Posted on 09/16/2009 6:31:22 AM PDT by bd476
Millions of Americans are marching, blogging, calling Congress, E-mailing friends, and writing to newspapers to say that President Obama and Congress are expanding government too far, too fast. We need to do more, because it’s clear that they’re not getting the message. The latest example: the House of Representatives is preparing to put the Department of Education into the business of creating educational curriculum for American students.
This week the House is scheduled to approve H.R. 3221, an education lending bill that CBO reports will increase the deficit by $50 billion. The bill includes a little-known provision to give the Secretary of Education $500 million - to be provided to to any entity he deems “appropriate” - to develop and disseminate free and “freely available” online courses.
This is unprecedented.
Federal curriculum is contrary to longstanding government policy - and it’s unnecessary. For decades, Federal law has prohibited the U.S. Department of Education from exercising control over the “curriculum, program of instruction . . . or over the selection or content of library resources, text books, or other educational materials by any educational institution or school system.”
Now the Obama Administration and Congress are poised to provide the Secretary of the Education half a billion dollars, and give him the authority to enter into contracts with any entity he deems “appropriate” to “develop, evaluate and disseminate” “freely available” “education courses.”
Why?
This provision comes under ‘open online education’ in the bill. But if the only goal is to expand online education, why not encourage states and districts to do that? They are already in the business of creating course curriculum. Why break decades (actually, centuries) of precedent, and allow the federal government to design course curriculum for the first time? And lastly, why give that authority with no guidelines whatsoever as to what groups qualify for the money?
Cato @ Liberty
September 14, 2009
Full House to Vote on Lie of a Bill
Posted by Neal McCluskey
The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) is expected to head to the full House of Representatives for a vote tomorrow, and as it does there is yet another Congressional Budget Office estimate upping its expected cost. The bill that sponsor George Miller (D-CA) shamelessly says will be a taxpayer-money saver continues to be exposed as very much the opposite.
As you might recall, Miller has been touting SAFRA as legislation that would fund all kinds of new or expanded federal programs while allocating $10 billion to deficit reduction. But the CBO has never agreed with that. First, the CBO identified a likely net cost to taxpayers of about $6 billion over ten years, and that was without including any deficit reduction. Then it estimated that SAFRA would cost an additional $33 billion after accounting for lending risk. And now, CBO estimates that the cost of expanding Pell grants could be almost $11 billion greater than originally estimated. If you add all of those things together, the cost of SAFRA has flipped from a promised $10 billion savings to a $50 billion loss.
In fairness, the last estimate comes from a change in the baseline used for Pell outlays, going from March to August 2009. The increased cost estimate could very well reflect a higher-than-usual Pell expense because of the economic downturn, and the additional cost would not materialize if and when things improve. Nonetheless, this just adds to a very clear message about SAFRA: Far from relieving taxpayers, it’s going to deliver yet one more punishing blow.
Full House to Vote on Lie of a Bill
Well, seems like a good idea to me; he has the country’s best interest in mind, so what could go wrong?
Bill Ayers has been dreaming of this day since he came out of hiding
Get your kids out of public school.
Keep in mind, Barry. In 2012, we are going to elect a conservative Republican to the Presidency who will then take all this power you’ve accumulated in the executive branch and use it against the left. I CAN’T WAIT!
“Bill Ayers has been dreaming of this day since he came out of hiding”
Dreaming or...scheming?
Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn
Get ‘em out, and prepare to fight to keep ‘em out.
Join & support HSLDA (hslda.org).
Yup, I can see an Obamaloon math course right out of 1984.
2 + 2 = 6. (For large values of 2, as 2 approaches 3).
Call, email, fax, don’t stop. Do it everyday, on every pork, commie, Capitalism killing bill they come up with.
More anti-Constitutional garbage from the left. This is getting out of hand.
And just when has any “conservative” admin used gov’t power against their political opponents.
That’s exclusively a mindset of the left.
The best way to “use gov’t power” as a conservative is to dismantle all possibilities of the elitists to control individuals.
This CANNOT stand.
This is the antithesis of what local-controlled govt education is all about.
Once the curriculum is federalized all is lost.
“free” and “freely available” leads to MANDATORY USE AND EXCLUSION when attached to monetary “strings”. Use the GOVERNMENT “approved” or ELS LOSE ALL FEDERAL FUNDING FOR YOUR STATE OR DISTRICT!....................
“He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future.” - Der Führer
Really? Do you honestly believe "The One (Baraq O Bamah)" will allow another General Election to take place?
OMG...WHAT IS NEXT WITH OBAMA AND THE LIBS IN CONGRESS....PING!!!
Weather Underground, ACORN, Communist Party U.S.A, ELF, ALF.......
Hands off the kids. This info needs to get around the county FAST. Obomas targeted class room speech was bad enough, but teaching the kids far left wing extremism and outright communism is going to drive parents crazy.
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