United front

Jay School Board, Jay Classroom Teachers Association and Jay Schools superintendent Jeremy Gulley are united in their stance against education savings accounts and the expansion of school vouchers.

During a special meeting Monday called for the sole purpose of addressing legislation at the Indiana Statehouse, the school board approved a resolution opposing three bills related to school funding and endorsed a joint letter to the editor with Jay Classroom Teachers Association.

School board members, superintendent Jeremy Gulley and teachers association president Paul Szymczak spent about a half hour railing against legislation — specifically House Bill 1005, Senate Bill 412 and Senate Bill 413 — that would expand the state’s school voucher program and allow education savings accounts for private schools. (Rep. J.D. Prescott, who represents Jay County as well as Randolph County and part of Delaware County, is a co-author of House Bill 1005 and is a House sponsor for Senate Bill 413.)

Jay School board president Phil Ford, addressing a crowd of about 70 made up almost entirely of educators and students, said the bills are more than an expansion of vouchers and should be eliminated. He said continuing to use tax dollars to fund private education would affect programming for Jay Schools.

“This needs to die. This needs to go away,” said Ford, a retired a teacher and administrator and previously served as JCTA president. “It doesn’t need to be amended or scaled back, it needs to die. And as you contact your legislators, I hope you will tell them that. …

“It’s a bad move for Jay County. It’s a bad move for rural schools. It's amazing to me that one of the authors of this bill is a rural resident in our area.”

Board member Chris Snow, whose wife is a teacher for Jay Schools, echoed some of Ford’s thoughts, noting private schools do not have to follow the same rules as public schools. He expressed frustration on behalf of teachers, who he said do not get into education for the money but rather to help children.

“And now you’ve got a local representative, taking money to write a bill to destroy programs and funding,” he added while noting Prescott has received campaign donations from Institute for Quality Education, which was formed in 2014 and took over activities previously handled by School Choice Indiana. “It really pisses me off that we’ve got a local person who went to public schools that is now doing this to your kids, your students, my kids, all of our kids. And it’s time it stops.”

Board member Donna Geesaman, a retired elementary school teacher, was also outspoken against the legislation. She said Jay School Board tries to be careful about how it spends money and fraud has already happened with some private charter schools.

Gulley referred to the diverting of funding to private schools as a “gut punch” after teachers and staff have worked to keep schools open during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“In my view, it’s the wrong direction,” Gulley said. “And it’s certainly not the right time to even have the consideration of it after what I’ve seen teachers and our people do to keep the schools open in the worst pandemic in 100 years.”

Board members Ron Laux, Mike Shannon, Vickie Reitz, Jason Phillips, Ford, Snow and Geesaman unanimously passed a resolution that “opposes the passage and signing of House Bill 1005, Senate Bill 412, Senate Bill 413 or any other bill expanding vouchers and/or creating Education Savings Accounts.” In the resolution, they said tax dollars should be invested into public schools, which serve all children and are required to operate in an open transparent way.

Szymczak thanked board members for their efforts, saying the board and teachers have worked well together in recent years.

“We are much better off than we were, and we’re making steady improvements,” he said. “And it’s frustrating when we see the actions of our lawmakers in Indianapolis and the impact that they have on what we’re trying to accomplish. We’re doing the things we need to do to make the Jay Schools the very best we can for our students and for our teachers and the community. It seems like we take a step forward and the legislature knocks us back two steps.”

Szymczak also read the letter to the editor, which the board then voted unanimously to endorse. (That letter will run in The Commercial Review later this week.)

Board members also expressed criticism for Prescott, saying he has not responded to many who have reached out to him via email or by phone about school funding issues. They encouraged Jay County residents to write to or call Sen. Travis Holdman as well as Prescott to express their opinions about the legislation.

Also Monday, the board approved an FFA field trip to Trafalgar this weekend.