Posted on 02/04/2017 12:22:03 PM PST by jazusamo
In just a matter of days -- perhaps next Monday -- a decision will be made in Washington affecting the futures of millions of children in low-income communities, and in the very troubled area of race relations in America.
An opportunity has arisen -- belatedly -- that may not come again in this generation. That is an opportunity to greatly expand the kinds of schools that have successfully educated, to a high level, inner-city youngsters whom the great bulk of public schools fail to educate to even minimally adequate levels.
What may seem on the surface to be merely a matter of whether the U.S. Senate confirms or rejects the nomination of Betsy DeVos to be head of the U.S. Department of Education involves far bigger stakes.
The teachers' unions and the education establishment in general know how big those stakes are, and have mounted an all-out smear campaign to prevent her from being confirmed.
What makes Mrs. DeVos seem so threatening to the teachers' unions and their political allies?
She has, for more than 20 years, been promoting programs, laws and policies that enable parents to choose which schools their children will attend -- whether these are charter schools, voucher schools or parochial schools.
Some of these charter schools -- especially those in the chain of the Success Academy schools and the chain of the KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) schools -- operate in low-income, minority neighborhoods in the inner-cities, and turn out graduates who can match the educational performances of students in affluent suburbs. What is even more remarkable, these charter schools are often housed in the very same buildings, in the very same ghettoes, where students in the regular public schools fail to learn even the basics in English or math.
You and I may think this is great. But, to the teachers' unions, such charter schools are a major threat to their members' jobs -- and ultimately to the unions' power or existence.
If parents have a choice of where to send their children, many of those parents are not likely to send them to failing public schools, when there are alternative schools available that equip those youngsters with an education that can open the way to a far better future for them.
Already there are tens of thousands of children on waiting lists to get into charter schools, just in New York alone. Those waiting lists are a clear threat to teachers' unions, whose leaders think schools exist to provide guaranteed jobs for their members.
Mrs. DeVos has shown for more than 20 years that she thinks schools exist to educate children. One of the biggest complaints about her is that, unlike Secretaries of Education before her, she does not come out of the government's education establishment. Considering what a miserable job that establishment has done, especially in inner-city schools, her independence is a plus.
Teachers' unions have fought for years to prevent charter schools from being created. Now that such schools have been created, and there are now huge waiting lists, the teachers' unions have gotten politicians to put a numerical cap on the number of such schools, regardless of how large the waiting lists are.
Desperate attempts to smear Betsy DeVos, in order to prevent her from being confirmed as Secretary of Education, have not let the facts get in the way.
She is accused of "steering public dollars away from traditional public schools." But nobody can steer anything anywhere, when it is individual parents who make the decisions as to where they want their children educated. The money follows the children.
Neither the money nor the children get steered by education bureaucrats, as happens with traditional public schools.
If charter schools educate one-third of the students in a district, and get one-third of the money, how does that reduce the amount of money per child in the public school? Actually, charter schools usually get less money per student, but produce better results.
American education is at a crossroads. If the teachers' unions and their allies can defeat the nomination of Mrs. DeVos, and the Republicans substitute someone else more acceptable to the education establishment, a historic opportunity will be lost, and may never come again in this generation.
Education in the US is all about indoctrination. Even at the private schools to some extent.
While I prefer charter schools to the current status quo, I would much prefer to see refundable tax credits instead. The problem with charter schools and vouchers is that he who pays the piper calls the tune.
Much of the gop establishment is in power due to the ever so careful rationing of action. They talk a great story, but when it comes time to act, they’re very careful to limit what they accomplish.
The money isn’t in solving a problem, the money is to be found in perpetuating the problem.
Blah blah blah - the Dems will be amassing huge war chests - if we don't supply our own, we will get crushed.
BTW - do you also think money is bad for RF?
If not
It'll make you feel better - really.
Seems that so many who talk up the evils of money are the same ones who let others foot the bill - how very ..... Democrat of them.
Say what?
The GOP-e, as we’ve seen time and time again, has gotten itself elected by promising to do something, and then finds every possible excuse it can NOT to do something. It always needs something else. Back under Bush they had the Presidency, both houses of Congress, and most SCOTUS appointments. Yet they had an endless litany of excuses as to why they couldn’t do jack. We’re even hearing some of that now with the Senate rolling over because they don’t have 60 plus seats. The plain truth is they’d much rather extend a problem and milk it for contributions than actually fix the problem. A great example of this is abortion. It’s a racket, Pro-Life, Inc.
The GOP came to do good, and ended up doing very well.
Thankfully we have an executive who isn’t of the GOP-e mold. PT will have to fight like hell to get things accomplished. And the GOP “leadership” will be almost as bad as the rats. We at least have a doer in the Presidency. He’ll just have to drag the GOP-e along, kicking and screaming.
They are also afraid that the good teachers that are left in public schools will jump ship for posts in charter schools.
I think that happens pretty often. Those who really like teaching and are good at it want to teach in an environment that offers them some support and some reward.
Will have to see what is still available to get money to him to be prepared to help the 2018 elections and the 2020 Presidential run.
To not support him because I'm pissed at the RINOs would not be the smartest thing to do to my face....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.