Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Smearing, Belittling and Besmirching the PTA in Florida | Scathing Purple Musings

Smearing, Belittling and Besmirching the PTA in Florida | Scathing Purple Musings:


Smearing, Belittling and Besmirching the PTA in Florida

The presence of at least a half-dozen independent PTA members at Monday’s senate hearing on Parent Trigger was enough to demonstrate the clout of Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA/PTSA) across Florida. Their voice used to matter until the education for profit gravy train came to town and politicians realized the advantage to be had by jumping on. But what to do about those pesky naysayers – like those loathsome PTA members – when they don’t just get out of the way when they are told what’s best for them?
In politics, you smear, belittle and besmirch. Such a campaign is underway in Florida.
House sponsor of Parent Trigger, Rep. Carlos Trujillo (R-Dade) responded during floor question and answer yesterday the PTA “parents are in charge of the bakes sales and the teachers are in charge of the policy.”
Advocating on behalf of your public schools now comes at a cost when what you is subject to belittlement on the floor of a state legislature. But where do ambitious politicians like Turjillo get the notion that slamming the PTA is somehow a good idea. Why it’s the corporate financed education reform movement.
The website, redefinED, includes the following about it’s blog:
Readers should know that our editors represent professionally the interests of a nonprofit organization in Florida, Step Up For Students, that administers a scholarship for 35,000 low-income children. But redefinED won’t be a platform merely for school vouchers and won’t be a promotional vehicle for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship. Rather, we will use our collective