Friday!
Goodness, it's been a busy news week! I'm tired.
Goodness, it's been a busy news week! I'm tired.
1. Education
Health Care gets a lot of attention, and rightfully so. But it's time to focus on one of the most wonderful aspects of living in America-access to free public education. A healthy society needs knowledgeable, critical thinkers to survive. The education budget is expected to come out sometime next week. The budget is expected to include a $9.2 billion cut to the department, a restructuring of the program to encourage school choice (vouchers), and changes to student loan repayment programs. (Among many other changes) To quote James Comey, reading about the changes makes me "mildly nauseous". Read more about it here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/…/2a25a2cc-3a41-11e7-8854-21…
Health Care gets a lot of attention, and rightfully so. But it's time to focus on one of the most wonderful aspects of living in America-access to free public education. A healthy society needs knowledgeable, critical thinkers to survive. The education budget is expected to come out sometime next week. The budget is expected to include a $9.2 billion cut to the department, a restructuring of the program to encourage school choice (vouchers), and changes to student loan repayment programs. (Among many other changes) To quote James Comey, reading about the changes makes me "mildly nauseous". Read more about it here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/…/2a25a2cc-3a41-11e7-8854-21…
Check out this very interesting report on school vouchers. The intended benefit of school vouchers was to give low-income, minority students a chance to try private schools in the event that public schools were not fulfilling their needs. The problem with the voucher system is that most of the students using them had never attended public schools in the first place.
"We're not losing kids from our schools [to vouchers]," says Superintendent Wendy Robinson. "We're now just having the state pay for kids who were never going to come here anyway." The voucher system does not work as a way to help less fortunate children. It simply gives money to students who were attending private schools already. "White voucher students are up from 46 percent that first year to 60 percent today, and the share of black students has dropped from 24 percent to 12 percent. Recipients are also increasingly suburban and middle class. A third of students do not qualify for free or reduced-price meals."
Read the full article here: http://www.npr.org/…/the-promise-and-peril-of-school-vouche…
"We're not losing kids from our schools [to vouchers]," says Superintendent Wendy Robinson. "We're now just having the state pay for kids who were never going to come here anyway." The voucher system does not work as a way to help less fortunate children. It simply gives money to students who were attending private schools already. "White voucher students are up from 46 percent that first year to 60 percent today, and the share of black students has dropped from 24 percent to 12 percent. Recipients are also increasingly suburban and middle class. A third of students do not qualify for free or reduced-price meals."
Read the full article here: http://www.npr.org/…/the-promise-and-peril-of-school-vouche…
Here is one more article to give you an overview of what's to come. This source of this article is left-leaning so please keep that in mind when reading. https://www.commondreams.org/…/trump-administration-raid-pu…
As a parent of two children who attend a public school, I am so disheartened by these changes. I volunteer in my son's classroom and I see how hard his teacher works. I see her try to inspire a myriad of personalities and abilities on a paltry budget. Heck, just last night I got a text from my son's teacher asking for pencils. No teacher should have to go begging for basic supplies! I fear that any additional cuts to the public education budget will make it impossible to provide the quality education our children deserve. I am still trying to understand the ins and outs of this. I would love to hear opinions from those of you with real life experience and expertise in the public school system.
Here is more information on HR 610: https://www.countable.us/…/hr610-115-to-distribute-federal-…
Your call to action today and the coming weeks is to contact your senators and representative (especially if you live in MN Distirct 2- Lewis is on the Education Committee). Tell them that you support public schools and think that vouchers are a terrible idea. Tell them that HR 610 is bad for kids.
2. Something to do on your commute
Check out this podcast of New York Times columnist, Frank Bruni. He discusses how technology today allows us to gather information in a biased way. I am not selling it very well. It is an excellent discussion and I highly recommend it. New York Times columnist talks Trump, news and how we protect our biases - https://www.mprnews.org/…/frank-bruni-media-and-misinformat…
Check out this podcast of New York Times columnist, Frank Bruni. He discusses how technology today allows us to gather information in a biased way. I am not selling it very well. It is an excellent discussion and I highly recommend it. New York Times columnist talks Trump, news and how we protect our biases - https://www.mprnews.org/…/frank-bruni-media-and-misinformat…
Now your job is to have a fabulous weekend!
Franken-202-224-5641
Klobuchar-202-224-3244
House of Representative switchboard: (202) 224-3121
MN Legislators: https://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/legislators
Resistbot: https://resistbot.io/
Governor Dayton- https://mn.gov/governor/contact-us/
Klobuchar-202-224-3244
House of Representative switchboard: (202) 224-3121
MN Legislators: https://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/legislators
Resistbot: https://resistbot.io/
Governor Dayton- https://mn.gov/governor/contact-us/
Out and About
Saturday 5/20, 12 - 3 PM
Invest in Success Rally for Public Education
Education Minnesota
41 Sherburne Ave, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55103
https://www.facebook.com/events/431517483851158/
Invest in Success Rally for Public Education
Education Minnesota
41 Sherburne Ave, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55103
https://www.facebook.com/events/431517483851158/
Thursday 6/1, 5:30- 8:30 pm
SD54 Meet DFL Candidates for Governor
Cottage Grove VFW Red Barn located at 9260 E Point Douglas Rd S, Cottage Grove
https://www.facebook.com/events/237820063364313/?acontext=%7B%22source%22%3A4%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&source=4&action_history=null
SD54 Meet DFL Candidates for Governor
Cottage Grove VFW Red Barn located at 9260 E Point Douglas Rd S, Cottage Grove
https://www.facebook.com/events/237820063364313/?acontext=%7B%22source%22%3A4%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&source=4&action_history=null
Thursday 6/1, 7-9 pm
LWV Dakota County Healthcare Forum
Nativity Episcopal Church
15601 Maple Island Rd, Burnsville, Minnesota 55306
https://www.facebook.com/events/1932441393637471/?acontext=%7B%22source%22%3A4%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&source=4&action_history=null
LWV Dakota County Healthcare Forum
Nativity Episcopal Church
15601 Maple Island Rd, Burnsville, Minnesota 55306
https://www.facebook.com/events/1932441393637471/?acontext=%7B%22source%22%3A4%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&source=4&action_history=null
Saturday 6/3 10 am-12:30 pm
Action Together Twin Cities - Summer Action Fair
Robert Bruininks Hall
222 Pleasant St SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
https://www.facebook.com/events/1887301198176093/?acontext=%7B%22source%22%3A4%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&source=4&action_history=null
Action Together Twin Cities - Summer Action Fair
Robert Bruininks Hall
222 Pleasant St SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
https://www.facebook.com/events/1887301198176093/?acontext=%7B%22source%22%3A4%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&source=4&action_history=null
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