Too bad.
You lose. You get nothing. Good day, sir.
Therein lies the problem. National defense should be the focus of the Federal government. Not indoctrinating yutes.
AFGE: on the wrong side of history.
Bigly.
It would probably be better if Mr. Cox laid low for the next few years befor President Trump finds out he and the American Federation of Government Employees exist.
Our democracy needs to create active, engaged and competitive citizens. DeVos has spent her career improving our education systems by creating active, engaged and competitive citizens, especially in introducing the competition needed to encourage the public school system to improve itself.
As it stands, economically disadvantaged parents are forced to send their children to failing public schools, like the DC public schools characterized by drugs, crime, high drop out rates and poor scholarship.
It was a shame to see the disappointment of parents when the voucher system was terminated by the unions strongly defending their monopoly on failed school systems.
Who cares? God willing, her job will be to dismantle the corrupt department.
“Tools and resources” is code word for more money and benefits. Nothing to do with kids. These teachers unions are so radical they will strike, shut down schools, purposely fail the kids, everything they can to keep the gravy train going. As it is right now, they can’t be fired for any of those actions because of union rules, so something needs to be done about that. I see that they are getting Scott Walker’s advice on public employee unions which is a good thing.
And we should expect - no demand- that every “soldier” in the battle (especially those in Congress) has their own children in public schools!!
Government Unions should mean the end of civil service protection. If they want to strike they can be treated as the Air Traffic Controllers. A 75% reduction in federal employees would be a good start.
DeVos is right for the position. Now your incompetence and lack of interest in student achievement will be out in the open for all to see.
Ratchet this up, and tighten some bolts. WE ALWAYS needed some competition and creativity to help kids LEARN. It wasn;t able job security it was about teaching little ones NEW things.
Amazing how the Left keeps criticizing her stance against public “schools”. As if it were a bad thing.
I know, I know, it’s about the now defanged unions.
Here’s the thing... when we beat the Nazis and restored democracy in Western Germany we and the new government drove out every last Nazi sympathizer in the government, made being a member of the Nazi Party illegal and made even any public reference to Hitler or Nazis illegal and punishable by fines and jail time. We did this to assure that Nazism was dead and would not rise again. WE HAVE TO DO THE SAME THING HERE TO LIBERALS. Once vanquished they must be driven out of power and the infrastructure cleansed or they will rise again... Jes sayin...
I think that if he can President Trump needs to sign an executive order to stop having union dues withheld from paychecks for federal employees. Let the employees write the checks themselves. I bet union membership will drop by at least 50%.
Ask Trump to do what Scott Walker Governor of Wisconsin did!
Walker in Act 10 stopped the collection of union dues by the state. And required 50% (not just the party regulars who vote)of actual membership to agree annually to have a union.
Nationally, no state has lost more of its labor union identity than Wisconsin since 2011, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analysis found. Union members made up 14.2% of workers before Act 10, but just 8.3% in 2015. That was nearly double the drop of Alaska, the runner up. From the Milwaukee Urinal.
http://projects.jsonline.com/news/2016/11/27/for-unions-in-wisconsin-fast-and-hard-fall-since-act-10.html
They have lost 60% of the public teachers union membership.
It is not a responsible government to bargain with itself for public union members, when when one party get the donations from union members.
Public unions are corrupt, Wisconsin proved it.
WOOOHOOOO Betsy DeVos!!! CONGRATULATIONS.
(wake up intellectual abusers, AKA “teachers”)
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They’re quite aware of what they’re going through
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
Ch-ch-Changes (Turn and face the strange)
Don’t tell them to grow up and out of it
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes (Turn and face the strange)
Where’s your shame
You’ve left us up to our necks in it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl3vxEudif8
HOORAY kids!!
The teachers unions are about what’s best for the teachers, and don’t give a rat’s a$$ about the students. So I don’t give one for Mr. AFT’s opinion either.
The Department of Education was established Under President Carter. President Reagan wanted to eliminate it completely but he had a democrat Congress. Today the DOED has an annual budget of $73 Billion per year.
Education has historically been the responsibility of state and local governments. Education is not included in the US Constitution as it was always controlled locally.
The National Education Association (NEA) supported the creation of the DOED and derives an enormous amount of dues from its more than 5,000 employees as well as from other government unions.
With approximately a $75 Billon per year annual budget and about 5,000 employees, the annual budget appropriation is about $15 million per federal employee. A large part of the DOED budget is granted to state offices of education and their employees, then to local jurisdictions that meet ‘state standards’. It doesn’t take much to see that the entire activity is a giant vote buying scheme for democrats.
Since the creation of the DOED, America’s public school students have fallen into 3rd world status in terms of test scores. The response from unions, government employees, and those feeding at the $73 Billion trough has been “bring more money”.
In homeschool situations, a child may take online courses with teacher interaction by video, as well as enrichment courses, sports and social activities available through community centers and social media homeschool groups. The difference is stark. The test scores are higher and the attention span significantly increased. There is less distraction, there is more focus, more learning, a development of self-reliance and greater confidence.
Test scores of homeschoolers are off the charts. Homeschooling does not mean the isolation of a child at home, far from it. Homeschooling is rich and rewarding because of internet connectivity. In some regions, there are so many homeschooling activities that it is impossible to keep up with all of them. On average, more than 20 social media homeschool network messages may be received each day by homeschool parents and learning coaches. The choices are rich and interesting. The parents are committed to their child’s learning.
An example of a homeschool center at a community center: https://familylearningprogram.org
Brick and mortar public schools in some areas are now experimenting with opening and granting access to classrooms and facilities for homeschoolers in a manner of a college campus. Core curriculums are adhered to via a variety of options such as online curriculums, computer tracking, testing, and monitoring.
The point is that the old brick and mortar model of education is becoming a relic of the past and the old ways of lining the pockets of unions and federal bureaucrats are increasingly viewed negatively.
The new ways may have certified teachers that interact with students online, learning coaches from homeschool networks that cover for parents who must leave a home for work, and computerized intelligent systems that lead the learning, grade the work and keep score of progress. In a typical day’s time, a child may do 7 readings, 3 quick checks, 2 quizzes, a discussion, a portfolio assignment and an hour of online interaction with a teacher and a class. Each week usually sees 3 tests and a unit review.
Cursive writing is taught via workbooks, at community center classrooms or public school facilities open to homeschool networks, science lessons taught by kits at home or in outdoor settings such nature walks or stewardship meetups offered by homeschooling networks.
Stewardship for homeschoolers (volunteer only):
http://www.heidirosewatters.com/stewardship
Homeschooling parents have great and rich choices on how to navigate options for their children, and importantly they can be right at the side of their child’s social and educational development. There are no political correctness issues, no negative behaviors accumulated, no imbalances between rules and learning, no indoctrinations, no heavy distractions.
Homeschool kids learn with their peers and not necessarily solely with their age group. The result is ‘cross-fertilization’ and leadership experience. Rather than see a younger age group or an older one in the halls between classes or recess breaks, kids are participating with peers and picking up knowledge and social skills that are broader than age-specific class groups.
Education in the United States is set for an incredible era because of internet connectivity and options for parents and communities to join in the education of children and groups. Homeschooling is the leader into the future and not a sideshow.
The AFT, the NEA, the AFGE, and all the unions that seek to monopolize education are not only not needed, they are de facto detractors to the education of children and youth, serving only themselves by holding their hands out with demands for more money.
Secretary DeVos can do a great service for American families by simply identifying the single most important contribution that federal government can do which is to promote high-speed affordable internet for families with homeschooled children, then get out of the way as state and local institutions work with families to self-organize, self-govern, and execute plans they find work for their children. If there is to be revenue for the DOED, it should be transferred to the Department of Transportation which should be relabeled as the Department of Connectivity (DOCT) to include not only roads but communication infrastructure for education.
Finally, Secretary DeVos should close DOED down and put education advocacy inside DOCT for the sole purpose of ensuring all communities have options for connecting to high-speed local educational online networks. State and local institutions, together with parents and homeschool networks, should be solely responsible for content with weight given to parent and learning coach networks. A department such as a Department of Commerce and Labor can collect statistics on educational test scores and publish them online for communities to measure where they stand among the local networks. Curriculums are to be designed locally without any federal involvement other than a study and test of the US Constitution. All history and civics-related courses are at the choice of local communities. Whether growing blueberries or assembling a 3D printing project, the balance of curriculum design is for state and local communities to decide. The federal government is to have no other involvement other than required study and testing of the US Constitution.