HB 115-FN – Universal eligibility for the Education Freedom Account program
Parents are frustrated with public schools. Rightly so. The state legislature has destroyed them with costly and controversial regulations, resulting in high property taxes and no voice in our public schools.
The legislature accepted federal bribes on an ongoing basis to implement “standards-based learning,” as if children were commodities to be standardized. Well, it’s not working. Instead of creating this new entitlement, the legislature should take responsibility for the current mess, deregulate public schools, and restore local control.
But no, that’s “too difficult,” or “it’s all the Federal government’s fault,” so we have this new plan to provide State funding to every student, rich or poor, who attends private schooling to help them get the “best education.” The “best education”? Ironically, that the same sales pitch used for decades to over-regulate public schools.
Funding private schooling is not a Constitutional duty. Art. 83 Pt. 2 of our Constitution admonishes the legislature to cherish “public schools.” There’s no duty to fund private schooling. None.
We’re being told, “Every child learns differently.” Really? Public schools were not allowed to treat children as individuals. The legislature burdened public schools with uniform standards, uniform assessments, uniform competency-based education, and uniform Social Emotional Learning, which is behavior modification. It’s all “one size fits all,” centralized control, and eliminating real accountability. No one’s ever to blame. Nothing ever changes when schools fail. They just need more funding.
The original version of Art. 6 Pt. 1 of the Constitution guaranteed that all of our “public teachers” would be free from State regulation:
“…Provided notwithstanding, That the several towns, parishes, bodies-corporate, or religious societies, shall at all times have the exclusive right of electing their own public teachers, and of contracting with them for their support and maintenance.”
That article was amended in 1968 to “remove obsolete sectarian references” and now reads
“…therefore, the several parishes, bodies, corporate, or religious societies shall at all times have the right of electing their own teachers, and of contracting with them for their support or maintenance,”
The wording change went far beyond removing sectarian references. It was deceptive. Which means, we should still have the exclusive right, to elect our own “public teachers” and contract with them for their support and maintenance without State interference. Every public school is a corporate body. And yet …
Read More ‘Grok Coverage on EFAs and Education Funding
The State created teacher licensing for public schools but now funds and approves private schools without licensed teachers.
The State created academic standards and mandates for public schools but now funds and approves private schooling without such standards or mandates.
The State created laws on public employee labor relations for public schools but now funds and approves private schools without such unions.
The State has regulated public education to death, which is why public schools are failing and spending is out of control. If the legislature wants to cut costs, start by deregulating public education and restoring local control before funding every single private school student. If State regulation and standards went away, the entire data-driven compliance machine and its administrative overhead would disappear. That’s blowing up district budgets, not teacher salaries.
Universal EFAs will blow up the State budget. After three years, there is no evidence that EFAs reduce district budgets. Forget projections. No school district has actually reduced their budget as result of EFAs. Not one.
EFAs are ripe for fraud. How can anyone verify when out-of-state families use a friend’s or relative’s address to qualify for an EFA? Borders are porous and our neighboring states don’t offer State funded private school choice.
Feel-good stories are wonderful, but if this legislature funds private schools, it will regulate them and destroy their independence. Look at Sweden, South Africa, Australia, and Alberta, where the State funds both public and private schools, and requires a State approved curriculum in order to comply with State standards. South Dakota is currently considering a universal ESA bill written by Americans for Prosperity that requires State approved curriculum.
School choice is not a grassroots movement like home schooling. It’s an agenda that is being pushed nationwide by think tanks, promoted in legislative conferences, and advocated by UNESCO, which favors State control of education to produce “global citizens” with values, attitudes and beliefs different from those of their families. It’s a transformative agenda emphasizing social engineering over academic achievement and eroding the autonomy of local education systems. Please stop and think before you fund this agenda.
First, the legislature destroyed public schools accepting federal programs for federal dollars so parents are desperate to get their children out. Now, it wants to make private schools dependent upon State funding, and will eventually control their curriculum too. Once private school independence is gone, there will be no where left to turn.
Related: Watch GrokTALK! With Ian and Jody Underwood – EFA’s, Schools, And Education Funding