So, Where’s the Choice?

Fib-o-Meter Friday

Warriors Against Fed Led Education, the image you see above was featured in one of my 2015 articles detailing the scam behind school choice. Since then, I’ve (along with others) have repeatedly sounded the call against ‘school choice’.

Why?

It wasn’t that we didn’t believe in the parents right to choose the education for their children. It was because we knew the CCSS Machine was erasing ALL choices in education but one: workforce geared, skill based Common Core (aka: College/Career Ready; Future Ready; Choice ReadyNext Gen Standards and Assessments; STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and, Math) as well as many other names for deceptive purposes).

Warriors, ESSA(Every Student Succeeds Act) stated in no uncertain terms that ALL education MUST be aligned to the SAME Standards! No exceptions.
The CCSS Machine’s deception is trying to still convince America that ‘choices’ are available in education.

The truthful reality is, no, true choice died when President Obama signed ESSA into law.
(*Note: in late 2016 and late 2017, I published two articles continuing to spotlight the deception with ‘school choices. You’ll find 2016’s, here; 2017’s, here.)

Enter: Penguins!

nochoiceWarriors, what you see above is a screen shot of the cute penguins used by the National School Choice Week organization.

Since 2011, this group has been doing a ‘bang up’ job of deceiving folks. Wait, why would I say ‘since 2011’? ESSA wasn’t a law then. You’re correct, ESSA wasn’t a law yet, but Common Core had taken over education in every choice available by 2011.

My fellow Warrior, Alice Linahan, published a scathing report (2017) on who is really behind the National School Choice Week organization.

What’s New For 2018?

Warriors, the penguins will be dancing (that’s what they do in the GIF on social media) into our areas the 21st-27th of January. Believe it or not, there’s even a dance for people to celebrate school choice. Of course, you can purchase the song and video.

Yes, nothing says let’s deceive folks quite like a catchy tune and some pumped up (fake) enthusiasm.

choicedance
Warriors, these folks may be dancing now, but what will they be doing when they see ESSA fully implemented and NO choice in education is still around? Remember, the way the law is laid out, everything is to be fully in place for ESSA by now. However, all States were to have their State Plans submitted to the U.S. Secretary of Education no later than Sept. 2017. If you’ll remember, there were 2 submission dates. Seventeen States chose the earlier 2017 date, while the majority waited until September. The point is, it’s mid-January 2018. Each State which chose the latter date AND received an ‘interim feedback’ letter from Sec. DeVos, is under a 120 day time crunch. The federal level department has to react to each State plan within that time frame.

For example, where I live (North Carolina) received its ‘interim feedback’ letter on Dec. 13, 2017. For all the things which US Ed required, the State had a mere 2 weeks (with Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa right in the middle of it all) to re-submit its Plan. The letter was sent by Jason Botel, not Betsy DeVos. It appears that all the Fall 2017 States also received a Dec. 2017 letter with Botel’s name attached. Since there are 34 States, I only checked a few States which surround NC and saw the pattern.

The State Plans are being held up due to the fact the feds do not think the States are compliant enough. Remember how it was deceptive spoken that ESSA would give the educational control BACK to the States?

What’s interesting is that supposedly Botel was released by the US Ed before Dec. 2017, so why is his name used as the signature?

Warriors, with this much backlog and confusion, ESSA’s fullest version and implementation will be taking place in the 2018-19 academic year. All this means is a longer and stronger grip on ‘locally controlled’ education by the federal government..not LESS and certainly not full of choices.

Closing:

Warriors, back in January 2017, I wrote about the lessons we should be learning from the (then) current state of federally controlled education. In the midst of that article was the reality of the school choice belonging to the parents and their heartfelt desires. Go back and read how that lesson has been trampled upon since ESSA, since the presidential election, since DeVos, and since organizations like National School Choice Week have been in ‘charge’.

With this January (2018) “Choice Week” about to launch, there is plenty we can do to protest, to expose the fallacies, and to protect our children from this massive deception.

fallacy

Also, when January 2018’s ‘Choice Week’ rolls around, watch for the CCSS Machine to roll out the red carpet of deception. Note who’s helping roll that carpet out, too.

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