Tag: charter schools

Democrat Representative Says Parents ‘Not Qualified’ To Choose Schools For Their Kids

It’s another case of Democrats saying the quiet part out loud.  The school choice movement has been fighting for decades for parents to have the ability to determine which schools get their tax dollars, including schools other than state sponsored institutions.  They have consistently hit a brick wall in terms of legislation, but that is starting to change. 

Conservative groups have long ignored the public school environment as a place of potential indoctrination, often assuming that leftist propaganda was limited to colleges.  However, identity politics and gender theory have now become commonplace within schools across America all the way down to Kindergarten and pre-school ages.  Numerous instances of school sponsored programs involving sexualized curriculum, Critical Race Theory and even drag queen shows are pervasive.

On top of this, many parents in 2020 also found themselves in conflict with public school mandates during the covid hysteria and realized they had few options in dealing with overzealous state restrictions.  In some cases, state officials were calling for forced mRNA vaccination of children in order to get access to educational facilities.     

These developments have startled millions of parents out of their apathy and injected momentum into School Choice policies – A plan to decentralize schooling and take power away from government bureaucrats and far-left teachers unions.  Multiple states have now introduced or passed legislation allowing tax dollars to be allocated for parents to move their children to private schools if they feel their public school is insufficient.  The laws vary, but are often associated with school vouchers. 

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Progressive Mantra: Choice For Me But Not For Thee

When it Comes to Options that are Actually Good for Children, Progressives Pick Mandates over Choice EVERY Time

It’s a puzzle, an irony, a conundrum. Progressives, the party of “you do you” and “my body, my choice,” have once again proven that they hate choice when it comes to programs and actions that are actually GOOD for children.

Want to abort your child seven days after it’s born? Your choice. Want to allow your minor child to have body parts removed and be put on hormone blockers/therapy? Your choice. Want to take your child to a drag queen show in an adult bar and expose them to overly sexualized and inappropriate entertainment? Your choice.

Want to get your child out of a failing school and take him/her to a good school where he/she can succeed? Whoa, wait a minute. Progressives can’t have that. They think that is dangerous.

It makes me wonder why.

When I was teaching, the argument was always the same. “If we take kids out of some public schools and allow them to go to better public or private schools, it will leave the public schools decimated.“

And the people who said this always followed it up with, ” School choice is racist and elitist.”

Here’s a sample of that opposition from the Baltimore Sun Op-Ed section: Md. BOOST program helps private schools at the expense of public ones – Baltimore Sun

The “best” argument of all was “public schools can’t succeed if we take the best kids out.” Wow. And they called those who believe in school choice racist and elitist? It’s kind of like when Joe Biden said, “Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as White kids.” Biden says ‘poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids’ (nbcnews.com)

But he’s not racist. No. Never. But you people who support school choice, shame on you.

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Team Biden’s backward hostility to charter schools

Joe Biden is expected to name Connecticut Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona as his education secretary Wednesday. Given rumors about the president-elect tapping union officials for the job, this is a relief. Still, reformers and school-choice advocates shouldn’t let their guards down.

In a recent interview with the Education Writers Association, Stef Feldman, Biden’s national policy director, threatened to cut funding for “public charter schools that don’t provide results.” This, even as she vowed to fight for “the funds that our underperforming schools need, so our educators can succeed at their jobs.”

Got that? Team Biden’s position is that bad charter schools need to be defunded and possibly shuttered, while traditional failure factories just need more cash.

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Congress Blocks School Choice in New Stimulus Package

Governors are prohibited from using emergency education funding to give families more education options, thanks to a new provision inserted in the 5,600-page bill that Congress passed (without having time to read it) on Monday night.

The new stimulus package includes $2.75 billion for the Governors Emergency Education Relief (GEER) fund, a program established by the earlier stimulus bill passed in March, but it comes with new restrictions on how that money can be used. Seemingly in response to the fact that several governors used the first round of GEER funding to launch or expand school choice programs, the new stimulus bill explicitly excludes “vouchers, tuition tax credit programs, education savings accounts, scholarship programs, or tuition assistance programs for elementary and secondary education.”

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