I remember how it was -- JR
Department of Education ‘waging war’ on charter schools with new regulations, school choice advocate says
The Department of Education is "waging war on charter schools" with recently proposed rules that would make it tougher for them to receive start-up grants, a school choice advocate told Fox News.
The rule would tighten requirements on charter schools seeking seed money, like proving that there's a demand for a new school and showing how they would ensure diversity. There would also be restrictions on how much outside for-profit companies could manage operations.
"The Biden administration is essentially waging war on charter schools," Corey DeAngelis, the American Federation for Children's national director of research, told Fox News. "But more importantly, the administration, through these regulations, is waging war on families who want these schools for their kids and that's absolutely atrocious."
Congress approved $440 million for the charter school program in its spending bill. One of the Department of Education's proposed changes, which were published March 12, would require applicants applying for grant money through that program to provide evidence of over-enrollment in existing traditional public schools.
"It doesn't make any sense if you care about the needs of families, but it does make sense when you're thinking about protecting the status quo," DeAngelis told Fox News.
"Just imagine if a Safeway wanted to open a location … and in order to get a grant from the city or just to open, they had to prove and provide evidence that the nearby Walmart had customers flowing out of the door wrapping around the building," DeAngelis continued. "That wouldn't make any sense if your sole purpose was to try to find the policy that works best for individual customers."
The proposal indicates that the tightened restrictions would ensure fiscal oversight and encourage collaboration between traditional public schools and charter schools. But critics have said the rule will kill the charter school program.
DeAngelis said the Department of Education is proposing the rules as an attempt to protect teachers unions and government schools at the expense of families.
Charter schools are publicly funded, but privately run institutions.
DeAngelis argued that they offer a competitive alternative to government schools and provide higher-quality education that caters directly to the wants of parents. He said charter schools' growing popularity threaten teachers unions.
"The unionized government schools try to avoid accountability every step of the way, either through their regulation or defunding of charter schools and their competition," DeAngelis said.
"School choice is a rising tide that lifts all boats," the school choice advocate told Fox News. He said charter schools create competitive pressures, which often improve government-run schools.
"Parents have been scrambling over the past couple of years trying to find the best fit for their kids, and now you have the Biden administration trying to enact these regulations to make exercising these choices as difficult as possible," DeAngelis said. "Parents are already voting with their feet in large numbers."
He pointed to a study that showed that charter school enrollment increased 7.1% for the 2020-2021 school year, while public schools saw a 3.3% decrease – a drop of nearly 1.5 million students.
"Of course the teachers union monopoly is freaking out right now," DeAngelis said. "And one way to stop families from accessing these options that they feel are better for their kids is to use the heavy hand of government to trap these low-income families in the system that is not working for them."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/department-of-education-waging-war-charter-schools-regulations
**********************************************UK: Government may stop working with National Union of Students and report it to Charity Commission over anti-Semitism claims
The Government may stop working with the National Union of Students and report it to the Charity Commission over anti-Semitism claims, the universities minister has said.
Michelle Donelan said she is 'deeply concerned by antisemitism within the NUS' and she said she is considering reporting the union to the Charity Commission.
Her comments came as the Government's antisemitism adviser, Lord Mann, called for action over 'escalating revelations about the continuing poor treatment of Jewish students and the lack of leadership on anti-Jewish racism from the union', The Times reported.
In March, Jewish students said that they felt 'failed' by the NUS as the controversial rapper Lowkey was invited to appear at a centenary event for the union.
Lowkey had previously expressed support for former Labour MP Chris Williamson.
Mr Williamson was suspended in 2019 over allegations of antisemitism and had said that the media had 'weaponised the Jewish heritage of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.'
Concerns have also been raised regarding comments made by newly-elected NUS president Shaima Dallali on social media.
In 2012, she wrote 'Khaybar Khaybar O Jews... Muhammad's army will return £Gaza', referring to a massacre of Jews in 628.
She has since apologised for the post in an online statement posted on her Twitter.
Ms Dallali also told the Jewish Chronicle: 'This is a tweet I posted 10 years ago during Israel's assault on Gaza in 2012. This reference made as a teenager was unacceptable and I unreservedly apologise.'
But the paper last week also claimed that Ms Dallali had 'sung the praises of a Jew-hating cleric' and labelled Waseem Yousef as a 'dirty Zionist' after he wrote that Hamas was launching rockets from between residents' homes and was making a 'graveyard' for children in Gaza.
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NJ first-graders to learn about gender identity in new sex-ed lessons
Planned sex education lessons for first-graders in New Jersey will include discussions of gender identity — outraging some parents and Republican politicians including potential presidential candidate and former Gov. Chris Christie.
A 30-minute lesson called “Pink, Blue and Purple” aims to teach the 6-year-olds to define “gender, gender identity and gender role stereotypes,” Fox News reported Friday.
It also includes instructions for teachers to tell students that their gender identity is up to them, according to materials reportedly distributed to parents at a Feb. 22 meeting of the Westfield Board of Education and posted online.
“You might feel like you’re a boy even if you have body parts that some people might tell you are ‘girl’ parts,” the lesson plan says.
“You might feel like you’re a girl even if you have body parts that some people might tell you are ‘boy’ parts. And you might not feel like you’re a boy or a girl, but you’re a little bit of both. No matter how you feel, you’re perfectly normal!”
A lesson plan for second-graders, titled “Understanding Our Bodies,” includes an illustrated discussion of human genitals so kids as young as 7 can use “medically accurate names” for their private parts.
“Tell students: ‘There are some body parts that mostly just girls have and some parts that mostly just boys have,'” it says.
A note to teachers also says: “Being a boy or a girl doesn’t have to mean you have those parts, but for most people this is how their bodies are.”
The materials emerged amid controversy over a law signed last month by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that bans the discussion of gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, which critics deride as “Don’t Say Gay.”
They’re part of a broader, K-12 health and sex education curriculum adopted by the New Jersey Board of Education in 2020 that goes into effect in September.
“I am honestly appalled at this curriculum,” Maria DeMaio-Esposito, a mother of two from Howell, told the Asbury Park Press.
“I am debating whether to place my child in a private school if I can afford it. Is this curriculum really necessary? Children need to stay children. Their innocence is beautiful and I do not want their little minds filled with this very adult topic.”
Parents are able to opt out of having their kids take part in the lessons, but Paula McCarthy-Mammana of Jackson — who said the curriculum “makes me sick” — said that move would be stigmatizing.
“My granddaughter is going to be entering eighth grade, if she opts out of a class she’s going to be looked at by her peers in a different manner,” McCarthy-Mammana told the AP.
“She may be bullied or harassed and I don’t agree with a child being targeted because of family moral issues.”
In an appearance on Fox News, Christie — who ran for president in 2016 and is reportedly considering another White House bid — told Fox News: “I think this is just a further indication of the crazy liberal policies of my successor, Phil Murphy, who is in the progressive movement.”
“He’s on the left of the progressive movement, and this kind of stuff just should not be going on,” he added.
State Sen. Holly Schepisi (R-Westwood) told Fox News that as “a mom and a legislator, I can appreciate the need for students to receive age-appropriate instruction, but this is beyond the pale.
“We knew that when Gov. Murphy used the cover of the pandemic to push these new standards through that something was terribly wrong, and now we can clearly see why they needed to do this in secret,” she said.
“The agenda has swung so far left in an attempt to sexualize our precious children that parents are fighting back.”
State Sen. Michael Testa (R-Cape May) said the lessons were the latest in a series of affronts to Garden State parents.
“We fought for kids to return to school in person. Then we had to fight to take off our kids’ masks. Now, we have to watch our elementary school children, who have already fallen behind thanks to the Murphy lockdowns, learn about genitalia and gender identity?” Testa said.
“It’s abuse, plain and simple.”
Westfield schools Superintendent Raymond Gonzalez told Fox News that the lesson plans were “a sample list of resources aligned to the New Jersey Student Learning Standards to be considered as school districts work on revisions to the health and [physical education] curriculum.”
“We made it clear at the meeting and subsequent meetings that these are resources only — they are not state-mandated — and that the district is in the process of developing its revised curriculum to meet state standards,” Gonzalez added.
Murphy’s office didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
https://nypost.com/2022/04/08/nj-kids-to-learn-about-gender-identity-under-sex-ed-curriculum/
***********************************My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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