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| 2/10/2010 3:10:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| State Rep. Dave Cheatham (D-North Vernon), right, talks with Kathy Scheible and others at Friday’s Third House public forum in North Vernon. |
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Cheatham defends legislation
NV lawmaker counters critics, says he is not pawn for teachers union
Bryce Mayer
State Rep. Dave Cheatham (D-North Vernon) defended himself against charges that he is a pawn for the Indiana State Teachers Association (ISTA), saying that his background in education is why he is co-sponsor of a bill that he says will help area school systems.
Cheatham, who has been given $65,000 from teachers union political action committees since 2005, came under attack from charter schools proponents for co-authoring the bill in the Indiana legislature.
HB 1367 would all but kill the state's charter school movement and curtail other necessary educational reforms, according to some critics.
Speaking at the semi-monthly Third House public forum in North Vernon Friday, Cheatham said that is hogwash.
"I'm not anti-charter school," he said. "Charter schools are actually a different kind of public school."
Cheatham said his background as an educator - he spent much of his career as a social studies teacher at Jennings County High School before retiring from the field in 2006 - has helped him in his work at the Statehouse.
"Education is an important issue to me," he said. "It's natural with my background that I would be involved in educational legislation. My district and the people I represent come first. That's why I have helped with this bill, not because of getting campaign contributions from the ISTA."
Cheatham noted that the bill would give school corporations more flexibility with capital project funding that is now limited in how it can be spent.
"The funds could be used in other areas as needed without being unencumbered," he said. "We are facing drastic cuts in education. The bottom line is keeping a strong and vital teacher-student relationship."
Laying off as few teachers as possible is crucial, Cheatham said, in keeping the teacher-student ratio at acceptable levels. To do that in part, the bill proposes delaying funding for two years for a virtual charter school pilot program and private school tuition tax credit.
"The governor (Mitch Daniels) has proposed a $300 million cut (in K-12 education), but these programs would expand areas of spending where there has been no state spending before," Cheatham argued. "That seems kind of strange given what the governor has said about being against any new spending."
According to Kyle Olson of the Education Action Group Foundation, the legislation's goal is to kill charter schools, which he says provide healthy competition for public schools, destroy any program that would give families more school choices and divert school improvement funds so teachers don't lose their annual "step" raises and lucrative benefits.
While the bill would be advantageous to the teachers union, it would grossly shortchange the parents and students of Indiana and preserve the educational status quo in the state, Olson wrote in a commentary piece distributed to newspapers in the state.
"The bill is clear evidence the teachers union has no real interest in improving education in Indiana," he opined. "Taxpayers are being poorly served by lawmakers like Greg Porter (D-Indianapolis) (the bill's sponsor) and Cheatham, who are acting to please their campaign sponsors instead of doing what's best for the children of the state."
Cheatham has a vastly different opinion.
"We have to do something or 5,000 or more teachers could be laid off in the state," he said. "That's a worst-case scenario that we want to avoid."
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Reader Comments
Posted: Thursday, February 18, 2010
Article comment by:
Jill Wilkerson
Is Dave Cheatham the only one who understands there is not enough in the state budget to adequately support our public schools? In fact, since state funding for schools is being cut drastically, then there should be none spent on charter schools, which we've not even invested in yet. I call that common sense.
Why divert the public and name call Cheatham? He is the only one on the right page.
Posted: Thursday, February 18, 2010
Article comment by:
Julian Smith
The fact that Rep. Cheatham has the support of the Indiana State Teachers' Association should come as no surprise. I can think of no one more qualified to advocate for children and the unique challenges faced in this current atmosphere, then one who has devoted a entire career to the schools he represents.
Many well intentioned folks in Indianapolis have strong ideas on ways to "fix" all that is wrong with education in our state, but have never stood at the front of a classroom. They simply rely on second hand information before drawing conclusions. Rep. Cheatham has years of experience with a unique view of the issues from that very perspective.
I wonder how many legislators would prefer to see a heart surgeon that has never actually performed a procedure, but possesses some strong opinions about how surgery is to be done.
For years, that very approach has been pursued in Indianapolis with regard to how the state intends to improve education for our children.
I applaud Rep. Cheatham's efforts to advocate for children by authoring legislation that empowers public schools to more effectively deal with issues of revenue and shortages of resources that has been created for them in Indianapolis.
HB 1367, co-authored by Rep. Cheatham, attempts to maintain a level playing field for traditional public schools. Our governor has commissioned our schools to cut an additional $335,000,000 from budgets that have already been slashed. Should charter schools receive the benefit of a tax break, and be told the same rules that apply to other public schools do not apply to them? If it is decided that charter schools are going to be an ingredient of the state's educational recipe, then they should play by the same rules as traditional public institutions.
It is apparent given present economic conditions that next year there will be fewer teachers in our classrooms. Due to that fact, children across the state will suffer the consequences of larger classrooms and fewer resources. This is an unavoidable cause/effect relationship that exists in reality. HB 1367 attempts to minimize that negative impact on children.
Finally, I would like to thank Representative Cheatham for his tireless efforts to remind the well meaning "surgeons" in Indianapolis that most times surgery is more successfully accomplished with a scalpel rather then a chain saw.
Posted: Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Article comment by:
Marcia Taylor Smith
There is not another person who cares for or does as much for our schools and our communities as Rep David Cheatham. Education is key to him. He wants to see that all our children recieve equal education
and learn what they need to survive in this big world of ours. Less teachers equals less teaching and less learning, leaving our children out of the running for the best jobs. Could this outrageous attack have anything thing to do with elections coming up? Except for their parents, no one cares for for our kids in the 69th district. Thank you, Dave Cheatham, for all you do for all of us.
Posted: Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Article comment by:
Louis Wilann
Cheatham is not a pawn of the ISTA. "Lackey" better describes his relationship with that organization.
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