Latest news with #Ziebarth
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
WV Wesleyan professor admits she couldn't sit silently as Sen. Shelley Moore Capito gave commencement speech
BUCKHANNON — A couple of weeks ago, West Virginia Wesleyan College professor Emily Ziebarth attended what she characterized as a strange meeting. The school's administration, she said, told the gathered faculty and staff they would not be told who this year's commencement speaker was. "There was a strange sort of preemptive defense," Ziebarth said. "The president ran through how he votes and all that, and then gave us the option between coming and not coming. If you weren't comfortable with who was going to speak, you were welcome to not come. And that was the part that bothered me the most. I don't like being given false dilemmas like that." The secrecy was for naught. Two days before the graduation ceremony, it leaked online that Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, would be the commencement speaker. After a protest directed at Sen. Capito began gaining traction online, faculty received an email the night before the ceremony announcing the event had been moved inside the chapel. The school stated in the email it was due to unforeseen circumstances beyond their control. The school didn't release Sen. Capito's name officially until the morning of the graduation ceremony. The second email also said security would be increased due to a security concern unrelated to the keynote speaker. Wesleyan declined to comment. Republican elected officials have faced constituent anger at town halls across the country. As President Donald Trump's administration reshapes American government, voters have demanded their elected officials push back on the actions of the Trump administration. A nationwide protest movement has developed, demanding the Trump administration stop dismantling government agencies, stop ignoring the orders of federal courts, especially where immigration is concerned and removing Elon Musk from government, to name a few. So far, Sen. Capito, Sen. Jim Justice and Rep. Riley Moore have not appeared at any town hall demanded by their voters. Ziebarth called Wesleyan's decision to keep the commencement speaker secret strange. To her knowledge as a member of academia, other politicians who have spoken at commencement are usually announced way ahead of time. Her feeling, she said, was the school's choice was made less out of an "unrelated" security concern, and more out of a desire to avoid controversy and play both sides. After the speaker's identity leaked online, Ziebarth said a lot of her colleagues and several of her students weren't comfortable at Wesleyan's choice to have Sen. Capito give the commencement speech. Ziebarth said the Trump administration was openly attacking higher education and education in general by threatening and defunding institutions of learning across the country. "She is aligned with an administration that is attacking our values right now," Ziebarth said. About a mile away off college grounds, a protest of around 45-50 people formed and did their best to make themselves heard by Sen. Capito. The protest pulled itself together with only 48 hours notice. Matt Kerner, coordinating member with the Poor People's Campaign, criticized WV Wesleyan for having Capito as a speaker. He said Capito has aligned herself with an administration that has damaged thousands of nonprofit agencies like his own by dismantling AmeriCorps. People who took a year off to do nonprofit work before continuing on with a masters or doctorate program just had their plans torn up and thrown in the garbage, he said. "A lot of Republicans are shying away from cameras, and they don't want to be tied to the legislation they're supporting," Kerner said. "They want to distance themselves and that is our job to shine the light on what they are trying to hide in the darkness. And they're trying to hide an upwards continuation of the transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top right now." Kimberly Berks, one of the protestors, reacted to a portion of Sen. Capito's speech. In her speech, Sen. Capito said things have to go right in the United States, because if they don't go right here, they're not going to go right in the rest of the world. "It sounds good, but that's not what they're doing," Berks said. "They're not helping anybody. They're only helping themselves. They're cutting into a lot of programs we can't afford to lose. We'll never get it right because they're not getting it right." Recently, Sen. Capito pounded the drum after DOGE began dismantling the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Morgantown and furloughing its employees. Eventually, the administration relented and restored some workers to their posts but they still face termination in June. Capito urged Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to bring back those workers in order to support the coal industry. Capito also advocated for the Head Start program. The Trump administration restored that program's funding in its budget proposal. However, Kerner is suspicious of Capito's motives. He said the only reason Capito has been working on behalf of those services is because people stood up and began to complain about the Trump administration cutting those services. "She did nothing," Kerner said. "People made noise, people pushed her to change, and she did." On the day of the ceremony, Ziebarth noticed a different atmosphere on campus. While a significant police presence on campus established itself, a stage originally set up for an outdoor ceremony lay unused. Ziebarth suspected the school wanted to avoid any controversy. The email sent to faculty said Capito had agreed to come to Wesleyan a year ago. What's most tragic to Ziebarth is she herself is a two time graduate of the school, first for her undergraduate and then her graduate degree. The school is where she came home to herself, so seeing the school cavort with a supporter of a president that is attacking higher education is heartbreaking for her. At the end of the day, Ziebarth had her own personal rebellion. While sitting as a faculty member across the podium where Capito would speak, Ziebarth put on some dark rainbow sunglasses and displayed a love thy neighbor flag once the senator took the stage. She also put on some headphones. While Ziebarth had her own personal feelings, she also made sure her personal statement wouldn't disrupt the ceremony. But there was also no way Capito could miss the statement Ziebarth was trying to make. "Democracy, in general, that seems to be disappearing rapidly, and so it's a really strange choice to bring a speaker like that there," she said. "They knew that would be contentious there. Why on Earth would you hold a meeting two weeks beforehand, and try to weirdly defend yourself prior to even announcing it, and then give everyone that choice, which again, to me, was basically saying be quiet at home or be quiet here. But I could not sit silently."
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
A National ‘Blueprint'?: Indiana Shifts Millions in Taxes To Charters From Districts
In what advocates are calling a national 'blueprint,' Indiana legislators have passed a new law in support of the state's rapidly growing charter schools, forcing districts to share millions of dollars in property taxes with charters. Legislators in a state considered a leader in promoting charter schools, earlier this month also passed a law mandating the Indianapolis school district, the state's largest and where 60% of students attend charters, work with the mayor and charter officials on a plan to share busing and school buildings. The two laws share a common theme: Both continue Indiana's steady march toward treating charters – public schools that operate outside the purview of traditional school districts — as equal parts of the state's education system. And in different ways, the bills chip away at districts' longstanding and exclusive control of local taxes, school buildings and busing, giving charters a greater claim to assets they have long coveted. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter The laws' impact could extend even further, with national charter advocates saying other states could use Indiana as a legislative model to provide charters across the country with more resources. Related Few states have created as 'robust' a structure for sharing property taxes with charters as Indiana, according to Todd Ziebarth, a senior vice president of the National Alliance For Public Charter Schools. 'It's a big step forward for charter school funding equity there,' said Ziebarth. 'It serves as a pretty powerful example to other states about what states should do for charter school students.' 'I think there's a philosophical difference that people have…,' Ziebarth said. 'Districts think 'this belongs to us,' whereas other folks think [it] belongs to the community. It's been a philosophical split that's been tough to break in a lot of places… and Indiana has done it.' But school district officials say the state has only widened the gap between the district and charter families. Some Indiana residents have called the bills part of a plan to privatize education, pointing out that many public charters are run by private organizations. 'Many of our lawmakers, their top priority was not our children, but dividing our community,' Indianapolis school board member Allissa Impink said at the board's meeting Thursday. Teachers unions and districts fought bitterly over the tax-sharing bill and a separate statewide tax cut that will cost districts millions more. So many teachers flooded the statehouse in protest on April 14 that Indianapolis Public Schools and three other districts had to close schools for the day. But Indiana charter advocates have praised the tax-sharing bill for closing what they see as an unfair gap in funding between charter and district schools, which one study estimates at $8,000 per student in Indianapolis, with districts spending $18,500 and charters $10,600. The difference in per pupil spending is mostly because, while district and charter schools receive state and federal aid, only school districts can raise money through property taxes. The new tax-sharing law would require that eligible charter schools receive a portion of local property taxes, funds that used to go entirely to districts for daily operations such as teachers' salaries, books, hiring bus drivers and extracurriculars. How much money each charter would receive would be based on the percentage of students living in the district who attend charter schools. The change could give charter schools nearly $4,000 more per student when fully phased in by 2031, advocates said. The new law affects an estimated 30 districts, including Indianapolis. Indiana isn't the first to offer charter schools local tax dollars, but advocates say the state goes further than the limited ways other states do. Sometimes local property taxes are built into state school funding formulas, for example, or only charters created by the city or school district receive local revenue. The second law, aimed just at Indianapolis where charter students often have no transportation to school, would require city and school district officials to work with charters on a plan outlining how bus services and school buildings can be shared. 'We're really trying to share a significant number of assets that have never been shared before with charters and families,' said State Rep. Robert Behning, chair of the Indiana House education committee and author of the bus and facilities plan Opponents of the plan say that gap could be addressed by giving charters more state money instead of splitting up local property tax funds. 'I want kids in all of our public schools to succeed, no matter the school type,' State Senator Andrea Hunley, an Indianapolis Democrat, said during the debate on the bill. 'But taking money from one of our systems that's underfunded and giving it to another system that's underfunded isn't the way to do it, and it's never going to be.' The two laws come out of a state legislative session filled with conflict between districts and charter schools. Lines were drawn early, when legislators filed a bill that would wipe out the Indianapolis district and four others where charter schools educate the majority of students. That bill never received a hearing, but drew an angry backlash from teachers, parents and district officials, particularly in Indianapolis, where charter schools draw increasing numbers of students away from district schools. Related The tax-sharing bill followed soon after, with the Indianapolis Public Schools predicting the bill would force the district to close 20 schools, cut busing for students and likely hurt its partnership with some charter schools known as Innovation Schools. The bill was scaled back before passing — delaying tax-sharing until 2028, phasing it in over four years and dropping a requirement that districts share property taxes passed specifically for building or updating school buildings. It kept, however, the mandate that local property taxes for operations would have to be shared with charters. How much money would eventually be shared and the number of charters affected is unclear, which drew objections from Democrats as Republicans passed the bill. The state has estimated that $5.4 million would be shared in 2028. The Indianapolis Public Schools has not shared its estimates of what the new laws would cost the district. Behning said his plan for the school district and charters to share and coordinate use of old school buildings and bus routes will also help the district pass tax increases. Charter school parents, the majority in the city, are more likely to vote for property tax increases if they will help their children's schools. 'There's no way they could get a referendum approved right now if they did not voluntarily come together and try to do this alliance and try to figure out how to share,' Behning said. Behning's plan creates the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance which will review busing plans for district and charter students; along with sharing other resources such as available school alliance will report its findings by Dec. 1. Recommendations are not binding.
