I recently read that something on the order of 80% of the students receiving vouchers to attend private schools already attend those schools. Thus, tax payers wind up subsidizing private, religious education. There aren't many private schools in most places that do not have a religious affiliation. No religious institution should get one cent of public money for any reason. I see this as part of the long term goal of the religious right to destroy public education in this country.
As far as I'm concerned, secular government should have NOTHING to do with religion and religion likewise should have NOTHING to do with secular government. The school board's decision not to treat with a church organization is directly in line with this principle, and I applaud the school board members for their wise choice.
An offer of $5k for apartments makes a lot more sense than $70k for a private school. The $5k for apartments means potentially hundreds of thousands in future revenue from property taxes to support the public school, as well as potential new students. The $70k for a 𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 school sucking away that future tax revenue? Not so much. Perhaps we need to add the story of Jacob and Esau to the list of cherry picked scripture.
Of course the Christians are going to low key cry persecution. They aren't getting their desired outcome of eliminating public schools in favor of their brand of indoctrination.
"We believe that communities benefit from having access to educational options that align with family values."
Translated from Christianese: "Public education is immoral and families that seek it are heathens. We don't want OUR children exposed to recorded history, scientific facts or anything else that runs counter to their religious indoctrination."
"Educational options" sounds like alternative medicine or even alternative facts. You know what THOSE are worth.
I’ve been saying this about vouchers for years. All it does is defund public schools and keep all children from accessing quality education. Vouchers are not how taxes work, nor should they be. The tax money set aside for public schools is not technically there to educate individual children, it’s there to provide a school open to all students. If individual students want a choice, they pay for the private or homeschool options, they don’t get tax money to educate their child separately. I don’t get parks and recreation tax money to have my own backyard pool since I don’t have to use the community pool, or my neighbors with a swing set in their backyard doesn’t get P&R taxes because their children don’t use the playground. That would be asinine, but folks think it makes sense for education. The vouchers rarely cover the tuition of the private schools, plus the private schools that have been getting voucher students have jacked up their tuitions since getting that tax money (often raising the tuition with no explanation for the additional costs).
I’m glad the school board can see the threat and took measures to avoid it, but that will only help so much. There will be other attempts and plenty of families that steal their money so that we won’t have any decent public schools anywhere.
Here in Wisconsin the subsidies devoted to private and parochial schools come right off the top of the already inadequate appropriation for general state aid to public schools. This is just one more aspect of former Gov. Scott Walker's loathing for public-school teachers, whose union bargaining rights he repealed with his notorious Act 10 a decade ago. And his fellow Republicans who dominate the most gerrymandered state legislature in America are more than happy to keep driving more nails into the coffin.
As some who has lived on both the east and west coasts, there is something that is very troubling to me and I don't understand. <i>You can buy property for $70,000?</i> Aren't you missing a couple of zeros there and a contract with the bank that allows them to claim your first born?
Well, I feel sad for the kids of this town. Firstly, they live in Iowa. Secondly, they now have to watch the Flintstones at home instead of in the science class. And thirdly they live in Iowa. They all must have had someone in the last seven generations that pissed of God.
“I worry, though, that conservatives will treat this as a story of Christian persecution when it’s really a story about how to best support public education.“
It’s really a story of Christianity persecuting public schools. You are right to be worried.
It's becoming increasingly clear that Christians are specifically attacking education as a methodology for indoctrination of younger generations to drive future church attendance. Watching the news last night and listening to Dennis Prager insist that teachers are lying about what they do and don't have time to teach last night was just beyond disgusting. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymqaena_6QA)
With that in mind, here's hoping Iowa sticks to that decision. There's decent odds that Inspired Life isn't going to stop here with just whining, they'll see if their lawyers can convince the courts to force the issue. Issues like this are one of the reasons I honestly wish I could completely bar religion from schools worldwide: Christians never seem to take the rejection with grace and bow out, they always at least attempt to force everyone else to kowtow to their wishes. Good luck to Iowa public schools.
The board has a fiduciary responsibility to the school district. I cannot believe that school is not worth more than $70,000 - even in Iowa. The christians have a deep-seated need to bleat they are being persecuted - let them bleat.
I recently read that something on the order of 80% of the students receiving vouchers to attend private schools already attend those schools. Thus, tax payers wind up subsidizing private, religious education. There aren't many private schools in most places that do not have a religious affiliation. No religious institution should get one cent of public money for any reason. I see this as part of the long term goal of the religious right to destroy public education in this country.
𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑, 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑖𝑡𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓; 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑖𝑡𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑖𝑡, 𝑠𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟, '𝑡𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛, 𝐼 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑒ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑑, 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑒.
-- Benjamin Franklin
As far as I'm concerned, secular government should have NOTHING to do with religion and religion likewise should have NOTHING to do with secular government. The school board's decision not to treat with a church organization is directly in line with this principle, and I applaud the school board members for their wise choice.
I only wish I saw such wisdom more often.
An offer of $5k for apartments makes a lot more sense than $70k for a private school. The $5k for apartments means potentially hundreds of thousands in future revenue from property taxes to support the public school, as well as potential new students. The $70k for a 𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭 school sucking away that future tax revenue? Not so much. Perhaps we need to add the story of Jacob and Esau to the list of cherry picked scripture.
Of course the Christians are going to low key cry persecution. They aren't getting their desired outcome of eliminating public schools in favor of their brand of indoctrination.
"We believe that communities benefit from having access to educational options that align with family values."
Translated from Christianese: "Public education is immoral and families that seek it are heathens. We don't want OUR children exposed to recorded history, scientific facts or anything else that runs counter to their religious indoctrination."
"Educational options" sounds like alternative medicine or even alternative facts. You know what THOSE are worth.
I’ve been saying this about vouchers for years. All it does is defund public schools and keep all children from accessing quality education. Vouchers are not how taxes work, nor should they be. The tax money set aside for public schools is not technically there to educate individual children, it’s there to provide a school open to all students. If individual students want a choice, they pay for the private or homeschool options, they don’t get tax money to educate their child separately. I don’t get parks and recreation tax money to have my own backyard pool since I don’t have to use the community pool, or my neighbors with a swing set in their backyard doesn’t get P&R taxes because their children don’t use the playground. That would be asinine, but folks think it makes sense for education. The vouchers rarely cover the tuition of the private schools, plus the private schools that have been getting voucher students have jacked up their tuitions since getting that tax money (often raising the tuition with no explanation for the additional costs).
I’m glad the school board can see the threat and took measures to avoid it, but that will only help so much. There will be other attempts and plenty of families that steal their money so that we won’t have any decent public schools anywhere.
Here in Wisconsin the subsidies devoted to private and parochial schools come right off the top of the already inadequate appropriation for general state aid to public schools. This is just one more aspect of former Gov. Scott Walker's loathing for public-school teachers, whose union bargaining rights he repealed with his notorious Act 10 a decade ago. And his fellow Republicans who dominate the most gerrymandered state legislature in America are more than happy to keep driving more nails into the coffin.
As some who has lived on both the east and west coasts, there is something that is very troubling to me and I don't understand. <i>You can buy property for $70,000?</i> Aren't you missing a couple of zeros there and a contract with the bank that allows them to claim your first born?
Well, I feel sad for the kids of this town. Firstly, they live in Iowa. Secondly, they now have to watch the Flintstones at home instead of in the science class. And thirdly they live in Iowa. They all must have had someone in the last seven generations that pissed of God.
[I worry, though, that conservatives will treat this as a story of Christian persecution...]
They cry that when the barista hands them a red cup.
“I worry, though, that conservatives will treat this as a story of Christian persecution when it’s really a story about how to best support public education.“
It’s really a story of Christianity persecuting public schools. You are right to be worried.
OT: Clever headline. - "Coach Tommy Tuberville routed in a 0-436 loss after the senator failed to prevent a single military promotion".
Nowadays, active or passive support for public education IS seen as christian persecution simply because it supports the teaching of facts over myths.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/10d8382a095e1a247a8c978481041292fe65b60239f326ff5464f35f528cec26.jpg
It's becoming increasingly clear that Christians are specifically attacking education as a methodology for indoctrination of younger generations to drive future church attendance. Watching the news last night and listening to Dennis Prager insist that teachers are lying about what they do and don't have time to teach last night was just beyond disgusting. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymqaena_6QA)
With that in mind, here's hoping Iowa sticks to that decision. There's decent odds that Inspired Life isn't going to stop here with just whining, they'll see if their lawyers can convince the courts to force the issue. Issues like this are one of the reasons I honestly wish I could completely bar religion from schools worldwide: Christians never seem to take the rejection with grace and bow out, they always at least attempt to force everyone else to kowtow to their wishes. Good luck to Iowa public schools.
The board has a fiduciary responsibility to the school district. I cannot believe that school is not worth more than $70,000 - even in Iowa. The christians have a deep-seated need to bleat they are being persecuted - let them bleat.
OT: Turns out Trumpublicans and Confederates lied to block the participation trophy to loser traitor scum from that most sacred ground. Go figure.
https://www.npr.org/2023/12/20/1220573980/confederate-memorial-arlington-cemetery-removal