There is a group called “Civitas” in North Carolina that parrots the Tea Party line about everything.
In its current issue, it claims that Republicans and Democrats alike favor “education savings accounts,” which is a euphemism for vouchers.
If you go to its home page, you will see that Civitas is a very conservative organization that approves everything the far-right legislature has done.
Question: Why do Republicans and libertarians insist on using euphemisms for vouchers? Why do they call them “education savings accounts,” or “education tax credits,” or “opportunity scholarships”?
Calling a voucher something else is part of the “reform” deception. Why don’t they ask the public how they feel about using public dollars to fund religious schools? How do they feel about spending tax dollars on Christian schools, Jewish schools, Catholic schools, and Muslim schools?
Instead, they deceive people in polls by presenting a benign question: how do you feel about saving for education with tax-free dollars? how do you feel about “scholarships” for poor children trapped in failing schools?
Honesty and candor would be nice for a change.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The Civitas Institute is an organization founded and funded by James Arthur “Art” Pope, whose fortune derives from his family’s business, Variety Wholesalers, which owns and operates a chain of 385 discount stores across the South. He’s a member of the right-wing funding network at whose head one finds–guess who?!–Charles and David Koch. Pope appears almost singlehandedly responsible for North Carolina’s turn to the looney right. He also funds the John Locke Institute and the John William Pope Foundation, two other “think” tanks which push a far right libertarian agenda. Governor Pat McCrory named him North Carolina’s budget director–although Governor McCrory appears to be Pope’s puppet.
It turns out, alas, that Hillary Clinton wasn’t indulging in hyperbole when she spoke of a “vast, right-wing conspiracy.” Pope is bad news. My friends in North Carolina tell me living there has become bleak indeed
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there are aspects to living here that are bleak (mostly just embarrassing on the national front). But NC is still a wonderful place and I will stand up for us as long as I live (and I assume I will always live here). We can come out of this. And I believe we will. I’m not giving up.
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Involved Mom,
North Carolina is a beautiful state. It was once the most forward=looking state in the South. Under the current legislature and governor, it has become a national laughing stock. I feel sure this can’t last. The good people of NC will turn them out. Otherwise businesses will leave the state, tourists will avoid the state, and it will become a backwater. Can’t let that happen.
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The first step is to stop the bashing of the state in general, and allow there to be compartmentalized criticisms rather than blanket ones.
In some ways, a slow down of development in NC might not be a bad thing, especially along the coast where our fishing has become threatened anyway. But I’m afraid the same guys who want to compartmentalize who has special protections in a different way from the federal way also would love to allow drilling on the coast.
Growth is good, until is isn’t. I see bumper stickers that say, “We’re glad you love NC; now go home.”
I dunno. But I know we’re not all bad.
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I don’t know Diane, maybe Democratic lawmakers DO support vouchers but they simply find it politically profitable to deny that.
They sure seem like they support vouchers, since they’re putting them in as part of a broader ed reform agenda in state after state. Democrats supposedly support collective bargaining rights too, but this “support” seems to be purely rhetorical and timed to election cycles.
Who knows what Democrats tell these ed reform lobbying groups behind closed doors? Ed reform is a political coalition. Democrats signed onto most of it. I don’t know why they wouldn’t go all the way to vouchers. They say themselves their “movement” consists of two agenda items- 1. choice and 2. accountability. That means charters, vouchers and tests. Public schools aren’t even on the two item list, other than as testing/data collection centers. Just look at state legislature agenda items- it’s ALL charters and vouchers. You can’t pay politicians in either Party to work on behalf of public schools. They simply aren’t interested.
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Chiara, you hit the nail on the head. “You can’t pay politicians in either party to work on behalf of public schools.” Follow the money. They are paid to work on behalf of charters and vouchers. Hedge fund managers and Wall Street are obsessed with charters, and libertarian politicians and billionaires love vouchers. Public schools have bake sales.
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YES. In our schools it was tamales.
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NO DFER 4 me.
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Involved Mom, I don’t intend to bash North Carolina, and if you believe I’ve done so, than I apologize fervently and sincerely. I’ve only passed through the state, but several of my closest friends live there, have lived there, or have family there. I am however, unequivocally, bashing Art Pope and his ilk, who have quite clearly subverted democratic institutions in the state.
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“Calling a voucher something else is part of the “reform” deception.” and “Honesty and candor would be nice for a change.”
It seems to me that in current American society that half-truths, deceptive wording and many times outright lies are the modus operandi for most folks. Many perhaps have not taken the time to critically analyze their thoughts, words whether written or spoken, and actions that cannot stand up to “fidelity to truth” scrutiny. “Infidelity to truth” though, sells products and ideas and that is the number one concern of modern American life, the pursuit of riches-to hell with worrying about whether something is actually true, correct, right or good.
And much of educational discourse is based on error, falsehood, lies, deceit, and prevaricating non-critical thinking that accepts educational (mal)practices as fine and dandy mainly because “everyone has been doing such and such a practice forever”. Misbegotten cultural habits are hard to eliminate but they eventually are logically forced out and die a slow painful death while still causing much harm to the most innocent of society, the children.
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well-written, there Mr. Swacker.
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Thanks for the kind words IM!!
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A lot of the lies and deceit stem from the fact that our public schools have become monetized. Now they have value to corporations and billionaires, and these powerful types are very Machiavellian in their pursuit of more money. The students are no more than “collateral damage.”
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rt,
Even before this current monetization of public education much of what was done in public education was based on falsehood and error. The monetization is a result or better yet an amplification of the lies and deceit that have been in the “system” of public education in myriad forms for many many years. I hesitate to put a more definitive time frame because it appears that homo supposedly sapiens (hss) ability to self deceive with language is an inherent characteristic.
Or it’s just that we humans are very imperfect sense and information processors that perhaps we should expect such distortions and fabrications to be the default mode. But then isn’t combating that default mode one of the purposes of public education. Maybe, indeed, public education is failing us. As well it has to due, again, to the inherent errors and falsehoods used in the teaching and learning process. Children are taught and learn (certainly not intended to learn it) that absurdity and delusion are “reality”. For one examples see standardized tests and the supposed “standards” upon which they are based or the “grading” of students. And those three, being just few of many, are very interconnected.
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Well, and actually, not all Republicans favor vouchers. In fact, many dislike charters. But they are not the ones with the microphone right now. Many Republicans who served and lobbied in the 80s say charters were just a way to open the door for vouchers. They don’t like it. They wish we had a good public school system with less DOE deference (or so I glean). But we are so far down the road, now, of DOE shaping everything that it’s hard to know what anyone thinks.
I agree with Chiara—I don’t really trust anyone in NC who says they support public school unless I see them in a school or working on behalf of schools directly (I watch the Tweets pretty carefully—you can see who spends time in schools and who doesn’t). It’s a convenient and praise-worthy (so many think) political tactic to say “we support teachers and public schools.” But NC is just so twisted up in so many ways. . .obviously from all my posts the last few days I don’t really know that anyone can help us (although I appreciate folks trying, if their tactics are savvy).
I think the reason people lament Jim Hunt is because he was so able to appeal to both sides. He was popular. (In fact, some Republicans who led in days past say that’s really all he had going on—he was popular). He was good at not isolating anyone and not grand-standing or coming off as self-righteous. People obviously miss that quality because they continue to call on him as the hero. And we need a new hero for public schools.
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So will filthy rich people be allowed to take vouchers (public money) to pay for tuitions at elite private schools? These elite private schools often have admissions requirements and do NOT take all comers? Some elite private schools here in central NJ have tuitions approaching $40k and take the cream of the crop only. Sure, they do take a few lower income students on scholarship but these poor kids must demonstrate some talent, initiative and ability. Special ed students need not apply. Disruptive or non performing students are dumped.
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I doubt they would want to take vouchers because I think along with vouchers comes stipulations about how they run their school. They won’t want to touch that—won’t need to. Instead what will happen and what has happened is you’ll get some small entity (a fringe church, perhaps) to quickly throw a school together in their church basement and they will get voucher money.
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IM,
The private schools probably care not a wit about how the parents of the students obtain their tuition money, just as long as it is paid. Since, to be held constitutional, the tax monies must go through the parents before getting to the school, private and/or religious schools cannot be held under the same scrutiny as public schools. In other words the schools get the monies with no strings attached. And I would suppose that they’d rather much like that idea.
On another note: What do you consider a “fringe church”?
I ask because that concept gets to the heart of the problem of a lack of church/state separation–who determines and how is it determined whether a church is legitimate or fringe or otherwise?
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I would, personally, consider a fringe church to be on that is not part of a national organization.
Mainline churches are ones with pensions for clergy, bylaws for protocol, international relations, etc.
PCUSA, ECUSA are the ones I’m most familiar with as mainline, verses an independent pentecostal church or something. Many, many colleges were started by mainline churches. I’m not expert on the subject (albeit I probably have a lot of firsthand experience with it, having been a church musician many times in my life).
I feel sure I read that in NC schools accepting vouchers must subscribe to a certain list of protocol because the scholarship does not go to the family; it goes to the school they choose.
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No DFER 4 me. They are same as the REPs.
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Diane,
Here’s the situation in AZ as of today April 4 on vouchers: “We have inside information that the school voucher bills do not have enough votes to receive a hearing on the House floor. We must keep pressure on lawmakers.”
This is from our lobbyist from the Secular Coalition (she’s awesome!), who has been working very hard to block this bill alongside some other groups. I just sent off an email via SC once again in opposition to this legislation. I think we have a good chance of blocking it!
Here’s hoping! We need some good news on the voucher front!
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