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Proclamation to get Government out of schools
Sierra Times ^

Posted on 01/09/2003 8:38:04 AM PST by Esjay

Started by a woman who deals in homeschools, this proclamation is self explanatory. Anyone interested in getting the government out of our schools might want to put their name where indicated.


TOPICS: Activism/Chapters
KEYWORDS:
http://sepschool.org/Proclamation/
1 posted on 01/09/2003 8:38:04 AM PST by Esjay
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To: Esjay
I love the idea but I confess to thinking it's hopeless.
2 posted on 01/09/2003 8:48:51 AM PST by RAT Patrol
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To: Esjay
I haven't read in the U.S. Constitution where the government is responsible for education. There should be a wall of separation between education and the state. Local communities should have soul control of schools and they should have a choice of systems not the canned prepared garbage that is being spoonfed to the children these days.
3 posted on 01/09/2003 8:51:50 AM PST by oyez ("We don't won't no education, we don't won't thought control" Pink Floyd)
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To: RAT Patrol
How can we get the government out of public schools when Bush's No Child Left Behind Act micromanages everything public schools do today? Government control has never been more invasive.



4 posted on 01/09/2003 8:53:11 AM PST by ladylib
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: Esjay
Thanks for the post. I signed it. I agree with you that ending the government dominance of schools is vitally important.
6 posted on 01/09/2003 9:14:32 AM PST by Lady Eileen
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To: Lady Eileen
Here is a copy of the School Liberator:

January 8, 2003 Vol. 3, No. 1


T H E S C H O O L L I B E R A T O R



1. Letter to the School Lib
2. The Education Prez
3. EduHumor: Siers on Testing
4. Cyber Charters and Homeschooling

* FEATURE: * The School Voucher Myth


LINKS


1.--> This came into our inbox recently...

My name is Rich McPherson. I am the former headmaster
of a private school in Potomac, Maryland. A group of
us are starting a new school in Rockville, Maryland
called The Avalon School. Actually, we hope to start
many schools. Check out our website at
http://www.Avalonschools.org to see what we are attempting
to accomplish.

I went to hear Jerry Weast, Superintendent of Public
Schools, give a sort of "state of Montgomery County
Schools" speech last week. It was a slick presentation,
complete with video snippets and applause lines.
Actually, it was a love fest. In summary, the schools
are getting better and better. If the county would
give the schools more money than last year ($59
million more) then they could really accomplish
big things. His mantra during the speech, from Winston
Churchill, "never give up... " I think that means
never give up asking for money.

I am convinced that your organization is needed more
than ever. Keep up the good work.

Sincerely,
Rich McPherson

--> Thanks for writing, Rich. We are always encouraged
when we hear from doers on the front lines--and thinkers
who are not duped by slick government marketing. Best
of luck on your new venture.

2.--> Just when you thought we taxpayer were being fleeced
enough and the beautiful words "tax cut" have been floated
out by the political class, W. jolts us back to reality.

"Bush to Seek $1B More to Educate Poor"
http://tinyurl.com/48tp

--> From the article: "In the past two years, the Bush
administration has increased federal spending on
schools by 40 percent, to more than $22 billion in
the current school year, the president said."

--> Even though we School Libbers know the 40%
is 40% too much, every poor man's friend, Teddy
Kennedy, surprisingly disagrees and spoke out
at the injustice of it all.

"'Reform without resources is just hollow talk-not
the real improvement our children need and deserve,'
Kennedy said in a statement. 'The president's proposal
may provide the money to test our children, but not
enough to teach them. It's wrong to ask schools to do
better on pocket change, especially as states face
$68 billion shortfalls.'"

$22 billion is pocket change? Doesn't he know that
$22 billion here, $22 billion there and sooner or
later you're talking about real money?

By the way, I know quite a few parents who spend
the real equivalent of pocket change educating
their children every year and show excellent results.
They are of course homeschoolers...

3.--> EduHumor. Cartoonist Kevin Siers of the Charlotte
Observer has turned his withering gaze toward "education"
reform. You gotta get a load of this. Go to

http://cagle.slate.msn.com/news/education/4.asp

--> While we are on the topic, here's another letter that
came to us a bit ago in response to one of our comments
about the nightmare of testing requirements that FedEd
brings on...

I say CALL THE TESTER'S BLUFF on the federal imposed school
mandates--require that any students satisfying the 12th
grade tests be LIBERATED from compulsory attendance laws
and allowed to graduate immediately with high school
equivalency diplomas! I would suggest that such a plan
would yield an explosion of "learning" because the prisoners
in the school system would do anything--even study--to pass
the tests and be free of their public school jailers.

In Liberty, Len Flynn

--> Thanks for the note, Len. Brilliant idea. In California,
we have such a test--almost. It lets anyone 16 years of age
or older who can pass out of jail. The younger successful
scholars have supposedly graduated, but must continue to
attend school anyway. Now that speaks volumes, doesn't it?

4.--> Reason Public Policy Institute posted an article
about charter schools by Lisa Snell.

"Cyber Schools Compete with Traditional Public Schools"
http://www.rppi.org/cyberschools.html

--> The title is not entirely true. Happily, Ms. Snell is
not fooled into thinking that charter school aren't
government schools as some people are. But cyber charter
schools, despite what detractors say, don't compete
with other government schools. They compliment the
traditional government schools-and expand them right
into the privacy of the students' homes. They are the
government's answer to homeschooling, an addition to
their product line, targeting the few families who
slip through their fingers every year. Cyber charters
are the government's carrot. We already know about the
government's stick...

--> Note that Ms. Snell touches on this in her
paragraph on homeschooling. She quotes HSLDA:
"This is simply an attempt by the government to create
small public schools in our home."


SPECIAL OFFERS


--> Help the Alliance outlive Marshall Fritz.

With your generous end of year donations, we are on
our way to building a different type of organization.
But we need ongoing support throughout 2003 to make
this transition successful. Please consider signing
up for a monthly contribution. Help us turn the
Alliance into a volunteer-supporting organization
so that thousands can be spreading the idea of
separating school from state.

Call Nikki at 559/292-1776 and tell her the School
Lib sent you...

--> And don't forget to ask Nikki for your free Proclamation
cards. Keep some in your purse or wallet. You never
know whom you might meet...


FEATURE


The School Voucher Myth
by J. H. Huebert
(First posted to http://www.LewRockwell.com)

Here's a safe prediction for 2003: the Republican majorities
in Washington will not even consider abolishing the Department
of Education, and none of the states will shut down their
so-called free, so-called public school systems. Countless
kids from poor families will be forced to attend government
schools where they'll be just as likely to be a victim of a
violent crime as to learn anything useful or even graduate.

Given these certainties, some libertarians believe we need
to do something right now to save these poor kids from their
13-year prison sentence (where else but in prisons and in
public schools are the warehoused inmates constantly watched,
and subjected to warrantless search at any time?). Thus, the
"do-something-now" libertarians are pushing for voucher
programs, since the United States Supreme Court has cleared
the way for them to do so with its decision last summer in
Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, which held that voucher programs
that allow students to attend religious schools do not violate
the First Amendment.

Vouchers, their advocates usually admit, are not perfect, but
are at least, they claim, "a step in the right direction" toward
fully privatized, voluntary education, because vouchers rescue
kids from their dire state-imposed circumstances.

But in their concern, these otherwise reliable defenders of
liberty - people like Dr. Walter Williams, and Clint Bolick
of the Institute for Justice - focus narrowly on the short-
term choice issue and lose sight of bigger, longer-term,
and more important issues.

Keep in mind that these are not evil men, plotting the
destruction of freedom. Indeed, they are sincere, honorable
men of good will, with the best of intentions, but mistaken.
And what they are mistaken about is the fact that in this
world good intentions are utterly meaningless, only results
count.

Ignoring the wisdom of Frederic Bastiat and Henry Hazlitt,
they look at the short term consequences of vouchers for a
few people, instead of the long-term consequences for everyone.

If they fully examined the bigger picture, voucher advocates
would see that vouchers are not appropriate, and will destroy
any "school choice" we already have.

Vouchers Destroy School Choice

The short-term consequences of voucher programs will almost
certainly be positive, of course, especially for the students
who receive them. The children in Cleveland who won in the
Zelman case will now be able to attend a private school far
superior to the government-operated school they'll leave
behind. One can hardly help but feel good for those kids,
whose potential futures are undeniably brighter because of
vouchers.

But government money means government control, and in the
long run, those private schools won't be so private at all,
or much different from the government schools to which they
were intended to provide an alternative. Every available
historical example makes it abundantly clear that when
government provides money for something, government expects
control over that thing; it's happened with higher education
in this country, and it's happened with primary and secondary
education around the world.

I've found that when voucher advocates are confronted with
this possibility - that government money will result in a
loss of independence for private schools - they tend to
agree that this is something we should be concerned about,
and then they kind of shrug it off and hope for the best,
apparently naively trusting that, just this once, government
will restrain itself and not ruin everything.

Clint Bolick, one of the country's leading voucher advocates,
and a lawyer on the winning side of the Zelman case,
responded to a question along those lines by saying,
"Well, if that happens, we'll be in court challenging
that, too."

I admire self-confidence, and Mr. Bolick is an amazing
litigator. He is a man I have worked with, and is someone
I consider a friend. But given that any court can go any
way it wants to on any issue, depending entirely upon
the whim of the judges or justices involved, is it worth
risking the independence of America's private schools
on any one man's ability to persuade the courts not to
extend government control over private schools, no matter
who he may be? The answer should be plain, especially
given the courts' record of, and institutional bias
toward, extending government control over pretty much
everything.

Besides, this issue has already been decided. In 1984,
in Grove City College v. Bell, the United States Supreme
Court ruled that any college or university is to be
considered a recipient of government money - and
therefore subject to government regulation of all
of its programs - if even one of its students receives
a federal loan or grant. Why would we expect a court
to rule any differently when it comes to vouchers and
primary and secondary education?

The safe bet is, the voucher issue won't be any
different. Government control always follows government
money, and when it does, "choice" disappears, just as
it has among institutions of higher education.

But couldn't some private schools turn down vouchers?
They could, but there would be strong financial
incentives against doing so, when all of their
competitors will take them. In higher education,
only 2 schools (Grove City College and Hillsdale
College) have had the courage to turn down government
funds and avoid government control. Why would we expect
things to be any different for primary and secondary
education?

One can look to other countries for examples of how
government has destroyed school choice through funding
to "private" schools. Australia attempted a government
funded "privatization" of its schools, and the result
was increased regulation, centralized decision-making,
and loss of private school independence. The same can
be seen in Europe, where government funding has virtually
destroyed religious education, and resulted in tight
control over almost all decision-making in the private
schools that remain. Why would we expect things to be
any different when government begins funding heretofore
private schools in this country?

Vouchers Destroy Liberty

Now that the First Amendment hurdle has been cleared
with the Zelman decision, voucher advocates still face
barriers in most state constitutions. Many state
constitutions contain "Blaine Amendments" or other
state provisions that explicitly prohibit "compelled
support" by taxpayers of religious schools. So now,
according to Clint Bolick, the challenge is to convince
state courts that, despite what their constitutions may
say, it's okay to force taxpayers to give students
money to attend private religious schools. (See Clint
Bolick, "School Choice: Sunshine Replaces the Cloud,"
Cato Supreme Court Review 2001-2002, p. 168.)

At this point, libertarians who thought vouchers were
about liberty should really be scratching their heads.
Why would a libertarian ever want to go to court to
convince the government that it should force taxpayers
to pay for something they weren't previously forced
to pay for? How can forcing people, against their will,
to pay for new things - that have nothing to do with
the proper role of a "limited" government - be a step
in the right direction? That isn't libertarian;
instead, it's a goose step in the opposite direction.

True Choice

Libertarians understand that when you have a goal,
you should take the peaceful actions necessary to
achieve it. The best way to achieve any goal - like
educational freedom - isn't to try to persuade a
majority of voters to agree with you. That goal
isn't necessarily impossible, but it's doubtful
that you'll ever achieve it - or that your children
will still be school-aged by the time you do.

Many parents across the country know a far superior
way to escape government control altogether, right
now: they homeschool their children. Homeschooling
is a solution for parents who want to be free from
government schools ("public" and "private"), right
now. True, homeschoolers still have to pay taxes
for government schools, and don't get any of it back.
It's just a fact of life that freedom isn't free in
the United States. But if freedom is important to you,
you can have it, without creating a new welfare/anti-
choice program like the one the voucher crusaders advocate.

In the meantime, libertarians have an opportunity
to continue to promote genuine educational freedom:
absence of all coercion in education, and genuine,
unlimited choice.



J. H. Huebert attends the University of Chicago Law School,
and has a website at http://www.jhhuebert.com. For
more details on how government money destroys private
education, see his monograph, "Independent Schools at
Risk," The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty, September 1999.



FINAL THOUGHT

Prisons, of course, are for those who do not form the
habit of subordination and obedience. They were
"penitentiaries" because the prisoner was supposed
to do penance, reflect on his rebellious ways, and
reform. What has been called "the first American
penitentiary" was established in Philadelphia, in
1790, just a year after the first government schools
were established....

With both institutions the government seeks to shape
and control its citizens. But both, as often happens
with government institutions, have failed dismally.
I did not graduate from high school with the habits
of subordination and obedience particularly well formed,
and neither did you, and, as far as I can tell, neither
did anyone I know. And as for prisons, repentance seems
to be the last thing on the inmates' minds.

Prisons and schools both sprang from the same idea,
were founded at about the same time, are staffed by
the same kind of people (at least I thought so when
I was in high school), they now have the same kind of
pre-release plans, and are equally successful at
what they do.

Why is this not surprising?

Excerpted from "Schools and Prisons: Separated at Birth?"
by D.L. Brooks, Editorial Director of Fox & Wilkes.
http://www.laissezfairebooks.com/index.cfm?eid=465&RequestTimeout=500



SIGN THE PROCLAMATION or get a family member to:
"I proclaim publicly that I favor ending government
involvement in education."
http://www.sepschool.org/Proclamation

WANT TO SOUND OFF? Discuss education issues with
fellow articulate School Liberators. Go to
http://www.sepschool.org/misc/yahoogroups.html
COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS? Send us your message at
mailto:ccuthbert@fix.net

WORD OF MOUTH is the most efficient means of marketing
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to your family, friends and associates.

THE SCHOOL LIBERATOR is a FREE service of The Alliance
for the Separation of School & State, 4546 E. Ashlan #3282,
Fresno CA 93726 (559) 292-1776. We are a non-profit,
grass roots, educational organization dedicated to
informing people worldwide how education can be
improved for all--not only the poor--by liberating
schools from politics. For more information go to
http://www.sepschool.org

Publisher: Marshall Fritz
Editor: Cathy Cuthbert
Copyright 2002, The Alliance for the Separation of
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7 posted on 01/09/2003 9:38:30 AM PST by ladylib
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To: ladylib
How can we get the government out of public schools when Bush's No Child Left Behind Act micromanages everything public schools do today? Government control has never been more invasive. I can't argue with that.
8 posted on 01/09/2003 10:16:17 AM PST by RAT Patrol
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To: ladylib
Thanks ladylib.
9 posted on 01/09/2003 11:16:55 AM PST by Lady Eileen
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