The System Can Work as Intended

According to Oregon Senator Doug Whitsett (R-Klamath Falls), "One of the most important duties of the members of the Legislative Assembly is to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent to best benefit the public. This often involves making difficult choices regarding what our true spending priorities should be." He adds, "Sometimes those decisions are not so difficult and actually are extremely easy to make." Geologists have warned of the high probability that a very destructive earthquake will hit Oregon. So, for a case-in-point, Sen. Whitsett discusses the need to seismically retrofit the Oregon Capitol (including an extensive remodel) and at-risk schools throughout Oregon. Between the capitol and schools, what would your first priority be? See how our legislative Republicans have argued this issue... Read more at News from Doug Whitsett Read More......

Teachers in Nation's 'Worst Urban District' Twice as Likely to be Rated 'Highly Effective'

According to the 2015 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) report released in October, the Detroit Public Schools system was rated the worst-performing urban district in the country for the fourth time since 2009.  According to the 2015 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) report released in October, the Detroit Public Schools system was rated the worst-performing urban district in the country for the fourth time since 2009.

Read more at Michigan Capitol Confidential
(Hat tip: KimR) Read More......

The Border Hoppers Liberals Don’t Love

School districts jail and sue parents for trying to get their kids into better schools in places they can’t afford to live. --SNIP-- Here’s the irony: Berkeley, Philadelphia, and Washington DC are “sanctuary cities,” where local law enforcement or other government bodies have openly declared they won’t enforce illegal immigration laws—at least, not against foreign citizens. The University of California-Berkeley is a national leader in openly enrolling and providing tax-sponsored tuition writeoffs and other supports to illegal immigrants. So while these city governments welcome illegal foreign immigrants to, among other things, enroll their kids in local schools (the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that public schools must educate illegal immigrants), those same local schools are prosecuting U.S. citizens for doing the same thing.

Read more at The Federalist Read More......

Gutting open enrollment in Oregon would gut this rural town

In Alsea, Oregon, a town perched in the coast range about 25 miles from the Pacific, Superintendent Marc Thielman runs the only school district in the state with virtually total open enrollment—a policy now facing pressure in the Oregon Legislature. --Open enrollment was introduced by the Oregon Legislature in 2011 and was signed into law as House Bill 3681.

Read more at Watchdog.org
(KimR) Read More......

A REPORT CARD ON THE CORVALLIS SCHOOL DISTRICT 509J (CSD509J)

(Cross-posted from Benton GOP News) - I am a life long Corvallis Resident. Kindergarten to 12 at Corvallis 509J. A Graduate of OSU in Business Administration. US Army Veteran. A local business owner in Corvallis for the last 37 years. I have served on over 30 local Boards. (CASA, Benton County Mental Health, Rotary, Corvallis 509J, OSU Education Foundation, etc). In January of 2014, I received the Senior First Citizen of Corvallis Award at Celebrate Corvallis.

Since March of 2013, I have attended every Corvallis 509J School Board Meeting, except one. The following is just some of the information, I have learned at these meetings:

1. The total operating Budget for CSD509J for School year 2013 to 2014 is 98 Million dollars.
   
   
2. There are 6348 students enrolled in CSD509J. We will spend $15,437.93 per student, this year.
   
   
3. Approximately 8000 students reside in the 509J district. 1700 or 23 % do not attend public schools. They attend Private Schools or are Home schooled.
   
   
4. In the last five years the graduation rate at CHS and CVHS has dropped from above 80% to 72%. 28% of our High School Seniors did not receive a diploma in 2013.
   
   
5. Enrollment decline. In 2002 we had 7250 students, by 2013 we had 6348. A loss of 900 children. CSD509J receives in State and Federal funds about $6000 per student per year. The 900 times $6000; equals $5,400,000 in revenue lost to 509J.
   
   
6. CSD509J provides All Day Kindergarten in four of the eight Grades Schools in Corvallis. The other four Schools have Half Day Kindergarten. Oregon Law requires Equal Education Opportunities for all children. The district discriminates against many students and families.
   
   
7. Fairplay School Sale. At the August 19, 2013 School Board Meeting, Mr. Steve Nielsen, Business Manager for CSD509J, announced the Sale of Fairplay School to Waldorf School. The terms were: Sale Price $476,000. $100,000 down payment, 6% interest, with a 4 year balloon. This is for a School and 11 acres. The previous year of the minutes of the 509J Board Meetings, make no mention of this property being for sale. The Board gave no public notice the property was for sale. Nor did they get an appraisal or do a Market analysis as to its best use or value. The School is surrounded by single family residences. Waldorf was unable to obtain financing. The CSD509J Board decided to become the lender with Tax payer money. Waldorf competes for Students with CSD509J. This sale closed on August 29, 2013. The next day, August 30, 2013, the Benton County Assessor placed a value of $3,592,197 on the Fairplay/Waldorf property. More than 7 times what the School Board sold it for. They gave away a Tax payer asset. School Board members are all elected officials, and have a fiduciary responsibility to the Tax Payers of 509J to exercise due diligence as they perform their duties. I testified to the Board, that if handled properly; The Fairplay Sale should bring 3 Million plus. Ten minutes after my testimony, Ann Schuster made a motion to sell FairPlay for $476,000 and it was seconded by Vincent Adams. The board vote was unanimous. I commissioned a Title report which shows the Property has a Warranty deed and the Assessor’s evaluation at $3,592,197. I gave a copy to the School Board.

If these results concern you, please get involved and start attending the School Board meetings. The School Board and the Administration must be held accountable as to how they perform their duties.

Al Hutchinson
Corvallis Resident Read More......

Indiana Ends Common Core Education Standards

Indiana’s experiment with Common Core is over. ✧ Gov. Mike Pence signed legislation Monday requiring the state to come up with its own academic standards, making Indiana the latest state to pull its support for the national education standards known as Common Core.

“I believe our students are best served when decisions about education are made at the state and local level. By signing this legislation, Indiana has taken an important step forward in developing academic standards that are written by Hoosiers, for Hoosiers, and are uncommonly high.”

Read more at The Foundry Read More......

CPI: The Not So “Cool School” Initiative

CASCADE POLICY INSTITUTE by Michael Bastasch - The Oregon “Cool Schools” Initiative (House Bill 2960) directs the Oregon Department of Energy to provide zero to low-interest loans and grants to school districts for energy efficiency building improvements. Governor John Kitzhaber, the bill’s main proponent, argues that HB 2960 will create healthier, more energy efficient schools and create jobs. However, given the propensity of government to overestimate the benefits of its programs while completely understating the costs, the economic impacts of HB 2960 most likely will yield the opposite results of what Gov. Kitzhaber claims.

Luckily, Oregon has a case study in Washington State... Read more at CPI. Read More......

NAS: An Interview with Holly Swanson

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SCHOLARS (NAS), 10/15/2009 by Ashley Thorne - For the last year and a half the National Association of Scholars has been investigating the sustainability movement in higher education; in the process we’ve kept an eye out for other organizations that speak out about the dangers the movement poses for education. So far, we’ve found only one.

We first learned of the organization Operation Green Out! while researching Second Nature, a Boston-based group that seeks to make sustainability the “foundation of all learning and practice in higher education.” We found that thus far Operation Green Out! seems to be the sole challenger of Second Nature’s education for sustainability agenda, and that it has launched a campaign “to get green politics out in the open and out of the classroom.” Holly Swanson, the organization’s founder and director, is the author of Set Up and Sold Out: Find Out What Green Really Means, and she is a nationwide speaker on the “Green movement” and its “plan to use public education to politically indoctrinate.” By way of introducing NAS members and readers to Ms. Swanson and Operation Green Out! we asked her for an interview to be published on the NAS website. She graciously agreed; read her responses to our questions...

Related: On Friday, March 5th, Glenn Beck presents "Indoctrination of our Kids: An American Epidemic" on Fox News, 2PM (Pacific) and repeated at 11PM. Read More......

Obama's Speech to America's K-12 classrooms

Read the script for President Obama's school speech HERE. Here's my favorite line:

"Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up. No one's written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future. That's what young people like you are doing every day, all across America."

Read More......

White House Withdraws Call for Students to 'Help' Obama

FOX News, 9/3/2009 - President Obama's plan to speak to the nation's schoolchildren in a video address next week erupted into controversy as critics claimed he was trying to indoctrinate America's kids. Read more at FOX... Read More......