I was at the debate for Superintendent of PUBLIC INSTRUCTION last night. Our current Superintendent, Democrat Denise Juneau,and her challenger Republican Sandy Welch, talked about school funding as if the money belonged to the state or the state bureaucracy, or money to be coveted and controlled and spent by the "alphabet soup"- all the school funding lobbyists, MTSBA (Montana school boards association), MASBA (Montana Association of State Business Associates),MREA (Montana Rural Educators Association),MEAFT ( Montana Education Association and Federation of Teachers)- I'm sure I missed someone- all these organizations think school funding belongs to THEM!!What happened to the kids this money is for? This money is not for jobs- it's for INSTRUCTION!! It does not belong to the state or any other organization, it belongs to the PUBLIC for the INSTRUCTION OF THEIR STUDENTS!! OPI is NOT the office of public schools Denise!! OPI is the office of public INSTRUCTION!!
Even our Republican candidate said that vouchers would be a "Free for all"- seriously? People controlling their own money for their own students is a "Free for all"? Maybe the operative word here is FREE- FREE from bureaucrats, FREE from unions and associations, FREE from power players. FREE as in FREEDOM. Think of the money that would be saved and the waste that would not happen. Money direct to schools of the parents CHOICE. Competition and accountability that would be driven by parent choice without going through the hands of thousands of programs and red tape from Washington.Can you explain to me why FREEDOM is a bad idea?
The polite way of saying someone lied is to say they were mendacious- well then, our Montana Superintendent of Public INSTRUCTION (not public schools!!),Denise Juneau, is being mendacious when she slanders all charter schools saying they are all failures. She didn't do the research and she didn't care- her idea of school choice is public school Montessori and the public school Project for Alternative Learning where they spend their days playing Mahjong!! Even one of her "alphabet soup" organizations CSSC (Council of State School Chiefs)admits that the KIPP Academies- charter schools across the nation- are the highest academic achieving schools out there. This is according to Christopher Lohse from that organization speaking to the HEF (Helena Education Foundation).Thank goodness for the internet- just being "mendacious" doesn't cut it anymore Denise- we are paying attention!!
The answer to my question in the title of this blog is that the money belongs to YOU and if you have children in school- the children belong to YOU also.YOU need to tell the EXPERTS (expert at spending your money and raking a little- or more likely- a lot off for themselves) that this public money is YOUR money and it is for YOUR children's education and YOU will decide what education YOU think is best for YOUR child. Thanks for your help guys but this game is over- we'll take our money and you can go home and do whatever it is you do when you're not chasing money.
Nobody cares more about a child than his parent. We have to get parents back in the loop. Denise Juneau even thinks that the only place a kid can get "a warm meal and a hug" is at school.
ReplyDeleteIf we allow the government to keep replacing every parenting function (breakfast, lunch, dinner, supplies, backpacks, values, activities, etc.), the family will be totally destroyed.