Don't Let this Happen either

[Joseph Patrick]

From Joseph Patrick...aka Gerry Milligan
I sent the following to the two senators from Oregon. This choice is terrible, check her out.

Senator
I write to you as a lifelong educator and supporter of the promise that America is the land of opportunity. One of the best services provided to Americans is a tradition of strong public schools that provide an equitable and relevant education to all the members of society. It is my ardent belief that any attempts to undermine public education weakens our nation.
The nomination of Betsy DeVos as the potential Secretary of Education is a step toward undermining the important role public schools have in communities across our great nation. Her ardent support for charter schools and vouchers are, in my opinion, a tragic step toward a return to separate but equal services in education.
Please, Senator, stand on the side of equal opportunity for all, and vote against the confirmation of Betsy DeVos.
Regards,

[KeithE]

[William Thornton]

In regard to church-state issues do you make a distinction between vouchers and charter schools? Charter schools are quite common in Georgia and meet with little objection. They sometimes fail but are generally superior to non-charter public schools.

[Dave Roberts]

[Stephen Fox]

Is the story on her and Amway as the sister of Blackwater founder Erik Prince. She is hardwired to the shallow to put it mildly so called "Biblical" world view of David Barton promoted by Nelson Price, Shorter College, North Greenville College and the Truth for a New Generation Conferences at Trey Gowdy's FBC Spartanburg; and here in Bama, Rick and Bubba Radio, Yellowhammer News of Cliff Simms, both a front for the 14campus Church of the Highlands which hides its Southern Babdist affiliation.

The only decent thing Ive heard about Devos is David Brooks last night on PBS said she is not a monster, is a pleasant person. That may be like lipstick on one of Blackwater's bombs. I don't see any good coming from her even if she is chocked full of Reformed Piety to the gills.

Public schools have a lot of faults. I don't see Devos fixing any of them.

[William Thornton]

[Dave Roberts]

[Haruo]

One hopes the churches will be ready to step in and do what needs most to be done for the neediest.

[Dave Roberts]

[Sandy]

Charter schools have been around since before Bill Clinton's presidency. They are primarily mission-driven public schools, rather than the community, school board-run, broad based public systems that must serve a variety of needs. Their purpose depends on their charter. Like anything that operates in this country, there are those who get involved whose mission is to cash in and prosper themselves, but by and large, most charter schools experience a greater degree of success in moving their students to achieve the minimum standards of the states in which they are chartered, and achieving their specific mission and purpose, than the district based public schools do.

The public education system in this country is in a mess. The fact of the matter is that a business could not survive if its production and meeting of its objectives occurred at the rate that the public education system fails, as a whole, to meet its stated goals and achievement levels, and to prevent the drop-out rate. The demand for alternative means of education is high, and the stream of students into alternatives is only the result of the fact that the tax system we have in place to fund the public school system prevents even middle class families from obtaining the resources to send their children elsewhere. And while I don't expect much in the way of effective change in any government agency staffed by, and operated under a Trump administration, this is one area where major change is needed. One, the data is very clear that Americans do not get the results from public education that most of the other 'developed" countries do. In fact, we don't even get some of the results that underdeveloped countries do. Two, the fact that the electorate supported Trump to the extent that it did is an indictment of the public education system, which has clearly failed in one of its stated objectives, as a means of supporting a democratic republic by keeping its population educated. Clearly, many voters do not know how their government works, and aren't educated enough to figure out how to discern facts from fantasy. The US Department of Education is a bureau in which a Trump appointee can do no harm.

[Dave Roberts]

[Tim Bonney]

[Haruo]

Agreed, of course.

[Tim Bonney]