Posted on 08/21/2014 10:39:07 AM PDT by dignitasnews
Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood appeased liberal wishes today and ruled against a school vouchers program designed to provide poor and minority kids in North Carolina the opportunity to attend the same private schools as better offer children. Siding with teachers unions, atheist groups and public education administrators, Hobgood deemed the Opportunity Scholarship program to be unconstitutional. The ruling comes less than a week after the program awarded more than 360 lower-income families with education grants of $4,200 per child, providing their parents the opportunity to place their sons or daughters in a school of their choice.
Fearing that poor and minority parents will opt to move their children out often failing public schools, liberal groups have made fighting school voucher and choice programs a primary focus in their long-running efforts to maintain political hegemony over lower-income and African-American communities. In addition, Democratic Party leaders view opportunity scholarships as a threat to their largest campaign contributors, public employee service unions, and fear that a decrease of power and revenue for these institutions could lead to decreased donations from teachers unions.
Liberal Judge Robert Hobgood.
North Carolina was one of the final southern states to maintain Democratic Party majorities in the wake of overall changing political and social attitudes. After having dominated southern politics during the age of segregation and Jim Crow, the politics of the region began to shift in the 1970's and 1980's as Republican Party gains helped change the face of the south. North Carolina, home to disgraced former Democratic Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards, had been able to hold off the Republican wave until finally giving way to GOP state majorities in 2012. In 2013, Republican state lawmakers swiftly implemented the school choice program and set aside $10 million to provide opportunity scholarships to lower-income families. Many conservatives and Republicans view school choice programs as key to reversing the long-standing inequities in education and opportunities that plague many in the black community. GOP advocates also see vouchers as a way to strengthen the overall public school system, by subjecting often corrupt and ineffective inner-city education bureaucracies to competition, thus forcing them to make much-needed reforms to make public schools more effective and desirable options for lower-income parents. Conservatives also argue that programs will help the reign in budget shortfalls as better-performing private schools generally cost less per-pupil than poorer performing public schools.
AmericanFederationForChildrenPSA (via YouTube) Milton Friedman Foundation Video
The initial $10 million was the start of the program and designed for the 2014-2015 school term. They went on to allocate more money to help expand the program beyond this school year and provide more lower-income parents the same educational choices that middle and upper-class families enjoy. While liberal-progressives and Democrats have been successful in demonizing Republicans in the eyes of African-American voters on a number of issues, the school choice movement has been shown to break down many misconceptions of black voters and the left sees this issue as a threat to their monopoly of the black vote. School voucher programs are viewed very favorably by black parents and have proven very effective at raising the math and science scores of children who have taken advantage of these programs elsewhere in the nation. Fearing that a spread of these programs could threaten to weaken the nearly 90 percent share of the African-American vote, defeating opportunity scholarship programs have become a primary focus of Democratic Party strategy.
Under opportunity scholarship programs, families are given the opportunity to shop around and choose the school they feel would best serve their child. Liberal groups argue that because students must go through an application process this amounts to a discriminatory practice. Although private schools do often limit the number of students they accept to maintain proper teacher to student ratios, there have been virtually no complaints from parents and children who participate in similar programs in various Republican controlled states nationwide.
Under the leadership of Republican Governor Bobby Jindal, Louisiana has embarked on a similar school voucher program and seen great enthusiasm from parents participating in the program. The Black Alliance for Educational Options and the Louisiana Federation for Children conducted a survey of parents in the program and found that 91 percent of parents were satisfied with their child's new school and academic performance, and a full 98 percent said their child felt safe and welcomed at their opportunity scholarship school.
Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina President Darrell Allison vowed to continue the fight.
While these numbers are welcoming news to parents and many lawmakers, this has sent a wave of fear throughout traditional Democratic Party allies. Control of education standards (or lack thereof) and more importantly the tax revenue from public education, has been a primary source of Democrat power in the inner city and minority precincts. Displeasure has also been expressed by liberal-leaning atheist groups who fear that further exposure to religion in the form of parochial schools will reverse their efforts to reverse Christian and Church influence on the black community. Left-wing education advocates also fear that school choice programs threaten to weaken efforts to impose Common Core education programs nationwide.
Despite today's ruling, school choice advocates are confident that the programs will ultimately prevail. Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina President Darrell Allison called Judge Hobgood's decision a "temporary roadblock" citing his belief that higher courts will side with the parents and reinstate the voucher programs and vowed to continue the fight to prevent liberal activists from denying poor and minority kids the opportunity to attend private schools.
By Paul M Winters Dignitas News Service
For leftists, any taxpayer money going to anything that could be Christian is to be opposed on the premise of “the establishment clause”.
Now, there’s no way to logically argue that giving money to parents to decide where to send their kids and the voucher money, even if they send their kids to Christian schools, is
“establishing” anything remotely analogous to the Church of England.
Federal judges can’t rule on religious matters in the states. The governor should simply announce that the ruling is unlawful and will be ignored.
Why do liberals hate black people?
Further...imagine a White GOP governor defying a White Democrat judge in defense of poor Black kids...THAT’S what I call “outreach”.
Well, we all know how well using logic and reason works when arguing the leftists....
That’s what I call a strong headline!
Maybe they need to sue on the grounds of "Child Endangerment".
Well said Senator! Send my regards to Mandy!
School choice violates the school teacher union protection clause of the constitution
Gotta keep down on the plantation so they can harvest votes.
There are two nations within our borders. There is The United States Of America and there is Democratland. The citizens of Democratland get their money by taking it from the citizens of The United States. The citizens of Democratland will say or do anything to maintain their ability to take money from the citizens of The United States. Which nation will triumph?
We best do everything we can to ensure its not the latter. Being one who lives in Democratland West (California), Ive seen the future, and trust me when I say its a very sad one.
Can’t allow poor kids a chance to succeed; that might make them loyal to our nation. Plus you don’t want them to think either, because then they might see that it is liberals that are keeping them down. Ignorant people are much easier to control.
Indeed. Very easy to control. We see this playing out as they dance from the strings of the left in Missouri this week. Dancing toward their own destruction.
Judge Hobgood is a state Superior Court judge and not a federal judge.
Also, federal judges can rule on religious matters in states anyway.
I just re read animal farm. All leftist are the pigs telling the rest of us what we can and cannot do or have. All the while they take all they want
Four legs good. Two legs....BETTER
I call it Obamaland. And it sucks!
Excuse me for being cynical, but I’d bet that the majority, possibly all, of those 360 families will march to the polls this November and vote to reelect Kay Hagen (Democrat, Senator, wholly owned subsidiary of the teachers unions).
I’m at the point of really having a f**k ‘em attitude. We offer things that really matter and make a difference, like vouchers, and they still won’t vote Republican because their community tells them Conservatives are white racists.
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