Warriors, if you haven’t noticed, lately there has been plenty of conversation about ‘education savings accounts’. Sometimes these are referred to as ‘vouchers’.
For this article, we’ll refer to them as ‘coupons’. Why? Think about the way in which coupons work. Companies offer discounts in order to grab your attention. Once they’ve succeeded grabbing your attenion, you do one of two things. 1) Use the coupon as soon as possible. 2) You put the coupon with the others you are saving until you go shopping again.
It’s the ‘get something for almost nothing’ mindset. Face it, we love to save money. We love to THINK we are saving money while getting that ‘must have’ item or service. Regardless what name is slapped on ‘education savings accounts’, they are no more than a glorified coupon to sway you and your family!
Think about it, Warriors, why do we need so many legislators and educrats telling us we need MORE choices in education?! We already have PLENTY of choice! Homeschooling, private schools, faith-based schools, and. public schools have been around for generations. THEY are NOT new choices. Charter schools, however, are a newer choice than previous ones. Micro-schools, alternative schools, and skill based schools are also newer choices.
How? Every one of them is a product of the CCSS Machine! We’ve known for a few years now, how the CCSS Machine has wrecked public education, infiltrated home and private education. It’s a no-brainer to see that the goal is one type of education IN ALL schools is what the CCSS Machine is steering the nation to.
***By listening to the legislators and educrats telling us what to think when it comes to our tax dollars and how to spend them, we have chosen to not think for ourselves.***
The ‘coupon’ those in charge want to give us when it comes to education, is bogus. It’s false advertising. You won’t be saving anything if you take the coupon!! Just the opposite, you will be selling out. You will be giving the CCSS Machine a foot in the door to your family’s home.
**You will have given your most precious possession, your actual freedom of choice, away for mere dollars.**
What’s troubling is the fact that many of the well organized, well known groups which stood beside us in fighting Common Core, have abandoned us to come out in full support of ‘school choice’. In fact, some of these groups have been building ‘education savings accounts’ rhetoric for quite awhile.
Sure, the liberal thinkers LOVE ‘choice’. “Choice” means ‘selection’. So, the liberals are telling us their ‘coupons’ will give you, the coupon holder, something you’ve never had access to before…a supposedly better selection in education for your children. The conservative thinkers, likewise, LOVE ‘choice’ as well. They, also LOVE to offer a better way for you to have that ‘choice’. Enter the ‘education savings accounts’ or ‘vouchers’. Either way, they are actually ‘permission slip coupons’ using YOUR tax dollars. Think of it as “Mother, May I?”
**Warriors, we all have had access to all the types of education out there. We choose every day our children have gone to school, where that location is. Countless sacrifices have been made by plenty of parents to make their choices. The government’s solution of handing you a ‘coupon’ to exercise your choice is DANGEROUS!**
When we accept the ‘coupon’ premise of education savings accounts, we are accepting the following:
1) setting our children up for more data mining
2) allowing the government control where it has no right to control
3) opening the door to being accountable to the government in ways we’ve never been before
4) helping the restructing of our nation happen in our neighborhoods
5) letting our freedom be taken openly and willingly
WHY would we EVER choose these?!
Do NOT let our legislators misguide you in the frenzy around this “in the news” topic.
Current Federal Legislation For Education Savings Accounts Or ‘Coupons’:
(Note: all of these have been introduced in their Chambers, are in Committees, and will impact all education choices, including home education!) All references to ESSA will be from the Final Conference Report version (easier to read). The Final Conference Report is word for word in the ESSA Final Law.
HR610: “To distribute Federal funds for elementary and secondary education in the form of vouchers for eligible students and to repeal a certain rule relating to nutrition standards in schools.” Short title, “Choices in Education Act 2017”.
The ‘coupon’s’ fine print: “SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress that States should distribute non-Federal funds for elementary and secondary education in a manner that promotes competition and choices in education.”
Warriors, Congress should not exercise their sense in this manner! With all education choices learning and teaching the same things, there will be NO competition!
Don’t believe me? Refer to the language of Every Student Succeeds Act’s pages 33 (where LEAs will use those state awarded funds to align all educational choices to the ‘industry recognized credentialing system’ set forth by the WIOA (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act) of 2014!); 48, (where it is stated that all education must be streamlined); 323, 780 and 781 (where all teachers will be trained to teach to post-secondary readiness, especially dual enrolled, concurrent enrolled, and early college students. (Related is Page 344, where the education will be ‘region specific’ as well as ‘post secondary ready’.)
HR716: Enhancing Educational Opportunities for all Students Act
The ‘coupon’s’ fine print, “To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to encourage the use of 529 plans and Coverdell education savings accounts, and for other purposes.”
Warriors, this one is a ‘special coupon’ in that it impacts pre-Kindergarteners, elementary, and secondary students.
HR675: Empowering Parents to Invest in Choice Act of 2017
The ‘coupon’s’ fine print: “To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand the coverage of qualified tuition programs and increase the limitation on contributions to Coverdell education savings accounts.”
Warriors, anytime the federal government increases or expands, especially in education, we’ve seen disasterous results! Take into considertion the mess the federal government has created when it decided to get in the student loan business and wiped out all private competition!
HR529: “529 and ABLE Account Improvement Act of 2017”
(*Note: ABLE stands for ‘Achieving a Better Life Experience’. While ABLE accounts are designed for people with disabilites and related expenses, this Act crosses over into education.)
The ‘coupon’s’ fine print: “EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS TO QUALIFIED TUITION PROGRAMS AND QUALIFIED ABLE PROGRAMS. TAX CREDIT FOR SMALL EMPLOYER COSTS OF ESTABLISHING DIRECT PAYROLL DEDUCTION INTO QUALIFIED TUITION PROGRAMS AND QUALIFIED ABLE PROGRAMS.”
Warriors, this is the first ‘coupon’ where you will see the involvement of private businesses enter education. We’ve seen the damage this partnership has given us in education, thanks to the CCSS Machine already. Yet, ESSA embeds even more of the P3s (public-private partnership)! For example, straight from the language on “P. 137,The LEAs determine how students transition from one grade group to the next (including post-secondary) with the help of P3s (Public Private Partnerships) and ‘other stakeholders in education’.”
S148: Educational Opportunities Act
The ‘coupon’s’ fine print: “TAX CREDIT FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCHOLARSHIP GRANTING ORGANIZATIONS” Then, there’s this, “to participate in the evaluation conducted by the Institute of Education Science (IES) under section 2(d) of the Educational Opportunities Act..”
Warriors, the data collected in relation to the scholarships will be shared by the IES. IES works with a plethora of data miners! The IES is also in the language of ESSA.
S235: CHOICE Act or ““Creating Hope and Opportunity for Individuals and Communities through Education Act”
The ‘coupon’s’ fine print: “The purpose of this title is to provide options to States to innovate and improve the education of children with disabilities by expanding the choices for students and parents under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act..”
Warriors, from the language of ESSA’s Final Conference Report, ” P. 50, Special needs students who have benefited from IDEA funding/programs and seek higher education ‘on track with alternative aligned courses/assessments’.”
S221: A PLUS Act,”A bill to allow a State to submit a declaration of intent to the Secretary of Education to combine certain funds to improve the academic achievement of students”
Short title, “Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success Act”
The ‘coupon’s’ fine print: Those authorizing the declaration are to be:“(A) The governor of the State. (B) The highest elected education official of the State, if any. (C) The legislature of the State.”
What’s in the declaration? “Each State is authorized to submit to the Secretary a declaration of intent permitting the State to receive Federal funds on a consolidated basis to manage the expenditure of such funds to advance the educational policy of the State.” Then, there’s this: “Removal of fiscal and accounting barriers.–Each State educational agency that operates under a declaration of intent under this Act shall modify or eliminate State fiscal and accounting barriers that prevent local educational agencies and schools from easily consolidating funds from other Federal, State, and local sources in order to improve educational opportunities and reduce unnecessary fiscal and accounting requirements.”
Warriors, if the States are to have full control of education, why is this Bill revealing that States will be allowed to do something? Why is it suggesting the elimination of state agencies? Why does it state ‘advancing educational policy’ and not law? Policies are NOT laws! Laws must be carried out, policies, especially in education, have been taken over by the CCSS Machine!! There is quite a bit more about A PLUS you should read and consider the ‘unintended consequences’!
Closing:
Warriors, help me share the truth about school choice via the education savings accounts! You see how the dots have been connected. If you need more evidence about how false these accounts are:
https://www.commoncorediva.com/2016/11/29/in-alignment-we-trust/
https://www.commoncorediva.com/2016/11/22/gravy-anyone/
https://www.commoncorediva.com/2016/04/04/veteran-warrior-speaks-up/
Return these ‘coupons’ to Congress! We don’t want them.
I am finding parents are every bit as greedy as our legislators. They are giving up freedom for what they perceive to be “their” money. I am also finding parents do not really want to fight for education and they are content with allowing the government to do it all for them. They are handing over their kids and have been doing so for decades now. We have created a hand out, do it for me society.
About 3 years ago, before CC was fully implemented here in WI, I went to several fairs, rented a booth and handed out all manner of anti-CC materials. It amazed me how complacent most parents were. Most seemed not at all concerned about what their kids were learning, and fully trusted their schools to do the right thing, even to refusing to take one of my DVD’s telling them WHY they should be concerned.
BTW, I am impressed that Lynne has the time and energy to search all of this out, and in such great detail. It may be that I am concerned about the attacks on our liberties on so many fronts, plus the fact that I am employed, that I either can not or do not focus so sharply on any one aspect of the war against us being waged by advocates of Big GoveNMEnt at every level. Often, I merely assume that if a goverNMEnt wants to do something, it must be bad. At least 90% of the time, that is true.
Thank you for your comments.
It appears the words of ‘suffer not the little children’ got left behind.