February 11, 2011
Public hearing on school choice attracts comments, concerns
House Speaker Brian Bosma explains the purpose of the hearing; other legislators in attendance include Sue Ellsperman, Ron Bacon, Mark Mesmer and Wendy MacNamara; present but not visible is Suzanne Crouch. (Message photo by Paul R. Leingang) Click for a larger version.
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
School choice and charter schools were among the topics of discussion at a public hearing chaired by House Speaker Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis) Feb. 4 in Evansville.
Bosma presented his views, as did area Republican House members, and comments were taken from the audience.
“We have more kids in public schools than we have in Catholic schools,” said Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger. He urged the legislature to ensure that all Indiana schools provide “education of high quality” for the students.
The public hearing was called in part to get reaction to a legislative proposal — House Bill 1003 — which would provide state funds to students in need, allowing their families to choose a public or private school — even a faith-based school.
Bishop Gettelfinger pointed out that Catholic families pay tuition for Catholic schooling, in addition to the taxes they pay to the state for education. He said the proposal to provide state funds to students attending Catholic schools would be “a critical thing for our community.”
Participants at the hearing nearly filled the Assembly Hall at the Southern Indi-ana Career and Technical Center in Evansville.
Joining Bosma were District 78 Rep. Suzanne Crouch (R-Evansville),District 76 Rep. Wendy McNamara (R-Evansville), District 63 Rep. Mark Messmer (R-Jasper), District 75 Rep. Ron Bacon (R-Chandler) and District 74 Rep. Sue Ells-perman (R-Ferdinand).
Bosma authored House Bill 1002, which he said would offer some new possibilities for charter schools. Among other provisions, the bill would increase the number of entities that could sponsor a charter school. For example, the bill would add private universities — Notre Dame, for example — to the list that now includes only public universities.
Bosma attempted to head off questions about separation of church and state in regard to providing public funds for students attending private, Catholic or any other accredited school.
Bosma pointed out that “for higher education, this is what we do. We want to bring that down to the K-12 level.” He said the proposal was a shift in policy, from funding an institution to funding the student.
Crouch pointed out “how progressive we are down here,” referring to the high level of cooperation among public and non-public schools. She expressed concern that legislators should make sure that while “fixing things” in other parts of the state, they should ask, “Will it be good for us here?”
Several speakers from the audience later echoed the strong feeling of unique cooperation among southwestern Indi-ana educators, and similar concerns for making sure that improving other areas would not hurt this part of the state.
Ellsperman said she came from a rural district “where even our public schools are Catholic” and there are no non-public schools. “Don’t hollow out our public schools,” she said.
“I am a strong believer in choice,” said Vince Bertram, superintendent of the Evansville-Vanderburgh School Cor-poration. He added a concern that state funds might go to home schools, where he feared that the money would be “a strong economic incentive” but it “may not be in the best interest of the child.”
Comments from the audience included concerns about separation of church and state, about helping persons with disabilities after they graduate, support for immigrants and opposition to immigrants, environmental issues, opposition to Sunday sales of alcohol, and opinions pro and con on the right-to-work legislation under discussion.
The Indiana Catholic Conference supports HB 1003, as it “enhances opportunities for low and middle-income students by improving the state’s Scholarship Tax Credit Program and creating a new Choice Scholarship program that al-lows more students to attend the school of their choice.”
The ICC also points out that HB 1003 would improve the Scholarship Tax Credit program, increasing the amount of credits available, the percentage of credit for a contribution, and increasing family income eligibility.
The bill does apply only to students who transfer from the public to the non-public. Only state accredited non-public schools could participate in the program.