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Learning Curve

  • The 'facts' on Indiana school spending and choice
    Through a public relations representative, Betsy Wiley of School Choice Indiana asked to respond to an earlier blog entry. Here are her comments, followed by my response.
  • School accountability? Not in Indiana
    It would be nice to think that Indiana's so-called school reform movement jumped the shark today when two Fort Wayne charters converted to voucher schools to avoid accountability.How Sen.
  • School vouchers: Forced to choose?
    Wouldn't it have been more cost-effective to provide adequate state support for the Anderson schools so that students weren't forced to sit on the floor, share textbooks or miss lunch?
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Religion and schools, Lousiana style

My prediction is that some Indiana lawmaker is about to have his or her Valarie Hodges moment.

It's going to happen when the Indiana Charter School Board considers the American Gurdwara Council's application to open the Dashmesh Academy Charter School.

Hodges, you might recall, is the Louisiana state legislator who supported Gov. Bobby Jindal's voucher plan until she found out vouchers might be used somewhere other than a Christian school.

"Hodges mistakenly assumed that 'religious' meant 'Christian,' reported the Livingston (La.) Parish News last month.

"I actually support funding for teaching the fundamentals of America's Founding Fathers' religion, which is Christianity, in public schools or private schools," the Republican lawmaker said. "I liked the idea of giving parents the option of sending their children to a public school or a Christian school," Hodges said.

Right. Lots of people feel that way, which is why I suspect some Indiana lawmaker is about to have a lesson in tolerance and religious pluralism.

If tax dollars support the religion they practice, many people will have no problem with it, but I suspect the prospect of those tax dollars supporting a Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist school will cast charter schools and vouchers in a whole new light for some.

Karen Francisco, editorial page editor for The Journal Gazette, has been an Indiana journalist since 1981. She writes frequently about education for The Journal Gazette opinion pages and here, where she looks at the business, politics and science of learning as it relates to northeast Indiana, the state and the nation. She can be reached at 260-461-8206 or by e-mail at kfrancisco@jg.net.

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