Dontia testified on HB 1498

Today, longtime advocate and public school parent Dontia Dyson testified on House Bill 1498.

During this session, Dontia hopes to see legislators work to enhance school accountability and ensure there’s a statewide focus on closing the opportunity gap. 

WATCH his testimony:

Read Dontia’s testimony here:

Hello, my name is Dontia Dyson and I am here to talk about House Bill 1498 because I believe our schools have to be accountable to the children they serve.  

I’ve advocated at IPS board meetings for years, all because I wanted to see the district make choices based on data. I wanted to see them hold schools accountable and make decisions on which schools to grow based on which schools were closing the achievement gap and giving kids a quality education. 

While I know the district has done a lot of great things, I am hoping that this bill will enable you all to take a closer look and listen to parents like me who have asked for results for years. I wouldn’t be here if things were great. I wouldn’t be here if all our public schools were performing at a level that was helping our kids thrive.   

But I will say that there are CLEARLY schools that are closing the academic gap…schools like Paramount that parents like me have asked to be replicated for years because they are doing a really great job of helping our children who struggle the most —-yet, nothing has been done.  

I have also advocated here at the statehouse and with the State Board of Education in favor of A-F grades for school accountability. Everyone knows what an A grade means, what a B means, what a C means, and so on. I want to see A-F retained and updated to be current.  

Speaking specifically to this bill, I also want an achievement gap or opportunity gap measure to be taken into account with these grades. Parents like me need to be able to review how a school is doing and easily understand if they are helping low-income children achieve at the same rate as their peers.    

I learned about A-F before the pandemic and the hold-harmless that have made those grades mean little. And as a parent, it helped me. It helped me at the time find a school for my daughter. It’s also helped me advocate for change in schools that are struggling. It would help me even more if our grades also considered the achievement gap in our schools – because if a school is only able to teach its most affluent populations, it’s not an equitable school.  

I am a fighter for my kids. I’ve done all I know how…toured schools with board members, had 1:1’s, spoken at meetings, sent emails and letters, held petitions… I am hoping this bill can become the answer to all that work and that it makes sure our kids have great schools to go to and that schools that are receiving bad letter grades year after year have to do something to turn it around.  

The bottom line for me as a parent is simple: are schools providing a quality education for our kids? If they aren’t, there needs to be measures and consequences that result in real change. I hope to see one of those measures be achievement gap data that helps determine our A-F grades. Thank you.