Alabama Bill Terrifyingly Close to "Changing Public Education as We Know It"

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.politicususa.com/2022/02/04/alabama-bill-terrifyingly-close-to-changing-public-education-as-we-know-it.html

The Founding Fathers wanted the states to try new things, attempting to do things better, tweaking, even overhauling various programs, “little laboratories of democracy,” we were always taught. The Founders knew that the government had a duty to protect and govern the general health and welfare of its citizens and set that duty upon the states, which is why States have Constitutions with thirty-something articles, while the federal Constitution has eight. (It is also why FDR had to threaten to pack the Court to get his “New Deal” through, it was the first real attempt at federal relief).

A crucial element in protecting the general health and welfare of the citizenry was public education, a state function one could count upon wherever one lived. Even the poorest states had good teachers, even good schools, one just had to find them. But a new Alabama bill, “The Parent’s Choice Act” has made it out of committee and threatens to upend all of it and we’re not just talking about “charter schools,” we are talking about another run at segregation, which is bad enough with white flight.

From Bill Greene’s Curmugecation Blog:

Even if Alabama households are given money for schooling, retired teacher Peter Greene argued Wednesday in a post on his Curmudgucation blog, the egalitarian ideals that have animated public education would be thrown to the wayside in favor of a libertarian fantasy destined to exacerbate inequality.

Marsh (R-12)—whom Greene described as “a longtime champion of disinvestment in Alabama public ed, having pushed charters and charter expansion in previous years”—has called S.B. 140 the “ultimate” school choice bill. Just one day after it was filed, the legislation advanced from the Senate Education Policy Committee on Wednesday by a margin of five to three, with two abstentions.

As Greene explained, the bill would create an Education Savings Account (ESA) “in its fully realized form—every Alabama family gets every cent the state would have spent on educating their child (about $6,300 last year) and they can use it to pay for educational whatever—public school, home school, private school, tutoring, online classes, whatever.”

*snip*


https://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2022/02/al-proposal-to-end-state-support-of.html

[NoMoreRepugs]

1. With Alabama median household income a bit over

$50,000 what are some of those families below that line with 2-3 kids going to do in a state that is last or close to it in educational rankings???

This bill feeds the Republican beast.

[littlemissmartypants]

2. Many children depend on their schools for daily meals

at least twice a day, during the week. For some of them these are the only meals they will have all day.

Parents depend on the schools as places to send their children so they can go to work.

I'll bet that they have given little consideration to these realities in Alabama.

More and more we seem to be becoming an "every man for himself" country. It makes me feel sad and helpless.

Thanks for sharing this, Nevilledog.

❤

[Nevilledog]

3. Kick

[Tickle]

4. I'm sure Bill Greene

has a good blog but his opinion isn't necessarily mine or maybe even some readers here.

Here's a link to SB140-

http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/ALISON/SearchableInstruments/2022RS/PrintFiles/SB140-int.pdf

Hopefully you can draw your own opinion and answers to your questions about school lunches along and working parents