You Know Where I Stand.

I am against vouchers, they skim off the cream and throw out those don’t fit their mold.

Plans for religious charter school, though rejected for now, are already pushing church-state debates into new territory

The Conversation

By Charles J. Russo

April 17, 2023

U.S. courts have long wrestled with the extent to which government funding can be used at private religious schools. School-choice advocates have won key cases at the Supreme Court in recent years, opening up more ways for public dollars to support faith-based education. But Oklahoma pushed the debate into unchartered territory this spring with a proposal for a school that would have been the first of its kind: a Catholic charter, primarily paid for by taxpayers.

On April 11, 2023, the five-person board responsible for approving Oklahoma charters unanimously voted to reject the proposal, due to concerns about its governance structure and plans for special education students, among other issues. However, it gave organizers 30 days to revise the proposal and try again.

Special education students are one of my concerns, private schools do not have to accept them.

Nevertheless, faith-based charters are likely to raise new headaches for their supporters, too. Charters are largely exempt from some state standards, but not all, and faith-based schools that converted into charters could be subject to greater government oversight about issues such as policies on LGBTQ+ students and staff – a longtime sticking point – or having to accept students with disabilities, just as all public schools do.

While this legal battle is just heating up, it has the potential to reshape public education as we have know it.

My concerns are:

1. Many private schools do not take special education students.
2. Many private schools do not take under-achievers.
3. Many private schools do not take LGBTQ+ students.
4. Many religions do not allow their parishioners go to schools of other religions.
5. Funding to public schools might be cut.
6. Private schools do not have to obey state and federal laws, for one thing their teachers do not have to meet state standards.

I am concerns that vouchers might be the beginning of the death of public schools.

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Meanwhile down in Florida!

Florida vouchers raise concerns about testing, funding
A roundup of Florida education news from around the state
Tampa Bay Times
By Jeffrey S. Solochek
April 17, 2023

Lawmakers haven’t agreed on a budget to pay for them in advance of the July 1 start date.

[...]

The issue has local school district officials skittish as they await more details.

[…]

Some parents also have concerns about the new law, as it would add testing requirements to home school students who accept a voucher, Epoch Times reports.

I have concerns… what will happen if a parent got a check for $3000, how much of that would go for their child education when they are struggling to put food on the table.

Book challenges: The Escambia Book challenges: The Escambia County School Board has paused all challenged book reviews while awaiting more state guidance on laws governing book selection, the Pensacola News-Journal reports.

Campus diversity: Some graduating college seniors said they might not have come to Florida colleges and universities if they didn’t have diversity and equity programs, WMFE reports.

History lessons: Some Collier County families are criticizing their children’s middle school for airing a video on “Confederate History Month” during morning announcements, WBBH reports. The teacher who made the video, which cast the Civil War as the “war to prevent Southern independence,” is under investigation by the district.

There is no accountability!

They could teach that the Civil War was fought to stop the oppression of the northern states or that the Earth is only 3,000 years old and dinosaurs lived when humans were around.

The big question is why are the Republicans are pushing so hard for vouchers?