Tag Archives: school choice

Funding Homeschools

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Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D

School choice has become an increasingly important issue as parents observe the overall unacceptable academic performance of public schools and the exposure of their children to socialist indoctrination inconsistent with their values. School choice includes public, charter, private, and homeschools. Most clear thinking people applaud school choice and recognize that competition in any endeavor leads to improved performance. It is also important to recognize that parents, like the rest of us, pay the taxes that support public schools that have been a monopoly.

In 2023, the General Assembly expanded the existing Opportunity Scholarship Program that allows parents to apply for funds to support attending private schools. This revision expanded the income eligibility requirement by raising the income limit. That is the good news. The bad news is that they did not include homeschools in the Opportunity Scholarship Program. Having homeschooled my youngest daughter, I am fully aware of the significant personal and financial sacrifice that parents make when homeschooling their children. The General Assembly needs to correct this error by making parents of homeschoolers eligible for this scholarship program. In truth, the solution is simple: the money should follow the student.

It is my understanding that some homeschooling parents are reluctant to accept government taxpayer’s money for fear that the government will impose restrictions and regulations on how they conduct their homeschools. This is a valid concern since that government almost always tries to exert control anytime they issue funds. However, we should not throw out the baby with the bath water. The law adding homeschools to the Opportunity Scholarship Program must be written in a way that preserves the independence of the homeschools In addition, homeschooling parents should always have the right to decline to accept a scholarship.

One final concern is the whole idea of an income limit that is part of the Opportunity Scholarship Program. When I was a senior in high school, I was awarded a N.Y. state four year college scholarship. It was awarded, not on the basis of my parent’s income, but rather based on the results of a standardized test. That was an example of meritocracy, where the scholarship was awarded based on achievement. We have come a long way in the wrong direction. The idea of awarding scholarship funds based on income is the Marxist idea of taking from the higher income people and giving to the lower income people. I truly wish that our conservative Republican legislators would see this for what it is and do away with the lower income requirement. The country would be much better off. We need to stop the slide towards Marxism before it is too late.

Hope For Education In Texas

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On Sunday, Just the News reported that the Texas Senate has passed two education bills that will increase funding for public education and expand school choice.

The problem in public education is not entirely due to funding. In 2013, AEI posted the following graph:

As someone who graduated from high school as part of the largest high school graduation class in American history, I understand the need for buildings, teachers, and administrators. I went to three different junior high schools as the community was building schools to accommodate the baby boomers as they went through high school. I was part of the first high school class in my high school to graduate on single sessions in a long time, and even at that, there were almost 1,000 students in my graduating class. However, we are no longer seeing the student population growth that we saw in the 1960’s. I am all in favor of keeping the number of teachers high–smaller classes are a good thing, but it is time that we took a serious look at cutting the number of administrators.

Just the News reports:

SB 1 creates education savings accounts of up to $8,000 per student and gives Texas families “the power to determine the best school for their child, with their tax dollars,” Creighton (Senator Brandon Creighton) explains.

Creighton said on the Senate floor ahead of the vote that, “Senate Bill 1 is not merely legislation, it’s a pledge to Texas parents, a testament to our trust in their decision-making capabilities and investment in the dreams of our young Texans respecting their individual specific education needs.”

After more than eight hours of debate, the Senate passed SB 1 by a vote of 18-13. Sen. Robert Nichols, R–Jacksonville, was the sole Republican to vote against it.

The bill heads to the House Education Opportunity & Enrichment Committee.

SB 2 allocates record funding for public school education, including increasing the basic allotment for per-student funding and giving raises to teachers across the board.

It passed nearly unanimously by a vote of 30-1. It was received in the House but has not yet been assigned to a committee.

Let’s free education in America!

Removed For Telling The Truth

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The truth is not always pretty, and sometimes telling the truth will get you in trouble. On Thursday, WUNC posted an article reporting that Representatives Keith Kidwell and Jeff McNeely have resigned their leadership roles in the North Carolina legislature after the GOP leadership team asked them to step down.

The article reports:

During a May 17 debate on legislation to dramatically expand the state’s private-school voucher system, McNeely asked Democratic Rep. Abe Jones, a former trial judge, about attending Harvard University and Harvard law school.

McNeely asked Jones whether he would “have been able to maybe achieve this if you were not an athlete or a minority or any of these things, but you were a student trapped” in a low-performing school.

House Minority Leader Robert Reives complained at once about the question. Speaker Tim Moore cut off McNeely, who later apologized to Jones, saying it “did not come out right.”

The night before, during another tense debate on whether to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of a bill banning most abortions after 12 weeks, Democratic Rep. Diamond Staton-Williams discussed growing up attending church and how it influenced her views.

WRAL-TV reported that a station’s reporter sitting on the floor overheard Kidwell making an aside that Staton-Williams must have meant the church of Satan.

Representative McNeely asked a valid question. Harvard has been taken to court because of admission policies that discriminate against white American and Chinese students. Regardless of the phrasing, it was a good question. As for Keith Kidwell, a non-public statement was used to remove someone who is something of a thorn in the side to all of the wishy-washy Republicans who inhabit the North Carolina legislature. It should also be noted that the Bible makes it pretty clear that abortion or killing babies is not acceptable to God.

Proverbs 6:16-19 ESV / states:

There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

I think that’s pretty clear.

I would like to remind the North Carolina Republicans that when a squirrel stays in the middle of the road, it usually gets run over. There are many Republican voters who are at the point where they will leave a blank space on their ballot rather than vote for a Republican who is a “Democrat lite.”

A Practical Way To Institute School Choice

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On Sunday, The Daily Caller posted an article about a program proposed in Oklahoma to provide school choice in a way that does not penalize public schools, but allows parents control of their child’s education.

The article reports:

While conventional school choice programs typically involve vouchers administered by the state, Oklahoma is set to create a tax credit-based initiative to fund education outside the public school system.

The state’s school choice program, which would create a refundable tax credit program for all families that can be used on homeschooling and private education expenses, is tied to legislation that would increase funding for public schools and give teachers a pay raise and create a refundable tax credit, Oklahoma officials told the DCNF. The bills passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives on Wednesday in 75 to 25 and 78 to 23 votes, sending the legislation to the state Senate where it is expected to pass.

“What we did was we give a $5,000 tax credit, but it’s refundable,” Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “In other words, you can get $5,000 to move and go to a school of your choice. That’s the great thing about it is now we’re funding students, not necessarily the system or the zip code where you happen to live. It’s gonna allow you to be more flexible with where the kids go and have the dollars follow the kid whether it’s to a private school, another public school, it doesn’t really matter. That’s the exciting thing about it and there’s no income limits to it.”

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. It sounds like this bill will give parents the right to opt out of a school if they feel that their children are not learning the basic skills they need. It also gives parents a choice if they disagree with the values being taught at a particular school.

Defunding Public Schools

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On Wednesday, The Raleigh News & Observer reported that Arizona Governor Doug Ducey celebrated the law providing universal school vouchers passed by the Arizona legislature in June. Needless to say, the teachers’ union and parents who are unaware of what our schools are teaching are up in arms.

The article reports:

Ducey touted the signature bill he signed in July that gives all Arizona parents the ability to take state money that would go to their local public school and instead use it for private school tuition or other education costs. The governor had a ceremonial signing at a central Phoenix Christian school that already gets large benefits from the state’s tax credit donation programs and existing school voucher program. But he celebrated the new universal voucher expansion, which has been a key goal during his eight years in office. A similar law with enrollment caps that passed in 2017 was rejected by 2/3 of the state’s voters the following year, but Ducey did not stop his voucher expansion plans.

Keep in mind the political leanings of the source I am using.

The article concludes:

Lewis (Beth Lewis, executive director of Save Our Schools Arizona) and other public school advocates say vouchers take money from an already underfunded public school system, while proponents herald the program as letting parents choose the best education for their children. Lewis contends the new voucher law could take away more than the new school funding lawmakers added this year, which neared $1 billion in ongoing and one-time cash. Under the new law, an estimated 60,000 private students and about 38,000 being homeschooled would immediately be eligible to take up to $7,000 per year. Some of this currently get vouchers and many already get money from groups like School Tuition Organizations that funnel tax credits to students. All 1.1 million students who attend traditional district and charter schools would also qualify to leave their public schools and get money to go to private schools. About a third already qualify, but only about 12,000 students statewide now use the system.

There is no reason the public schools shouldn’t compete on an even playing field. For too long they have been top heavy and inefficient–not to mention the garbage they are teaching our children. Academic achievement has declined in recent years in America, and I believe that healthy competition will bring it back. If the public schools start actually teaching our children reading, writing, and arithmetic, the students may return. Until that happens, parents should not be forced to put their children in failing schools. Make public schools earn their students.

 

Fighting For Children’s Education

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Just the News is reporting today that Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has signed a bill allowing school choice for all Arizona school children.

The article reports:

In signing House Bill 2853 into law, all Arizona’s school-age children will be eligible for the Empowerment Scholarship Account. It’s a state-funded account that allows parents to spend money on tuition and other education expenses. Previously, the program was limited to disabled students, those in failing schools, and other specific circumstances.

…The program will now be available to more than 1.1 million students across the state. The average ESA spends $6,400, legislative analysts have previously estimated.

The bill also gives the Arizona Department of Education $2.2 million and allows for the hiring of 26 new workers to aid in administering the expanded program. The report also found that school choice programs nationwide saved taxpayers an average of $7,500 per student that participated.

House Majority Leader Ben Toma, R-Peoria, said education dollars shouldn’t be tied to one building.

“It was my privilege to sponsor the most expansive school choice law in the nation, opening Empowerment Scholarship Account eligibility to all school-age children without restriction,” Toma said. “In Arizona, we fund students, not systems, because we know one size does not fit all students.”

Goldwater Institute President and CEO Victor Riches said the program will benefit children with varying educational needs.

Obviously there is some pushback from those who like the indoctrination centers our public schools have become.

The article reports:

Save Our Schools Arizona announced on Wednesday that it would lead a push to get a veto initiative on the 2024 ballot that would scale back the program if successful.

“Stopping the privatization of Arizona’s public schools has been our mission for 5 years. Now, lawmakers have defied the will of AZ voters by attempting once more to pass universal ESA vouchers & dismantle public education – but we won’t let them win,” the organization said.

The nonprofit and others argue that school choice saps funding from public schools that receive tax dollars based on attendance.

If public schools were doing their job of successfully educating our children, there would be no flight from public schools. I believe that the flight from public schools is the result of parents seeing what their children were being taught during the Covid lockdowns. Because of what they saw being taught in the classroom, parents are looking for other educational options. Arizona is providing one.

Censorship Abounds

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This morning as I was doing my research for this blog, I came across the following article, “Ohio lawmakers propose school choice for all students” at the Washington Examiner. In the morning when I come across an article I think I would like to post on my blog, I copy the link and post it in the Right Wing Granny group on Facebook. Imagine my surprise when it didn’t post and Facebook told me it did not meet the community standards. Wow.

Here are some excerpts from the Washington Examiner article:

Two Ohio lawmakers want to give all Ohio students the option of school choice and create K-12 education competition, which they say would raise the level of public and private education throughout the state.

The Ohio Backpack Bill, originally introduced in May and updated with a sub-bill to House Bill 290 , would allow all parents to send their children to public school or establish an education savings account. The state would send the money earmarked for that student to the public school or into the parent’s account, allowing it to be used for private school tuition or other education expenses.

…The state sends money allocated for each student to the public school district. If a student qualifies for school choice through income-eligibility, the local public school district sends the money to private school.

“It’s about students and increasing the education opportunities for all. This bill seeks to find the right educational opportunity for each of the children in Ohio,” Rep. Riordan McClain, R-Upper Sandusky, said. “It creates a true money-follows-the-child program. Money goes to public school if parents want, and if a parent wants an educational scholarship account, then the state has to put that money in that account, which the parent can use for education expenses.”

The bill addresses only state education funding. Local public school districts still would collect local and federal money. The average state expense per student is $6,600, according to Christian Education Network Executive Director Troy McIntosh. The legislation would allocate $5,500 per K-9 student and $7,500 for 9-12 students.

“This is not a bill intended to benefit the kids that want to run off and attend a private school,” McIntosh said. “We want this bill to benefit every student in Ohio. An overwhelming majority of parents are realizing and asking for this sort of program.”

The state treasurer would oversee the program. Educations savings accounts could be used for private school tuition, homeschool expenses, tutoring, books and other educational expenses.

“This model is not new. This approach is gaining momentum in Ohio and nationwide,” McClain said. “We want to fund students not systems. When parents have options, they are more engaged. When schools compete for students, children’s outcomes rise.”

The article concludes:

Center for Christian Virtue President Aaron Baer said the bill would give parents recourse in districts similar to Upper Arlington, which recently created single-sex bathrooms, or others that imposed mask mandates.

I suspect the previous paragraph is what caused the problem on Facebook.

Voting For Your Own Demise

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Traditionally, black voters in America support the Democrat party. So what are they getting in return for their vote?

Yesterday The Blue State Conservative posted an article citing six ways that the Democrat party has hurt the black community.

This is the list:

#6: Lack of School Choice

#5: Lowered Educational Standards

#4: Disregard for Fathers

#3: Acceptance of High Crime Rates and Demonetization of Police

#2: Selling the Victim Mindset

#1: Promotion of the Welfare State

Please follow the link above for the details of this list. The article includes a lot of information about the impact of these policies.

In the article PF Whalen notes:

Around the same time that the last Republican mayor of Baltimore was leaving office in 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson was putting the finishing touches on his so-called ‘War on Poverty.’ Over fifty years later, and after having dumped trillions of federal tax dollars into programs such as welfare, food stamps, and public housing, poverty in America is virtually identical to what it was in 1967.

Johnson’s War on Poverty is one of the worst debacles and biggest failures in American history. Think of what could have been done with those trillions of dollars that could have actually helped Americans. Yet Democrats won’t acknowledge the failure, and instead choose to double-down. It seems like every other week President Biden is proposing trillions in new spending on some initiative or another, usually designed to achieve ‘equity.’ Biden’s spending won’t work, just like Barack Obama’s, Bill Clinton’s, Jimmy Carter’s and LBJ’s spending didn’t work. It’s only going to make matters worse.

The problem of course is that in order to escape poverty, one needs to take ownership of their own fortunes. The government isn’t going to get you out of poverty, only you will, and you will need to work hard in order to do so. Democrats recognize this reality but push forward anyway. Democrats need the poor to remain that way so they can continue to enjoy their power. When Americans are sucking from the government teat with all of its handouts, they are reliant upon government, and that is what Democrats crave. The government is the solution to all of your problems, so elect me and I’ll take care of you. It’s disgusting. 

The article concludes with the following Author’s Note:

After completing this piece, we realized that abortion had not made the list. It needs to, and so we want to mention that abortion is responsible for over 100,000 murders of unborn innocents each year and fully one-third of all abortions in the United States. In 2018 alone, over 117,000 black babies were murdered and since 1973 there have been more than 20 million murdered black babies in total. Society loses its mind when violent criminal thugs like George Floyd or Daunte Wright are killed during deadly interactions with police, but remains silent on issues like this. Black lives cannot matter until all black lives matter.

If you are part of the black vote that supports the Democrat party, you need to take a closer look at what you are supporting.

Things That Would Unite America

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Americans have a lot of political disagreements right now. We have some pretty wide divisions. However, there are some things that the majority of us agree on. Policies based on issues of agreement would unite us. On Friday, The Daily Signal posted an list of twelve principles that unite us as Americans. See if you agree with the list.

Here is the list:

1. Protect Our Vote.

2. Secure Our Border.

3. No More Debt.

4. Stand Up to China.

5. Don’t Raise Taxes.

6. Stop the Woke.

7. Cut Red Tape.

8. Sleep Safe at Night.

9. Stop Big Tech.

10. Deliver School Choice.

11. Empower Patients, Not Government.

12. Make Our Streets Safe.

Protecting our vote means making it easy to vote legitimately and hard to cheat. Securing our border means finishing the fence and enforcing present laws. No more debt, standing up to China, and not raising taxes are things that would obviously unite us. Stopping the woke means reminding Americans that we are all Americans regardless of race, color, ancestry, etc. We need to end any vestiges of racism in America–that does not mean simply supporting racism on the part of a different group. Cutting red tape allows the economy to grow more quickly and reduces the cost of living for everyone. Regulations are expensive to consumers. Sleep safe at night refers to keeping the level of America’s defensive forces high enough to defend us.

The last four items on the list are obvious. We have wandered into a world where we are spied on and manipulated by our government and by big tech. This needs to stop. We need school choice to insure that the upcoming generations will have the critical thinking skills to protect the freedom that we in America enjoy. Getting the government out of healthcare will decrease the cost for everyone and will provide a path for everyone to receive the healthcare they need. Making our streets safe includes not only making sure we have enough law enforcement, but teaching our children (and grownups) to respect the police and follow any instructions given by the police. Police shootings generally don’t happen unless someone is resisting arrest or shooting at the police. We need to remember that.

This list is very obvious, but it illustrates the fact that we have not done our job as informed voters. In the future we need to elect people who will work toward unifying principles–not ideas that tear the country apart.

Fighting With Facts

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I will admit that in doing research for this blog, I read a lot of news. However, I don’t think I am any smarter than the average America. I may be better informed, but that is a choice I made. Anyone can make that choice. I believe that one of the major problems in America right now is that people are believing what they are told and not doing their own research. That was recently illustrated in a post at Townhall by Larry Elder.

The article reports:

A couple of years ago, I gave a speech before a conservative, predominantly white audience. I couldn’t help but notice a tall, heavyset Black man, arms folded, standing in the back. From time to time, I would look at him, only to see him frown and shake his head, I assumed disapprovingly, when I made what I considered important points.

After the speech, he came up to me. “I am angry,” he said. “Not at you — at myself. I thought I was well informed. I read the news. I watch the news. I now see I’ve been manipulated by the party that I voted for all my life.”

The article lists the things that the man learned from Larry Elder’s speech:

He said he had no idea that (according to a 2004 Thomas B. Fordham Institute study) 44% of Philadelphia public school teachers send their own school-age kids to private school. Yet the Democratic Party adamantly opposes school vouchers, which would give K-12 children of urban parents a chance at a better school.

He did not know that Democrats, including President Barack Obama, tried to end the Washington, D.C., Opportunity Scholarship Program. It is a lottery that allows fortunate parents to opt out of their local public school for a better private school. The program is so popular that there are far more parents who want to participate than there are seats. “What’s more important, ” he asked me, “than making sure are kids are well educated?”

He did not know that, in 1965, 25% of Black kids were born outside of wedlock, versus 70% today, a phenomenon that cannot be attributed to slavery and Jim Crow. He did not know that Barack Obama once said, “Children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools and 20 times more likely to end up in prison.”

…He did not know that, according to Harvard economist George Borjas, illegal immigration creates winners and losers. But the big losers are low- and unskilled American workers of color who compete against low- and unskilled illegal immigrant workers — who place downward pressure on the wages of the native-born.

The man did not know that, according to The Washington Post, in recent years, more unarmed whites have been killed by the police than unarmed Blacks. He was unaware of studies, including one by a Black Harvard economist, that found the police more hesitant, more reluctant, to pull the trigger on a Black suspect than on a white suspect. He did not know that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, police killings of Blacks declined almost 80% from the late ’60s through the 2010s, while police killings of whites have flatlined.

Please follow the link above to read the entire article. We need to remember that bias in reporting is not only reflected in the way things are reported, it is also reflected by the things relevant to a story that are not mentioned.

The Supreme Court Gets It Right

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Yesterday The Daily Signal posted an article about the recent Supreme Court decision regarding religiously affiliated schools in state school choice programs. The court ruled that that families have a right to seek the best educational opportunities for their children, by preventing states from blocking the participation of religiously affiliated schools in state school choice programs. The decision was the usual 5-4 split–only this time the five were in favor of not discriminating against religious schools.

The article reports:

Tuesday’s decision in Espinoza removed the largest state constitutional obstacle by holding that so-called Blaine Amendments cannot be used to deny choice to parents.

Under the U.S. Constitution, states no longer may prevent parents from choosing religious schools if they are participating in a school choice program.

“A state need not subsidize private education. But once a State decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools simply because they are religious,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the opinion of the court in Espinoza.

This decision struck a blow to the notoriously anti-Catholic Blaine Amendment in Montana’s Constitution that sanctioned explicit discrimination against religious schools in funding. Montana’s discrimination hurt families who have a wide variety of values and preferences when it comes to their children’s education.

As the Supreme Court had previously noted, Blaine Amendments have an “ignoble” history. The amendments are named after Sen. James G. Blaine of Maine, who in 1875 sought a federal constitutional prohibition of aid to “sectarian” schools.

The article concludes:

In Mitchell v. Helms, Thomas wrote of Blaine Amendments: “This doctrine, born of bigotry, should be buried now.” On Tuesday, the Supreme Court’s decision in Espinoza took us one step closer to achieving that goal.

Now is the time for states to cast aside these 19th-century rules rooted in prejudice that unfairly punish religious families, students, and schools. The Constitution requires states to provide a level playing field for religious and secular education.

The legal impediment to school choice programs is now gone, and it’s up to state legislatures to move forward advancing education choice.

The court made it clear that policymakers across the country now have the power to enact robust school choice programs. They should do just that.

If the education establishment wants American children in public schools, they have a responsibility to make public schools better. Until then, parents who want their children educated will seek out voucher programs that will allow them to send their children to schools that teach the basics–not get bogged down by the social justice trend of the day.

How Is The Money We Spend On Education Actually Spent?

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Last week Investor’s Business Daily posted an editorial explaining how the proposed tax bill might impact educational spending.

The editorial included the following chart:

As you can see from the chart, the number of administrators in education has risen much faster than the number of teachers and students, while test scores have remained essentially the same. It is definitely time that we examined our priorities in education spending,

The editorial also points out how the tax bill under consideration might impact education spending:

The National Education Association blasted the GOP tax reform plan saying that eliminating the state and local tax deduction for those who itemize taxes would be a severe blow to schools, putting 250,000 education jobs at risk.

“It would,” says NEA president Lily Eskelsen Garcia, “jeopardize the ability of state and local governments to fund public education. That will translate into cuts to public schools, lost jobs to educators, overcrowded classrooms that deprive students of one-on-one attention, and threaten public education.”

There are other provisions in the tax bill that might worry teachers’ unions, such as letting parents use 529 college savings plans to pay for elementary and secondary school costs. That would help make private schools more affordable — a small step toward encouraging school choice.

But it’s the so-called SALT deduction that has the unions up in arms. Why? Because getting rid of it might force high-tax states — which benefit the most from the deduction — to cut taxes and rein in their own spending.

Of course, that’s pure speculation on the NEA’s part. States won’t be obligated to change anything if the SALT deduction goes away.

I think we need to understand that the Trump Administration is generally a goal-oriented group and sometimes their goals are very subtle. The Secretary of Education is a proponent of school choice, and it seems as if the tax proposals might also encourage school choice. The public schools are not doing their job of educating our children, and parents are becoming more willing to find alternative solutions. The amount of children being home-schooled has rapidly increased in recent years. Part of this is due to the fact that test scores have not improved, and part of this is due to the fact that the schools are teaching children values that in many cases contradict the values of their parents.

It would probably be a really good idea to take a look at where our education dollars are being spent. Somehow our students managed to learn more before there was a federal Department of Education.

 

The Key To Racial Equality Is Equal Education For All Children

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One of the major keys to racial equality is to make sure that children of all races have access to a good education. Because of the makeup of most of our major cities, the only way to achieve that is through vouchers and school choice. Most Republicans have been encouraging these programs for years. Unfortunately, because of their relationship to the Teachers’ Unions, the Democrats have worked very hard to oppose both vouchers and school choice.

Yesterday John Hinderaker posted an article at Power Line detailing the latest battle on the school choice front. The source for the Power Line article is a Fox News story from yesterday.

One of the unexpected consequences of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans was the birth of a new school system. Many failing schools were replaced by Charter Schools and other schools that were not failing. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has worked very hard to provide children in New Orleans a good alternative to the failing city public schools. However, the Justice Department is blocking his efforts.

Fox News reports:

The Justice Department is trying to stop a school vouchers program in Louisiana that attempts to help families send their children to independent schools instead of under-performing public schools.

The agency wants to stop the program, led by Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, in any school district that remains under a desegregation court order.

In papers filed in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, the agency said Louisiana distributed vouchers in 2012-13 to roughly 570 public school students in districts that are still under such orders and that “many of those vouchers impeded the desegregation process.”

The federal government argues that allowing students to attend independent schools under the voucher system could create a racial imbalance in public school systems protected by desegregation orders.

John Hinderaker at Power Line states:

This Louisiana case is typical: Holder wants to keep the archaic residue of the civil rights movement alive forever, as a club with which to beat the Southern states, and as a means of screwing African-Americans. After all, if blacks can’t escape from terrible schools, their employment prospects will be lousy. They likely will be welfare-dependent, and therefore reliable Democratic voters for decades to come. That is, as best one can infer it from the facts, the calculation that Obama and Holder have made.

Eric Holder’s Justice Department is a disgrace. They have become totally political. I would suggest that Eric Holder be replaced, except that I think President Obama would simply find someone equally bad.

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Lt. Col. Allen West Speaks In Stoughton

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Tonight I had the privilege of hearing Lt. Col. Allen West speak at the Ahavath Torah Congregation in Stoughton, Massachusetts. The subject of his speech was America’s past promises and current realities. Below are some of his observations:

Col. West reminded us that Massachusetts was the birthplace of America. The spirit that gave birth to those documents was born in Massachusetts. The promise was one of limited government whose power rested in the individual. That promise has allowed America to exist for 237 years. The promise included the individual freedom to participate in the free market. Part of the promises of the past was faith in something bigger than ourselves.

We need to protect the promises of the past. In our own homes we need to practice fiscal responsibility. We need to demand that our government also practice fiscal responsibility.

Booker T. Washington described the three pillars of society as education, entrepreneurship, and self-reliance. Right now our children are not receiving the education they need to prepare them to be responsible citizens, the government is taking more control of the economy, and the government is encouraging dependency by actively recruiting people to sign up for food stamps. Our current government is destroying the promises of the past.

We need to bring America back to the promises of the past.  Col. West ended his planned remarks with a question all of us need to ask ourselves, “What did I do today to insure that my children and grandchildren will have a greater America?”

During the question and answer period after his remarks, Col. West pointed out the need for a select committee to investigate Benghazi. He suggested that we tell our Congressmen to support House Resolution 36. He also pointed out some of the areas that we as Americans need to challenge the current politicians. He mentioned that school choice is the number one issue in the black community, yet one of the first things President Obama did after taking office was to shut down a school choice program in Washington, D.C. As Americans who care about our country, we need to learn to frame the issues in a way that shows how those issues impact people’s lives every day. Abstract numbers are not nearly as effective in getting out a candidate’s message as pointing out to a person how something the government is doing directly impacts their standard of living.

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Something Good Was Done In Washington Today

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When I look at that headline, I am reminded of all the admonitions to reporters, “If a dog bites a man, it’s not a story, if a man bites a dog, it’s a story.” However, something good was done in Washington recently.

The Hill is reporting today that John Boehner and Senator Joe Lieberman have announced that a deal has been reached to implement a renewal and expansion of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program.

The article reports:

The private school voucher initiative in the nation’s capital is a top priority of Boehner’s, and the agreement comes after the Speaker and Lieberman complained that President Obama’s decision to zero out funding for the program in his latest budget contradicted a law he signed in 2011. Boehner had successfully attached legislation extending and expanding the scholarships to a government funding accord last year.

The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program has been a fantastic program for the city. It has allowed children from low-income families who would be at risk in the public schools in Washington, D. C., to get the education they need to be successful.

The article reports:

Under the agreement Boehner announced, there will be no cap on enrollment, and the program will remain open to both new and current applicants.

Bi-partisanship works when the issue is valid!

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