Education Chairman Aims to Expand Charter Schools
Broad changes to the state's charter school system, including the creation of a new state board to oversee the state contract process, would result from legislation filed Monday by Senate Education Committee Chairman Dan Patrick, R-Houston.
The State Board of Education currently oversees applications for charter school contracts, which state law caps at 215. Patrick's Senate Bill 2 would create a new state entity to authorize the contracts and lift that cap, allowing for an unlimited number of charter school operators in the state.
"There is no one answer to transforming schools but lifting the cap to add ...
Comments (49)
Proud Texan
So he wants to take this away from a board (SBOE) that is accountable to the taxpayers and voters and give it to somebody else? Maybe 10 Republicans on a 15 member board isn't enough so he wants to work around that pesky process.
Bambi Clark via Texas Tribune on Facebook
That is a bad dye job Dan. And a bad education idea.
Tony Scott Sevilla via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I wonder how many educators think this is a good idea?
Mary Morrison via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Just another scheme for cheating more children out of a real education.
Bambi Clark via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Correct Tony! Most educators who are science teachers would balk at ignoring the fossil record as Patrick and his TEA base do. But hey, maybe Jesus did ride a dino and Noah had a T Rex on the ark?
Matthew Cowan via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Good idea. Provides an alternative to our poor performing schools and school districts. I bet you that the people of North Forest ISD would prefer charter schools over what they get now or may get with a merger with HISD.
Bambi Clark via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Mary I agree and see it as a scheme for corporations to stuff more tax payer $$$ in their pockets.
Derick Smith via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Wait until you see teachers march and storm the captial this weekend. Patrick is a fool. Most of the charter schools are poor performers. There are many other problems such as transportation logistics and poor maintenance like the charter school bus in Houston that had an exhaust leak into the bus making kids sick and could have seriously injured them. Patrick wants to kill public education and constitutional mandate. There are far more good public schools. Rural schools would be threatened just as poor funding for public schools has affected many already.
Stanley Moore via Texas Tribune on Facebook
RE: photo---"Hmmm, what can I ruin today? It's great being a tool of the 19th Century."
Proud Texan
Sorry Mr. Speaker, the House doesn't get to nominate a member of the new "Authority", just the Governor, Lt. Governor, Senate, SBOE and Ed. Commissioner. No soup for you!
Kim Burkett via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Funneling taxpayer funds to unaccountable charters? Does the tea party know or care what Patrick's up to?
Bambi Clark via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Derick is correct. On average charters do no better than public schools. BUT their owners love retention which suff $$ in their pockets. Actually Mathew HISD has some of the best schools in Houston. I can name them but doubt you care.
Rick Scott McGuckin via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Patrick: By all means, lets remove the cap on funneling taxpayer dollars to unregulated, substandard Christian madrasas...
Matthew Cowan via Texas Tribune on Facebook
LOL, it is funny to watch Bambi spout off. Kinda of like when she accused the nominee for the education board of pushing creationism at the expense of the fossil record. Yet the nominee said this "The beliefs behind creationism and intelligent design, she told the committee, did not belong in the classroom and were best "taught in church or the home."
"I will tell you in the introduction to all the science standards, it says that students should know that some questions are outside the realm of science because they deal with phenomena that aren't scientifically testable," she said."
Susie Martinez-Dominguez via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Let the resegregation games begin!
Matthew Cowan via Texas Tribune on Facebook
HISD also has some of the worst school in the state as well. If that were not true then three high schools would be operated by someone other than Houston Independent School District administrators because of the poor performance. There are other school that are failing to achieve as well. Of course you would know that if you really knew much about HISD.
Matthew Cowan via Texas Tribune on Facebook
No one has stated that all charter schools are better than public schools. Yet many of those charter schools are out performing many of the public schools. It at least gives parents an alternative to failing public schools. The complaints I see here made by those of the status quo do not realize that your complaints would be addressed by the oversight that Sen. Patrick is proposing.
Let teachers march. Then just point out the abysmal job that many of them and their colleagues are actually doing. Bring their accountability to the light and see if they are willing to take responsibility. No, I doubt they will take responsibility, instead they will demand more money and less accountability to the detriment of the children!
Jeremy Jones via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Seems like a lot of really misinformed commentaries here. As someone with actual charter school experience at both the school and district level (YES Prep in Houston), I'll try to clarify some things. @bambi - why is this a bad education idea? what information are you getting that say this is a way for "corporations to take taxpayer money"? Do you have any ACTUAL evidence for that or are you just propagating gross allegations rooted in fear tactics? when you say that Houston has some of the best schools, please do name them, but when you do, please be honest with yourself that only 1 out of 10 sixth graders in Houston is on path to graduate from college, many of whom will never even have the option to even attend because their schools did not prepare them well. @tony - i think its a good idea and im an educator. @mary - what do you mean cheating children out of a "real" education? Did you read the part that said there are 100,000 children on waiting lists for charter schools? I know specifically in Houston, the waiting list for the high-performing YES Prep is around 10,000 students. That is 10,000 students being denied the opportunity to attend one of the best schools in the country where 100% of the kids go to college. @derek - what do you mean when you say "most" are under performing? do you have evidence for that or its just your opinion? Certainly there are low-performing charters that need to be closed, which is why this debate is a red hearing. We cannot treat all charter schools as a monolith. Places like YES Prep, KIPP, and IDEA public schools are all raising the bar for students. @kim - because charter schools are open enrollment public schools, they are just as accountable for student achievement as a traditional school is. Please read the law.
Texas Parents Union via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Thanks to State Senator Dan Patrick for filing SB 2 to lift the cap on the number of charter schools and to provide much-needed facility funding! Students at charter schools shouldn't be treated like second class citizens.
Jeremy Jones via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Also, to be clear, charter schools cannot be THE answer. However, we need to make room for multiple models of schools with myriad school operators that provide great choices for parents. Traditional schools should be among those options and so should open enrollment public charter schools. We need to do a better job of holding ALL schools accountable for putting students on a life path that allows them to make the kinds of choices they want for themselves instead of being destined by their demographics. Sure, there are crappy charters out there. Lets close em! There are crappy traditional schools out there too, lets figure out something to do there as well! This issue is far too important for our children and our future that we shouldn't get wrapped up in debates about charters v non-charters... where we need to begin the conversation is with a simple question: "how do we create a system of schools that is designed to serve all students in communities in which parents and students have multiple options to attain a great education?" if we can do that, we can get passed the debate about the school provider and focus in on what our students need and want.
Samdavis
Dear Texas Tribune
How about limiting Matthew Cowan's posts so he/she doesn't try to dominate every conversation? His/her stupidity is apparent from the first one.
Dinah Miller via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Don't be fooled by the name of Texas Parents Union -Not Texans, not parents, not a union. Actually just a Washington DC lobbyist.
Mac Mcclure via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I am still trying to figure out how I got educated before the Federal Department of Education existed?
Derick Smith via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Read the Chronicle article Jeremy its all there. Raise up the few successes to try and tear down public education and continue on the path of not giving attention to issues such as educating parents in low performing areas and coaching the teachers about the unique issues faced in these districts. Choice might be a good conversation to have if people like Patrick hadn't been the one's tearing away at public education over the years instead of trying to lift it up. More so than just teacher salaries we need real plans. Patrick has no real plan or no ideas to improve things. He wants the market place to do it with a dog eat dog mentality. He has no education background to know these realities. His house counterpart is a young investment advisor. Again, about money. This so called plan has many holes in already in Florida as will come out in upcoming hearings. It's a joke that Patrick tries to use Louisiana as an example. This is a state that was so underfunded for years that many felt they had to be in public schools. Patrick has just become a thug with his tear it down and let the private sector and churches profit mentality. Thanks Dinah for exposing the rat Texas Parents Union. Are they another Coch brothers scam like American Family that is behind a lot of this. By the way, Patrick brags about his 100 rating with the Coch brothers American Family. This will all backfire and he will get some interesting ratings from many others.
JulioandLauren Pelaez via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Charter Schools do not perform better than Public Schools. They take tax dollars away from Public Schools and then they are not even "measured" the same nor held accountable in the same way. Children that come back to public schools from Charter Schools are behind and Public School Teachers have to pay the price in the classroom!
Blake Smith via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Just another shell game.
Matthew Cowan via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Sen. Patrick need not be an educator to see that the state has spent billions of dollars on education and see that the results are not improving. His time on the Higher Education Committee has shown him how incoming freshman are woefully unprepared in the areas of reading and writing and math.
Those who say that those who favor charter schools are just trying to tear down public schools are dead wrong. In fact Sen. Patrick Children to have an alternative to failing schools. But those who have been vocal against Sen. Patrick's initiative just want more money poured into a system that is unaccountable and refuses to accept responsibility for poor results. Typical of those who support the NEA!!
JulioandLauren Pelaez via Texas Tribune on Facebook
And if we are doing such a horrible job, then why on earth don't more people home school or send to private school? We are trusted with children's safety and education with little or no respect...
Matthew Cowan via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The reason that more people can not home school is that most households require two income earners. Lists to get into Private school are long because there are not enough of them. If education system were not such a mandated monopoly there would be more alternatives (see Jeremy Jones posts).
I respect teachers. Jeremy respects Teachers. Sen. Patrick respects teachers. The issue we have is with the system that is failing so many of our children. School districts want more money but they do not want the accountability and responsibility for the outcome of their schools.
Teachers are frustrated. They want out of the public schools that are way too constraining. They want an environment where they can actually teach and not be just a glorified daycare worker. School Boards and teacher unions work against reforms that would hold them accountable. They have not shown themselves as being able to reform the system.
Adam Russell
Hmmm...funny cause that sounds like additional bureaucracy and less oversight, other than a likely Sunset provision (which work so, so well). Isn't Sen. Patrick the uber-conservative?
I am all for school choice for parents and more opportunity for private schools to operate but this has the hallmarks of putting the cart before the horse.
Public ed is languishing because of lobby groups and spineless legislators...and some of the private schools that are in the game shouldn't be...so figure that out before you create a new admin/policy police agency that will ineffectively enforce new rules.
I think you put everything on the table when it comes to solving the multitude of problems within Texas' public ed system but adding another board and administration answerable to the aforementioned legislators makes no sense to me.
Carolyn Mata via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Aren't the parents just a little responsible for their children'school performance? It is not all the school's jovpb.
Blake Smith via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I think the problem is that we don't place the blame for our education system's failure where it really belongs - on the children. Seriously, we blame the State, we blame the schools, we blame the teachers, we blame the parents, we blame everybody but the ones who cause the system to fail. If the little fart-knockers would just try harder all our schools would be exemplary performers.
Derick Smith via Texas Tribune on Facebook
" teacher unions work against reforms that would hold them accountable." Utter Bullshit! There goes Matthew pulling things out of the air again. Teachers have fought against the same thing that was supposed to be fixed in the last legislative session. The ability to teach kids to be successful not to take a test. We haven't even had students take the Star test this year. So teachers are still teaching a test filled with fill in the blank silly nuance answers that do not teach teachers to teach. This was rolled out last year by a Republican dominated state education commission that jammed something new down the throats of teachers because the knew the TAKS test was a failure. They also knew that the Star test was rolled out too late so they simply said it would not count. Patrick does not respect teachers. He wants to destroy public education and work for the Tea Party Coch Brothers. Go see the interview on You Tube where he is proud of his American Family Coch brother 100 per cent rating. He says he is going to bring people from Florida where vouchers are a failure to advocate them in Texas. We already have a law that allows parents to transfer under performing kids to another school. Guess what they are not doing it. Vouchers fund private people that donate to conservative campaigns that end up creating mediocre schools. Rural Districts will not support this because it dilutes there schools. Get your facts straight and quit trying to hide Patrick's real agenda. My wife is a teacher coach in HISD and teacher of the year at her school last year. Don't pretend to know what you are talking about Matthew or that you really care about anything but supporting the Tea Party's attempt to destroy anything associated with Government. Patrick has no real plan and offers no real oversight of his power grab into the private sector and churches. Take politics out of the TEA and fund public education properly and watch what happens. A very succesful preschool in HISD gives kids the framework they need to start school as the most precipitous brain growth happens from 3-5 years of age. When elementary schools get those kids they perform better. Conservatives in Texas killed head start programs such as these. There are many more examples of things that are working in HISD and other school districts. The current testing system gets in the way of them.
Ron Jones via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Lot's of interesting information here and I agree the Charter Schools by and large have been VERY sub-par but how is that any different than many of our public schools. Charter Schools were championed as a solution to the awful education our public schools were offering. I think we can all agree they haven't been a solution so what is the solution??? It isn't just HISD, most of the ISD's are more interested in waging the dog than providing a quality education for students. It's not a Republican or Democrat thing, it's a Parental thing. Until parents start giving a shit about their kids education, nothing is going to change.
Matthew Cowan via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Not surprised that Derick chimes in with his usual pabulum. Derrick is woefully uninformed as to why those tests even exist. I am not surprised that he is clueless. He just does not know his history. As early as the 1980’s it was realized that students were exiting schools unable to perform basic skills like reading and math. District after district it was found were keeping kids in school and passing them just so the district could get their state and federal funding. They were not really interested in the product produced. Testing was needed to assess if students were really learning. A test other than teacher generated exams. Testing was designed to hold District accountable. So instead of teaching content so that students would learn and be able to answer the test questions, School Districts went to “Teaching the Test”. So school became nothing more than SAT prep courses for the TAKS test which defeats the purpose of testing.
So what did the state do to fix this? They came up with the Starr Test. The TAKS test and its other variants only tested knowledge gained over a two year period. No yearly subject matter education. The new test not only holds district accountable but holds the teachers and school accountable for actually TEACHING. I know that is a shocking concept and boggles Dericks mind. HISD use to have end of semester course testing. That was because they were concerned about if teachers were actually teaching. The bottom line is that Derick, the school districts and teachers do not want to be held accountable or responsible. Two words that liberals run from like a cockroach does sun light.
FYI, Derrick it may be nice that you have a wife who is a teacher but that does not translate into you knowing what you are talking about. Whereas I do know what I am talking about. I am a licensed teacher in the State of Texas. I have taught in various school districts in the state and across various socio-economic groups. I am a third generation teacher in the state so I know a lot of the history of education in this state.
I have yet to see any solution from you or your ilk that actually produces results and fixes the problem For you it is more money. NEA ranks Texas near the bottom and why? IT was ranked there based soley on amount spent per child. If spending per capita was a measure of success then the war on poverty should have ended long ago. But alas, real adults know that money spent per capita is not an accurate measurement.
Here are solutions.
1) End of year testing to see if teachers are teaching. Use the tests as A component in measuring success and not THE component. Examine other variables to examine why children in general or specifically are not learning. Bad results are not always the teachers fault.
2) Discipline the kids. Do not let disruptive kids ruin the education experience for others. Get the parents involved or force them to be. Schools are not daycare centers.
3) Get better Principles who will back up and support teachers. Principles who will not bend every time a parent gets mad
4) Require teachers to teach content and not prep for test taking.
5) Get parental involvement.
6) Get community involvement and that means business big and small.
7) Hold School District accountable for how they spend the money given and the results produced. Reduce funding or take away control from the board for fiscal irresponsibility and failure to produce students who are educated
8) Hold Principles accountable for students that are produced
9) Hold Teachers accountable for students that are produced
10) Realize that not every student should be going to college. Get vocational training back and encourage a vocational tract of education
11) More charters encourage school choice (while there is school choice to some degree, who really wants to move a kid from one crappy school in the district to another crappy school in that same district)
Now why is this not being done? It is because Liberals, NEA, teachers, school boards and principals oppose it. They are against being held responsible and accountable.
hans5162@ix.netcom.com hans
Matthew,
I'm not sure the last time you were in a school, but most of what you advocate is the reality in public school. Teachers are held accountable. Administrators are held accountable. Aside from the gratuitous and meaningless tea party buzz words, you pepper your posts with, "NEA, LIBERALS and you lump in teachers and administrators as opposed to change. This is false. If you ever visited HISD, you would realize that every day is spent working to improve the education of kids and the outcomes. Administrators are held accountable for whether kids show up at the beginning of the year.
With respect to discipline, there are proposals to hold them accountable for whether they suspend too many kids or refer them to a disciplinary alternative education program. Public school people don't have a problem with reforms intended to strengthen public education. What is offensive about posts such as yours is your complete and utter disregard of the truth and the facts.
You mindlessly parrot false statistics and specious Republican talking points. In your world, a cut is an increase. Up is down. Declining support for education, which in real dollars is what the State has been funding, becomes "Billions of dollars spent, with poor outcomes.
HISD has made a serious effort to turn around schools identified as being problemmatic. Those efforts cost money. The money has been raised, both from grants and from private sources. The result is that graduation rates and college attendance have gone up. Those efforts, including longer school days and additional tutoring resources cost money. You would be the first to gratuitously and mindlessly spout that there is no free lunch if you were paying your electric bill. What makes you think that somehow education is different.
If you want good teachers, they have to be adequately paid. If school boards make poor choices, they need to be held accountable. In a democracy, that is done at the ballot box. Some of the ideas in your last posting make sense, but they are already being done throughout the state.
Just idiotically posting in support of every right wing fanatical idea proposed by some random idiot legislator undermines your credibility. The Republican Party has a credibility problem. Until it quits publicly repeating false statements regarding support for education, it will continue to lose support. Basing public policy on false statements will ultimately be self-defeating. Whether you agree or not, people like their public schools. That goes for parents in HISD or in North Forest. Try sticking to fact and perhaps people reading your posts will not think of your posting as more Americans for Prosperity. TPPF lies. Say something original rather than dumbass right wing talking points. Turn off the Fox News, and perhaps you'd realize that the polls were correct and Mitt Romney isn't President.
Andrew Goldberg via Texas Tribune on Facebook
a functional public education system DESTROYS everything thsi guy stands for...he's just trying to weaken it to make more teatard voters and keep ignorance alive
R L
I'm really looking forward to what new ideas Texans for Education Reform might bring to the table on this issue. Sounds like they have the resources to put some really great ideas together. We need some reforms from the ground up in Texas public education in order to meet the needs of Texas and our country in the coming decades. It's clear that the ideas we have listened to in the past from the unions and the 'education establishment' controlled by the unions has not produced acceptable results.
Texas Bookworm
Here is the most recent legitimate study on charter school performance. It states that 83% of charters perform the same or WORSE than public schools. That's not good enough in my book. Who is going to make sure that only the good charters are opened in Texas? Otherwise I see this bill as another waste of taxpayer money. Why can't we fix the schools that are currently in place rather than open more bad schools?
http://credo.stanford.edu/reports/MULTIPLE_CHOICE_CREDO.pdf
Derick Smith via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Wow Matthew some of your suggestions are what teachers are wanting to do. Your teacher history is distorted like many of your comments. We'll get to recent history that matters later in this comment. I don't think we would want your brand of discipline if it something like the legislature passed last session with spanking. Actually there is bills filed that would bring discipline out of the courts and back into the schools. No need to talk about the 80's. Lets talk about what teachers have been saying in the last 10 years about testing. " Move funding away from Districts". That sounds too liberal for you or too centralized. No teacher union today is concerned about the NEA that are concerned about power grabs by nuts like Patrick. There are plenty of examples of this including his own party senators scolding him in open session last year. He now proposes a bill that many of us attorneys have been asking for for years. No party affiliation in Judicial races. His son just narrowly won a Criminal District bench in Harris County as a Republican. Republicans have won for years until 2008 and more so in 2010. The margins were thin in 2012. Patrick seeing the writing on the wall for his son just suddenly see the light not for the right reasons but for self interest. That is one of the many reasons why no one wants to have this discussion with Patrick. Vouchers failed miserably in the House last session. That is real history Matthew and it will be what happens again. Why don't you accurately cite recent history. Dewhurst made some back room deal with Patrick that if he let him run for US Senator he would support him going forward. Dewhurst's lack of ability to relate to the average person allowed him to lose to a Tea Party candidate with nothing constructive on his web site. We don't need destruction to lead to something in a crystal glass hidden in Patrick's Smoke and Mirrors collection.
Matthew Cowan via Texas Tribune on Facebook
As usual Derick you ignore how the problem got started and thus are unable to actually address the problems. You want to ignore the 80's because that is where the problems began to manifest itself. The problem originates during the 1960's. So during that time span of the 60's 70's and 80's and early 90's the problems occurred and developed under a Democrat controlled State Government. But as usual you ignore history and thus are ignorant on the actual problems that need to be addressed.
You think all the problems are from the legislature. That is where you are wrong. But the source of the problems is with the School Districts, Principals and teachers. Unless you address the problems at those sources, you fail to address the problem.
The reason vouchers failed last session is because the school districts and its liberal allies and teachers do not want to lose control over their fail fiefdoms. Just like you they only want to talk about the last 10 years and not what and why they are in the situation they are in. They are not interested in fixing the problem.
Moving funding from Districts is not a Liberal or centralized idea. My actual comment was "Hold School District accountable for how they spend the money given and the results produced. Reduce funding or take away control from the board for fiscal irresponsibility and failure to produce students who are educated" That is called holding districts responsible and accountable. The price for failure is reduced state funding or loss of control. But accountability and responsibility are two concepts that you do not grasp.
The discussion is about education. It is not about Patrick's son or the judicial races. It is not about supposed deals or conspiracies. It is about education and doing something to fix the problems instead of doing the same old thing, throwing more money at the schools, expecting better results.
FYI, my brand of discipline would bring about well ordered schools where teachers are not in fear, students can learn and respect is had by teachers and students alike. Coddling which is what we have done for the past 20+ years has created the problems we have now but of course, you are ignorant of that fact as well.
D W
i am wondering when they will address the fact that charter schools are acting more like private schools than public ones? they have been found to be cherry picking students, by looking at scholastic records, getting referrals from business or religious leaders, checking on parents to see if they support the students, either with money or time or both. all the time they were supposed to only be taking all comers. instead they are more like private schools using public money.
Adele Roberson
The Nation ALEC Exposed: Starving Public Schools
Education Week Julie Underwood: A Smart ALEC Threatens Public Education
Diane Ravitch: What You Need To Know About ALEC
Colorlines Bobby Jindal, Using ALEC Playbook, Radically Reshapes Public Education
PRWatch Wisconsin Education Reform Only ALEC Could Love
Before you listen to the con man Dan Patrick... educate yourself on where this person is coming from.
Feed these links into your browser and really know what is happening and why.
Keith Schneider via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Julio and Lauren, I'm pretty sure charter schools are held to the same accountability as public schools.
Keith Schneider
Blaming public education in not the answer because public education is not the problem. Derick Smith identified the problem which is " not giving attention to issues such as educating parents in low performing areas and coaching the teachers about the unique issues faced in these districts." In my opinion, not everyone is destined for college and our legislators need to understand that is okay. Equal opportunity is one thing, but mandated equality is socialism. Back on topic: I do not care what school you enter, there will be students who are below average, above average, and average. The difference between a high performing campus versus a low performing campus are dependent on one thing: Parent education. Parents who have are well educated value education; therefore, they are INVOLVED with their child's education. It is that simple. I know there are those of you out there just itching to say, "Rich kids have more options, that's why they get to go to the good schools." Guess what! You are right. And how did they get to be rich kids? Because their parents are educated, hence better jobs, hence better means, hence better education for their children. This brings me full circle to Derick's comment that we must educate parents on the importance a solid education plays in their children's success. Stepping down from my soapbox.
D W
in theory charter schools are suppose to act like public schools. but with almost no over sight , and even what little is done, those doing it tend to over look any thing. after all the private sector is always better.
Adele Roberson
http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/04/bobby_jindal_using_alec_playbook_signs_education_reform_overhaul.html
If you think Dan Patrick is interested in educating your children you are very wrong.
He is interested in power and money and doing the bidding of conservatie think tanks who want tax payer money to be another one of their many piggy banks.
Be informed.. We, the people depend on you. Please.
Adele Roberson
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/03/01/kappan_underwood.html
Inform yourself. Too many people on this site do not know what they are talking about.
Adele Roberson
hans5162@ix.netcom.com hans
Thank you so very much for taking the time to answer our right-wing Tea Party fanatic Mathew Cowen. Jeez - I cannot believe these people. He would destroy our entire public school system to cater to the likes of power hungry Republicans who would also destroy our country if they could.
Traitors in sheeps clothing. All of them. They come with mis-information and lies and seek to confuse honest and sometimes gullible people.
And what is so sad is that people actually believe people like Mathew Cowen who obviosly does not have a clue. If his stupid Party did not take billions of dollars away from our public schools ,therefor deliberatly starving the schools, we would not be in the state we are in.
Republicans have starved our eduational facilities for years and years and now they are putting the screws to us all.