NACS board member criticized about comment at work session
Ashley Sloboda | The Journal Gazette
A Northwest Allen County Schools board member is under fire for his comment about sexual orientation at a work session last week.
Hours after three board members on Sunday censured Steve Bartkus, the teachers union issued a statement condemning his April 21 remarks.
Bartkus who was reelected to a second, four-year term by 35 votes in November brought up sexual orientation during a work session about COVID-19 protocols, particularly the mask mandate. He framed it as a civil rights issue. Where do parents rights and children s rights come into play here to have a choice? Bartkus said April 21. I think most of these people that are here are not demanding that we take off masks, but they are demanding or asking, Do we have a choice? Women have a choice to have abortions these days, right? People have a choice to be gay or straight these days, right?
NACS votes 3-2 to keep masks on
Board member censured in light of contentious remark
ASHLEY SLOBODA | The Journal Gazette
The Northwest Allen County Schools board reaffirmed its commitment to COVID-19 protocols in a split vote Monday.
Superintendent Chris Himsel seemed eager to move past the issue brought forth by parents seeking mask choice.
“It is simply time to move on,” Himsel said.
Kent Somers, board president, and member Steve Bartkus opposed the resolution Himsel presented about upholding the district s reopening plan, which was originally adopted in July. The resolution passed 3-2.
Somers said the board didn t have adequate time to review the document, noting he received it that afternoon, and Bartkus said the board needed time for discussion.
Vote near on Indiana budget with schools boost, vaping tax
TOM DAVIES, Associated Press
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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Indiana public school and teachers groups are cheering the education funding increase included in the new state budget plan that’s poised for final approval from lawmakers on Thursday to complete this year’s regular legislative session.
Support comes from those groups even as the Republican-dominated Legislature is set to endorse a contentious expansion of the state’s private school voucher program by raising the income eligibility level for a family of four to about $145,000 for the coming school year.
The state budget agreement announced Tuesday will boost overall school funding by about 4.5% each of the next two years. That deal, however, leaves out a push to follow the federal government’s lead of excluding some unemployment benefits paid last year from income taxes. It also imposes a new state tax on vaping products.
Vote near on Indiana budget with schools boost, vaping tax washingtontimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtontimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The revelation that state lawmakers have nearly $2 billion more to spend in the next two-year budget cycle than originally expected was quickly followed by many suggestions on how that money should be spent: infrastructure, trails, public broadcasting, preschool and more.
No calls, though, are probably louder than those coming from the stateâs public education sector. With the eye-popping influx of cash fueled by a faster than expected economic recovery, pressure is mounting on lawmakers to funnel more dollars into the stateâs K-12 schools and make good on recommendations from a state commission to increase teacher pay.
The Indiana State Teachers Association called on lawmakers to make good on promises to address lagging teacher pay. A report commissioned by Gov. Eric Holcomb estimated it would cost around $600 million to catch Indiana up to neighboring states and make compensation competitive.