Welcome to Atheist School!

February 26, 2016June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal ~ 1 Comment

There’s been an interesting exchange making the rounds on Facebook the past few days, and I contacted the original author for permission to share it. The decision to change the name to ‘B.C.’ was mine, and based only on the venom being slung towards #OklaEd bloggers lately. (I’d hate for Jay to go after her family and kids without at least going to the trouble to hunt down the original all by his shocked-and-outraged-little-self.)

It begins simply enough…

From: B.C.
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2016 3:18 PM
To: Travis Dunlap
Subject: HB2949
Representative Dunlap,
As a parent with children in Bartlesville Public Schools I am very concerned by HB 2949. If this bill passes it would result in a $2.2 million dollar hit to BPS. Please vote NO to school vouchers and HB2949.
Thank you,
B.C.
Bartlesville, OK

Elected representatives don’t get anonymity. That’s not how being in elected office works.

On Feb 24, 2016, at 10:11 AM, Travis Dunlap <[email protected]> wrote:
Thank you for writing B.C.,
I really appreciate hearing from constituents (especially parents!). I would like to provide you with my personal cell phone to be stored in your contacts for use at your discretion. My cell phone number is (xxx) xxx-xxxx.

To his credit, he shared his actual number. You want it, YOU email him and ask for it.

I want to quickly note that the figure you reference is based on an assumption of over 100,000 students participating and taking an unspecified categorization of the ESA funding formula (there are three categorizations: 10%, 60% and 90% of what is spent on the student in a public state using the state aid formula). The estimate also assumes that revenues stay the same over a 14 year period.
A 2.2 million dollar hit for BPS in next year’s budget is simply not a reality in this bill.
Sincerely,
Travis Dunlap

Fair enough, so far. Numbers and impact and such are always subject to dispute. Plus, he sounds all… facty and stuff. That’s kinda rare ‘round these parts – so kudos to Mr. Dunlap on THAT, even if he’s partly just spewing party-talking-point babble.

From: B.C.
Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2016 11:22 AM
To: Travis Dunlap
Subject: Re: HB2949
Thank you for getting back with me on this topic. The more I research this bill and read what it allows the more I dislike it. The main issue is the hit, of any size, that our public schools would take. I do not think my public tax dollars should be used to fund private institutions. There is not enough accountability within private schools.
I also do not think that my tax dollars should go towards funding the religious education of others. Many private schools are religious in nature and I am not supportive of my tax dollars being used to further their religious agendas. How would you feel if part of your paycheck was taken and used to send kids to an atheist based private school? Are you OK with your money being spent to teach kids that God doesn’t exist? How about a Muslim school? Would you be OK with your money funding tuition for kids to attend a school and read and study the Koran?
As a former Catholic school student I know how much religion is worked into the curriculum. I am Methodist. I am pro-choice. I truly believe that we should love everyone no matter what their sexual orientation. I do not want my money going to a school that tells young women they cannot make decisions for their own health and well-being. I do not want my money going to a school that teaches that some people are better than others and should have more rights than others based on their sexual orientation. Can you guarantee me that my tax dollars will not be supporting religious schools that teach children views that are opposite to what I believe? If you cannot, then this bill forces me to write a blank check to institutions that I fundamentally disagree with.
This bill is welfare for private schools at the expense of our public school systems. If parents want their kids to attend private schools, whether it is for religious or academic or any other reason, they should pay for it themselves. I should not have to foot the bill, especially when it takes money away from the schools my own children attend.
Thank you ,
B.C.

So… our friend B.C. got a bit more detailed on this one. VERY well-spoken!

Here’s where it gets interesting, if not exactly surprising…

From: Travis Dunlap <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: HB2949
Date: February 24, 2016 at 1:26:56 PM CST
To: B.C.
Hello again,
You communicate all of this very well. Thank you for your dialogue. I only want to point out that I hear many parents who choose alternative education express the same frustration when they see what their tax dollars support at public school (which are atheist-based). I believe we will continue to serve widening range of student needs in our public education. ESA’s are the best way to serve the public as a whole. They have typically increased quality at all education institutions when they have been implemented in other states.
Look at the research referenced at edchoice.org for an introduction to this kind of material.
Thank you once again for your dialogue. It has been very kind.
Sincerely,
Travis Dunlap

Wow.

“Atheist-based”?

It grabs you enough that you might easily miss the nonsense about vouchers improving school quality in other states. I also liked the slightly patronizing tone of “go look at this neat site to get started with knowing what you’re talking about!” It’s so… Amway.

Bit I digress.

“Atheist-based”?

Now, it’s entirely possible that Mr. Dunlap simply doesn’t know the difference between non-sectarian, secular, and outright atheist. I’ve often run into these dilemmas when dealing with state legislators – are they boldly and cynically lying, or genuinely that clueless about the issues over which they hold such power and authority?

I try to find third options – I really do – but so far they’ve eluded me.

Either way, Representative Dunlap is expressing a mindset quite common among state leadership. We heard it in Sen. Brecheen’s rants over Common Core and our failure to enforce Old Testament law across the state (he wanted supporters chased down with swords, if memory serves). We saw it in Rep. Fisher’s demands that history be sanitized and Xianized or they’d yank AP funding, and we felt it in his shock and hurt when his efforts fell short because – in his words – they’d been misrepresented as a threat to *sniff* yank *gurgle* AP *sob* funding!

Damn #OklaEd bloggers and their socialist grawlixes!

Senators Bennett and Dahm and others annually submit legislation to push their version of Xianity into more of the school day, and when in January we begin rounding up Muslims and placing them in internment camps (no doubt with names like “Religious Freedom Expansion Retreats”), it will bring nothing but joy to Republican leadership and their ilk.

But back to those “atheist-based” schools and the huge danger they seem to pose.

It’s been awhile since I’ve been a committed evangelical, but I don’t recall Biblical Christianity being so fragile.

The constant terror that the One True Faith will be subverted and destroyed by a little high school science, or where we place the Ten Commandments, or moments of introspection regarding our historical sins and national shortcomings – it’s like they have Jesus confused with Tinkerbell, and must devote all their legislative energies to demanding we clap harder and faster before she’s lost forever!

The proverbial “wall of separation” may serve to protect people from religion. In modern usage, it often serves to protect non-majority faiths from government restriction or public abuse. But they’re not the groups with the MOST to lose when the state takes on a new and improved role as Higher Truth Police.

The worst thing you can do to Christianity isn’t to ban it, or fight it, or mock it, or persecute it. Surely they’ve read enough of their Bibles and know a FEW of the many historical examples of REAL faith flourishing under the worst possible conditions.

The worst thing you can do to Christianity is legislate it – to finance it when it does what you want, and defund it when it doesn’t. The worst thing you can do is wrap it up with politics and money and the power of the state polluting and obscuring the Still Small Voice of personal communication with the Eternal. Ask Catholics in the Middle Ages, or Puritans in colonial times, or anyone living under truly radical Islam today.

I don’t teach at an atheistic school, Mr. Dunlap, and I’m not trying to protect my kids from religion – yours, their parents’, or anyone else’s.

I’m trying to protect them – and their journeys of faith, whatever form they may take – from you and your ilk.

No wonder they hate us.

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RELATED POST: The Blaine Game, Part One (Information)

RELATED ARTICLE: Official’s Email Creates Dispute (from the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise)

RELATED POST: On Instilling Humanity (from This Teacher Sings)

RELATED INFORMATION: Vouchers / ESAs

Let’s Talk About Choice

February 23, 2016June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal ~ 4 Comments

There’s been a real emphasis recently on parent choice in regard to public schooling. Apparently, parents know better than anyone what’s best for their child and what sort of education is most appropriate for their individual needs.

Of the many pro-voucher arguments out there, this seems to be the one state leadership has decided on as their primary talking point. I must confess, I’m a bit bewildered when they became such fans.

When parents began opting out of standardized testing because they didn’t think it was best for their children, state leaders didn’t seem too excited about parent choice. Many were annoyed, others apathetic. The overall tone seemed to indicate that these stupid parents were just causing trouble – probably because they’d been led astray by radical bloggers and corrupt superintendents. I certainly don’t recall many legislators applauding for these wise parents and their use of choice.

When parents protested that their third grade children were being brutalized by high-stakes reading tests, facing retention and large scarlet ‘F’s on their chests as a result, state leaders absolutely loathed parent choice. A feisty group of elected representatives finally managed to change the rules enough that parents at least have SOME voice in whether it would be ‘best for their child’ to move on to fourth grade, and Governor Fallin VETOED it – because what do parents know about standards and accountability and children?

The veto was overridden, but at the cost of a ‘sunset provision’ on parental involvement – meaning the same people crying for ‘parent choice’ for their chosen sliver of the population are still itching to eliminate it for the rest.

My son would have benefited greatly from getting out of the six-hour day, the old-school academic core-you-to-death structure in which he was bound, but state law said no. Every child, regardless of ability, interest, background, or potential, has to have X-number of required butt-in-seat hours and be crammed full of the same tired basics that state leadership has mandated as sacred and holy for all kids, for all time.

I wanted desperately to give him something more practical, outdoors, or vo-tech heavy MUCH earlier in his schooling, but I didn’t have that choice. NO parent has that choice. The state knows what’s best, and we don’t – that’s why they make the laws and set the harsh penalties if I don’t force my kid through them, no matter how bad for him or her it might be.

The anti-vaxxers have gained a little leeway in Oklahoma, but by and large have very little choice whether or not their child will be immunized before heading off to school. Why don’t we give these parents choice? Freedom to do what’s best for their kids, who might have different needs?

Seat-belt laws are about as anti-choice as it gets. They are the ultimate statement of belief that too many parents don’t have the first god-given CLUE what’s best for their kids. They’re too stupid to even buckle them in without the threat of fiscal penalty. Parent choice? Are you kidding?

I hesitate to even bring up the demonization of smokers – tell THOSE parents they have the right to decide what’s best for their kids or their community when they light up. You’ll get either a sardonic chuckle or a pop in the nose for being a smart-ass. (Sorry to blur that there issue, Jay.)

Nor do they have much real choice what their kids are allowed to eat at school. The state mandates the most awful fat-free gluten-free flavor-free color-free slop, boosting the sales of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos far above anything legislation could have mandated had they so desired. Sure, you can send lunch with them, as long as you have the sort of lifestyle allowing you to pack it each morning, and as long as it doesn’t have to be hot, or cold, or mixed, or preserved in any way throughout the day.

Even PTSA Pizza Day now means special everything-free crust and no toppings of any kind because Michelle Obama and Jason Nelson think kids are fat. None of this screams parent choice (although it’s a wonderful example of unintended consequences – the kids eat far worse than they did before because we’ve made the standard options so unpalatable).

Spanking my child is only a choice if I keep it a dirty little secret.

Deciding that my 8-year old or sleeping infant is fine in the car for five minutes on a nice day with the doors locked but windows cracked while I run into CVS to grab their prescription isn’t parent choice anymore – it’s a call to the police and DHS.

Same for sending them to play in the park across the street without Zuckerberg-level security. I know it’s safe, the neighborhood knows it’s safe, all available statistics say it’s safe, but the need for us to remain in perpetual panic and fear so as to be more easily controlled says parents simply don’t GET that kind of CHOICE.

What’s left?

Oh, yes – the vouchers.

IF I’m an involved enough parent to understand the process and go through the paperwork, and IF I can afford the thousands of extra out-of-pocket dollars required to actually GO to a private school, vouchers or no, and IF my child can meet the requirements of the institutions at which these ESA Gift-Cards are useable, and IF I have the time and fiscal resources to get them there and back every day, and IF I can pay for any necessary materials, supplies, instruments, uniforms, or whatever else may be required, and IF my child is a perfect fit academically and, er… “culturally” with the school, THEN I have CHOICE.

Equity and access on paper while upper class white folks are the only ones with real options in practice? Shocking. What a strange new problem to encounter.

As a bonus, the more times “choice” is bandied about in the rhetoric, the easier it is to “blame the victim” when they don’t qualify to be “choosers.”

Once again we have edu-slation claiming to serve all the little children, when the only thing it’s really designed to serve is more state-sanctioned ‘white flight’. That sort of misdirection and shameless hypocrisy is why so many of us seem to be in a perpetual snit. We’re trying to wake up Citizen Doe before the fire reaches her bedroom, but she’s fast asleep dreaming of the Gay Muslims trying to take her guns from the bathroom stall next door.

If common education weren’t being methodically dismantled to begin with, I wouldn’t personally be fussing nearly as much as my smarter, better-looking peers in #OklaEd. You wanna cull the supposed cream and hide them away at Word of Faith of Hope of Grace until they’re old enough to join Hydra leadership? Live it up. It’s still wrong, and it’s not good for either group of children, but whatever.

I don’t mind choice as such. But if we feel the slightest obligation to mean anything we say in the political realm anymore, and choice is your thing, then let’s provide choices – lots of them – to ALL parents, and ALL kids, in both public and private scenarios. Let’s set loose that “free market of ideas” of which conservatives used to be so proud, and support it until the playing field at least looks level – even if it means risking possible success by a few kids NOT on our ‘chosen’ list.

RELATED POSTS: The Voucher Opportunity / Hair of the Blog (OKEducationTruths)

RELATED POSTS: #OklaEd Legislators are Sweet on ESA’s / Who’s Standing In The Dark? (A View From The Edge)

RELATED POSTS: 10th Amendment & #OklaEd / Do ESAs Pass the Lemon Test? (Idealistically Realistic)

End #OklaEd

February 15, 2016June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal ~ 5 Comments

We’ve been going about this all wrong.

Oklahoma’s political leadership is NOT going to support public education. There won’t be increases to funding, or teacher raises of any real substance. Legislation in the next decade will be just like legislation in the past decade – more limits, more measuring, more changing the rules as often as possible. More hostility, more red tape, more blame piled on schools for spending so much time and energy on that exact same red tape.

Why fight it anymore?

It’s not like it matters if we get 60%, 70%, even 80% of the public behind us. Calls to legis concerning ESAs were something like 4-to-1 against and it still went through committee. Once the Blaine Amendment is repealed and the State Constitution changed so that the OK Supreme Court can no longer declare anything unconstitutional, it’s pretty much over anyway.

And yet we keep burning up those keyboards and spiking that blood pressure to accomplish… what?

Not much.

Thus my opening realization. We’ve been going about this all wrong.

Maybe they’re right.

Maybe private schools ARE better at everything. There are certainly a number of very impressive institutions around the Tulsa area, and I assume the same thing is true over in OKC.

Maybe choice IS good. Maybe competition spurs excellence, just like with fast food chains or cable television programming. Maybe we’ve been fighting to keep education stuck in the 20th century, and it’s time to move into the 19th.

Maybe vouchers DO actually save money – parents get their 80% of current per-student allocation and the rest is magical gravy. According to those unending ESA talking points, the more kids who leave public schooling, the better off the remaining children ARE as a result! How exciting!

And here we are, blogging and fussing and kicking and screaming to prevent that kind of progress. Progress that will make so many legislators happy. Progress that will save the state SO much money.

Progress that will be SO good for ALL of the children.

Why keep public schools at all?

Assuming our elected leadership has the slightest idea what they’re talking about, any child stuck in a public school is being undereducated and underserved. Parents who CARE take their child and their edu-gift card and shop for something better. Parents who don’t… well, their kid is stuck in all of these sucky schools staffed by whiney unionized teachers and bloated administrations who won’t even voluntarily consolidate.

So let’s do what’s best for ALL kids. Let’s end public schooling altogether.

Every student’s family will have receive an immediate voucher to spend at a much better school of their choice. Religious, secular, big, small – whatever. The free market is god, after all.

Granted, this could be a bit disruptive in the short term, but I have no doubt that the power of capitalism will overcome all difficulties. Religious institutions of all varieties will step up to claim their share – evangelical churches as well as more orthodox denominations, Catholics as well as Jews. The Islamic community will certainly be ready with top quality options quicker than most, and the Buddhists will presumably make less fuss than, well… anyone.

And remember those zany atheists who wanted to build that devil bench on the capitol grounds next to the Ten Commandments? They’ll JUMP at the chance to have their own SCHOOL! Their science scores will be AMAZING!

Businesses of all sorts are welcome as well. Pearson, Holt-McDougal, and any number of Computer Bank Academies – probably the most cost-effective of the bunch. They’ll take all comers without fear or filters, knowing that one of their own primary arguments for ESAs is that private schools succeed because of FREEDOM. The kind of freedom which we’ll finally let ring, unshackled by the expectations and accountability previously crippling public schools.

I’m sure there will be some growing pains for the first few weeks, but the important thing is that we’re finally making progress as a state – for the children. Individualized instruction. Choice. Excellence through capitalism – all while saving the state millions.

I confess I’m not entirely sure who’s most likely to pick up the substantial number of students whose parents aren’t overly active in helping make such decisions. I’m curious what new strategies we’ll see in play to accomodate students well below grade level or manifesting emotional or behavioral issues.

It’s called “the invisible hand,” after all, because there’s no telling what unexpected wonders will unfold among the highest needs populations, or transient students, or kids on IEPs, or anyone who’s not white or Asian. I honestly can’t imagine…

But I guess that’s the same sort of uncertainty regarding market forces that’s been making me part of the problem rather than part of the solution, isn’t it? I need to let that go and believe (hashtag trustfall).

Of course, not everyone will so easily accept that we’d be willing to make this sacrifice. They’ll want to do things gradually, burdened by compromises and half-steps. We may hear voices not known for defending public ed extolling the essential role it’s always played and lamenting its loss – that’s what you do at funerals, after all.

That’s why the onus is on US to do what’s RIGHT, whatever equivocating our political leadership suddenly manifests. This is where #oklaed, so proud of doing what’s best for KIDS rather than what’s convenient for US, must step up. No fear, no hesitation, no selfish second-thoughts.

We’ll all quit.

Together, at once. Every classroom teacher, bus driver, librarian, nurse, counselor, janitor, cafeteria lady, building principal, district secretary, all the way up to those way-too-many district superintendents, everywhere in the state. We leave for Spring Break as scheduled, and announce that no one – not one single educator – will be returning.

This isn’t a strike. We don’t WANT anything for ourselves. There are no demands. We’re doing this for the children, so they can be free. We’re sacrificing our stubborn, unionized, lower-end-of-A-F ways and humbly confessing that we were wrong – state leadership is right.

The kids will be better off this way – so get those vouchers cranking.

Sure, a handful of us will end up working for the various private schools taking our place. Many will go out-of-state where we’d be already, if we had any self-respect at all.

And yet… it won’t be easy for most, such a big change in such a short time frame. But setting aside our own wants and needs to do what’s best for children is kinda what we do. Surely you’ve noticed our collective martyr complex?

The dramatic improvement across the range of students – from the pastiest engineering lad with awkward speech patterns to the most impoverished student of color in the heart of the city – will make it worth a little discomfort and a few years of Republican smugness as they save the future once again.

You might assume I’m using hyperbole, or trying to make a sarcastic point, but I’m totally not. Not this time.

Start talking to your coworkers, superiors, and parents NOW. This has to be ALL or NOTHING.

I understand your hesitation. It’s terrifying. Huge. Many of you aren’t sure what you’ll even do if you’re not holding back the children with your unionized antediluvianism.

Stop being so selfish! Smarter, more caring people than you are TRYING to let children have CHOICE, and a BETTER EDUCATION! Get out of their way!

All the way out of their way. And let’s see what happens.

The Blaine Game (Updated)

February 6, 2016June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal

Way back in 1875, President Ulysses S. Grant called for a Constitutional amendment that would mandate free public schools and prohibit the use of public money for “sectarian” purposes.

The idea of free public schools wasn’t new, but neither was it universal. And it wasn’t unheard of for various state governments to support education provided through religious institutions. It was working, and seemed practical at one time, so why not?

Republican Congressman James G. Blaine was happy to comply and proposed such an amendment. It came close to passage, but fell just short and never became law.

Over time, however, various Supreme Court rulings essentially codified the same principle. It’s a tricky balance sometimes (should states help Catholic schools buy Algebra textbooks?), but generally the separation between church and state is assumed in most circumstances – including school funding.

Most states – including Oklahoma – were less ambivalent, and have language similar to Blaine’s original proposal in their state constitutions, often informally referenced as ‘the Blaine Amendment’. For example, Article 2, Section 5 of Oklahoma’s constitution says this:

No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such.

That language, along with Supreme Court’s interpretation of the First Amendment over the years, is why we can’t have a 10 Commandments monument on capitol grounds. It’s also why ESAs/vouchers are unconstitutional– even those currently hidden behind the shield of ‘special needs’.

The courts haven’t agreed with me on that one yet, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong.

Religious diversity in the United States has expanded considerably since 1875, making the distinction between faith and politics even more appropriate. Disputes which used to involve whether or not copper buttons on your coat would cost you your eternal soul now seem quaint compared to disagreements over which god is the “real” one, or what caliber Jesus would use to eliminate children of other faiths.

It can get personal.

For people of relatively orthodox faith in Oklahoma, this increasing diversity looks and feels very much like their fundamental beliefs and lifestyles are under some sort of attack. What used to be assumed is now suddenly controversial, and traditions which used to bind communities together are now accused of being dangerous and wrong-headed.

Take a moment and appreciate how disturbing this is to someone not quite so detached and smugly intellectual as those on the opposite extreme. These aren’t bad people, for the most part – they’re just a little freaked out and worried about the world in which their kids are growing up.

Unfortunately, politics and pragmatism rarely allow for such reflection. Decisions must be made and funds allocated. “Blaine Amendment” or not, there are currently two pathways by which Oklahoma parents can procure state support to send their child to a private school – even a “sectarian” one.

The first is the “Oklahoma Equal Opportunity Education Scholarship.” This was authored by Senator Dan Newberry (R) and signed into law by Governor Fallin in 2011.

The OEOES gives individuals and businesses a 50% tax credit for contributions made to nonprofit organizations that provide scholarships to students whose parents want them in private schools. Students must live in a district labeled ‘Yucky Doo-Doo Heads’ or worse by the state’s A-F School Shaming System (even if they’ve never actually attended public school in that district) OR live in a household “in which the total annual income during the preceding tax year does not exceed an amount equal to three hundred percent (300%) of the income standard used to qualify for a free or reduced school lunch… “

Threefold the reduced lunch threshold isn’t hardcore poverty by any stretch. This means the parents of little Theodore, who’s always gone to Word of Faith of Hope of Grace anyway, can receive financial aid from wealthy donors who will then be significantly reimbursed by taxpayer dollars.

It’s just indirect enough to pass constitutional muster, and we could quibble over whether or not tax breaks are the same as public support. Right now, however, this is the law.

The second is the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship for Students with Disabilities, which seems to be better-known and more widely-utilized. This bill, passed in 2010, allows students who can secure the label “special needs” to take their portion of state funding and attend a private school of their parents’ choice.

Any student with an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) who’s gone to public school in Oklahoma for at least a year OR whose parent is an active-duty member of the armed forces (often moving regularly) is eligible. Once approved, the voucher option continues through high school.

Despite pro-voucher visuals featuring a touching variety of multi-cultural children in wheelchairs and competing in the Special Olympics, it takes much less to qualify for an IEP. Any teacher can tell you the vast majority of mandated modifications are things like “allowed to use a calculator” or “sits near teacher and requires periodic redirection.”

I’m not trivializing the role of educational modification, but we should be honest about the range of students covered by this language.

If little Brittany’s parents can convince that 3rd Grade team that she simply MUST be given extra time on her spelling practice, or if Chauncy’s parents secure the tiniest diagnosis from their family doctor regarding his adorable 2nd Grade lisp (the kind assertively featured any time a child under the age of 20 appears in a TV commercial), they then qualify for these ‘special needs’ vouchers all the way up until their admittance letters from Stanford (Daddy’s alma mater!)

The use of this particular ‘scholarship’ in religious schools has been validated by the courts. Several districts challenged this legislation when it first passed, and were demonized for “suing parents of handicapped kids.” The courts determined the schools lacked standing, so other approaches were tried. So far, they’ve failed.

I’m happy enough for the parents making good use of this to get a better education for their kids. I really am.

Of greater significance, however, is the logistical reality of special needs children in MOST private schools. One of the many freedoms granted non-public institutions of learning is that they don’t have to follow IEPs or accommodations or anything else required of public schools. Ironically, an IEP may be required to GET that funding, but as soon as you’re admitted, it ceases to exist.

While there are a handful of schools committed to better educating certain types of high-needs children – some of whom do amazing work – the vast majority are rather selective about who they do and don’t accept. Whatever their good intentions, most private schools simply lack the resources to make sure little Gertrude gets specialized attention. If she can’t step up and fit in without disrupting the flow, she’s out.

Chances are she’ll never be in to begin with.

Few parents of a child with substantial needs are likely to have the resources to independently fund that full-time aide to follow them from class to class, or the tutoring they’ll need to master basic math. Public schools can’t afford to do it either, but we do – because it’s the law.

Public school educators arguing against vouchers (or ESAs) aren’t doing so out of some twisted venom towards religious instruction (well, some of them might be – but not the rational majority). We’re kicking and screaming because the powers-that-be are manipulating your collective sympathy and desire to do right by kids in order to redirect public funds into the pockets of their chosen favorites – many of whom are perfectly capable of funding their children’s education on their own.

We’re fussing because those who inherited the nicest treehouse keep trying to pull up the ladder so no one else can play, despite the welcome mat hanging from the highest branches and their wailing laments over the ‘choices’ of those still on the ground.

I’m not done with this issue.

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