President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order to expand school choice across the country. While this policy could allow more students access to alternatives outside of public schooling, critics warn it might divert essential funding from public schools and exacerbate educational inequalities.

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which provides a comprehensive measure of students’ academic achievement across the country, overall student achievement has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. The percentage of eighth-graders reading below NAEP Basic is the highest in the assessment’s history, and the percentage of fourth-graders scoring below NAEP Basic is the largest in 20 years.

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Recent audits revealed that private school parents, and now voucher recipients, have used the funds for a slew of, at best, questionable expenses, including kayak lessons, horseback riding lessons, home gyms, televisions, and more. Earlier audits conducted prior to the most recent expansion revealed similarly questionable uses.”

Related:

Wisconsin billionaire Diane Hendricks listed as ‘everyday American’ RNC speaker

July 18, 2024July 19, 2024 Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Billionaire Diane Hendricks, one of the richest people in Wisconsin, will apparently be speaking as an “everyday American” when she takes the stage Thursday at the Republican National Convention.

Hendricks is the co-founder of ABC Supply, the largest wholesale distributor of roofing supplies and a major distributor of siding and windows in North America. She started the Beloit-based company in 1982 with her husband, Ken, and has been the chairwoman and sole owner since his death in 2007.

Wisconsin billionaire Diane Hendricks listed as ‘everyday American’ RNC speaker (archived)

By calling herself a self-made woman, Hendricks is discrediting her deceased husband! They made ABC Supply, together! She practically owns the City of Beloit. Housing is unaffordable due to the rapid pace of economic development.* When I lived in Beloit, in the late nineties, my rent was only $800 for a two-story, three-bedroom, two-bath home that I shared with two others and that was before I worked for General Motors. The minimum wage is still $7.25 in Wisconsin.

Related:

Source

In film, Walker talks of ‘divide and conquer’ union strategy

Biden was elected to start a war with Russia

December 12, 2022December 12, 2022 Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The ongoing US war against Russia has elevated American-allied Nazis to the international stage as ‘freedom fighters,’ resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians, raised the risk of nuclear war, ended any effective international cooperation on environmental issues through rekindling energy geopolitics, assured Europe of one or more Great Depression type winters with limited heating fuel, and more probably than not will soon produce the total annihilation of Ukraine as a modern state by the Russians.
The Americans Started the US War with Russia

How Wall Street Is Funding The Culture War

September 15, 2022September 15, 2022 Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The leading right-wing pugilist against “critical race theory” is backed by Wall Street execs whose financial crisis crushed communities of color.
How Wall Street Is Funding The Culture War

If you’re kid is learning critical race theory, congratulations on them getting into law school! 🤡

Ukraine Aid Package Puts America Last + Some Notes on the astroturfed Heritage Action for America

May 29, 2022May 29, 2022 Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Ukraine Aid Package Puts America Last

Today, Heritage Action, a conservative grassroots organization with two million grassroots activists, released a statement from Executive Director Jessica Anderson ahead of the U.S. House of Representatives’ vote on a $40 billion Ukraine aid package.
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The legislation does not include several important measures – there are no spending offsets, no accountability for where each dollar will be spent, and no guarantees for equal contributions from European neighbors. Additionally, the aid package only lasts through September of this year, meaning Congress will be expected to reconsider the legislation after only about three months.

They claim to be a grassroots organization but they were created by Heritage Foundation!? That’s astroturfing! Who’s policies are they advocating for?! Theirs?! I highly doubt that it’s for the working class (see below, for just one example)!!

Recognizing that elected leaders are more responsive to adopting policy solutions when they know the American people already support them, Heritage created Heritage Action for America. Heritage Action works with lawmakers to implement Heritage Foundation solutions while it also organizes nearly 20,000 Sentinel activists and more than 2 million local grassroots activists around the nation to push for their adoption. Heritage Action ensures that citizens are speaking up and their elected officials hear their voices.
About Heritage

They push for private school choice and are anti-union (I’m not arguing for school closures, with the below quote, but showing it as an example of their views)!!

The only way out of this mess is to free families from the clutches of the teachers’ unions. Funding students directly would empower families to access educational alternatives. The good news is that the unions’ political games could further the movement to fund students instead of systems, which already enjoyed significant growth in 2021.
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Her continued push to keep schools closed may be just what wide-spread school choice needs to become reality—and to rescue a generation from misguided and politicized COVID policies. In this sense, the power-hungry teachers unions might just destroy their own empire.
More COVID School Closures Spell the End of Teachers Unions Empire

School Choice Cons:

Three big problems with school ‘choice’ that supporters don’t like to talk about

The hidden downsides of school ‘choice’

Anyway, in three months, Congress will probably vote on another aid package for Ukraine (doesn’t matter who wins between Russia and Ukraine, they’ll still send Ukraine money, whether it’s for weapons or reconstruction)! 🙄

With Bezos at the Helm, Democracy Dies at the Washington Post Editorial Board

June 22, 2021June 22, 2021 Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

CONFIDENTLY WRONG
In the Soviet Union, everybody was aware that the media was controlled by the state. But in a corporate state like the U.S., a veneer of independence is still maintained, although trust in the media has been plummeting for years.
With Bezos at the Helm, Democracy Dies at the Washington Post Editorial Board