What kind of person would do such a thing
WaveCameCrashin
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The Teachers' Unions that Stole Christmas
The school-choice program for D.C. schoolchildren may end sooner than expected.
by Sheryl Blunt
12/08/2009 12:00:00 AM
As Christmas grows closer, the hopes of thousands of D.C. schoolchildren and their families are appearing dimmer and dimmer, and no one is celebrating more than the teachers' unions.
Congress's failure to reauthorize the federally-funded D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), which has provided more than 3,300 schoolchildren scholarships to attend private schools of their choice in the District of Columbia, has proven fatal. The program could end even earlier than expected.
Last week the Washington Scholarship Fund (WSF), the nonprofit organization that administers the program, announced that Congress's failure to act and the Obama administration's unwillingness to let new students participate, means that the WSF will be forced to end its oversight of the program this summer, when the school year ends.
"[E]xisting children and families in the OSP do not know whether they will have access to an Opportunity Scholarship next year, and children and families not now in the program do not know whether they will have the opportunity to participate next year," the organization's board of directors and president wrote in a December 3 letter to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan. "This makes it virtually impossible for children, families, schools, and WSF to prepare for the time-intensive application and renewal processes so critical to the OSP's sound administration for the 2010-2011 school year. Moreover, it denies these families any educational choice because more often than not, charters are not an option."
Board members predict that the likely fallout will be private school closures that will force many scholarship recipients and other students back into the city's troubled public schools next fall, "requiring the District to absorb the additional fiscal costs of educating
both groups of students."
"Effectively, Congress's failure to act to reauthorize this program will send well over 1,000 children to failing and, too often, unsafe schools," the letter states. "That result would, in our view, constitute a moral failing of the highest order on all of our parts."
With less than a month left before Congress adjourns for its holiday recess, supporters of the program had hoped that their latest ad campaign and lobby effort would convince the Obama administration and key Congressmen like Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. José Serrano (D-N.Y.), that the voucher program needs to continue.
"This is the best opportunity kids can have," said Patricia William, whose 12-year-old son Fransoir has used a scholarship to attend a private school in the District since the program's inception in 2004. "Congress has the power to make it happen."
Originally from El Salvador, William became a U.S. citizen in 1996. She said an opportunity scholarship has given her and Fransoir what she hoped to find in America. "This country is about options and education, so give us options as parents," she said. "Don't take away our right to help our kids, especially when this program is working."
But in a November 23 commentary piece for the Washington Post, Rep. Serrano, who chairs the House appropriations subcommittee that oversees the embattled program's funding, reiterated his opposition to letting any more low-income D.C. students benefit from the expiring program. "This is as far as I can go," said Serrano. "I do not support an expansion to include children not currently in the program."
This slammed the door on efforts to resuscitate the program in the House, and the Senate does not appear to have the votes it needs to reauthorize the program.
"People are outraged," said Virginia Walden Ford, executive director of D.C. Parents for School Choice. "It is morally wrong to relegate these children to failing schools."
Archdiocese of Washington spokesperson Kathy Dempsey said seven participating Archdiocese schools recently held meetings with parents to discuss what it would mean if the program is not reauthorized soon.
"It's getting down to the wire and our schools and families need to know what their options are," said Dempsey.
Dempsey added that the District could also lose millions of dollars in desperately-needed funding if the program is not renewed, since the program's implementation was conditioned upon the city's public and charter schools also receiving more money.
"The city could lose $54 million in federal education funding if the program ends, plus $25 million if up to 1,700 [scholarship] children go back to D.C. public schools," said Dempsey. If private schools close, something many believe is likely for a few schools that currently serve a high number of voucher students, even more children will be affected.
One group that won't be bemoaning the voucher programs' end is the teachers' unions. This spring National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel bluntly reminded Senators that "opposition to vouchers is a top priority for NEA," and warned them that the NEA would be paying keen attention to how they vote on vouchers.
"The National Education Association strongly opposes any extension of the District of Columbia private school voucher ('DC Opportunity Scholarship') program," Van Roekel wrote in a March 5, 2009 letter. "We expect that Members of Congress who support public education, and whom we have supported, will stand firm against any proposal to extend the
pilot program. Actions associated with these issues WILL be included in the NEA Legislative Report Card for the 111th Congress."
The Center for Responsive Politics and the National Institute on Money in State Politics recently released data showing that the NEA topped the chart as the number one national donor during the 2007-08 election cycle, shelling out $57.6 million in combined federal and state contributions. The American Federation of Teachers was number 25, with more than $13 million in contributions.
Mike Antonucci of the Education Intelligence Agency put this in perspective, writing that the NEA's and AFT's 2007-08 contributions meant that "America's two teachers' unions outspent AT&T, Goldman Sachs, Wal-Mart, Microsoft, General Electric, Chevron, Pfizer, Morgan Stanley, Lockheed Martin, FedEx, Boeing, Merrill Lynch, Exxon Mobil, Lehman Brothers, and the Walt Disney Corporation, combined."
The Obama administration--already having trouble explaining why it is doing away with a program its own Department of Education reported has advanced participating children's reading achievement by more than three months--will now have another opportunity to explain to low-income D.C. parents and students why it and the Democrat-led Congress has decided to grant the teachers' unions' wish instead of theirs.
Last February President Obama claimed in a weekly radio address that he would fight special interests. "The system we have now might work for the powerful and well-connected interests that have run Washington for far too long," Obama said. "But I don't. I work for the American people."
D.C. students and parents like William and her son will no doubt see things differently.
Sheryl Henderson Blunt is a Phillips Foundation Journalism Fellow.
Why would these people do this to these kids? The D.C. school district is one of the worst school districs in america,and to deny those kids the opportunity that they have been enjoying and succeeding at for several years now (thanks to a republican president and congress) 99% of these kids are poor,black,and hispanic. Where's the party that says they stand for the elderly ,minorities ,and poor people? Where is the party that says they stand for fairness and justice ? Where you at Reid ? Where you at Pelosi
The school-choice program for D.C. schoolchildren may end sooner than expected.
by Sheryl Blunt
12/08/2009 12:00:00 AM
As Christmas grows closer, the hopes of thousands of D.C. schoolchildren and their families are appearing dimmer and dimmer, and no one is celebrating more than the teachers' unions.
Congress's failure to reauthorize the federally-funded D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), which has provided more than 3,300 schoolchildren scholarships to attend private schools of their choice in the District of Columbia, has proven fatal. The program could end even earlier than expected.
Last week the Washington Scholarship Fund (WSF), the nonprofit organization that administers the program, announced that Congress's failure to act and the Obama administration's unwillingness to let new students participate, means that the WSF will be forced to end its oversight of the program this summer, when the school year ends.
"[E]xisting children and families in the OSP do not know whether they will have access to an Opportunity Scholarship next year, and children and families not now in the program do not know whether they will have the opportunity to participate next year," the organization's board of directors and president wrote in a December 3 letter to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan. "This makes it virtually impossible for children, families, schools, and WSF to prepare for the time-intensive application and renewal processes so critical to the OSP's sound administration for the 2010-2011 school year. Moreover, it denies these families any educational choice because more often than not, charters are not an option."
Board members predict that the likely fallout will be private school closures that will force many scholarship recipients and other students back into the city's troubled public schools next fall, "requiring the District to absorb the additional fiscal costs of educating
both groups of students."
"Effectively, Congress's failure to act to reauthorize this program will send well over 1,000 children to failing and, too often, unsafe schools," the letter states. "That result would, in our view, constitute a moral failing of the highest order on all of our parts."
With less than a month left before Congress adjourns for its holiday recess, supporters of the program had hoped that their latest ad campaign and lobby effort would convince the Obama administration and key Congressmen like Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. José Serrano (D-N.Y.), that the voucher program needs to continue.
"This is the best opportunity kids can have," said Patricia William, whose 12-year-old son Fransoir has used a scholarship to attend a private school in the District since the program's inception in 2004. "Congress has the power to make it happen."
Originally from El Salvador, William became a U.S. citizen in 1996. She said an opportunity scholarship has given her and Fransoir what she hoped to find in America. "This country is about options and education, so give us options as parents," she said. "Don't take away our right to help our kids, especially when this program is working."
But in a November 23 commentary piece for the Washington Post, Rep. Serrano, who chairs the House appropriations subcommittee that oversees the embattled program's funding, reiterated his opposition to letting any more low-income D.C. students benefit from the expiring program. "This is as far as I can go," said Serrano. "I do not support an expansion to include children not currently in the program."
This slammed the door on efforts to resuscitate the program in the House, and the Senate does not appear to have the votes it needs to reauthorize the program.
"People are outraged," said Virginia Walden Ford, executive director of D.C. Parents for School Choice. "It is morally wrong to relegate these children to failing schools."
Archdiocese of Washington spokesperson Kathy Dempsey said seven participating Archdiocese schools recently held meetings with parents to discuss what it would mean if the program is not reauthorized soon.
"It's getting down to the wire and our schools and families need to know what their options are," said Dempsey.
Dempsey added that the District could also lose millions of dollars in desperately-needed funding if the program is not renewed, since the program's implementation was conditioned upon the city's public and charter schools also receiving more money.
"The city could lose $54 million in federal education funding if the program ends, plus $25 million if up to 1,700 [scholarship] children go back to D.C. public schools," said Dempsey. If private schools close, something many believe is likely for a few schools that currently serve a high number of voucher students, even more children will be affected.
One group that won't be bemoaning the voucher programs' end is the teachers' unions. This spring National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel bluntly reminded Senators that "opposition to vouchers is a top priority for NEA," and warned them that the NEA would be paying keen attention to how they vote on vouchers.
"The National Education Association strongly opposes any extension of the District of Columbia private school voucher ('DC Opportunity Scholarship') program," Van Roekel wrote in a March 5, 2009 letter. "We expect that Members of Congress who support public education, and whom we have supported, will stand firm against any proposal to extend the
pilot program. Actions associated with these issues WILL be included in the NEA Legislative Report Card for the 111th Congress."
The Center for Responsive Politics and the National Institute on Money in State Politics recently released data showing that the NEA topped the chart as the number one national donor during the 2007-08 election cycle, shelling out $57.6 million in combined federal and state contributions. The American Federation of Teachers was number 25, with more than $13 million in contributions.
Mike Antonucci of the Education Intelligence Agency put this in perspective, writing that the NEA's and AFT's 2007-08 contributions meant that "America's two teachers' unions outspent AT&T, Goldman Sachs, Wal-Mart, Microsoft, General Electric, Chevron, Pfizer, Morgan Stanley, Lockheed Martin, FedEx, Boeing, Merrill Lynch, Exxon Mobil, Lehman Brothers, and the Walt Disney Corporation, combined."
The Obama administration--already having trouble explaining why it is doing away with a program its own Department of Education reported has advanced participating children's reading achievement by more than three months--will now have another opportunity to explain to low-income D.C. parents and students why it and the Democrat-led Congress has decided to grant the teachers' unions' wish instead of theirs.
Last February President Obama claimed in a weekly radio address that he would fight special interests. "The system we have now might work for the powerful and well-connected interests that have run Washington for far too long," Obama said. "But I don't. I work for the American people."
D.C. students and parents like William and her son will no doubt see things differently.
Sheryl Henderson Blunt is a Phillips Foundation Journalism Fellow.
Why would these people do this to these kids? The D.C. school district is one of the worst school districs in america,and to deny those kids the opportunity that they have been enjoying and succeeding at for several years now (thanks to a republican president and congress) 99% of these kids are poor,black,and hispanic. Where's the party that says they stand for the elderly ,minorities ,and poor people? Where is the party that says they stand for fairness and justice ? Where you at Reid ? Where you at Pelosi
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
NEWS FLASH....ACORN is no longer receiving federal money. please try to keep up with the news....
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
ACORN has hundreds of different little LLC's operating out of the same office. So they have several tax-exempt organizations....they just have different names....Hell the guy that founded ACORN has a Masters in “Grant Writing”. Wake up!
got anything to back that up besides glenn beck or a blog?? i am sure that some of us could stand to be enlightened if you have some info that the rest of us have not heard.
i am wide awake. awake enough to know that congress cut off all federal funding to ACORN over a month ago. it was a big story in the newspapers and the news websites. that must not have been reported on fox though.....
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
This sounds like you support this Government funded, with taxpayer dollars, socialist program to distribute the wealth.
If so... you just tagged yourself with the 'Liberal' label.
Hail, Hail!!!
What ever happened with that FOX News Investigative Report on that ACORN sting operation? Can you please provide us with an update?
Thanx.
Hail, Hail!!!
Probably the same place that Michelle Obama "Whitey" tape is that was promised over and over again.
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
That too. Remember the ACORN thing was going to be Earth Shattering news...
...
So... I wonder... what ever happened to it? Is it still in the works... or did it shrivel up, back to it's original flacid two inch state? What became of this?
Hail, Hail!!!
Oh by the way here's another story that proves that the government could care less about our kids. You'll really love this. Especially all of you that think the govenment can do no harm when it comes to domestic issues.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/ ... ards_N.htm
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
slow down, my friend...it's not that anyone doesn't care about these kids, I think you turned into a partisian issue by complaining about "the party who" does this that and the other...and bringing up Reid and Pelosi into the discussion...
to be honest, when I first read this, I thought "hmm, isn't this socialism" and "I wonder what our teabagger friends think about this"....
as I scrolled down, I see one of the teabaggers brings up Acorn...which leads me to believe the only reason this is being discussed is because Obama is in the Whitehouse...
inmytree you read my mind. i was thinking the same thing. i think the only reason the OP "cares about the kids" is because obama is in the office. based on many of his other posts it seems he cares only of himself and he is now taking up this issue to try to prove that he stands for something when in actuality it is just another excuse to bash obama and the democrats in congress.
also acorn was brought up because aerial has nothing else to say other than to attack this administration for its past transgressions that it has since rectified. acorn is no longer eligible for federal funding.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
Secondly and truthfully, I do not care, but not for the reason you're alluding too. I do not care because everyone in our nation has the opportunity and has every means available to make the nation and world around us so very wonderful, yet doesn't. They instead want to rely on the government officials to fix things, yet don't do their part to keep the government and system working properly. So when I read a story like this, I think one thing, these people are in programs like this because of the system around them. I don't delude myself into thinking our system gives everyone a fair shake or the opportunity to make things even and level... instead it is setup to have a small elite bunch of winners, some holding their own in the middle and a whole lot of losers scrapping to get by. I don't simply blame a party or official, I don't simply blame the people, I recogize they are mere casualties of the failed system and society around them.
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
We may as well post the link or article right from the start....why wait till you ask for a link?
Please fill me in on how to make the world around us wonderful, also I would like all information on how to keep the government and the system working properly.
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=117265
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
I get the sense you didn't read the original post...which is not surprising....
we pay for public school education with our tax dollars so there is no tuition to pay to a public school. if you want to pay tuition to send your kid to privare school be my guest, or home school your kid.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09 ... -+Politics)
Updated September 14, 2009
Senate Votes to Cut Off ACORN Housing Funding
AP
The 83-7 vote would deny housing and community grant funding to the organization
WASHINGTON -- The Senate voted Monday to block the Housing and Urban Development Department from giving grants to ACORN, a community organization under fire in several voter-registration fraud cases.
The 83-7 vote would deny housing and community grant funding to ACORN, which stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
The action came as the group is suffering from bad publicity after a duo of conservative activists posing as a prostitute and her pimp released hidden-camera videos in which ACORN employees in Baltimore gave advice on house-buying and how to account on tax forms for the woman's income. Two other videos, aired on the FOX News Channel, depict similar situations in ACORN offices in Brooklyn and Washington, D.C.
The Senate's move would mean that ACORN would not be able to win HUD grants for programs such as counseling low-income people on how to get mortgages and for fair housing education and outreach.
Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., said that ACORN has received $53 million in taxpayer funds since 1994 and that the group was eligible for a wider set of funding in the pending legislation, which funds housing and transportation programs.
Just last week, the Census Bureau severed its ties with ACORN, saying it does not want the group's help in outreach efforts on the decennial count.
In recent months, Republicans have become increasingly critical of the census' ties with ACORN. The group, which advocates for poor people, conducted a massive voter registration effort last year and became a target of conservatives when some employees were accused of submitting false registration forms with names such as "Mickey Mouse."
Just last week, prosecutors in Miami-Dade County, Fla., arrested 11 people for falsifying hundreds of voter applications during a registration drive last year. ACORN tipped the authorities off to the problem.
On the hidden camera controversy, ACORN says it has fired the employees involved but lashed out at FOX News.
In a statement, Bertha Lewis, ACORN's chief organizer, claimed the tapes had been doctored and violated Maryland's wiretapping laws. She promised to sue FOX News.
Another ACORN spokesman, Scott Levenson, said the group believes the voices of the couple in the video shot in the Brooklyn office were dubbed over to alter the conversation and make the interaction appear more objectionable than it may have been.
ACORN sent a letter to FOX News President Roger Ailes, stating that the videotape was deceptive and had been dubbed over, and asking the network to stop showing the videos, Levensen said.
FOX News spokeswoman Dana Klinghoffer said the tapes were vetted editorially before they were aired.
The video was created by James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles and posted on BigGovernment.com, where O'Keefe identifies himself as an activist filmmaker.
Breitbart.com, which owns BigGovernment.com, did not immediately respond to a call and e-mails seeking comment.
On Monday, Lewis called the Senate's vote a "rare and politically convenient step" but noted that the group gets most of its funding from "its members and other supporters, so the decision will have little impact on overall operations."
The Senate measure is scheduled to pass this week and must be reconciled with a companion House measure that passed in July before becoming law.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
Why now is it ok to use Fox as a credible source! .....I’m just waiting for the rest of the gang to come along a slam you for it! Don’t you know you can go to hell for believing anything that is on Fox?!....
I know Acorn supposedly had its funds cut off...can you prove that they have no other entities that are receiving Federal money!
that was just the first article i found of many. i am not posting them all so you can contribute if you are so inclined...
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
whatever you "researched" you did not post it here, so i am inclined to think that you did nothing, as usual....
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."