State Legislature Sidesteps Dem Gov, Passes Sweeping School Choice Measure
'Biggest threat to public schools'
Should Christians send their children to public school? Christianity Today says ‘yes’
As public schools have rapidly become infested with left-wing propaganda, more families are choosing to homeschool or go the private route.
Christianity Today argues that this is the wrong decision, as a recently published article argues for putting kids in public schools in order to provide spiritual “strength training” for kids.
“We’ve got someone telling you that public school is totally fine who doesn’t even have their kids in public school,” Allie Beth Stuckey of “Relatable” comments. “You don’t have a firm grasp on what’s going on in the public school system.”
Even in red states and fairly conservative suburbs, parents are finding themselves faced with gender ideology and social justice in their schools.
However, the author of the article in Christianity Today claims that more important than your children’s day-to-day education is taking your child to church regularly.
“Even if it is true that church is more important than the school you go to, I don’t think there’s anyone denying that. So right off the bat we’ve got a straw man there. I don’t think anyone is saying that your child’s school is determinant of their salvation or is the driving factor of their sanctification,” Stuckey argues.
“Church might be more important, what happens at home might be more important, but that doesn’t make your education not important,” she continues.
The article references a study that also appears to refute its own claims.
“Homeschoolers are 51% more likely than public school children to frequently attend religious services into their young adulthood. Students at religious schools had a higher likelihood of frequent religious service attendance, becoming a registered voter, and fewer lifetime sexual partners than public school students,” Stuckey says.
“So she really brushes over the conclusions of the very study that she bases her argument on for sending your kids to public school,” she continues.
The author also argues that she would rather her child have the worldly experiences that public school can offer while the child is under her own roof.
“Your child can still have worldly experiences, can still encounter worldly secular arguments under your roof without being inundated by these arguments for eight hours a day, five days a week, for thirteen years of her life,” Stuckey says, adding, “That is a lot of propaganda.”
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Chicago Teachers Union president sends one of her children to private school
Chicago Teachers Union president Stacy Davis Gates is sending one of her children to a private school.
"It was a very difficult decision for us because there is not a lot to offer Black youth who are entering high school," in Chicago, she said, according to WBEZ. "In many of our schools on the South Side and the West Side, the course offerings are very marginal and limited. Then the other thing, and it was a very strong priority, was his ability to participate in co-curricular and extracurricular activities, which quite frankly, don't exist in many of the schools, high schools in particular."
in a statement posted on the union's website, Davis Gates noted that her two daughters are still attending public school.
And while Gates has chosen private school for her son, she is no fan of school choice policies.
"Our critics want you to believe that 'school choice' is a black-and-white issue that lacks nuance and hard choices for people like us, Black families – especially when you are parenting a Black boy in America," she said in the statement. "For my husband and me, it forced us to send our son, after years of attending a public school, to a private high school so he could live out his dream of being a soccer player while also having a curriculum that can meet his social and emotional needs, even as his two sisters remain in Chicago Public Schools."
"We will continue to oppose siphoning public school resources off to private institutions through voucher programs," she declared in the statement.
In a recent interview, she seemed to describe school choice and privatization proponents "fascists."
"Do you have concerns about school-choice and privatization supporters running for the school board, and a strategy to oppose that?" South Side Weekly asked. The outlet noted in the piece that the exchange as printed had been edited for clarity and length.
"Yes, we are concerned about the encroachment of fascists in Chicago. We are concerned about the marginalization of public education through the eyes of those who've never intended for Black people to be educated. So we're going to fight tooth and nail to make sure that type of fascism and racism does not exist on our Board of Education," Davis Gates said while responding to the question.
President of Chicago Teachers Union admits sending son to private school www.youtube.com
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This Back-To-School Season, Celebrate The Boom Of Educational Choice
2023 was the year of school choice, and the movement is only just beginning.The Real Story Of The Clarence Thomas Non-Scandal Is Pro-Lifers Care About Life Outside The Womb
Under the smears is a story about love, sacrifice, and provision -- and it obliterates the left’s favorite abortion talking point.DeSantis ratifies 'game changer' school choice bill allowing all Florida students to get school vouchers
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill into law effectively enabling all K-12 students in the state — including those who are homeschooled — to take advantage of school vouchers.
HB1 was passed in the state House on March 17 and in the Senate on March 23. DeSantis signed it into law Monday at an all-boys Catholic high school in Miami.
The law will eliminate the previous financial eligibility restrictions such that students of all economic backgrounds can participate in the state's voucher system so long as they are residents.
The law also scraps the enrollment cap on parents who can participate in the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options. Whereas a family of five making over $129,880 was previously ineligible for the scholarship — which is funded through the Florida Education Finance Program — now they and others of varying means will be able to apply for assistance. Lower-income families will, however, continue to receive priority.
The number of Family Empowerment Scholarships for students with unique abilities will also see an annual increase from 1% to 3%.
In addition to making sure parents have a choice in the schools they support and send their children to, the legislation requires the development of a government website informing parents of every educational option available to their family.
Florida's education commissioner, Manny Diaz Jr., suggested the ratification of the bill marked "a monumental day in Florida history," adding that "Florida will always make good on our promise to ensure every single child has access to a world-class education."
Senate President Kathleen Passidomo (R) noted that the new law serves to jettison a number of cumbersome regulations public schools had to deal with in years past.
"By reducing red tape that burdens our traditional public schools, these institutions, which have served our communities for generations, will have a meaningful chance to compete right alongside other school choice options," said Passidomo.
Sen. Corey Simon (R) underscored that a "street address or level of income should never replace the vital and irreplaceable role of a parent to decide what academic experience best fits the needs of their child."
Simon suggested that HB1 is part of a broader focus on funding students as opposed to systems.
House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell and other opposition members are critical of this effort to empower parents, suggesting that the Republican voucher expansion may be "too expensive" and "could be devastating to Florida public schools."
The Tallahassee Democrat reported that the state House estimated the cost of the voucher expansion to be roughly $209.6 million to public schools. A Senate analysis indicated the school choice push might cost upwards of $646 million in the 2023-2024 school year alone.
Having contorted itself into a fiscally conservative position, the Florida Policy Institute, a leftist research outfit, claimed taxpayers might ultimately be on the hook for $4 billion.
Ahead of the passage of HB1, Mary McKillip, a senior researcher at the leftist Education Law Center, indicated that the restoration of parental and student choice at a greater scale in Florida would amount to a "devastating attack on the public schools."
DeSantis appears to be of the mind that this is not an attack on public schools, but instead a defense of Floridians and their ability to chart their own destinies.
"Florida is number one when it comes to education freedom and education choice, and today’s bill signing represents the largest expansion of education choice in the history of these United States," DeSantis said in a statement. "When you combine private scholarships, charter schools, and district choice programs, Florida already has 1.3 million students attending a school of their choosing."
Laura Zorc, director of education reform at the Freedom Works advocacy group, told Newsweek that HB1 "is an example of what [DeSantis] would do as the president."
"What I'm seeing is that he is very pro-parent, he's very in tune to making sure our kids get what they need to be educated," added Zorc. "And so he's not following along with the talking points of the teachers' unions that all kids have to be in the public schools, because he feels that parents do know what's best for their kids and he's allowing them — us — to make that choice."
Florida House Speaker Paul Renner (R) noted that with DeSantis' support, "Florida has delivered the greatest expansion of educational freedom in the nation and will unleash a wave of opportunity for millions of families."
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New York City Mayor de Blasio mandates COVID-19 vaccination for private school workers
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, will require private school workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Workers will need to furnish proof that they received their first vaccine dose by Dec. 20, according to the New York Post.
“We’re doing everything in our power to protect our students and school staff, and a mandate for nonpublic school employees will help keep our school communities and youngest New Yorkers safe,” the mayor said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.
The city's public school workers already face a COVID-19 vaccination mandate.
Due to term limits, de Blasio, who has served as the city's mayor since 2014, was not eligible to seek another term during the 2020 election, according to The Hill. In 2019, de Blasio threw his hat into the ring with a presidential bid, but ultimately dropped out later that year.
Mayor-elect Eric Adams, also a Democrat, will enter office on the first of January, the New York Times noted.
Government and private sector COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the U.S. have proven to be highly controversial during the pandemic, with some Americans decrying such requirements as infringements on personal autonomy.
“While we support and generally encourage Covid vaccination in our schools, and while in fact the large majority of our schools’ employees are so vaccinated, most of our schools do not insist upon such vaccination as a condition of employment," Chairman of the Committee of NYC Religious and Independent School Officials Rabbi David Zwiebel reportedly noted in a letter to Mayor de Blasio.
"Many of our schools view Covid vaccination as a matter most appropriately left to individual choice, not governmental fiat. This is an area where government should be using its bully pulpit to persuade, not its regulatory arm to coerce," Zwiebel said.
*NEW* Rabbi David Zwiebel, chairman of the Committee of NYC Religious and Independent School Officials, wrote a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio today opposing the vaccine mandate for private schools.pic.twitter.com/AV3R1ODzE1— Emma G. Fitzsimmons (@Emma G. Fitzsimmons) 1638481968
Miami private school says students who get COVID vaccine must quarantine for 30 days
A private school in Miami, Florida, that announced earlier this year it would not employ teachers who receive a COVID-19 vaccine now says that any student who gets vaccinated must stay home for 30 days after each shot.
Centner Academy's chief operating officer told parents in a letter that "if you are considering the vaccine for your Centner Academy student(s), we ask that you hold off until the Summer when there will be time for the potential transmission or shedding onto others to decrease."
The letter informed parents that students who receive a COVID-19 vaccine dose must quarantine, WSVN-TV reported.
"Because of the potential impact on other students and our school community, vaccinated students will need to stay at home for 30 days post-vaccination for each dose and booster they receive and may return to school after 30 days as long as the student is healthy and symptom-free," the letter stated.
The reasons given by the school, as reported by WSVN, have to do with concerns over potential vaccine side effects and fears that vaccinated students may spread the virus to the unvaccinated.
These fears are unfounded, according to the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, which explains that the three COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the United States are incapable of shedding the virus onto others.
"Vaccine shedding is the term used to describe the release or discharge of any of the vaccine components in or outside of the body. Vaccine shedding can only occur when a vaccine contains a weakened version of the virus," the CDC says. "None of the vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. contain a live virus. mRNA and viral vector vaccines are the two types of currently authorized COVID-19 vaccines available."
In comments made to the Washington Post, school co-founder David Centner said the policy was a "precautionary measure" based on "numerous anecdotal cases that have been in circulation."
"The school is not opining as to whether unexplained phenomena have a basis in fact, however we prefer to err on the side of caution when making decisions that impact the health of the school community," Centner said.
Back in April, the Centner Academy made national headlines for refusing to employ "anyone who has taken the experimental COVID-19 injection." The school asked current employees to hold off receiving the vaccine until more information was known about their potential side effects.
The controversial policy drew criticism from both Florida Republicans and Democrats, as well as health experts who accused Centner's wife and school co-founder Leila Centner of making false claims about the vaccines.
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