Seattle Schools Community Forum: Vote, Vote, Vote

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Vote, Vote, Vote:

Vote, Vote, Vote

Quite the weekend politically.  I'm not sure what else could be said except I'm a woman - a sister, a mother, a daughter - and I vote.

I think the NFL is going to see quite a drop in viewership for the Sunday night game because of a debate that could be the most incendiary one in history.

The deadline for online voter registration for the November 8th election istomorrow (Monday, October 10th) If you're not already registered to vote at your current address, take care of it now.

The deadline for mail-in voter registration has passed (October 8th.)

The deadline for in-person registration is October 31st.  You can register to vote at the DMV if you are completing a transaction there. 

 For King County: 

The King County Elections facility is located in Renton at the intersection of SW Grady Way and Powell Avenue SW. The facility is located north of I-405.

King County Elections
919 SW Grady Way
Renton, WA 98057
Hours: Monday - Friday from 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

In addition to our regular business hours we will be open on the following dates and times for the 2016 General Election:

Saturday, October 8 from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Monday, October 10 from 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Saturday, October 22 from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Thursday, October 27 from 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Friday, October 28 from 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Saturday, October 29 from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Monday, October 31 from 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.


KC Voter Registration Annex 

In-person service is available in downtown Seattle for voter registration-related matters only. King County Administration Building

500 4th Avenue, Room 440
Seattle, WA 98104

Hours: Monday - Friday from 8:30a.m. - 1p.m. and 2p.m. - 4:30p.m. 

In addition to our regular business hours we will be open Monday - Friday, October 24 - 31, from 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. for the 2016 General Election. Seattle Schools Community Forum: Vote, Vote, Vote:

Marie Corfield: .@realDonaldTrump: the RNCs monster

Marie Corfield: .@realDonaldTrump: the RNCs monster:

@realDonaldTrump: the RNCs monster

As much as I despise Donald Trump's lies, misogyny, racism and xenophobia; as much as his vile words and actions make my skin crawl; as much as I think, if elected, he would go down as the worst president in US history, possibly lead us into a civil war (not to mention wars with other countries), I don't think the RNC should force him to drop out.

No, that would be too easy. That would let those who created him off the hook, and they need to be held accountable.

By the very nature of human imperfection, fear lives in every one of us. It's up to us—individually and collectively—to decide how much it controls our lives. If left unchecked, it can evolve into racism, homophobia, xenophobia, misogyny and other forms of hatred. But, no matter if we are persons of faith or none, mankind survives, thrives and moves forward in direct proportion to how much we uplift and include each other, not beat down and marginalize.

So, when your number one mission is to bring down the first African American President in US history; when you refuse to work with that president—who just inherited the worst economy since the great depression—simply because of the color of his skin; when you care more about what is going on inside a woman's body than whether she can keep a roof over her head and food on the table; when you waste more time trying to repeal an imperfect law that has provided millions of Americans with health care instead of trying to fix that law; when you would rather see innocent people continually gunned down because you are more loyal to the NRA than the American people; when you preach "all lives matter" when some clearly don't; when you continually take your sandbox toys and go home simply because someone from your party isn't the line leader; when you sit back and do absolutely nothing (Sen. John McCain excluded) while Donald Trump fans the flames of racism by challenging President Obama's citizenship; when you refuse to stand a moral ground and reject Donald Trump's message of fear and hatred from the get-go, you need to take a good, hard look in the mirror and own it! Donald Trump is your monster. You created him, now you have to live with him. 

Whether or not any of us on either side of the aisle likes it, he is the choice of the majority of GOP voters. He is who they want for president. What gives you the right to Marie Corfield: .@realDonaldTrump: the RNCs monster:

Athletics, Philanthropists and Schools

Athletics, Philanthropists and Schools:

Athletics, Philanthropists and Schools

We know that San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s flag and national anthem protest against ongoing police maiming and murdering of unarmed black and brown people is having impacts. Allies in and out of amateur and pro sports are supporting the NFL player and his dissident message of protest against a status quo of racial injustice, a mainstay of US history.

Less well known is the history of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a deep-pocketed philanthropy, now receiving $500,000 from the 49ers Foundation for “the cause of improving racial and economic inequality and fostering communication and collaboration between law enforcement and the communities they serve here in the Bay Area” The SVCF is no ordinary philanthropy.

According to its website, “SVCF is the largest community foundation, with more than $7.3 billion in assets under management. We partner with families, individuals and corporations to manage and facilitate their philanthropy.”

The SVCF’s mission statement continues.

“We connect donors’ interests to the most pressing needs, whether in Silicon Valley or around the globe. As a comprehensive center for philanthropy, SVCF shapes critical public policy issues, partners with nonprofit groups and institutions advancing the best ideas and directs resources swiftly and strategically toward unforeseen needs.”

One focus of the SVCF is reform of public education. This movement is an obsession of multi-billionaire philanthropists such as Eli Broad, Bill and Melinda Gates and the Walton family. They have made major inroads into reforming the public education system the old-fashioned way, marinating appointed and elected officials with plenty of greenbacks.

Back to the SVCF. It gave $3.2 million in 2014 to the Students First Foundation, the nonprofit behind StudentsMatter, the group that propelled the Vergara v. State of California lawsuit, reports Mercedes K. Schneider, an author, blogger and classroom teacher:

The California State Supreme Court declined to review a lower court’s ruling that the state’s public school K-12 teacher tenure law does not void the constitutional rights of students to the guarantee of equal education. The lawsuit claimed that state statutes such as due process, job probation and layoff procedures for California public school teachers violated the constitutional rights of students to equality of education.

Meanwhile in light of spreading opposition to police violence against unarmed minorities captured on cell phones and officer cameras, the SVCF seeks to improve race and class inequality in the SF Bay Area. Enquiring minds wonder how exactly this effort will proceed.

For example, will the SVCF support community control of police, e.g., hiring and firing of officers who shoot, strangle and Taser unarmed citizens? I asked Sue J. McAllister, SVCF marketing director, for a comment.

“Unfortunately, we do not have any further details on the donation from the 49ers at this time,” she said in an email. “Details are still being decided upon.”

McAllister declined a request for the names of who is deciding on the details, and when work will begin and end. Lucifer is in these details.Athletics, Philanthropists and Schools:

Join the debate on Facebook

Seth Sandronsky is a Sacramento journalist and member of the freelancers unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild. Emailsethsandronsky@gmail.com Athletics, Philanthropists and Schools:

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Hurricane Matthew Help for Haiti

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Hurricane Matthew Help for Haiti:

 Hurricane Matthew Help for Haiti

Dear Friends,

Hurricane Matthew has caused the worst humanitarian crisis since the 2010 earthquake.

We are very concerned for all those at risk in Haiti, especially folks who live at sea level in

Cite Soleil, where the Lamp clinic, and SAKALA are located.

Not only are families in these low lying areas at great risk, they are least likely to

have access to food and clean water, and least able to evacuate.

Now, a resurgence of cholera seems likely.

We so appreciate those who were able to come out to any of our "Haiti Solidarity Week"

events, we feel compelled to ask for your support again.

Thankfully, and because of you, we just sent Maco, our orphanage director back to Haiti with a power

inverter and a generator for MABE orphanage.


However, if the Lamp Clinic and SAKALA survive, they will also need our help more

than ever as they serve the poorest of the poor and those hardest hit.

If you possibly can send, even a little, to "Children's Hope" - it could mean so much.

I just can't stand to think of any child there tonight, hunkered down in the cold and pouring rain,fearful in the dark, with the storm stalled and swirling around them.

Won't you please help, even just a dollar? Peace,

All ways and always, Leisa

GOFUNDME: Children's Hope GoFundMe or checks can be made out to: Children's Hope3025A Cambridge RoadCameron Park, CA 95682 Below, is some of the news from the handicapped orphanage "Children's Hope" supports and Renee who manages "Wings."

Renee was able to send out a very short message around 1:50pm today. We have not heard from her or any of our other loved ones in Haiti since, most likely due to lack of power and internet.  Cell phone service only working in about 20 second bursts very infrequently. Wind and rain is still bad in Jacmel. The wind was really wicked for a few hours mid morning to about 1PM. We are still holding out own at Wings, but wish this was over. It seems like it will be a long day followed by another long night. The New York Times reports that one of the bridges on the road to Jacmel collapsed, cutting off transportation. Reports also indicate that Les Cayes, Guichard's home town, was hit particularly hard.  Plantains, were unable to be harvested in time before the storm, which will undoubtedly contribute to a food shortage. Additionally, the storm destroyed avocado and banana trees, another major source of food and nutrition.

Prof. Leisa Faulkner, Folsom Lake College
Executive Director, Children's Hope
3025 Cambridge Road #A
Cameron Park, CA 95682 USA
916.801.4184

 SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Hurricane Matthew Help for Haiti:

Civil Rights Activists Ask the Candidates: Where Do You Stand on K-12 Education? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Civil Rights Activists Ask the Candidates: Where Do You Stand on K-12 Education? | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Civil Rights Activists Ask the Candidates: Where Do You Stand on K-12 Education?

Before the second debate tonight, the Journey for Justice asks the candidates to respond to these questions:

Education activists release statement ahead of second presidential debate: “Will the next president be tone deaf…”

​

CHICAGO – Today, Jitu Brown, national director of the Journey for Justice Alliance (J4JA) released the following statement ahead of the second presidential debate in St. Louis on Sunday, September 9th. Thousands of African American and Latino parents, students and activists have challenged both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump (and third-party candidates) to release their K-through-12 public education platforms, as well as identify how, if elected, they will work to end federal education policies that have destabilized communities and hurt students of color:

“As parents, students and residents of communities impacted by corporate education interventions in 24 cities across this nation, we are dismayed by the omission of public education as an issue during this presidential election season. Public education repeatedly polls as a top tier issue, but has been largely ignored by both major and third party candidates,” said Brown.

“Will the next president be tone deaf to the tremors from the ground? As a national network of grassroots community organizations across America, we have seen first-hand a determined resistance to failed, top-down corporate education interventions that cannot be ignored; Title VI civil rights complaints filed in 12 cities, thousands of people in determined protest against school closings, sit-ins and traffic blockades, students occupying the superintendent’s office in Newark, a 34-day hunger strike to save a neighborhood’s last open-enrollment high school in Chicago, the rejection of punitive standardized test across the nation and from those who wish to be the leader of the free world; silence.

“The next president must base their advocacy in relationship with people’s lived reality, not corporate relationships. When a mother cries in Detroit because her child’s school is being closed, or students walk-out by the thousands in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Camden and Newark, Baltimore and Philadelphia; it matters. The next president must understand that the United States ranks 19th in the world in public education among OECD countries but when you remove poverty we are number 2. The next president must have the courage to stare down inequity in public education with a commitment to hear the voices of the people directly impacted. The next president must understand that we do not have failing schools in America, as a public we have been failed,” he continued.

“We are asking the next president to meet with the Journey for Justice Alliance and adopt our education platform. Include J4J on your education transition team so that public policy can be rooted in our lived experiences, not someone’s opinion of our communities. We were disappointed that the vice-presidential candidates said nothing about public education in their October 4th debate. We want to hear from both candidates on October 9th about their education agenda. Will they be honest about the harm inflicted on our communities by school closings and the unwarranted expansion of charter schools? Will they acknowledge that the “illusion of choice” must be erased by the reality of strong, high quality neighborhood schools within safe walking distance of our homes? We will be watching.”

​###

The Journey for Justice Alliance (J4J) (www.j4jalliance.org) is a national network of inter-generational, grassroots community organizations led primarily by Black and Brown people in 24 U.S. cities. With more than 40,000 active members, we assert that the lack of equity is one of the major failures of the American education system. Current U.S. education policies have led to states’ policies that lead to school privatization through school closings and charter school expansion which has energized school segregation, the school-to-prison pipeline; and has subjected children to mediocre education interventions that over the past 15 years have not resulted in sustained, improved education outcomes in urban communities.Civil Rights Activists Ask the Candidates: Where Do You Stand on K-12 Education? | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Journey For Justice Alliance
4242 S. Cottage Grove
Chicago, IL 60653
773-548-7500

 NEWS RELEASE MEDIA CONTACT: Jaribu Lee

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(773) 548-7500
October 8, 2016
info@j4jalliance.com

Deplorables Unmasked | the becoming radical

Deplorables Unmasked | the becoming radical:

Deplorables Unmasked

Something deplorable happened on the way to claiming the U.S. is a Christian nation of free people where everyone regardless of race, creed, religion, or gender has the same opportunities at life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

And it wasn’t Donald Trump. Or better expressed, it wasn’t only Donald Trump.

Once Trump secured the nomination for president of the Republican Party, many scrambled to caution about condemning Trump’s supporters, not painting them with too broad and negative a brush.

Especially in the mainstream media, few, nearly none, would venture to utter words such as “racist,” “sexist,” “xenophobe,” or even “lie.”

Trump and his running mate have skated along literally piling lies on top of lies—including lies about not saying provable things, including Trump opening his most recent apology with lies.

But what is truly deplorable is Trump both represents and has unmasked the ugly truth about the U.S.: we are a nation of deplorables, not as outliers, but as a substantial population of our country.

As I was driving down I-85 in South Carolina on the morning after the suddenly shocking* recording ofTrump being exactly who he has always been, I saw a large, black SUV in front of me with this bumper sticker:

It has become conventional wisdom to brush off Trump’s obnoxious bravado as part of his reality show persona, while adding that his supporters are more nuanced in their support for his candidacy.

But the harsh truth is that Trump is deplorable and so are his supporters—and so are many so-called decent Americans.

Cliches become cliches often because they are true, and one truism seems quite important at this moment: when someone shows you who they really are, be sure to pay attention.

And people often reveal who they really are when they think they are in private, when they think they are Deplorables Unmasked | the becoming radical:

Let Students Pronounce Themselves (On Pronouns and Identity) [Guest Post] | The Jose Vilson

Let Students Pronounce Themselves (On Pronouns and Identity) [Guest Post] | The Jose Vilson:

Let Students Pronounce Themselves (On Pronouns and Identity) [Guest Post]

Editor’s Note: Normally, I don’t post things during a break, but I’d like everyone to read this from Kurt Ostrow. Also, this is totally appropriate even right now and any time, not just the first day of school. Enjoy!

In my work as a public high school English teacher, I try to think of ways to center students on the margin.

This summer, as I celebrated the organizing that secured trans rights in Massachusetts and read the visionary platform of the Movement for Black Lives, I thought about my own responsibility as an educator: How can I continue to support trans students and students of color in my classroom?

To do this work well requires serious time and energy—both of which public school teachers desperately lack. Transforming schools into liberated and liberating spaces is hard enough without the pressures of high-stakes testing, punitive evaluations, and a ballot question to lift the cap on charter schools.

But we must, of course, keep doing the work. We must constantly reimagine what we teach and how we teach it. We must make our schools places that welcome and center, rather than simply tolerate or accommodate, trans students and students of color.*

Here’s one move I made at the start of this school year: letting students pronoun/ce themselves on the first day.

When my kids found their seats last week, I asked each of them to write on an index card their name, a phonetic guide to their name, what pronouns they use, and the answer to an icebreaker. I walked them through a model on the board:

After I fielded questions from the floor and gave students time to fill out their cards, I modeled with my own introduction: “Hi yall! I’m Mr. Ostrow. I use he/him/his pronouns. And if I had a time Let Students Pronounce Themselves (On Pronouns and Identity) [Guest Post] | The Jose Vilson:

With A Brooklyn Accent: Women Are Not the Only Ones Offended by Donald Trump's Vulgar Behavior

With A Brooklyn Accent: Women Are Not the Only Ones Offended by Donald Trump's Vulgar Behavior:

Women Are Not the Only Ones Offended by Donald Trump's Vulgar Behavior

As some apologists for Donald Trump have suggested, the type of language Mr Trump used in the "Access Hollywood" video just uncovered is hardly unique to him. Unfortunately, they are right about this. Not only did Bill Clinton use it through most of his political life-something I know from first hand testimony as well as rumor-it can be found in locker rooms and work places all over the country wherever men gather without women present, or in such numbers that women are too intimidated to protest. Many men still consider the use of such language a sacred right, which is why some country clubs still ban women from their bars at certain hours of the day.

However, this is something we as a society have been working very hard to overcome as women have moved into positions of influence in our economy and public life. From police stations and fire houses to television stations and the trading floor of investment banks, women have fought a lonely uphill battle to end the normalization of this demeaning intimidating language and the actions that follow it. I have story after story from former students who joined previously all male occupations about the struggle they waged for dignified treatment from men who thought talk about women's private parts or their own sexual exploits was an integral part of the culture of their workplace. The most horrifying stories came in the 70's and 80's and 90's when women first began to break into law enforcement and the financial sector. They have been significantly reduced in the last few years.

So the question I ask is- do we really want to elect a President who is an unapologetic representative of this culture and who has lived it for most of his adult life? I had hoped we were better than that. That we were moving away from the toxic male culture that so many women have had to fight at the workplace,and unfortunately in their personal lives

But this is not only an issue for women, there are men who find it objectionable as well.

I am one of those men. I spent much of my time in the 1970's playing sandlot football and schoolyard basketball in parks and schoolyards and gyms around the city. On some of the teams I played on, sexual banter and comments about women's anatomies were an integral part of the conversation, to the point where it became a form of bonding among men from different racial backgrounds. I still have vivid memories of Sunday morning football games where the main subject of conversation was who people f....d the night before. As someone who was dating and eventually married a feminist, and whose life was enriched by many strong women friends, I found this discourse offensive and deeply troubling. But I wanted so much to be part of this team that I never openly protested. My protest, pathetic as it might seem, was complete silence. I just went out on the field and hit people, devoutly hoping my teammates would JUST SHUT UP.

I am sure there were and still are many men like me who would feel liberated if this kind of talk were no longer welcome where powerful men gather.

I hope they join with me and women across the country in assuring that someone with Mr Trump's values and persona never becomes President.

Russ on Reading: Fluency Instruction: Building Bridges from Decoding to Comprehension

Russ on Reading: Fluency Instruction: Building Bridges from Decoding to Comprehension:

Fluency Instruction: Building Bridges from Decoding to Comprehension

The reward we get for reading is meaning. When we read we might be entertained or informed or both, but only if we can get to the meaning.  Children must become automatic enough in their decoding to free up brain space to think about what they are reading and make sense of it. Achieving this automaticity is difficult for some children and so, struggling to decode the words in front of them, they have little cognitive space left for understanding what they read. These children get no reward for their reading efforts - no entertainment, no information. Without the reward, they are not likely to continue reading.

When this happens our tendency is to double down on decoding instruction, giving kids extra doses of phonics work and engaging them in all sorts of multi-sensory activities in the hopes of strengthening decoding abilities (tapping, scooping, spelling in sand).  Often these efforts are frustratingly slow and ineffective. Kids may improve in decoding, but still fail to achieve the kind of automaticity they need to get their reading reward.

How to get the kids across the divide between decoding and comprehension? Research would indicate that fluency instruction can  provide the bridge (Pikulski & Chard, 2005).

According to Tim Rasinski, the leading scholar on fluency instruction in the country, fluency instruction has the advantage of focusing instruction on Russ on Reading: Fluency Instruction: Building Bridges from Decoding to Comprehension:

Here's How Schools Can Soften The Blow Of Sixth Grade : NPR Ed : NPR

Here's How Schools Can Soften The Blow Of Sixth Grade : NPR Ed : NPR:

Here's How Schools Can Soften The Blow Of Sixth Grade

Middle school is tough. Bodies change. Hormones rage. Algebra becomes a reality. But there are things schools can do to make life easier for students — like this big study we wrote about showing that K-8 schools my be better for kids than traditional middle schools.

But aside from re-configuring an entire school system, are there other ways to make the sixth-grade experience better?

To answer that question, I called up Dru Tomlin, a director at the Association for Middle Level Education — an organization that's been researching best practices for middle grade students for decades. Tomlin knows middle school: He's been a middle school teacher, an administrator, and he's the parent of a seventh-grade student.

Dru Tomlin, Ph.D. Director of Middle Level Services Association for Middle Level Education.

Illustration by Lara Tomlin/Courtesy of Dru Tomlin

What do you think about the idea of K-8 schools as opposed to the traditional 6-8 middle school set up?

Our research shows that when the school is made to feel smaller, that's when young adolescents flourish more. With a K-8 school you have potentially more students in the school because you have all the way from 5-year-olds to 13- and 14-year-olds.

An effective middle school, or middle grades, program needs to go beyond the grade configuration change. You can change the grade configuration of a school all day long. But you can also do some other things, and should do some things, that are developmentally responsive to young adolescents.

Of course safety and security is paramount, so we want students to not feel like they're going to be bullied or picked on or harassed in a school setting. But if you just change it to a K-8 school from a 6-8 school it doesn't guarantee that there is going to be less bullying and less transition issues for kids. There need to be other characteristics in place.

So how can we design middle schools to make the sixth-grade experience better?

It starts with identifying what their unique characteristics are. Identifying that they are trying to achieve not just academically or cognitively, but they're achieving and really working on social, emotional, behavioral, psychological, ethical — all that stuff at one time in a rapid way. So, we start with that understanding, plus a shared vision of what type of programs and what type of people we need to have in our buildings to serve those kids, that's where it really begins.

Without a common language, a common understanding and a common passion, then it's really not going to work as well as it should. It might function, but it won't help them flourish.

You talk about keeping schools small — what does that look like?

There are a couple of different structures that a middle grades program can put into place to make the learning community smaller. One of those key structures is called interdisciplinary teaming. It has both an academic focus as well as a social and Here's How Schools Can Soften The Blow Of Sixth Grade : NPR Ed : NPR:

Ted Strickland says he regrets saying for-profit charter schools have 'raped' taxpayers, but stands by criticism | cleveland.com

Ted Strickland says he regrets saying for-profit charter schools have 'raped' taxpayers, but stands by criticism | cleveland.com:

Ted Strickland says he regrets saying for-profit charter schools have 'raped' taxpayers, but stands by criticism

LAKEWOOD, Ohio — Ted Strickland said Saturday that he regrets his choice of words when he said in Columbus this week that for-profit charter schools have "raped" Ohio taxpayers.

"I should have said they were robbing taxpayers. I should have said they were cheating taxpayers. It was a poor choice of words," said Strickland, a former Ohio governor who is challenging U.S. Sen. Rob Portman this November. "But the truth is, charter schools have been taking money out of our public schools, and they've been enriching Republican donors, and it's been shameful."

Strickland added there are good charter schools, he just meant to condemn Ohio's failure to regulate them properly, particularly for-profit charter schools and online schools.

"We are an embarrassment because even people who are strong advocates for charter schools understand the way they've been managed in Ohio has been pathetic," Strickland said. "That's what I was trying to convey."

Republicans had attacked Strickland for his word choice, which was captured in a video of a Wednesday speech Strickland gave on Wednesday in Columbus. The video was released Friday afternoon, and was shot by a video tracker, a political staffer whose job it is to follow candidates and record them.

On Friday evening, the Ohio Republican Party issued a statement saying it was "shameful" that Ohio media had not asked Strickland whether he would apologize for his comments.

"While we expect Ted Strickland to continue to lash out during the next 30 days, he should be held accountable for his casual and reprehensible invocation of rape," state party spokeswoman Brittany Warner said in an email.

Also Friday, a video emerged from 2005 showing GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump vulgarly bragging about how his fame and fortune allowed him to kiss women and grope their genitals with impunity.

The Ohio Republican Party statement didn't address Trump's video, which on Saturday has caused Republican officials across the country — although not Portman — to rescind their endorsement of Trump. Ohio Republican Party Chair Matt Borges in a Saturday interview said the statement about Strickland's comments wasn't meant to draw an equivalence between Strickland and Trump's words, which he said were "vile."

Borges said the women who hold nearly all positions of leadership in the state Republican Party were offended by Strickland's remarks.

"He needs to be more careful with his word choice, especially in this heightened environment," Borges said.

Trump, himself, has repeatedly used the phrase "rape" rhetorically multiple times during this year's presidential campaign, including saying China was "raping" the United States in May, and making similar remarks about the the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal in June.

Ohio Republican Party officials said they have spoken out when Trump has used divisive rhetoric, and shared past examples in which Borges has criticized Trump, although they did not appear to have publicly criticized Trump's own "rape" comments.

Strickland addressed the topic on Saturday following a campaign stop in Lakewood, where he appeared with former Arizona U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and Lakewood State Rep. Nicki Antonio. In the appearance, he criticized Portman for voting against a bill that would have banned people appearing on a terrorism watch list from buying guns.

Giffords, who was shot in the head and nearly killed in 2011 by a mentally ill man, has since become a become an advocate for increased gun regulations. While she spoke on Saturday, she continues to suffer the effects from her injuries, and struggled to precisely form her words.Ted Strickland says he regrets saying for-profit charter schools have 'raped' taxpayers, but stands by criticism | cleveland.com:

Hillary Clinton on education issues free college and school choice - Business Insider

Hillary Clinton on education issues free college and school choice - Business Insider:

Here's where Hillary Clinton stands on education

Education policy has largely been a second-tier issue in the 2016 presidential election.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has focused her discussion mostly on issues like the economy, national security, while briefly touching on college affordability.

And in the first presidential debate, there was no direct discussion of education policy proposals.

Still, she has given some indication about the issues she would back in the White House.

Here's where Hillary Clinton falls on the big education issues.

Skye Gould/Business Insider

School choice 

Clinton, unsurprisingly, is staunchly opposed to school vouchers, an issue that is cleanly split along party lines. GOP policymakers traditionally favor school choice, while Democrats claim it hurts public education. Clinton asserted this point in a message she posted to her website after Trump unveiled a plan to increase school choice across the nation.

"Trump's proposal to apparently gut nearly 30 percent of the federal education budget and turn it into private school vouchers would decimate public schools across America and deprive our most vulnerable students of the education they deserve," Clinton wrote.

Opponents of voucher programs argue that they siphon essential funding from already meager public-school budgets to other schools and at their worst are unconstitutional, as they can use taxpayer-funded vouchers to benefit religious schools. Supporters argue that vouchers help disadvantaged students.

"Voucher programs largely help low-income middle-class kids — these are the kids that most need access" to quality education, Michelle Tigani, the communications director at the Center for Education Reform, previously told Business Insider.

Voucher policies typically have income restrictions that vary by state to ensure education funds truly end up with the families most in need.

On the issue of charter schools, Clinton treads carefully. Charters, which are publicly funded but privately run, are scorned by teachers unions — a constituent that has endorsed Clinton. The American Federation of Teachers, another teachers union that has endorsed her, also opposes school-choice policies. A supporter of charter schools since the 1990s, she has faced backlash from these groups.

At an event for the National Education Association, the largest teachers union in the US, Clinton spoke positively about charter schools and was interrupted with boos.

Common Core

An Albuquerque High School student who was among hundreds of students to stage a walkout to protest a Common Core test they said wasn't an accurate measurement of their education.AP Photo/Russell Contreras

Though Clinton does support Common Core and the concept of national standards, she doesn't talk about it often. That's likely because the Common Core has grown so universally unpopular on both sides of the aisle.

Instead, Clinton has focused on the issue of universal preschool, as a way to ensure students in primary school and beyond receive adequate education to help the US compete on a global scale.

"Now, building an economy for tomorrow also requires investing in our most important asset, our people, beginning with our youngest," she said at a campaign event in New York City. "That's Hillary Clinton on education issues free college and school choice - Business Insider: