People from around the world come to the United States for a better life. They understand the greatness and uniqueness to our country and want to live the American Dream. A quality education is the starting point for their children to obtain the American Dream.
There are many stories of parents who will do whatever it takes to make sure their children has access to a quality education. There are some that even are willing to go to jail. Let's look at a couple of examples from around the country.
Hamlet and Olesia Garcia in Lower Moreland, PA were arrested and charged with Education Fraud (stealing services) of $10,752.81 in August 2012. Their crime, using Olesia's father's address so their 5 yr old could attend a better school than the one in Philadelphia. The Garcia family has offered to pay the tuition, but the school district has refused opting for prosecution.
An Ohio mother, Kelley Williams-Bolar, spent 9 days in jail for wanting to get her daughter into a safe and better school. She used her father's address to get her daughters into to the highly ranked schools in Copley-Fairlawn School District instead of the Akron district she lived in.
"It's overwhelming. I'm exhausted," she said. "I did this for them, so there it is. I did this for them."
Williams-Bolar said she did it to keep her children safe and that she lived part-time with her dad.
"When my home got broken into, I felt it was my duty to do something else," Williams-Bolar said.
Our current system of public education is broken and has now reached a point of great disparity between rich and poor schools. Denying parents access to quality education should be found unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as was done in 1954 in Brown vs Topeka. That ruling ended the practice of "separate but equal" used to justify segregation of schools by race. We must now end "separate and unequal" between rich and poor.
ALL children deserve access to a quality education and should not be arrested or imprisoned to make sure that happens. Fund the child and not the bureaucracy.
The disparities of funding and parental choice were highlighted during School Choice Week at a rally at Chicago's Union Station on January 29th. As you can see from the pictures of the rally, thousands came out to tell Springfield "We want choice". Here are some of the slogans on the signs:
- Great Teachers Change Lives!
- Got Choice?
- I yearn to learn!
- An effective education for all!
- Let me Learn!
- Choice means Hope!
- The American Dream Starts With a Quality Education
View pictures at Champion News....
I stated "bring his kids into the argument", you lie again and stated I said ATTACKING.
A parent's right to choose: you can use their tax dollars for that.
I do want to thank you guys though. Your debates from a few years ago and now the repeated lies, personal attacks have turned this introverted geek into an outspoken defender of freedom. Freedom for parents, especially the poor and underprivileged to help fight for their right to access to a quality education for their children. Freedom for the rank and file teacher to have the to teach without fear of retribution from their union bosses and the overbearing mandates from Springfield and Washington.
http://www.salon.com/2012/08/01/school_choice_vs_reality/ http://www.salon.com/2011/01/25/lind_myth_china/ I realize this information doesn't fit your concept of how the world works, but it would do you some good to perhaps consider that the views, opinions and facts provided by people other than yourself might actually be valid.
In other words, can someone post as multiple people with one legitimate email address or do they have to have one user per email address, AND do you check for valid email addresses? Depending on that answer, do you ever check IP addresses from aliases that you suspect might be abusing that?
Also curious if you screen for paranoid schizophrenics with a history of alias abuse...
"Sully's: Attack Lennie, Attack Lennie, make stuff up. Attack some more. That didn't work so now I can bring his kids into the argument and attack some more.", but I used the words "That didn't work so I brought in your kids? Really?" questioning your comment. Then you responded with, "Making stuff up again I see. I stated "bring his kids into the argument", you lie again and stated I said ATTACKING." I'm sorry Lennie, but WTF? Perhaps you don't fully understand the definition of "lying"or "lies".
http://www.suntimes.com/17920483-761/for-insiders-community-group-unos-charter-schools-pay.html
JOHNS ISLAND, S.C.–At 16 years old, Rontrell Matthews has a better idea than most of his peers what an education is worth. This past summer, he made his way through this rural, poor community not far outside of Charleston to show up at the doorstep of Capers Preparatory Christian Academy. In his hand was his first paycheck, a meager sum of $32.86 that he’d earned making sandwiches at the local Subway shop. Spurring him along was a determination to buy his own way out of one of the state’s many failing public schools. School choice is always controversial, and often opposed on the grounds that it will undermine public schools, subsidize middle-class parents and cherry-pick the “best” kids for a private education. After meeting Rontrell in Capers’ cramped conference room on a recent afternoon, it’s hard to disagree that school choice in this state would help one of the best kids get a better education. Rontrell is now excelling in school, encouraging his younger brother to study hard. He has landed a partial scholarship and continues to work at Subway to pay part of his $400-a-month tuition bill.
The teachers who aren’t volunteers make $8 an hour with no fringe benefits. Many of the kids show up without lunch. Often parents fail to make their monthly tuition bills. Only five students at the school come from two-parent homes, and most of the students are African-American. Each year, Ms. Brown is forced to dip into her retirement account to keep the school running. “It’s robbing Peter to pay Paul,” she told me. “I’ll let the power bill go until they’re about to shut off the lights and then I’m rushing down there with the money.” One place Capers isn’t skimping, however, is academics. The school places a heavy emphasis on reading, writing and math. As a result the school’s average SAT score, 1150, is 164 points above the state average, and this year the school expects every one of its graduates to go on to college. St. Johns High School, the public school these students would be attending if not for Capers, has an average SAT score of 788.
What's any of that got to do with the price of tea in Grayslake? LOL!!!
Your tea party comments are totally different. You are attempting to hold me accountable for what someone else says. It would be the same as me holding you accountable for what Terri, Carl, John S, Ellen Correll, or President Obama says.