Beyond DeVos, What 5 Key Trump Appointees Could Mean For Schools : NPR Ed : NPR

Beyond DeVos, What 5 Key Trump Appointees Could Mean For Schools : NPR Ed : NPR:

Beyond DeVos, What 5 Key Trump Appointees Could Mean For Schools

l-r: Ryan Zinke, the nominee for Interior secretary; Attorney General Jeff Sessions; Judge Neil Gorsuch, Supreme Court nominee; Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price.

Getty Images/NPR

The action in the U.S. school system is overwhelmingly local. But the federal government, and the courts, have an important hand in many issues that touch classrooms — from civil rights to international programs of study. We looked at the records of some of President Trump's key appointees to see how they might affect education in the years to come.

Jeff Sessions, Attorney General (confirmed)

In his first two days in office, Attorney General Sessions appeared to reverse course on the previous administration's pursuit of transgender student protections under Title IX, which bans sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding.

According to the Washington Blade, his office withdrew a motion for a partial stay of a Texas court ruling from last summer, and moved to cancel oral arguments that were scheduled for Feb. 14. The Texas court had prohibited the Obama administration from enforcing guidance on the treatment of transgender students, such as allowing students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of their preference.

When voting against the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009, Sessions stated, "Today, I'm not sure women or people with different sexual orientations face that kind of discrimination. I just don't see it."

The Department of Justice is charged in certain circumstances with enforcing prohibitions on discrimination in schools and universities. For example, DOJ has historically filed "consent decrees," detailed agreements on how to desegregate school systems.

As The Atlantic reported, civil rights groups are expressing concern that this enforcement could be curtailed under Sessions' Department of Justice, and that the Department of Education's own Office for Civil Rights could be downsized or merged with DOJ.

To take an example, under the Obama administration OCR investigated more than 200 higher education institutions on sexual assault. If Sessions does take over the OCR, then the future of those open investigations would be uncertain.

Finally, Sessions' Senate record is of a hard-liner on immigration. This worries the many students who fall under President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, policy.

Neil Gorsuch, Supreme Court (nominated)

Judge Gorsuch has been involved in several rulings that touch on various areas of education, including school discipline and student rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA.

Last year, he dissented from a circuit panel ruling in A.M. v. Holmes, a case where a New Mexico seventh-grader was handcuffed for disrupting class, as Education Week reported.

The majority ruled that the school police officer was immune from liability. "[A]ny reasonable officer," should know, wrote Gorsuch in the dissent, "that arresting a now compliant class clown for burping was going a step too far."

In another case involving school discipline, Hawker v. Sandy City Corp, where an officer twisted a 9-year-old's hand in a "control hold," pushed him against a wall and handcuffed him, Gorsuch joined the majority ruling that no excessive force was used.

Gorsuch's opinions in three different cases all tended toward limiting the responsibilities of school districts toward students with autism and other conditions — for example, if they leave school of their own accord out of frustration. IDEA's standard of a "free appropriate public education," reads Gorsuch's opinion in one of these cases, "is not an onerous one."

Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State (confirmed)

The State Department might not seem that involved in education at first glance, but Beyond DeVos, What 5 Key Trump Appointees Could Mean For Schools : NPR Ed : NPR:

DeVos: Critics want to ‘make my life a living hell’ - The Washington Post

DeVos: Critics want to ‘make my life a living hell’ - The Washington Post:

DeVos: Critics want to ‘make my life a living hell’

In her first full week as U.S. education secretary, Betsy DeVos wasted no time in getting to work to try to explain her vision for education and the U.S. Education Department — and to go after her critics, saying they want to make her life “a living hell.” She also said she has identified people in the department who want her to fail, but vowed not to let them.

Her nomination by President Trump sparked an unprecedented backlash, and she was confirmed on Feb. 7 in the Senate only after Vice President Pence cast the first-ever vote to break a tie for a Cabinet nominee. Her backers see her as a champion of school choice and alternatives to traditional public schools, while opponents say her decades of advocacy work show that she wants to privatize the public education system.

She was met with protests at the first D.C. public school she visited as education secretary, and the San Diego Board of Education decided not to vote on a resolution to invite her to visit the city’s public schools.

[San Diego school board pulls resolution inviting Education Secretary DeVos to visit]

In a speech and several interviews, DeVos made clear that she is planning to push the expansion of school choice — charter schools, voucher programs and other alternatives to traditional public schools.

In an interview with Axios, excerpts of which were published on Feb. 17, she said:

“I expect there will be more public charter schools. I expect there will be more private schools. I expect there will be more virtual schools. I expect there will be 

DeVos: Critics want to ‘make my life a living hell’ - The Washington Post:

The Government's "Energy Kids" Website Has Scrubbed Climate Warnings - The Atlantic

The Government's "Energy Kids" Website Has Scrubbed Climate Warnings - The Atlantic:

A Government Website for Kids Scrubbed Its Climate Warnings
In recent weeks, “Energy Kids” has reworked and cut information about fossil fuels’ environmental impacts.

Almost 20 years ago, the U.S. Energy Information Administration had an idea: Make an educational website for children about energy sources and the science behind them.

In short order, the EIA created “Energy Kids,” which now features energy-themed Sudoku and crossword puzzles, colorful pie charts, and a know-it-all mascot called Energy Ant. Images of a school bus parked between a coal plant and an oil rig adorn the bottom of the web page, along with drawings of wind turbines, solar panels, and an energy-efficient lightbulb.

 During the Obama administration, Energy Kids even won multiple international awards for its content and design, as well as one from a digital publishing company that hailed it as “the best of the best in open and engaging government.”

The Trump administration, it seems, wasn’t altogether impressed with the site or its awards. In recent weeks, language on the website describing the environmental impacts of energy sources has been reworked, and two pie charts concerning the link between coal and greenhouse gas emissions have been removed altogether.

On a page dedicated to coal, the following sentences were deleted: “In the United States, most of the coal consumed is used as a fuel to generate electricity. Burning coal produces emissions that adversely affect the environment and human health.”

The two pie charts that were axed showed that although coal generated only 42 percent of total U.S. electricity in 2014, it created 76 percent of total carbon-dioxide emissions linked to electricity generation.

“Impact” seems to have been a word the new administration disliked in particular.

The sentence “Reuse and recycling can also reduce coal’s environmental impact” was changed to “Reuse and recycling can also reduce the environmental effects of coal production and use.” “Underground mines have less of an impact on the environment compared to surface mines” became “Underground mines generally have a lesser effect on the landscape compared to surface mines.” “Impacts of coal mining” was changed to “Effects of coal mining,” and “Reducing the environmental impacts of coal use” became “Reducing the environmental effects of coal use.”

In a section on oil, the sentence, “There are environmental concerns associated with hydraulic fracturing” became “Hydraulic fracturing has some effects on the environment.”

On a separate kids’ page for greenhouse gases, a paragraph detailing the U.S. share of global carbon-dioxide emissions was also deleted:

“The United States, with 4 percent of the world’s population, produced about 17 percent of global carbon-dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels in 2011, the The Government's "Energy Kids" Website Has Scrubbed Climate Warnings - The Atlantic:

House Education Committee Staffers Get New Power This Congress - Politics K-12 - Education Week

House Education Committee Staffers Get New Power This Congress - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

House Education Committee Staffers Get New Power This Congress

The new session of Congress means new rules. Amid the turnover accompanying the 115th Congress, you might have missed changes to staff investigative authority that affects the Education and Workforce Committee in the House of Representatives. Just how, and whether, the education panel chooses to use it remains to be seen.

Here's a quick overview of these shifts to what's known as Staff Deposition Authority, as Bloomberg reported last month: In the new session of Congress, majority staff members on the education committee and all other House committees except two (the committees on rules and administration) will have the power to...House Education Committee Staffers Get New Power This Congress - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

Who Stays? Who Moves? Who Leaves? Teacher Preparation, Teacher Induction and Teacher Quality | Ed In The Apple

Who Stays? Who Moves? Who Leaves? Teacher Preparation, Teacher Induction and Teacher Quality | Ed In The Apple:

Who Stays? Who Moves? Who Leaves? Teacher Preparation, Teacher Induction and Teacher Quality

Rick Hanuchek and Hank Levin, friends since the sixties, are education economists with hundreds of books and articles bearing their names, and, also, have starkly differing views on education and our economy. On Wednesday night it was a delight to listen to the debate, “Can we put a Price on Student Achievement?: Financial Returns for Academic Success,” at the Roosevelt House. (I’ll post the video of the evening as soon as it is posted). Hanushek painted a disturbing picture, compared to other nations the USA education system is not doing well. Using NAEP and PISA data we’re below the middle of the pack, and New York State is also below the midpoint line. For New York State it is especially disturbing since per capita spending is second highest in the nation. Hanuchek sees only one solution: increasing teacher quality, and, the only path is substantial salary increases for high VAM teachers and firing low VAM teachers. Hanachek’s model converts NAEP and PISA score increases into economic growth over extended periods of time and translates academic gains into economic growth and trillions of dollars. Well beyond my statistical skills!

Levin doesn’t dispute Hanuchek’s data; however, he looks at per capita GDP by nation, and, asks, since the USA is at the top of the OECD nations, what are we doing right?  His answer is that non-cognitive factors may, excuse the expression, trump test scores. See an excellent discussion of the impact of non-cognitive skills on the labor market here  Levin also questions the use of VAM scores, they are only meaningful over extended periods of time, although, he agrees, teacher quality is always important.

In the question period I asked whether other indicators, such as reducing teenage Who Stays? Who Moves? Who Leaves? Teacher Preparation, Teacher Induction and Teacher Quality | Ed In The Apple:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: TUNE IN THIS MORNING

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: TUNE IN THIS MORNING:

TUNE IN THIS MORNING

The Klonsky brothers are back on the air this morning at 11 (CST), live and streaming on Lumpen Radio, WLPN 105.5 FM from Bridgeport (the Daley's old hood) on the south side of Chicago.

We’re trying to stay profanity-free, according to FCC regs this morning, so I’ll try and refrain from using the word “PUZDER” while we talk education, politics, education, and social justice, and whatever else is whirling around the Trumpisphere.

You can tweet your comments or questions using hashtag #HittingLeft17 and we'll try and read them on the air.

Our in-studio guest this morning is distinguished scholar, prolific author, and long time radical political activist, Dr. William Ayers. Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: TUNE IN THIS MORNING:

Lacking Checks and Balances, Government Brings Us a Tragicomic Mess | janresseger

Lacking Checks and Balances, Government Brings Us a Tragicomic Mess | janresseger:

Lacking Checks and Balances, Government Brings Us a Tragicomic Mess

Today’s post is a lesson in basic civics.

When one party reigns supreme, as it does these days in the majority of  states and the federal government—when one party dominates the executive branch and the legislative branch—government leaders do pretty much whatever they want. They pass dangerous legislation and they pass outrageously trivial and sometimes noxious legislation. Even if you disagree and use all the avenues citizens are given to participate in our supposedly participatory democracy, your opinions may be completely ignored.

There are some lessons here—about the importance of courageous stances taken by legislators in the minority—about powerful voices in the community who help change and shift the debate—and about the need for the press to make sure the public is aware of the implications of the actions taken and to make sure everybody votes in the next election.

Ohio is a one party, super-majority Republican state.  I’ll demonstrate the importance of the three lessons with examples from Ohio just in this past week, but remember that the lessons very probably apply in your state and certainly to what is happening at the federal level.

Let’s begin with the lesson on the need for the press (and even bloggers) to make sure the public is informed about the implications of the actions taken. In a Valentine for school teachers, Ohio Governor John Kasich included in his state budget a requirement that to renew their teaching licenses, teachers will have to complete an externship with a business or local chamber of commerce. Here is Jackie Borchardt of the Cleveland Plain Dealer explaining the reasoning behind Kasich’s proposal: “The idea is the latest in Kasich’s push to better connect schools with their local business communities.  Requiring externships for license renewal was one of several recommendations made late last year by Kasich’s Executive Workforce Board.”

The response of teachers’ organizations to this ridiculous proposal has been muted. After all, teachers cannot afford to make themselves seem to want to be disconnected from their Lacking Checks and Balances, Government Brings Us a Tragicomic Mess | janresseger:

CURMUDGUCATION: IOWA: Gutting Unions + Performance Pay Bombs Across the Pond

CURMUDGUCATION: IOWA: Gutting Unions:

IOWA: Gutting Unions

The Iowa House and Senate have voted to gut the public service unions of their state.

Under the new bill, Iowa's public service unions (that, of course, includes teachers) may not negotiate anything but wages. Health care, evaluation procedures, and other language items may not be part of contract negotiations. And should those wage negotiations stall, the arbitrator must consider management's ability to pay and may not raise wages beyond either a 3% cap or the cost of living index-- whichever is lower. Which means, of course, that local school boards and other management groups don't actually have to negotiate at all.

The bill also kills the automatic deduction for union dues and requires the union to be recertified before every new contract negotiation.

In short, this bill is aimed directly at busting unions in the state.

The bill was supported only by the GOP (a handful of GOP reps defected to vote against it), and it appeared magically from behind closed doors, like Venus rising from a lily pad, just ten days ago. GOP lawmakers didn't run on a promise to bust unions, there were no big public demonstrations or even spirited calls from friendly astro-turf groups. The GOP won't even identify supporters or sponsors of the bill. The GOP just decided to bust them some unions. Opponents have asserted that this is an ALEC bill, and the whole process certainly smells like ALEC at work, but truthfully, at this point there's no smoking gun-- just assertions. Still, if it walks like an ALEC fat cat, and talks like an ALEC fat cat, it's hard not to conclude it's another ALEC fat cat. 

The justifications have been spectacularly lame:

“This bill, I believe heart and soul, is a win for all Iowans and the delivery of a promise from Republicans that we would reform governments to make it more efficient for the people for Iowa,” CURMUDGUCATION: IOWA: Gutting Unions:

CURMUDGUCATION: Performance Pay Bombs Across the Pond:

Performance Pay Bombs Across the Pond

I don't know if this will make you feel better or make you feel worse, but our nation is not the only one caught in the throes of bad education reform.

The UK has a performance pay system in which teachers get an increase of pay based on their job performance. Well, if there's money to pay for a raise. Well, if the raise is within the cap of 1% (aka "not enough to keep up with inflation").
  

The UK put this system in place four years ago, incorporating many reformy favorites wrapped in a thick helping of baloney. Said education secretary, Michael Gove:

"I am clear that these changes will give schools greater freedom to develop pay policies that are tailored to their school's needs and circumstances and to reward their teachers in line with their performance." There was, he added, "further work to be done" in deciding the best way to implement the recommendations.

Other supporters laud the system's "flexibility," which as usual appears to mean "the freedom to avoid paying teachers very much money."

Recently a joint survey of 13,000 teachers by the National Union of Teachers and Association of Teachers and Lecturers has suggested that mostly the system just beats teachers down. The UK includes its fair share of members of the Cult of Testing (after all, we're talking about the home of Pearson), but the system also seems to include a healthy slice of bias-- your school's "head teacher" can give you a raise based on whatever they feel like basing it on. It could be worse-- Catholic schools in the UK will also judge their teachers on their spiritual performance. Yikes.

In 2016, according to the survey, one in five teachers received no raise (the Brits actually call it a rise). The system has created a great emphasis on more time-wasting paperwork (because you can't CURMUDGUCATION: Performance Pay Bombs Across the Pond:

The Trump/DeVos Privatization Agenda Begins to Take Shape - Network For Public Education

The Trump/DeVos Privatization Agenda Begins to Take Shape - Network For Public Education:

The Trump/DeVos Privatization Agenda Begins to Take Shape

The new administration’s attack on public education has begun, and we need you to take action today to stop it.

In late January, HR 610 was introduced by Steve King of Iowa, with representatives from Maryland, Texas and Arizona signing on.

You can read a summary of the bill here. HR 610, the School Choice Act, would eliminate the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, which was passed as a part of  Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty.”  Federal funds would be used instead to create “block grants” to be used to “distribute a portion of funds to parents who elect to enroll their child in a private school or to home-school their child.” It would also roll back nutritional standards for free lunches for poor children.

But that is not all.

On Tuesday, Betsy DeVos and Donald Trump gathered together parents and teachers to talk about their education agenda. Who was invited (and who was not) is telling.

Of the ten attendees, one was a public school teacher and one was a principal of a public school that specializes in special education. There was one public school parent who also had children in private school.  The rest of the group were homeschoolers, charter school parents or private school representatives.

During the meeting, Trump praised what he referred to as a “Nevada charter school” that he had visited.  The school is actually a religious school which regularly excludes students with disabilities.  You can watch a video of the children pledging allegiance to the bible for Mr. Trump by clicking here.

It is very clear that bills like HR 610, which would provide vouchers to private and religious schools, would be supported by both the U.S. Department of Education and the White House. In fact, it would appear that every alternative to democratically controlled public schools will be favored, while a clear bias against public schools will exist.

Send an email today to your Representatives that says, “Do not sign on to or support HR 610.” We make it easy to do. Just click here.

We need to send a clear message that we cannot afford, nor do we support, private and religious school vouchers. We do not want our public schools defunded as private schools, religious schools, charters and online for-profits are pushed.

Make no mistake. That is clearly Trump’s intention. Watch him declare his support for school choice during a speech he gave during his visit to the Christian school in Las Vegas. You can watch it here.

Send an email today to your Representative that says, “Do not sign on to or support HR 610.”  Send your email by clicking here.

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Grassroots Groups Fight School Privatization

As we fight to save our democratically governed public schools, it is important that we learn from each other and support each other’s efforts. The Network for Public Education began a Grassroots Network so that groups all across the nation can do just that.

Go here to find a group in your area. If there is none, start one and then tell us about it so that we can support your efforts and connect you with other like-minded groups.

In keeping with our commitment to support such efforts, the Network for Public Education is participating in a Journey for Justice sponsored campaign, #WeChoose, that fights school privatization and supports equitable community schools.

Read more about that campaign here.

NPE has also endorsed the The People’s March for Educational Justice sponsored by New York’s Alliance for Quality Education’s (AQE) on March 4. You can learn more about that march here.

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The Network for Public Education Welcomes Michael Matsuda to its Board of Directors

The Network for Public Education is delighted to announce that Anaheim High School District Superintendent, Mike Matsuda, has joined its Board of Directors. In February of 2016, Mike was recognized by Education Week as a Leader to Learn From, for his extraordinary work in English language learner education.

Mike, whose own parents were detained in an internment camp in Arizona during World War II, has a special sensitivity to students who are immigrants or perceived to be “outsiders.”

A fierce advocate of public schools, he has fought against the predatory practices of the EPIC online charter schools in his district, while leading a strong campaign to increase community involvement in the Anaheim Public Schools. Mike is tireless in his efforts to bring a strong, challenging curriculum that emphasizes literacy and non-cognitive skills including, compassion, service, and cultural understanding to the students of his district.

Mike believes that we must model public schools as incubators of democracy through civic engagement and inclusive decision making involving all stakeholders, especially parents.

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Thank you for responding to our survey!

Over 7,400 of our over 300,000 members responded to our survey. We asked you what your foremost concerns are and this is what you told us:

Also high on your list of concerns were student support services, charter schools, and school segregation. You told us that you want more Action Alerts and to be better connected with public school advocates in your area. We will do our best to meet your expectations.

36% of you are pre-K-12 educators, and 64% either work in other professions or are retired. 37.5% of the respondents have children in school, nearly all of whom attend public schools.

Thank you again for participating and for all of your advocacy for our public schools. Our public schools are the pillar of our democracy and they must be preserved.

Thank you for all you do,

Carol Burris

Executive Director Network for Public Education

The Trump/DeVos Privatization Agenda Begins to Take Shape - Network For Public Education:

School Choice: Philanthropy or Predatory Capitalism by Cheryl Binkley - Badass Teachers Association

Badass Teachers Association: School Choice: Philanthropy or Predatory Capitalism by Cheryl Binkley:

School Choice: Philanthropy or Predatory Capitalism by Cheryl Binkley

Originally posted at: http://3rdmillenniumteacher.blogspot.com/2017/02/school-choice-philanthropy-or-predatory.html

Betsy DeVos, Bill and Melinda Gates, Alice Walton, Eli Broad, the Koch brothers and other billionaires each have the money to endow Many schools. Yet, they have been spending vast sums of money to dictate the structure of public schools and how communities run them.

If what they wanted was to provide educational opportunities, they could have created their own string of free schools in key locations -- based on their own fortunes, not tax dollars. Their endowed schools could have been the laboratories for innovation they claim to want. Their endowments could have offered free education to those students they claim to want to save. Their added money could have improved the economies of the poor communities they claim to want to help.

None of them have done so. Instead they have spent billions of dollars creating thinly veiled PR firms to malign public schools and purchasing public officials, all in an attempt to lay claim to tax dollars others have paid. Instead of paying tax dollars that could fund those public schools they so viciously criticize, they have tried to take the tax dollars working people pay to educate the community's children.

This latest push for "School Choice" is just another round in their ongoing fight to access other Badass Teachers Association: School Choice: Philanthropy or Predatory Capitalism by Cheryl Binkley:

Education Lessons From A Sparkly District: The End of Special Education Part VI: AZ Parents, Heads Up!

Education Lessons From A Sparkly District: The End of Special Education Part VI: AZ Parents, Heads Up!:

The End of Special Education Part VI: AZ Parents, Heads Up!

There are generally too many stupid education and special education stories these days to comment on them all, but this one is worthy of everyone's attention. My "The End of Special Education" series has gained a lot of attention since Betsy DeVos' confirmation hearing, so I'm taking it up again. 

Arizona lawmakers want to do away with specially certified teachers for students with disabilities. You can read the article from the Phoenix New Times here. You can read the full text of the Arizona Senate Bill 1317 here. 

The offending language, changing the law to allow non-special education certified teachers is:

INCLUDES INSTRUCTION THAT IS DELIVERED BY ANY PERSON WHO IS CERTIFICATED PURSUANT TO SECTION 15‑203 AND WHO IS DETERMINED BY A PUPIL'S INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PROGRAM TEAM TO BE AN APPROPRIATE PROVIDER BASED ON THE PUPIL'S INDIVIDUALIZED NEEDS.

Arizona lawmakers are giddy over this, however, IDEA (y'know, that pesky disabilities in education civil rights law the SecEd never heard of) clearly states that a teacher must be specially certified to teach students with disabilities. The federal law states (emphasis mine):

SEC. 612. [20 U.S.C. 1412] STATE ELIGIBILITY. 

(a) (14) PERSONNEL QUALIFICATIONS.— 

C) QUALIFICATIONS FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS.—The qualifications described in subparagraph (A) shall ensure that each person employed as a special education teacher in the State who teaches elementary school, middle school, or secondary school— 

(i) has obtained full State certification as a special education teacher (including participating in an alternate route to certification as a special educator, if such alternate route meets minimum requirements described in section 2005.56(a)(2)(ii) of title 34, Code of Federal Regulations, as such section was in effect on November 28, 2008), orpassed the State special education teacher licensing examination, and holds a license to teach in the State as a special education teacher, except with respect to any teacher teaching in a public charter school who shall meet the requirements set forth in the State’s public charter school law; 

(ii) has not had special education certification or licensure requirements waived on an emergency, temporary, or provisional basis; and 

(iii) holds at least a bachelor’s degree..

(D) POLICY.—In implementing this section, a State shall adopt a policy thatEducation Lessons From A Sparkly District: The End of Special Education Part VI: AZ Parents, Heads Up!: 

America’s Founding Fathers Were Against School Choice | gadflyonthewallblog

America’s Founding Fathers Were Against School Choice | gadflyonthewallblog:

America’s Founding Fathers Were Against School Choice

One of the founding principles of the United States is public education.

We fought a bloody revolution against England for many reasons, but chief among them was to create a society where all people could be educated.

Certainly we had disagreements about who counted as a person. Women? Probably not. Black people? Doubtful. But the ideal of providing a quality education for all was a central part of our fledgling Democracy regardless of how well we actually lived up to it.

In fact, without it, our system of self-government just wouldn’t work. A functioning Democracy, it was thought, couldn’t exist in a nation where the common person was ignorant. We needed everyone to be knowledgeable and enlightened.

That’s why we have public schools – so that an educated citizenry will lead to a good government.

Our founders didn’t want a system of private schools each teaching students various things about the world coloring their minds with religious dogma. They didn’t want a system of schools run like businesses that were only concerned with pumping out students to be good cogs in the machinery of the marketplace.

No. They wanted one public system created for the good of all, paid for at public expense, and democratically governed by the taxpayers, themselves.

Don’t believe me?

Just look at what the founders, themselves, had to say about it.

More than any other fathers of the Revolution, Thomas Jefferson preached the Gospel of education and its necessity for free governance.

As he wrote in a letter to Dr. Price (1789), “Whenever the people are well-informed, America’s Founding Fathers Were Against School Choice | gadflyonthewallblog: