A group of Republican legislators in North Carolina decided against introducing legislation that would allow the state and its counties to establish an official religion.
They planned to argue that the Constitution prevents Congress from establishing a religion, but not states or counties.
There was enough outcry to persuade them to hold off.
As we are learning, Tennessee legislators and education “leaders” operate in an alternate universe.
They want to cut the welfare benefits of families if their children get low test scores.
They want to attract for-profit corporations to drain taxpayer dollars out of the public schools, and never hold them accountable for bad results (see, Tennessee Virtual Academy).
They do whatever ALEC tells them because it is hard to think up new laws to help corporations all by yourself.
They are rushing to pass voucher legislation so that every family has the choice to take public dollars to a religious school, but a big thought just occurred: will Tennessee taxpayers be paying to send kids to Muslim schools?
Yes, there are Muslim religious schools in Memphis and Nashville, where most of the vouchers will go.
No law will stand up in any federal court that excludes them.
Gosh, what will those big thinkers do now?
A Fulton County parent sent me this notice of a meeting today: the second annual Faith Summit “to forge partnerships between schools and the faith community. The free event is for leaders of local houses of worship to join school principals and district leaders in a collaborative discussion on practical ways to provide resources benefiting both schools and houses of worship.”
The parent was disturbed by that. It seems to be part of a larger trend to eliminate the line between public and private, between church and state. We can respect all religions, don’t you think, without bringing religious ideas into the public schools.
I previously named Zack Kopplin to the honor roll for his outspoken opposition to schools teaching creationism. A native of Louisiana, Zack criticized Governor Bobby Jindal’s voucher plan for using public funds to send students to schools that teach creationism.
Zack, a student at Rice University, recently appeared on the Bill Moyers show to talk about vouchers and creationism.
The show featured an interactive map that pinpoints every school teaching creationism with public funding. Most are concentrated in Florida and Louisiana.
If Governor Haslam in Tennessee gets his way (abetted by State Commissioner Kevin Huffman [ex-TFA]), there will be many more creationist schools funded by taxpayers. Even more taxpayer dollars will flow to such schools in Alabama and Georgia, and don’t discount their spread into Indiana, Ohio, and other states.
Is this the STEM education that will propel our nation into the 21st century?
New Hampshire has become a new battleground over church-state issues. Conservatives want to divert public funding to support of religious schools.
Defenders of public education are taking action. A group called Advancing New Hampshire Public Education is a valuable resource of information and research about this stealth attack on public education. Some of those behind this project want nothing less than to dismantle public education.
As Anthony Cody explains, the Georgia state constitution is clear:
“No money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly, or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect, cult, or religious denomination or of any sectarian institution.”
What part of that is ambiguous. Even the phase “directly or indirectly” says NO.
Yet Georgia has enacted a tax credit plan to divert money from the public treasury to send children to sectarian, religious schools.
It is a back-door voucher.
Where are the lawyers?
Does the state constitution mean nothing?
When did a Georgia conservatives adopt the idea that the constitution means whatever you want it to mean?
Here is a great article about Georgia’s “tax credit scholarship” program by Myra Blackmon of the Athens Banner-Herald.
Blackmon writes:
“I’m just sick about all this. My beloved Georgia has gone from being a shining beacon of educational innovation in the 1990s to a “me and my kid first” basis for decision-making and funding. We are resegregating our schools by race and class, making the quality of a child’s education dependent on his ZIP code or his parent’s income.
“Don’t talk to me about choice. That’s a euphemism for “just us.” Don’t talk to me about failing schools; talk to me about a failing legislature and corporate “reformers” who understand everything about education except teaching and learning. Don’t talk to me about “bloated budgets.” Since 2008, Georgia’s public schools have gained 37,000 students and lost 5,000 teachers.”
Yesterday I posted a comment from Linda Whittington, a member of the state Legislature in Mississippi who was removed from her assignment on the House Education Committee because she opposes charters.
Today a reader in Tennessee posted a comment with these links from Memphis:
http://schoolingmemphis.blogspot.com/2013/01/tn-state-rep-fitzhugh-forced-off.html
http://schoolingmemphis.blogspot.com/2013/01/harwell-shenanigans-confirmed-in.html
You will learn here that Tennessee House Democratic leader, Craig Fitzhugh, was removed from his position on the education committee because he opposes vouchers.
Bottom line: The privatization steamroller is moving fast in those states. The privatizers don’t like local control.
Their goal is to hand public money over to nonpublic schools, out-of-state corporations, businesses, and religious schools, with minimal or no supervision. They don’t care if they destroy the public schools.
By the way, StudentsFirst, which is registered as a nonpolitical 501(c)4, poured about $900,000 into the legislative races in Tennessee to assure a Republican super-majority. But please don’t forget that it’s all “for the children” and of course, bipartisan. Oh, and if you read the article linked here, you will see that Rhee claims to be a resident of Tennessee, even though she is married to the mayor of Sacramento. Where does she live? Where is she registered to vote? It’s mysterious.
Zack Kopplin was honored earlier by this blog for his efforts to expose the teaching of creationism in voucher schools in Louisiana. He is a student at Rice University. He is not letting up on his efforts to expose the abuse of science by schools receiving vouchers.
Here is a press release sent by him:
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union, and the American Civil Liberties Union have filed a lawsuit challenging a state law that allows tuition tax credits, saying it subsidizes religious schools.
Where are the lawsuits in Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Louisiana to challenge voucher programs that directly fund religious schools with public money?
Diane Ravitch's blog 