Three former state education chiefs have come out against plans for major expansions in Indianaâs school choice landscape and the larger-than-advertised price tags that come with them.
Former superintendents of public instruction Suellen Reed Goddard, Glenda Ritz and Jennifer McCormick issued a letter opposing three proposals â all sponsored by Republicans in the Indiana General Assembly â to expand the stateâs private school vouchers and create a new Education Scholarship Account program, allowing parents to receive the state dollars that would be spent on educating their children on a debit card to spend on education expenses like tuition, supplies or uniforms.
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The bill would make teachers sign forms each summer allowing their union to automatically deduct dues from paychecks. The forms would include bold-font language informing them of their rights to not join a union and if teachers forget to renew, their membership would lapse.
Senators voting for the measure said it would help teachers make “informed decisions” about their dues and membership. Testimony from anti-union groups suggested teachers could forget about the automatic paycheck deductions and end up paying them against their will.
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The Indiana State Teachers Association has pressed Gov. Eric Holcomb to move teachers forward in the priority line and several local teachers unions have also joined in.
SCHERERVILLE â Donna Spivak has been a teacher for 37 years, and in a school year guided by the coronavirus pandemic, the longtime educator said she feels invisible.Â
Spivak, who is 58, told The Times she recently secured an appointment to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, which she received after speaking to someone at the health department after explaining she is a teacher, and her husband is an elderly cancer survivor. I waited, I think it was almost a month, and then when I finally got there, they just said, No, we re not doing teachers. So they just turned me away, said Spivak, a fifth grade teacher at Grimmer Middle School in Schererville.