Education Department Threatens Low-Income Families and America’s Opt Out Parents!
As much as corporate education reformers (and we will include the US Department of Education in this category) want you to believe that standardized testing is used to help children, educators know the truth. What the USDOE issued on December 22nd shows in full transparency that the testing agenda is not about helping children but more about making sure testing companies get their profits, and data mongers get their data.
On December 22nd, the USDOE sent a threatening letter to the Chief State School Officers regarding opt out. DOE Senior Advisor Ann Whelan wrote the letter and specifically stated, “ED may take enforcement action.”
She further threatened states with high opt-out rates, “including placing a condition on an LEA’s Title I, Part A grant or WITHHOLDING an LEA’s Title I, Part A funds (see, e.g., section 440 of the General Education Provisions Act).
So is expensive, mandated, inappropriate testing really about helping children when you threaten to withhold money from our most neediest children?
So is expensive, mandated, inappropriate testing really about helping children when you threaten to withhold money from our most neediest children?
So is expensive, mandated, inappropriate testing really about helping children when you threaten to withhold money from our most neediest children?
The USDOE provides a definition of what Title 1 money is used for: “Title I, Part A (Title I) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended (ESEA) provides financial assistance to local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools with high numbers or high percentages of children from low-income families ….”
To be very clear it seems that the USDOE will withhold, in a roundabout way, Title 1 funds to schools that educate low-income families for high opt-out rates. There is no other way to read this.
What the USDOE never understood, and acting USDOE Secretary John King did not comprehend during his tenure as education commissioner in New York, is that the opt out movement is parent driven. Does the USDOE think that states and school districts have the power to CONTROL parental opt out?
This threat to parents, who have a right to make decisions for their children, continues the onslaught of insults hurled towards parents by the USDOE.
USDOE, allow us to introduce you to a sample of opt-out parents.
Meet Jeanette Deutermann. She is a parent in New York. She is a parent who has led the opt-out movement on Long Island, New York. Over 87,000 students in grades three to eight, almost half of Education Department Threatens Low-Income Families and America's Opt Out Parents! - LA Progressive:
