. We’re going to be warm today…shorts and t-shirts are the ticket! Please do not send your child in sandals or flip flops. Shoes and socks please!

Middle Ages week. It should be fun. Ladies, knights and dung heavers…the children will howl with laughter. Fall of Rome, rise of chivalry, castles, dragons, games, and more. Lots of history! On Friday we will have a dress up day for Middle Ages. A note will be sent home – weather permitting. If it’s too hot, we won’t do it.

Time to get your next payment in for summer. Summer looms. Bathing suits have been purchased and are on their way. This week the summer schedule for teachers needs to be put together. It’s a never ending story!

On Thursday, Miss Beve Pietrowsky, our photographer, will be at school to take pictures of the kids. These are character shots if you want them. We will have dress up dresses, leghorn hats, high heels for the girls, and hats and dress up for the boys. The pictures can be black and white, color or sepia. It’s a great opportunity to have some really interesting photos of your child dressing up. Plain photos are always an option.

As we finish up the school year, we will be having classroom competitions for prizes. Children are being constantly tested about what they have learned this year. It’s an on going final!

Hoping everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day.

Have a great week.

I’m domestic, and I love it. Anyone who knows me would say I’m very domestic. Now some would scoff at me and run as if domesticity rubs off or is catching. Domesticity has a bad rap today – kind of like being stupid and badly prepared for “real life.” Admitting that one is domestic makes one especially suspect for friendship, for respect and for believability.

What I’ve learned over the past forty years is that being domestic does not mean you can’t do non domestic things well too. In fact, it probably means that a person can do other things better. That better is a very well kept secret – especially today. I compare domesticity to “having one’s ducks in a row.” That means that my home front is clean, sound, and easily managed. Those nicely placed ducks mean I CAN do other things.

As a domestic person, it is easy for me to make a meal for fifty, organize a home, space, and time, and make just about anything needed – clothes, drapes, rugs, upholster a sofa or chair, and know the difference between well made furniture and antiques and junk.

Domestic people don’t fear children. I remember several years ago baking for a room party at the local public school. I made a cake, three kinds of cookies, some new candy samples and some kind of bar cookies while I was caring for fifteen children. While the other mothers brought in a plate of tacky tube dough chemical tasting circlets, my score of goodies went the way of all blackballing. It only made me laugh. “Oops, I’m sorry you can’t cook…lol.”

I realize that domesticity is the enemy of the feminist movement because somehow being domestic is losing one’s real self for some kind of servant mentality – like putting on an apron is losing brain power. That enemy-ship also makes me laugh because it is through domesticity that one learns the order of life, the organization of time, and the building of just about anything.

As a young bride, it was my duty to build a home for my husband and children to be. My husband was busy building a career and didn’t have a lot of time to spare looking at furniture or planning shopping trips. It took years to put together a home, a garden, a cookbook of makeable meals, and those things came along with children. It was not easy. In fact, it was very hard. It was sometimes grueling, but as the children came and the house took shape, and the meal plan evolved, so did the understanding of the order of life, the ability to organize time and the creativity to build, make and do just about anything that came our way.

Three years after my last child was born, I went back to school. At that time, I was contributing to the family income by having a family daycare at home. I saw thirty children every day in my home. I cooked three scratch meals for them and did a nursery school program. I ran Right to Life for the county and volunteered at my children’s school. I walked four miles a day as well. At school, I took an accelerated program of intercession classes for three years and graduated at the head of my class. I attribute my success to one thing…my knowledge of domestic things. I knew how to organize my time – not unlike producing a meal for thirty children. I knew how to build a paper which was not unlike upholstering a chair. And I knew how to find things out and how to have the patience to study for a test.

After school was done, I got a side job at the local newspaper writing a column on child care. I had honed my writing skills in college – might as well not waste them. In three months, my column was picked up by Scripps Howard – because it was good. I had a sense of humor and a knowledge of my subject – children. That writing success led me to write eight books, four plays, a book of poetry and some children’s stories.

I’ve done a lot of public speaking about children and have been an advocate for hyperactive personalities. I’ve done a lot of workshops along the way, and about fifteen years ago, I decided to build a school, because having a day care at home was beginning to destroy my house. Today, that school is a huge success. We employ nine people.

The last time I saw my mother, she said she never thought I would amount to a hill of beans – simply because I was domestic. She wanted great things for me. She wanted me to be a success, and she truly thought that the domestic tag was a ridiculous interest that would lead to nothing. She was, after all, a very modern woman, a very sophisticated woman who knew the score, and that score had nothing to do with the label – domestic.

Today, at sixty, I have four fabulous children, six incredible grandchildren, a job that is enviable, and a home that is warm and welcoming. I can stand before a congregation of people and give a reasonable address; I can write a book; I can turn around and feed the audience…all because I learned a great lesson as a young woman…how to be domestic. And now I am going out to my garden and enjoy thirty blooming plants…just for fun ;-}

Wow! Be careful. It appears to be true. Just got this from a trusted friend. How awful!DANGER Kids are putting Drano, tin foil, and a little water in soda bottles and capping it up – leaving it on lawns.

When you go to pick up the trash, and the bottle is shaken just a little – in about 30 seconds or less builds up a gas and explodes with enough force to remove some of your extremities. The liquid that comes out is boiling hot as well.

Don’t pick up any plastic bottles that may be lying in your lawn or in the gutter, etc. Pay attention to this. A plastic bottle with a cap. A little Drano. A little water. A small piece of foil. Disturb it by moving it; and BOOM!! No fingers left and other serious effects to your face, eyes, etc.

People are finding these “bombs” in mailboxes and in their yards just waiting for you to pick it up intending to put it in the trash. But, you’ll never make it!!!

It takes about 30 seconds to blow after you move the thing.

See “SNOPES” below — it’s true — the video at SNOPES shows the Indiana State Police Bomb Squad detonating one — it’s truly horrifying! I checked “Truth or Fiction” and “they” agree this is TRUTH!!! So warned and beware.

http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/bottlebomb.asp

It’s been a great week with the kids. Nice to have a few days rain free. We experimented with the new Physical Education class and the children really loved it. They loved the games Miss Lisa and Miss Dayna taught them.

We had a marvelous visit from the Leafs who taught the children sign language. This was really well received, and we are talking about making sign language our second language because it would be easier for the children to learn and a lot more fun.

We had lots of nice meals this week and got to enjoy some homemade yogurt and ice cream. Plain yogurt and blackberry marshmallow, and then chocolate chip peanut marshmallow! The children really love these treats. It’s always a joy to have them taste something new and get a smile in return.

Today, Friday, we will have an eye screening by the Lion’s Club. Please get your forms in.

Our last day for summer enrollment has passed. Now it’s time to get the balances in for summer. It’s a very very ambitious summer this year. We hope the kids enjoy it.

Swim suits have been ordered for the boys and the girls. Towels have been bought – new idea. A new cooler has been bought. Next week we will do a trial run on our picnic and ask the kids what they liked and didn’t.

School is winding down now as we move closer to summer. Summer is a huge learning experience and so much fun.

Looking at a new floor for the school. Looks really good – called Free Fit. It’s new, just out.

Have a great weekend!