The Jeff Bryant Report: How Budget Austerity Puts Public School Parents On Par With Criminals
THIS WEEK: School Costs Rise … Voucher Black Hole… Trump And Teen Pregnancy … Charter School Warning … Republicans And Rape
TOP STORY
How Budget Austerity Puts Public School Parents On Par With Criminals
By Jeff Bryant
“In a budget environment of forced scarcity, there are increasingly strong demarcations between winners and losers, and parents who plan on sending children to free public schools are increasingly losers … To pay for the costs of crime, under-funded local governments are increasing fines and fees associated with the criminal justice system … As it is for the accused in the criminal justice system, parents in local schools are having to bear more of the burden of education costs.”
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NEWS AND VIEWS
Backpack Index: The Cost Of School Supplies Nearly Doubled In 10 Years
NBC
“In the last decade, the price of supplies and extracurricular activities increased by 88% for elementary school students, 81% for middle school students and 68% for high school students, according … an annual survey of the cost of school supplies and other expenses … The Backpack Index was just shy of $1,500 for high schoolers last year, the most recent year available. It was $1,001 for middle schoolers and $662 for elementary schoolers … If a high school student plays more than one sport, that’ll incur up to $375 in fees.”
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Trump Wants To Spend Millions More On School Vouchers. But What’s Happened To The Millions Already Spent?
The Washington Post
“Congress dedicates $15 million a year to a program that helps low-income D.C. students pay tuition at private schools, but it’s impossible for taxpayers to find out where their money goes: The administrator of the D.C. voucher program refuses to say how many students attend each school or how many public dollars they receive … It’s also not clear how students are performing in each school … And private schools can continue receiving voucher dollars no matter how poorly their students fare.”
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Trump Administration Abruptly Cuts Off Teen Pregnancy Prevention Funding
Education Week
“The Trump administration has cut off grants that fund teen pregnancy prevention programs and research their effectiveness … Leaders at the Department of Health and Human Services … have publicly favored an abstinence-based approach to sex education … The 5-year grants … go to 81 organizations around the country … Congress had approved $101 million for the third year of the grants … Births to American teenagers have continued a pattern of decline, dropping 40% in the last decade.”
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Ohio’s Online Charter Scandal Is A Warning To The Nation
The Progressive
“With Betsy DeVos, a long-committed charter school proponent, in charge of the U.S. Department of Education, the country should look to recent goings-on in Ohio as a warning sign … In the 2015-2016 school year, [Ohio’s online charter school] was paid $106 million in public tax dollars for the more than 15,000 students it said were enrolled, but the state was able to verify the active participation of only 6,300 students … As lawmakers sort out ways to effectively address the political cronyism behind these schools, what should be abundantly clear to the state and the nation is that continuing to expand charters will only worsen the problem.”
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Republicans And Campus Rape: The Department of Education’s Bizarre Christian-Right Tilt Is No Accident
Salon
Amanda Marcotte writes, “When it comes to the issue of sexual assault on campus, the inclination of [Betsy] DeVos and her Bible-hugging staff members is to minimize, excuse, and blame the victims. It’s a reminder that the Christian right’s emphasis on policing sexuality is almost entirely about punishing and controlling women and LGBT people. Holding men accountable for abusive behavior comes second, if at all, to punishing women for being sexual or living independent lives … When it comes to the issue of sexual assault on campus, the inclination of DeVos and her Bible-hugging staff members is to minimize, excuse and blame the victims. It’s a reminder that the Christian right’s emphasis on policing sexuality is almost entirely about punishing and controlling women and LGBT people. Holding men accountable for abusive behavior comes second, if at all, to punishing women for being sexual or living independent lives.”
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7/20/2017 – How Budget Austerity Puts Public School Parents On Par With Criminals:Read more …
