Julianne Romanello - Education Tax Credit; It's NOT The Economy Stupid

Julianne Romanello, on our show Wednesday January 10th, tells us that by making everything about the economy, people have focused on their pocketbooks and NOT their LOSS OF LIBERTY. She asks, why in the world should we have to get our money back from the government to have freedom?

Homeschooling - Is It A Practice Accessible To Everyone?

Just yesterday, my article on homeschool co-ops was published in the Federalist (Homeschoolers Invent The Most Daring Ways To Educate Kids).  I hope you'll read it if for no other reason than to check out my interview with Mrs. Sam Sorbo - wife of Kevin Sorbo (God's Not Dead) - and read her explain why homeschooling is the right choice for their family of five.

SB573 - Statewide Charter Schools

School Choice is an interesting concept that can mean many things to many people.  For some, it means establishing a system of Charter Schools in order to provide choice to parents when confronted with failing neighborhood public schools.  For some it means establishing a monetary system by which parents can use their tax dollars for home school, private school or other means of education other than failing public schools.

At first, I thought charter schools were the way to go.  In fact, my mother and I both taught at Independence Charter Middle School in Oklahoma City, the school established by our current Superintendent of Public Schools - Janet Barresi.

Today I read Oklahoma Education Truths blog regarding SB573 - a bill authored by Senator Clark Jolley and Representative Lee Denney.  Here is the link to the bill.

From the blog by way of COSSA: 

SB 573 by Senator Clark Jolley (R-Edmond) and Rep. Lee Denney (R-Cushing) creates a statewide Public Charter School Commission and grants the Commission authority to authorize and oversee theestablishment of charter schools in any school district in the state.  This bill circumvents the authority of the locally elected board from exercising local control of the education of the children in your community. This bill is eligible for a House floor vote once it is placed on the agenda which could be anytime.  Title is on the bill. Please contact your Representative immediately and ask them to vote NO on SB 573!

Here are my concerns with such a bill - and with the charter school movement itself:

1. Charter schools take public money yet school board members are chosen from inside the school community with one member of the community at large.  This produces a situation in which taxpayers pay for the school but then have absolutely no say - through a seat on the board - as to how they are run.
2. Establishing schools in such a way can allow the influx of non-American and other influences as we've seen and are seeing with the Gulen Charter Schools movement in Oklahoma and the rest of the nation.  This is not healthy - supplying public money to a school that has ties to Islam.  It would be the same for a Communist school or any other school utilizing anti-American-leaning curricula or services supported by tax dollars.
3. This particular bill would create another new commission.  My GOODNESS!  How many Boards and Commissions can we have in Oklahoma?  It's into the 700's by the way.  When we allow unelected board members set policy and procedure for programs and offices paid for with tax dollars we are not utilizing democratic principles.  This is taxation without representation in the highest form.  This is a centralization of government not in any way supported by the principles on which this country was founded.  Enough with the boards and commissions.  This is why we have a State Department of Education.  This is why we opposed and will continue to oppose the Educational Quality and Accountability Board (another of Senator Jolley's bills)
4. Until you remove Common Core from the state, it doesn't matter what Charter school you attend - the Accountability measures our state has put into place will force every student under Common Core for testing.  What choice is there in education with ANY taxpayer supported school.
5. Why take money away from public schools to provide CHOICE in the first place?  It makes no sense. Just let public schools have public money.  Then, institute 'open enrollment' across the state and let parents enroll their kids wherever they would like.  Sure some schools would have waiting lists and not all parents would get their first choice, but it would be a start.  Competition can and will create greatness - certainly we've seen that notion played out historically across a wide range of programs. 

I'm not a charter school proponent anymore, but I'm torn as to what to do on the issue and I'm still growing, learning and studying the issue.  I like the idea of Education Savings Accounts like Arizona has, but I also believe in public schools.

Sadly, there is enough blame to go around in the public school arena.  We simply need to sit down - unemotionally - sort them out and work toward a solution.  All I know is that micromanaging schools to death in the name of accountability is simply stupid and clearly not favoring those that work in the schools (teachers), those who pay for the schools (parents) and those attempting to gain an education (students).  If public schools were baseball, we'd be out.

NATIONALIZATION = HOMOGENIZATION or Common Core Kills School Choice

Today, I hear that Eric Cantor "...Hits Critics of Expanding School Choice".

This was interesting as I was given to understand that school choice was dead.  Hadn't heard that?  Take it from me - it's true!

How exactly are we going to offer students anything different - anything outside of Common Core - at any given public school in America?  How?  Forty-seven states have signed on to the Common Core.  Countless publishers and technology providers are pushing out countless materials all aligned with the Common Core, making it nearly impossible for anyone to find educational materials outside that sphere.  All state tests (at least 47 of them) - and now the ACT - will be geared to the standards.  All curricula is being written to align with the Common Core, essentially forcing all educational outcomes to be more or less the same.  Isn't that what nationalization of anything strives to do?  Where is the choice? 

It is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to produce an orange from the union of two pears.  Why is this concept so hard to understand?

Oh, yes, I guess you could CHOOSE to move your kid to a newer school across town - we humans always seem to believe new = better - but I remember hearing about a number of brand new schools built in rough areas of towns (to the tune of several million taxpayer dollars) that not only continue to fight vandalism but still-slumping student performance. 

Yes, sadly, you can change the building, but changing the building doesn't change the kids - good parents and teachers change kids.  Maybe someday taxpayers will recognize that and finally stop voting for bond issues that raise their property taxes to create pretty buildings that still continue to churn out marginally prepared/educated students.

Maybe a school across town feels like a safer option for your child.  Great, move him there.  You will get the same type curricula to fulfill the same set of standards with very little wiggle room as everyone has to pass the state tests in order to make sure their schools are graded C or above in order to prevent a state takeover of that school (yes, that is a good question, what IS the function of the local school board anymore?).  Your child will also have countless points of data collected on him as he sits in his seat, which will most probably stored in a 'cloud' somewhere, which will most likely be auctioned off to the highest technology bidder who will then produce educational materials from that data, that will collect even more intrusive data about your child.

Eric Cantor

...chided President Barack Obama for not including new money for the D.C. voucher program in his budget requests. (The administration has generally focused on funding existing slots, not bringing in many new students, despite what the program's supporters see as overwhelming demand.) 

He then said

"School choice is a threat to the status quo," Cantor said. "School choice protects families and children, not bureaucracies."

It is this kind of double-speak - this kind of ignorance of the way education and the Constitution works - that drives those that consider themselves 'conservatives' over the edge.

According to Cantor, Americans must go to the federal government to provide money (mother may I) to create educational programming for the communities found inside our states, and that situation will then create parental choice at the local level.  Seriously?  I can hardly even write that with a straight face!  Cantor must not be familiar with the conservative notion that government functions best closest to those that support and (ostensibly) benefit from it (taxpayers). 

This ignorance is exactly the reason legislators DO create the very bureaucracies they claim to hate that serve us up Common Core (and the other nationalized standards - and the associated data mining) and then feel good about telling parents and taxpayers that this method provides CHOICE in education.  Until legislators (and taxpayers!) themselves become educated about how government works, we will keep getting the same ignorant pontifications about the same ignorant (and liberty-sucking) government we have now, tomorrow.