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Kevin reports that Sokola and Jacques put up a bill that postpones the Education Funding Improvement till effectively legislature is over. (Senate CCR 56)
Why?
Here is what the old bill said…
This was one of the major sticking points last year if you will remember, because several people would not originally vote for the original bill’s date of June 30th 2016 because that was “bad” government… So it was changed to get passage votes… and now it has been changed back.
This original bill was forced on an runaway Educational lobby that really did not want it. It’s purpose was to propose legislation to change how schools were to be funded. it was also a foil being used to blunt the passage of Opt Out and opponents to the charter takeover of city schools.
The charter proponents are very scared that exposing the reality of how the funding of charters does immense detriment to the rest of public education, might wake up some legislators and the Delawarean public. They want this hidden.
Hence, the two legislators who are completely owned by corporate educational big money, Earl Jacques and Dave Sokola, wind up being the only sponsors of these two bills:
The first bill requiring the report by the end of March, and the second pushing it to June 30th.
Legislature ends on 6/30/2016. This report is due on 6/30/2016. There will be no time to debate or even look at what was proposed.
That is the bill’s intent.
Whenever anything comes up due on the last day of legislature, we can be assured that someone is trying to sneak something in, the majority of Delawareans don’t want…
What the original bill was intended to accomplish was a way to shift more funding to poorer state school districts. it sounds good in principle.
But if one takes the actual record of deals stuck in the middle of the night by this administration, deals such as Fisker, Bloom Energy, TDC, Kinder Morgan, and Race To The Top, with 5 straight losses it does not look good for the sixth.
Anything other than a late night end-run-sneak, was no reason to pass this bill…
It is past time to hold accountable, those who are accountable for Delaware’s Educational fiasco.
Our legislators at least for now, seem to be failing miserably at doing so.
Today, as I was sitting on my lawn chair soaking up the hot temperature, a cabbage butterfly flew over me.
My first thought was oh wow, I have to mention this to Allan.
But then, I remember, they pulled the plug on comments to their blog, so this little conversation that should have lead to other conversations and topics, will never happen.
Death …. it is final.
The Golden Flush Award /Click Image for Past Winners
Usually this is an after thought…” Oh, wow, year’s over, let’s get a person of the year”… And then once we elect one, we go… “holy crap… we totally forgot so and so….”
So to try to stir up some old simmering coals of memory, both mine and others, and perhaps even to (heaven forbid) get some debate going in the blog sphere, I thought I’d make an initial run on Thanksgiving Week, and then add people into the nominating category as others mention various ones I should kick myself for forgetting.
It will also force me to review the year which is something I rarely do… because face it, as a human being, I am slave of the moment…. If I did this last year, come December 14th the entire world would have been turned upside down and all the old priorities of 2012, would in one day become trivial….
And so starting early gives me the chance to make the argument for each of those I decide to enroll with your kind recommendations included….
Julius Cephus: Particularly this one man organized and stopped an end run around the Port of Wilmington. The Kinder Morgan deal did not go through, and the Wilmington Port is bustling like never before… Kinder Morgan was to strip the union of power, and drop the rates of pay, further dampening the economy of Wilmington proper. It was also the first defeat of a Lavine-Markell development project, .. Fisker and Bloom had gone forward without a hitch. Julius and other’s push back resulted in a General Assembly motion that stated they, not the governor, had final approval. It was the first time we were exposed to the current Governor’s manipulations. They were to play a significant part across this year’s tapestry.
Steve Newton: A blogger who has written infrequently, but effectively. His piece on SB 51 is what alerted us to the end run being performed by Dave Sokola on lowering the current standards being used for educating teachers. It is brilliant. It took an evening of reading the legislation line by line and cross referencing it with Steve’s analysis, to understand the huge negative impact this bill would cause. By the time this was done, the Bill had already passed the Senate unanimously without comment, and with an friendly amendment added that was voted upon without even being read. Some public outcry was mustered within the House, both in committee and on the floor, but under the Governor’s direction, the Speaker of the House, pushed the bill to the floor before significant outcry could be mustered. Only 4 House members were not on record for it’s passing. Our educational schools now have to water down their teaching standards to meet the new law. Steve also has brought the Highmark story to Delaware. His research in the increase of medical costs in Western PA as a result of knocking out competition by unfair practices, leads one with a cold chill of what to expect in Delaware’s future. We are already there. As an insurer, Highmark is only paying medical claims in its own affiliated clinics. As the new Blue Cross/Blue Shield owner, that is a huge percentage of Delaware’s residents. None can go to any other hospital. He has properly fingered Karen Weldham Stuart for not catching this prior to implementation. Without Steve, this would have passed unnoticed. The News Journal still has not once mentioned the takeover of Delaware’s health field under one owner.
Ernest Lopez. If Kennedy were still writing Profiles of Courage, he should include this man. Ernest Lopez is a conservative, and voted with Libertarian values to pass the gun legislation recommended by Markell and Biden. Reflecting the views of his district, instead of taking the threatening message sent to him down from the NRA, he voted for his district. A very vocal minority, who is always vocal, and always in the minority, swore they would unseat him. He disregarded their idle threat, and voted both his and his constituents conscious. A major billboard was put up to call him out. His vote caused the passage of us now requiring background checks at public gun sales. Now a certifiably insane person cannot slap cash and get a gun. It is a no-brainer, and Ernie was the only Republican with brain enough to even know what a no-brainer is….
Cathy Cloutier: her vote allowed gays to marry. Again, she is a Republican who said enough is enough… Tired of voting against her conscious just so Sussex County would not flip over to the Democrats, she finally did not toe the line and voted along the lines of her own constituents, all overwhelmingly in favor of gay marriage. In doing so, she went against the entire grain of her party, who firmly feel that gays are second class citizens, even though most Republicans in office are closeted gays.
Bethany Hall Long: on the same vote, made a viable personal decision, and also voted for the legalization of gay marriage. Unlike Cathy’s vote, this was accomplished at great personal sacrifice, for all of those in her personal life, were solidly against this policy from taking effect. In voting for what was morally right, she had to contend against those whose influence she could not escape. She went with the correct vote, over the easy one. As a result, Gay marriage is now legal in Delaware.
Paul Baumbach: gave great ammunition against the fight for SB51, and later against HB 165. Both bills which will damage Delaware’s education for years to come. He was one of the four who put up a fight on the House floor. Paul also arranged for the meetings in Newark to discuss the new Power plant that figured in this past week’s election.
John Kowalko: also was against SB51, HB 165, as well, being against the power plant. In fact, John was the first person to sound the alarm over how big the power plant would be. Without his big voice, it may have slid through unnoticed. The power plant has defined northern Delaware politics since September.
Kim Williams; responsible for HB 40 which investigates Charter School’s meddling into our educational systems. She was as an acting state representative, allegedly refused entrance into a committee hearing on education, for fear she might say something damaging to the bill being rushed through…. She brought to the public’s knowledge, that the Charter School bill was drafted illegally without public input, and the charter group constructing it, was also under FOIA, to which the private group denied. The Attorney General backed up her assertion, that the bill was formulated illegally but their decision was moot, because the bill was passed both houses anyways. Kim Williams also in the HB 40 task force, led the group to realize that charter schools unlike public schools, do indeed filter those entering charters to weed out those who might lower their test scores….
Mark Murphy, Rodel, Sweeney, Hefferman, and the Fake Educational Reform Establishment: I almost purposefully did not post this. Although the first person’s name is usually followed by explicatives whenever mentioned, it is unlike Voldermort’s, still getting mentioned. Mark Murphy was not put in his position based on his ability. He was placed there for his loyalty to the cause of corporatizing public education. Markell pulls the strings, Murphy figures how to get it done… It is hard to make a puppet the most influential person of the year… So I was going to skip him… But at the last minute, remembered that every time he or anyone of these make an op-ed, it resonates as gigantic news. The entire community rises up to counteract each op-ed, usually with the word “lies” thrown liberally about…. So, they do exert an influence. I looped all of them together, as the group of liars in a Greek play, who stand on the stair steps and taunt the protagonists. Well,… they are part of the play…….
Dan Short: Sometimes villains get noticed too. Primarily a single issue candidate, who personally supports the NRA, he actively campaigned and organized to create enough backlash so Markell’s gun laws could not get enough votes… Without him, there is a possibility that all four of Markell’s gun control pieces of legislation would have passed both houses of Delaware’s legislature. Dan Short should be given the credit for stopping them.
John Sigler: Single handedly by his very brief tenure as the re-elected head of the Republican Party, he pointed out through his pigeon shooting, just how inept the Republican Party was at everything else. With his leaving, all fissures cracking the Republican bedrock, were impossible to ignore. Blogs split. The IPOD’s split. Former candidates of the same party just months earlier, now not talking to each other. The Delaware Republican Party is dead; no it is past dead. More dead than a pigeon shot inside a box by John Sigler, former head of the Delaware Republican Party.
Nancy Willing: Her blog, the Delaware Way, is the go-to site for local information. Whether about Dover, about New Castle County, about any of New Castle County’s associations, Nancy combs all sources and puts them down in aggregate form. Heavily involved in the Power Plant controversy, The Delaware City Rail Yard controversy, Barley Mill controversy, the Woodlawan controversy, the Kinder Morgan controversy, the Charter School Controversy, the Common Core Controversy, Nancy has who is saying “what”, and links to “why”. One can expend less energy by using her blog to follow all the stuff the News Journal neglects, in a few quick empty steps.
Amy Roe: a head of the Sierra Club, who emerged from nowhere to lead the fight against the power plant, and give quite a run against the establishment candidate. Becoming the face the anti- power movement could coalase behind, she gave the anti power plant movement both dignity and grace. Coming up short only 115 votes, she has awakened Newark now politically as never before… The power plant if it goes forward, now has a strong group of Newarkeans against it. Hopefully they will be monitoring it regularly and helping authorities keep in in compliance with all local law.
Tom Gorden; although much quieter than his first term in office, Tom Gorden is rapidly rolling back the privileges the previous Clark administration handed over to our state’s top developers. The Barley Mill plaza which had a green light, is now parked at a red. In a big sea change, though handled quietly, community groups are now no longer persona non grata in county government. It is no longer accepted as a matter of course that the Woodlawn Trust will be gobbled up by developers. If enough fight can be mustered, it can be stopped. Furthermore, with Tom there is closer coordination with the City of Wilmington, than we have experienced anytime in our lifetimes. In the county, local policing has been stepped up, particularly in neighborhoods prone to crime…
Dennis Williams: Came in with grand expectations, which looked deliverable for a while. The tide is turning and his relevance on this list, is because every day, the headline reality in Wilmington’s streets, brings his electioneering boasts back to haunt him, like a sizzling hot branding iron. Time, Dennis, to say “Damn the torpedoes… Their punk asses are going in jail no matter which blowhard on City Council spouts off,before mine gets tossed in jail for impersonating a mayor..”
Alan Levin: Jack Markell’s second in command, he was instrumental in defending Markell’s position on Kinder Morgan and the port, as well as the new power plant for the data center. He also had a hand in keeping Dole in Delaware, and worked to slip the power plant past a slew of unsuspecting Newark City officials.
Jack Markell: had his hand in everything. He was behind Kinder Morgan’s takeover. He was behind SB 51 and HB 165. He was behind the illegal charter group, requiring HB 40. He also was the driving force for the four rational steps to gun legislation, 2 of which were passed. He was also the driving force behind the passage of gay marriage, signing the bill in the chambers just moments after its passage. He also supported the transgender bill in its travels through the labyrinth of Legislative Hall. He as behind keeping Dole in Delaware. He was behind changing an icon in Millsboro away from pickles, over to poultry. He pushed the bill to curtail Flowers. Despite your opinion over whether these were good or bad, they still showed a ubiquitous and wide reach across the state of Delaware. Seems like nothing got done that didn’t have his fingerprints all over it.
John Young: As head of Christina board, John Young led the board in standing up to Mark Murphy and Jack Markell, by refusing the RTTT funds slated for his district. Although some hired fools, (Jea Street) tried to paint Young into a corner, it served the opposite purpose and gave Young a platform. For the fist time, Common Core was getting publicly bashed. For the first time, many were finding that aligning themselves blindly to this sham of improving standards, was probably going to hurt them politically in the next couple of years. It was the fist salvo back, so the damage estimates were not high, but it did open eyes of many who had been on the sidelines of all educational issues, making them also become vocal in fighting Common Core. His blog Transparent Christina has channelled a lot of detailed information into the Delaware market, and had made Common Core an apprehension, instead of the savior it was supposed to be….
Kilroy: Kilroy has always been haranguing over education. In fact he was doing such a good job I left that issue alone for years, because other issues for me, like the economy and elimination of guns from the hands of the mentally ill, were more important. But as the issue has shifted back into the limelight, Kilroy’s hard hitting is making its mark… Kilroy is blunt, and right now, that is the language that needs to happen. Blunt descriptions of what takes place in the stratosphere of he academic field…. Kilroy often breaks stories before the News Journal, especially ones embarrassing to the Murphy/Markell cartel of education. If you have read Kilroy over the past couple of years, you would already know that Common Core is not the panacea we have been promised. It is a power grab for taxpayer dollars, financed by Wall Street itself…. If you think otherwise, you haven’t been reading a balanced reading list….
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That is what I have so far. In retrospect I am surprised that education has played so much, as even I have only come to that topic lately… But if one looks over the News Journal op eds, education really did dominate the discussion in the 2nd smallest state this year….
I may have forgotten some big ones. To reiterate, that is why I am posting this early, to catch those big mistakes as they get brought to my attention….
More later. Too soon to comment. Here are the briefs…..
Today is School Board Elections…Polls are open 10-8… If anyone is sponsored by Markell or Rodell or RTTT or WSFS, don’t vote for them.. If anyone is sponsored by DSEA, they are on the students side. They are safe.
So go out and vote like a goat… Be… B-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-D
I want to fill you in on something that took place in Tennessee today. Tennessee is the other state besides Delaware that secured initial funding for the Race To The Top…. Right now, Tennessee has a voucher bill up for a vote, it cleared their Senate and just cleared the House Educational committee…
Across this great land there are many dedicated legislators. They work quietly and speak against wrong and speak up for right, and most of us never hear a thing… I would now like to share an address in its complete form from one of our sister states trying to figure the proper way though the labyrinth of corporate education….. I have taken the liberty to highlight what I thought were the key points… I’ll hope you won’t mind. The speaker is Representative Pitts, I really don’t know much more about him, but if you can judge a person by his words, he is a fine man indeed….. Below are his words….
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Thank you Mr. Chairman. As my colleagues know I am not usually given to speeches on issues but the events of the past few weeks on this issue compel me to speak out. I cannot be silent any longer.
I have taken care to parse my words so not to sound judgmental or to leave even the appearance of judgment.
The very definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, but expecting a different result. I believe the bill before us repeats the same mistakes we are currently making in our education policy.
The bill before us, given the title “Opportunity Scholarship Program” is flawed. While it is true the beneficiaries of the bill are children in failing schools, these children are deemed poor, or lacking the family income to provide some basic needs for their family.
The proposal does not go far enough. At its core, the funding of the bill provides a “discounted scholarship” for these students. It does not provide even the full amount of funding currently going to the local public school system for these very same children.
This is the insanity part. We are in the bottom 10 in funding for our public schools in this state. We bemoan the results we are getting by blaming teachers, administrators, and anyone within the sound of our voice for our failures. While success has many fathers and failure is an orphan, we are quick to point our fingers at others for our failure.
We are not providing our public schools the resources they need for our students to succeed. I can almost read the minds of some who are listening to my diatribe who will say “money doesn’t solve everything.” But I say if you go to the grocery store with no money or means to pay for the food, you walk away empty handed.
We are waving the white flag of surrender and saying that the task of public education of our students in this state is too big. We have heard that the achievement school district cannot possibly handle all those students who are in failing schools. I refuse to surrender and I will not abdicate my responsibility.
Our children are not widgets, or chairs or commodities in a business that can be bought or sold, or traded. They are each one unique in their own way – different hair, eyes, fingerprints, voices, different gifts and talents, and certainly products of very different environments. They don’t walk into the front door of the school building the same, nor do they leave each day and return to the same environment.
Believe it or not, some students go home to empty houses. Not because their parents don’t care but because they are working, or they may be disabled themselves and unable to care for their children as they so desire to.
Yet somehow we think they will all learn the same way or perform in the same way if we just hand them a scholarship and a pat on the back and say “go and prosper.”
I’m now hearing some say that “Pitts is just defending the status quo.” I hardly know what the status quo is anymore. Quite the contrary, I want us to change our thinking. We should put our money where our mouths are and invest, truly invest, in education. No longer can we just get by on the cheap.
Our children are not lab experiments. Teachers, principals or parents aren’t the problem. Our policy that seems to change from year to year is creating confusion. First to the Top, Tennessee Diploma Project, Common Core, TCAP and next PARRC give me whiplash.
I believe the sponsor of this legislation is truly an honorable man with a good heart. He spoke longingly about our task here is like building life boats. While I agree this bill is a lifeboat, we are putting our students, our most vulnerable and precious gift, in a life boat with one oar.
The bill before us does not provide for the basic human needs of the child. We now have an amendment on here that gives a child a lunch, should they come to school hungry and qualify for that. It is hardly a choice for a parent to have to decide between changing the educational environment by taking a scholarship but in exchange the child may go to school hungry and possibly watch their classmates eat. We can do better. In fact, we have a responsibility to do better.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, I received a visit from a parent after subcommittee in my office. She was dispatched by one of our well-meaning but misguided education reform groups to question me about my position on this bill.
She was under-informed about the details of the bill. In fact, she was misinformed about this proposal. After about 15 minutes of a very direct and, at times, tense conversation, she understood my position on this proposal. She had not even been given a copy of the legislation until I gave her one. She was misled by this group and I so want to call them out publically but that is not my style.
I do want to say to that group, and they know who they are, that you should be ashamed to use a parent as a pawn in your efforts. If you’ve got something to say or want to disagree with my position on this bill, then stand up and be responsible and say it. Believe me, I can take it. I’ve been chewed out by a lot bigger and better folks than you.
Let me end by saying this…
HB 190 does not go far enough. It does not put enough money into the program to make the scholarship an attractive choice.
It goes half way toward providing for those students who need it a meal at school.
It does nothing to address transportation.
We don’t speak to how we objectively evaluate the program after full implementation in four years.
It does nothing to say to our special education population that if you get a scholarship, or voucher, you are at risk of attending a private school that will not fully attend to your learning disability because the school won’t get the federal money that goes with a special needs student.
It targets at-risk students in failing schools. We should prioritize failing students in failing schools first.
Let’s not build this program on the cheap. We should raise our hand and say that Tennessee students deserve every dollar at our disposal. Tennessee schools are hallowed places of learning. Tennesseans care about their children.
Mr. Chairman, you and the committee have been extremely patient. I would ask for a roll call vote on this bill – not to put anyone on the spot, but so that years from now when my successor in the General Assembly reflects on the record of this proposal, they can say Rep. Pitts voted against it.
I also want my grandchildren to say, “Pops stood up and spoke out, and voted his conscience.”
Thank you….
No… Thank you Rep. Pitts…. Thank you.
Image Courtesy of Mitt Romney, Debate Number Two.
kavips 