The Indiana
Coalition of Public Education (ICPE), a bi-partisan non-profit organization
that supports public schools, has issued its 2018 legislative report card.
Twenty-nine members of the Indiana General Assembly earned As, one earned a
B, eight earned Cs, 63 earned Ds, four earned Fs and four earned an
incomplete grade for their support for Indiana’s public schools.
In all, ICPE issued
grades to 109 legislators who are running again in 2018 as incumbents.
The grades for
Duneland’s three incumbent legislators running for re-election:
* Sen. Karen
Tallian, D-Portage: A.
* Rep. Ed Soliday,
R-Valparaiso: D.
* Rep. Chuck
Moseley, D-Portage: A.
“There were many
bills affecting education in the 2017 and 2018 state legislative sessions,”
said Vic Smith, a board member of ICPE. “Since ICPE primarily focuses on
issues relating to privatizing public schools, we based our report card on
bills that diverted taxpayers’ money away from public schools and sent it to
private institutions or damaged public control of education. When you weaken
public schools by diverting funding away from them, you undermine a key
institution in our society--one that stands as the bedrock of democracy and
the cornerstone of local communities.”
The ICPE Report
Card rated incumbents who filed for reelection in 2018, grading them based
on their votes on six bills that either:
* Promoted the
expansion of private school vouchers.
* Increased tax
credits giving taxpayer money to scholarships for private schools.
* Cut voter control
of public education.
* Or affected the
support of public education.
Democrats fared
better than Republicans in the bi-partisan organization’s report card. The
28 Democrat incumbents graded all earned an A.
Of the 81
Republican incumbents running for reelection, one earned an A, one earned a
grade of B, eight earned a C, 63 earned Ds, four earned an F, and four
earned an incomplete.
“We are glad to see
that public education has friends on both sides of the aisle,” said Smith.
“Public schools need bi-partisan support, and we’d like to see more of it in
the Indiana General Assembly. The future of over one million students
depends on it.”
