Republican Assault on Public Education (1 Viewer)

[MT15]

This probably needs its own thread. It ties in with a lot of different R culture wars: Attacks on universities, attacks on CRT and “woke”. Classifying teachers and librarians as “groomers”. Pushing vouchers to send tax money to private, often religious, schools. Betsy DeVos was an advocate for all these policies that will weaken public education, and there are several billionaires who also want to dismantle public education. Public education may have its faults, but it is responsible for an amazing amount of upward mobility. Kids from poor areas can still get a college prep education in a public school.

Vouchers (sometimes disguised as “school choice”) are a particular peeve of mine. Public money is diverted from poor schools to wealthy private schools, which aren’t required to offer accommodations for special needs or challenged students. Families with special needs kids are left out. Rural areas often suffer disproportionately because there are no private schools to attend, but their public schools still see the reduction in funding. Often the families who take advantage of the voucher money are upper class and the private schools simply raise tuition knowing the families are getting taxpayer money now.

Greg Abbot is being particularly vile in this area. No surprise. Voters will have to make a statement about public education. If we want to halt the growing divide in this country between the “haves” and “have-nots”, we need to pay attention to public education.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Head Start and Meals on Wheels are examples of programs that actually save far more money than they cost.

This is extremely stupid, pointless and cruel.

Not pointless

Cruelty is the point

 

[fooferdoggie]

White House proposes eliminating Head Start funding as part of sweeping budget cuts

The Trump administration is asking Congress to eliminate funding for Head Start, a move that would cut early education for more than half a million of the nation’s neediest children and child care for their families. The proposal is tucked in a 64-page internal draft budget document obtained by...

www.yahoo.com

Wow let's save .0001 to save the budget. Fuvcking stupid asshats more uesless then a box of deseased used dildos.

 

[Dragon]

Wow let's save .0001 to save the budget. Fuvcking stupid asshats more uesless then a box of deseased used dildos.

Wonder how the posters who were so adamant that the US educational system was damaged under Biden thinks about this...

 

[Optimus Prime]

More than 150 presidents of US colleges and universities have signed a statement denouncing the Trump administration’s “unprecedented government overreach and political interference” with higher education – the strongest sign yet that US educational institutions are forming a unified front against the government’s extraordinary attack on their independence.

The statement, published early on Tuesday by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, comes weeks into the administration’s mounting campaign against higher education, and hours after Harvard University became the first school to sue the government over threats to its funding. Harvard is one of several institutions hit in recent weeks with huge funding cuts and demands they relinquish significant institutional autonomy.

The signatories come from large state schools, small liberal arts colleges and Ivy League institutions, including the presidents of Harvard,Princeton and Brown.


In the statement, the university presidents, as well as the leaders of several scholarly societies say they speak with “one voice” and call for “constructive engagement” with the administration.

“We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight,” they write. “However, we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses.”………..

Over 150 US university presidents sign letter decrying Trump administration

Statement signed by Harvard, Princeton and Brown leaders denounces White House’s ‘undue government intrusion’

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Oklahoma is forcing the Supreme Court to choose: Either the justices can allow more religious control of public schools, or they can respect the wishes of the Founding Fathers. They can’t do both.

The Founding Fathers didn’t see eye to eye on all the details, but people in the founding era did agree that it would be the death of public schooling if schools came under the authority of any specific religious denomination, or even if a school appeared to favor one denomination over another. Many believed that public schools had a duty to encourage religion as a general idea and could even offer some generic religious instruction, but a line was drawn at direct control.

The reason was that public schooling was not just an educational offering but also a project of building a national identity and citizenry. No public school could ever be run by a church, because no public school should teach any religious idea that divided Americans. In the centuries since, that fundamental principle has remained intact.

By the 1960s, the idea of any devotional practice in school had come to seem divisive, so the Supreme Court prohibited teacher-led prayers and school-sponsored religious devotions of any kind. The wholesale exclusions of religious practices were new, but the guiding principle was as old as the United States itself.

Oklahoma’s plan for a public school run by the Catholic Church would upend that principle. It would fly in the face of the Founding Fathers’ intentions and go against two centuries of American tradition. And it puts the six members of the Supreme Court’s conservative majority in a bind. In previous decisions, they have insisted that they will be guided by history, using that rationale to allow for more religion in public schools. In this case, however, if they want to follow their own rules, they must decide in the other direction.

In 2023, the Oklahoma government approved an application from the Catholic Church to create a virtual charter school. Like other charter schools, this one would be funded by taxpayers. But unlike other charter schools, this one would be explicitly religious, teaching students Catholic doctrine.

Oklahoma’s state attorney general objected, pointing out the obvious: Such a school would be a flagrant violation of the state constitution, to say nothing of the U.S. Constitution. The Supreme Court will hear the case next week.

Many on the religious right are hopeful. This Court has given their movement some significant victories in recent years—each time justifying the decision by pointing to history. In 2020, in a case about a Maine school-payment program, Chief Justice John Roberts argued that all private schools, secular and religious alike, had to be included in the program in rural areas where public options were not available. He justified his decision by claiming that sending public funds to religious schools was the “early American tradition.”

In 2022, Justice Neil Gorsuch ruled that a football coach at a public school must be allowed to pray with his players at the 50-yard line of the football field. Why? Quoting two older opinions about religion and public schools, Gorsuch said that this had long been the rule: Decisions about religion in public schools must be guided by “history” and faithfully reflect “the understanding of the Founding Fathers.”

But the case from Oklahoma makes claiming history as a justification harder for the conservative justices. In this case, the history is unambiguous: The Founding Fathers would never have approved of a public school that taught the religious doctrines of one specific kind of Christianity..............

Oklahoma Is Asking the Supreme Court to Ignore History​

Oklahoma Is Asking the Supreme Court to Ignore History

The founders had disagreements about the role of religion in America’s public schools, but there was always one line they would not cross.

www.theatlantic.com

 

[cuddlemonkey]

Oklahoma is forcing the Supreme Court to choose: Either the justices can allow more religious control of public schools, or they can respect the wishes of the Founding Fathers. They can’t do both.

The Founding Fathers didn’t see eye to eye on all the details, but people in the founding era did agree that it would be the death of public schooling if schools came under the authority of any specific religious denomination, or even if a school appeared to favor one denomination over another. Many believed that public schools had a duty to encourage religion as a general idea and could even offer some generic religious instruction, but a line was drawn at direct control.

The reason was that public schooling was not just an educational offering but also a project of building a national identity and citizenry. No public school could ever be run by a church, because no public school should teach any religious idea that divided Americans. In the centuries since, that fundamental principle has remained intact.

By the 1960s, the idea of any devotional practice in school had come to seem divisive, so the Supreme Court prohibited teacher-led prayers and school-sponsored religious devotions of any kind. The wholesale exclusions of religious practices were new, but the guiding principle was as old as the United States itself.

Oklahoma’s plan for a public school run by the Catholic Church would upend that principle. It would fly in the face of the Founding Fathers’ intentions and go against two centuries of American tradition. And it puts the six members of the Supreme Court’s conservative majority in a bind. In previous decisions, they have insisted that they will be guided by history, using that rationale to allow for more religion in public schools. In this case, however, if they want to follow their own rules, they must decide in the other direction.

In 2023, the Oklahoma government approved an application from the Catholic Church to create a virtual charter school. Like other charter schools, this one would be funded by taxpayers. But unlike other charter schools, this one would be explicitly religious, teaching students Catholic doctrine.

Oklahoma’s state attorney general objected, pointing out the obvious: Such a school would be a flagrant violation of the state constitution, to say nothing of the U.S. Constitution. The Supreme Court will hear the case next week.

Many on the religious right are hopeful. This Court has given their movement some significant victories in recent years—each time justifying the decision by pointing to history. In 2020, in a case about a Maine school-payment program, Chief Justice John Roberts argued that all private schools, secular and religious alike, had to be included in the program in rural areas where public options were not available. He justified his decision by claiming that sending public funds to religious schools was the “early American tradition.”

In 2022, Justice Neil Gorsuch ruled that a football coach at a public school must be allowed to pray with his players at the 50-yard line of the football field. Why? Quoting two older opinions about religion and public schools, Gorsuch said that this had long been the rule: Decisions about religion in public schools must be guided by “history” and faithfully reflect “the understanding of the Founding Fathers.”

But the case from Oklahoma makes claiming history as a justification harder for the conservative justices. In this case, the history is unambiguous: The Founding Fathers would never have approved of a public school that taught the religious doctrines of one specific kind of Christianity..............

Oklahoma Is Asking the Supreme Court to Ignore History​

Oklahoma Is Asking the Supreme Court to Ignore History

The founders had disagreements about the role of religion in America’s public schools, but there was always one line they would not cross.

www.theatlantic.com

That 2022 Bremerton thing still bothers me. I followed that case. The district bent over backward to accommodate the coach, but it was never enough. fork that coach and fork the Roberts Court.

 

[Optimus Prime]

 

[bird]

First off, the idiot handing it to the Orange Orangutan was a liar. Mrs. Bird taught for 33 years and didn’t have a problem with discipline. She had the respect of her students.

Secondly, well, Trump is an idiot.

 

[MT15]

Executive overreach. It’s all he does.

 

[fooferdoggie]

man Chrisanity strikes again.

 

[Optimus Prime]

The Trump administration is moving to cancel $1bn in school mental health grants, saying they reflect the priorities of the previous administration.

Grant recipients were notified on Tuesday that the funding will not be continued after this year. A gun violence bill signed by Joe Biden in 2022 sent $1bn to the grant programs to help schools hire more psychologists, counselors and other mental health workers.

A new notice said an education department review of the programs found they violated the purpose of civil rights law, conflicted with the department’s policy of prioritizing merit and fairness, and amounted to an inappropriate use of federal money.

The cuts were made public in a social media post from the conservative strategist Christopher Rufo, who claimed the money was used to advance “left-wing racialism and discrimination”.

He posted excerpts from several grant documents setting goals to hire certain numbers of nonwhite counselors or pursue other diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

“No more slush fund for activists under the guise of mental health,” Rufo wrote.

The education department confirmed the cuts. In an update to members of Congress that was obtained by the Associated Press, department officials said the Republican administration would find other ways to support mental health……:

Trump administration to cancel $1bn in Biden-era school mental health grants

Funding will not be continued next year after bill signed in 2022 helped schools hire more mental health workers

www.theguardian.com

 

[fooferdoggie]

The Trump administration is moving to cancel $1bn in school mental health grants, saying they reflect the priorities of the previous administration.

of course, because mental illness is a feature of Trump's administration not a hindrance.

 

[Dragon]

of course, because mental illness is a feature of Trump's administration not a hindrance.

Next time there is a school shooting it surely must be the guns since mental health is no longer an issue.....

 

[Optimus Prime]

The White House Chief of Staff of Policy, Stephen Miller, proclaimed early Thursday morning that Donald Trump's administration will focus on teaching children to love the U.S. rather than the alleged communist agenda that's being pushed in schools. The comments came during the Chief of Staff's fiery rant in the James S. Brady press room.

"Children will be taught to love America. Children will be taught to be patriots," Miller, 39, said. "Children will be taught civic values for schools that want federal taxpayer funding."

"So as we close the Department of Education and provide funding to states, we're going to make sure these funds are not being used to promote communist ideology," he added. "For any nation to be successful, it cannot teach its children to hate themselves and their country."

"These are a few of the areas in which President Trump has fought the cancerous, communist, woke culture which is destroying this country," Miller raged. "Where we were led to believe that men were women and that women were men, where racial discrimination was good and merit was bad, and that safety and physical security mattered less than liberal ideologs."

Several social media commenters were angry at the proclamation. "They are literally reading history books about dictators using propaganda as how-to guides," one person wrote...........

Stephen Miller claims children are being taught to be 'communist' in schools

The White House Chief of Staff of Policy, Stephen Miller, proclaimed early Thursday morning that Donald Trump's administration will focus on teaching children to love the U.S. rather than the alleged communist agenda that's being pushed in school

www.irishstar.com

 

[coldseat]

The White House Chief of Staff of Policy, Stephen Miller, proclaimed early Thursday morning that Donald Trump's administration will focus on teaching children to love the U.S. rather than the alleged communist agenda that's being pushed in schools. The comments came during the Chief of Staff's fiery rant in the James S. Brady press room.

"Children will be taught to love America. Children will be taught to be patriots," Miller, 39, said. "Children will be taught civic values for schools that want federal taxpayer funding."

"So as we close the Department of Education and provide funding to states, we're going to make sure these funds are not being used to promote communist ideology," he added. "For any nation to be successful, it cannot teach its children to hate themselves and their country."

"These are a few of the areas in which President Trump has fought the cancerous, communist, woke culture which is destroying this country," Miller raged. "Where we were led to believe that men were women and that women were men, where racial discrimination was good and merit was bad, and that safety and physical security mattered less than liberal ideologs."

Several social media commenters were angry at the proclamation. "They are literally reading history books about dictators using propaganda as how-to guides," one person wrote...........

Stephen Miller claims children are being taught to be 'communist' in schools

The White House Chief of Staff of Policy, Stephen Miller, proclaimed early Thursday morning that Donald Trump's administration will focus on teaching children to love the U.S. rather than the alleged communist agenda that's being pushed in school

www.irishstar.com

We really need a vomit reaction emoji for this in particular.

 

[zztop]

Looks like Republicans also want to destroy PBS and NPR

Guess it's only a matter of when

Trump signs executive order directing federal funding cuts to PBS and NPR

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aiming to slash public subsidies to PBS and NPR as he alleged “bias” in the broadcasters’ reporting.

apnews.com

 

[fooferdoggie]

Guess it's only a matter of when

Trump signs executive order directing federal funding cuts to PBS and NPR

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aiming to slash public subsidies to PBS and NPR as he alleged “bias” in the broadcasters’ reporting.

apnews.com

nd of course he breaks the law doing it. go for it, dictator orange Julius.

 

[Optimus Prime]

I am so sick of this forking guy
====================

The Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters, announced a new education policy for the state on Thursday, which includes the allegation that there were “discrepancies” in the 2020 election, which President Donald Trump baselessly claims was stolen from him.

The new academic standards for social studies for the coming school year state that students should “identify discrepancies in 2020 elections results by looking at graphs and other information, including the sudden halting of ballot-counting in select cities in key battleground states, the security risks of mail-in balloting, sudden batch dumps, an unforeseen record number of voters, and the unprecedented contradiction of ‘bellweather county’ trends.”

This comes after the Oklahoma Senate declined to take action on a resolution that would reject the election denial language in the social studies standards, The Oklahoman noted earlier this week.

Walters lobbied against the resolution, and the far-right group Moms for Liberty issued a letter threatening to challenge any Republican lawmaker who voted for it.

Three new board members of the Oklahoma State Board of Education have said that Walters has been dishonest by making late changes to the standards without telling them or the public and by saying that the standards had to be approved during a meeting in late February, when they could have been put forward to the legislature for approval this week.

“Questions exist regarding the transparency of the subject matter standard adoption process,” the resolution states.

Last month, new board member Michael Tinney told The Oklahoman that there were differences in the standards he had downloaded from the website of the State Department of Education and what Walters had sent to him.

The section regarding students identifying “discrepancies in 2020 elections results” was among the differences.

Chris VanDenhende, also a new member of the education board, requested during a board meeting on April 24 that Walters share “change documents” to show the changes he had made to the standards. Walters rejected the suggestion, saying, “That’s completely irrelevant.”

During the meeting, Walters said it was his decision what goes into the standards, even as new board members pushed back. They couldn’t stop him as he decides what appears on the meeting agendas for the board................

Oklahoma wants to teach kids Trump’s false version of the 2020 election

Statehouse Democrat argues new standards will ‘insert an extremist political agenda into our public education system that will only cost Oklahomans more taxpayer money’

www.the-independent.com

Full Text:

Today is a major victory for Oklahoma families and for the truth.

After months of Democrats and the teachers unions lying and attacking, the most unapologetically conservative, pro-America social studies standards in the nation are moving forward.

For nearly a year, we engaged in a thoughtful, transparent process to deliver standards that teach students factual history, including the realities of the 2020 election, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the threat posed by Communist China.

These reforms will reset our classrooms back to educating our children without liberal indoctrination.

As part of these standards, the Bible will now be recognized as a foundational text, helping students understand its undeniable influence on our nation's history and values.We’re proud to defend these standards, and we will continue to stand up for honest, pro-America education in every classroom.