Boots & Sabers

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Owen

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0649, 25 Aug 20

Defund government schools

My column for the Washington County Daily News is online and in print. Here’s a part:

The problem we have in America is not in the collective support for education. We have proven time and time again that we, as a people, will dig deep into our pockets to support education. The problem we have is that we have put our trust in too many government schools that routinely fail in their duty to provide the education for which we are paying.

For decades, we have seen educational outcomes remain static or decline as the taxpayers continue to shovel more and more cash into the flames. We are spending more than ever on government schools and our kids are getting a worse education than their parents or their grandparents. Now as COVID has laid bare the priorities of the people who lead our government school systems, we see why. Providing in-person classroom teaching is proven to be the most effective method for educating most kids, but when push comes to shove, educating kids is less of a priority than servicing the political clout of government employees. 

[…]

One cannot claim to support education and then continue to support government schools that are refusing to provide a quality education. We must put our money where our hearts and mouths are and spend our money on people and schools that are striving to educate kids despite the obstacles. We should lavishly fund true educators and cut off those who would continue to collect a paycheck while cowering in their virtual basement.

Wisconsin was an innovator in creating school choice for families to choose better schools for their kids even when their economic circumstances would not allow it. School choice was a conscious acknowledgment that wealthier families have always had the choice to send their kids to better schools and the taxpayers should enable the same choice for all families. The politicians have shackled Wisconsin’s three school choice programs with income restrictions, onerous deadlines, and enrollment caps. The decision by some government school districts to intentionally provide a substandard education provides ample justification to unshackle our school choice programs and allow every family to make the choices that wealthier families are already making.

If we truly believe in the power and importance of education, then we must stop supporting government institutions that have long since demonstrated that they are incapable, and in recent revelations, unwilling to provide the education that our kids deserve. We must redirect our hard-earned and painfully taxed dollars to people and institutions who value education for kids as much as their parents do.

Billions for education. Not one cent for tribute.

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0649, 25 August 2020

17 Comments

  1. Kevin Scheunemann

    Awesome article! Perfect!

  2. jjf

    So many words, and never once used the word “religious,” which would properly describe what percentage of the schools eating vouchers these days?  Anyone?  Bueller?  70-80%?

    The notion, however, that schools can deliver a quality virtual education on all subjects to all kids of all ages in all circumstances is ludicrous. This is precisely why the taxpayers have lavishly funded the infrastructure for in-person education for generations.

    Such pompous overblown phrasing.  Precisely?  Well, actually…  there are other reasons why virtual education was less popular in the pre-computer days.  In the old days, one variation was called “correspondence courses.”

  3. Mar

    So what, jjf, if religious schools get voucher money? It’s legal and constitutional. That debate is over. It boils down to you not wanting little Brown and Black kids a better education, if that is what the family wants.
    And yes, for most kids, schooling in a building is far better than online learning. Again, non-debateable.

  4. Le Roi du Nord

    Other things that are “non-debatable”:

    Coronavirus isn’t a Democrat plot or hoax to beat trump. It is 170000+ deaths real.

    Climate change/global warming isn’t a hoax.

    The Brits didn’t have airports in the 1770’s, WW II didn’t end in 1917.

    Keith Hernandez isn’t a murderer.

    The earth is older than 6000 years.

  5. Randall Flagg

    Excellent point Le Roi.  The person who said several of those went to a private high school.  Clearly private schools are not effective at education.

  6. jjf

    Mar, we don’t need to give money for private education when a public education is already offered in the State Constitution.  It is a political decision to hand out money to private schools, and that can be un-done.

  7. Jason

    Leroy, some more.

    Dejoy is not trying to steal an election by disrupting the Post Office.

    Trump can’t dismantle NATO.

    The definition of Doxxing does not include sharing Public information.

    You can’t use one person’s cognitive state to prove another person’s cognitive state.

  8. Kevin Scheunemann

    jjf,

    Public school is big time religious.    Where else can one deny science biological sex, and be ridiculed for saying a man is a man and a woman is a woman?   Leftist cultural cult religion has permeated public school in many areas.

     

  9. Le Roi du Nord

    j:

    – Even if that wasn’t his goal he was doing it anyway, but got caught.

    – He sure could make it difficult for the continued viability of NATO. Even our own military leaders have said so. But then trump says he is smarter than the generals.

    – All the cyber-jargon doesn’t interest me in the least. You define/defend however you want, I don’t care.

    – But you can make some pretty good comparisons. Now point to the elephant.

  10. Jason

    No Leroy, they “un-debatable”.  I’m surprised you don’t understand that.

  11. Mar

    “It is a political decision to hand out money to private schools, and that can be un-done.”
    Then get some support and change the law.
    And if providing private education to improve the education of Black and Brown kids, is just political, well, then owning slaves was just political.
    Stupid comparison.

  12. Le Roi du Nord

    Geez mar, did you take any US history classes?

  13. dad29

    Other things that are “non-debatable”

    At least THREE Ass Dems wholeheartedly support insurrection, riot, wholesale destruction of property in Wisconsin.

    You forgot that one, LeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeRoy.

  14. dad29

    So, LeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeRoy, tell us why NATO is the Most Important Thing on Planet Earth.

    Go ahead.  We’ll wait.

  15. Le Roi du Nord

    And another “non-debatable”:  Puerto Rico is part of the US, has been for a long time.

  16. Jason

    And another non-debatable:  The sun rises in the East and sets in the West.  See, we’re all good at this game Leroy.

  17. Le Roi du Nord

    Fumbled again, j. You need to work on your grip.

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