Warriors Against Fed Ed, there’s been quite a bit of buzz over closing the U.S. Dept. of Education in ‘one’ big swoop (HR 899).
From an activist’s viewpoint, this has really troubled me, but not for the reasons which may immediately cross your mind. From a researcher’s vantage point, seeing the hype proves one thing, history is repeating itself once more in our War Vs. the Core.
As a result, I have a great curiosity, as to will we, the Warriors for our Children, LET that history play out yet again, OR, will we take a page from the great battle plans of the past, and truly beat our opponent?
Did you know there’s another plan to gradually close the Dept. down? (HR 1510).
Note: Early next week, I’ll have an in-depth look at HR 1510.
For the remainder of this article, I’m using one-liners to make the simple points of effective strategy. Join me, will you? After all, we are a team.
As ‘one-liners’, these PROPOSED Solutions SOUND great, don’t they?:
HR 899’s Title, “To Terminate the Department of Education.”
HR 1510’s Title, ” ‘‘States’ Education Reclamation Act of 2017’’
Warriors, how many times have we seen the titles of proposed solutions accomplish exactly the opposite? With or without citizen input, what have the results typically been?
How many MORE times are we going to give Congress the benefit of the doubt when it comes to what’s best for our students?!
I’ll counter BOTH those ‘solutions’ with the one liner from ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act)…
“Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014”…
As in ‘ALL education’ (means what’s learned, what’s taught, and what’s measured/tested) ‘MUST align to WIOA’s standards’, NOT academic standards!
Remember, ESSA’s an ‘on-books-law’.
The only solution to solve ESSA is a totally legal repeal without having to create new legislation.
Warriors, By Congress using WIOA as a ‘one-liner’ in ESSA, WIOA’s woven into ESSA on purpose. It is there to align education with labor!
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Warriors, it’s STILL federal overreach! It won’t matter if U.S. Ed is closed, some other federal agency (agencies) will take over. That’s been a pre-planned process for quite some time.
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By WIOA being woven into ESSA, that means US ED is woven into the U.S. Dept. of Labor!
There is NO proposed Bill to close US Labor..nor will there be!
Here’s another ‘one liner’ to consider:
The Dept. of Health and Human Services!
Because ‘health’ in EVERY form is woven throughout ESSA, closing the US Ed down, shifts every bit of those programs and services right into the US Dept. of HHS’s lap!
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Warriors, in the recent Congressional Appropriations moves the U.S. Dept. of HHS was given the lion’s share of our tax dollars. US Labor was 2nd in line, and US Ed was last in line. In BOTH those Appropriations Bills, the grasp at educational alignment via mental health services was extremely evident. So was the massive amount of data mining.
Again, NO Bill to remove the U.S. Dept. of HHS exists, nor will it!
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IS there a one-liner solution which WILL work?
Yes, Warriors! Use the EXISTING legal statutes to TOTALLY Repeal ESSA and at the same time Restore FERPA!
President Trump needs to wipe out the Executive Order which gutted FERPA.
This one-line solution will do TWO things almost immediately: a) roll back the illegally based ESSA; b) throw a monkey’s wrench in the data mining.
In other words, Warriors, this move will greatly reduced the U.S. Dept. of Education straight away. THEN, we can all move prudently to work towards TRUE local control in education; not see ALL the US Ed’s programs get scattered like a bunch of roaches when you walk into a room and turn the light on.
By approaching ridding our nation of the US Ed in a responsible manner, we can ensure our children that their education can go back to academics and not be taken over by U.S. Dept. of Labor; we can assure them their education will cease to data mine their private information to be used against them by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.
In our rush to do what’s best for our children, we need to step back this weekend and CAREFULLY considering WHAT IS BEST for the children will NOT be accomplished in ‘rip the band-aid off’ kind of way.
By taking a one sentence Bill and attaching a huge ‘to do’ list to it, are we REALLY considering all the ‘un-intended consequences’?
By taking another related bill where US ED is divided up into several pieces, are we honestly being pro-active in our moves?
To be honest, no.
Everything ‘We the People’ are doing to END the federal overreaches in education is REACTIVE at this point. All the laws have been passed to codify the overreaches, all the funds have been earmarked.
Warriors, we MUST really plot out effective battle plans against the CCSS Machine.
The first step? It is a big one, either way. However, there are many other steps we need to look at: a) Repealing WIOA and re-writing it to EXCLUDE education at any level; b) Halting the re-writing of HEA (Higher Education Act) right now to ensure it remains free of the WIOA clauses; c) getting P3s out of education; d) getting educators and teachers back to their first love; e) seeing States cut the dependence to the federal government’s pocketbook; and f) cutting ALL ties with the UN (United Nations).
By doing all these steps IN ORDER, we can really make use of the exit from UNESCO. (It is our membership with the UN/UNESCO which helped the CCSS Machine move so far along in reforming education in the first place, Warriors.)
If we DO NOT do things in a proper step way, Warriors, the exit from UNESCO will be as effective as a screen door on a submarine.
Let’s make sure this one-liner is NOT our destiny in this War Vs the Core:
“It’s Too Much, Too Little, Too Late”
