It’s a case when part of Government thinks it is flying the plane and in charge. Why not? They’ve been in charge for years (along with compliant School Boards that keep being told “trust the professionals” even as the teachers are taught to “not trust the parents”. Now those same teachers are up in arms and the unions are telling the employers (that would be us) that they don’t / won’t return to the schools in the fall. Which, then places their employers, parents / taxpayers, into panic: we pay you to educate our kids and now you won’t? What about OUR jobs if you are going to force us to stay home?
I’ve been saying that education money should follow the child – not just given to some Government school within a zip code. Seems like someone else (actually, a whole lotta folks nowadays) has the same idea. US Dept of Education Betsy DeVos has something to say about that but note what Reuters did:
“If schools aren’t going to reopen, we’re not suggesting pulling funding from education but instead allowing families … (to) take that money and figure out where their kids can get educated if their schools are going to refuse to open,” Betsy DeVos told Fox News in an interview.
DeVos, a proponent of private and religious education who has long pushed “school choice,” gave no details on the administration’s plan.
If teachers aren’t going to teach, why should they get paid? In effect, it is an “unofficial” strike – not fulfilling their contracts. And if they aren’t going to teach, are children going to disappear?
Of course not. They will, however, be a part of Government that isn’t working well but not working at all. So DeVos’s “warning” could very well change the course of education in the US spurred on by the decisions of teachers. Hey, decisions have consequences and if you think that parents are going to sit there and wait on you, that isn’t going to happen. Given that many parents, especially in the urban areas, are trapped in Government schools, this “suggestion” may go over very well. I understand that as a result of Remote Learning (and in no small detail, leaks about what is being taught in those schools – or not), there is a very much heightened interest in homeschooling.
If the point is to, you know, educate the nation’s children, does it matter WHERE that takes place? Does it matter WHO does the teaching? And shouldn’t we start worrying about the COST of it?
For those that will yammer that this would be a Federalization of education, well, that’s been happening for years as money loving education “leaders” have welcomed such monies for decades. Go ahead, ask your School Board what the percentage of their budget is filled by said Federal dollars now to educate YOUR child. Not only that, here in NH, Selfish Socialist Andru Volinsky wants to “State-ify” education by essentially flooding the zone with higher taxes by bringing back (with a vengeance) donor towns.
Putting the State completely in charge. No more local control because he who has the Gold has the control.
Shouldn’t that be the Parents that should be in control (aside from NH State Senator Dietsch bigoted and condescending talk against parents (see above, teachers not to trust parents)) – the lowest level of control?
It may be interesting what happens at the next teachers’ contract negotiation time…
Sidenote: Isn’t it refreshing that Trump has brought in people from outside the regular DC Beltway? That is what many complain about – the stagnation and stultification of the status quo.
