private school

This Is How Government-Issued Private School Vouchers Will Help Turn Private Education Into ‘Non-Public’ (Public) Education

What in the world IS Non-Public education? We’ll get to that in a minute, but first a recap…

At the end of the Oklahoma legislative session in 2023, the House and Senate passed HB1934, a bill which created ‘Universal School Choice’ in Oklahoma as described by organizations like The State Policy Network which have long-championed giving public tax dollars to private education.

All of Oklahoma’s Republican legislators voted for the bill (House, Senate; excepting those ‘excused’).

Afterward, the legislators we spoke with about the vote couldn’t understand how we were against the bill since it was a ‘tax credit’ – the form of ‘school choice’ for which ROPE has advocated against the concept of vouchers.

In fact, these legislators either argued with us about how the bill WAS a tax credit, or about how a voucher would – insert ‘school choice’ talking points – like those asserted in our interview with the Executive Director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, Brett Farley.

Farley, who was instrumental in the creation of Every Kid Counts Oklahoma, the school choice organization for which now-state Superintendent Ryan Walters was made head, actually admitted in the interview that yes, school choice advocates want voucher bills. In the ‘school choice’ mantra, the state already funds [failing] public education, so the only way to create the ‘competition’ necessary to make public schools ‘no longer a viable option’ is to divert state money to private schools.

This ‘logic’ has always been a head-scratcher to me, because the state legislature holds the budget appropriation strings and can choose to fund public education or not, yet every year they complain about how awful public schools are and then award them ‘historic’ appropriations (see 2023 and 2024 for example) while refusing to tie public school results to funding. Make that make sense.

After the Universal Voucher bill passed, I did a full breakdown on the associated rules and found that, as Farley described, the first two tax categories listed provide – not a tax credit as the legislature promised – or was lead to believe – but a ‘voucher’; a grant of Oklahoma tax dollars to private schools for children whose parents applied to the program because they couldn’t otherwise afford private education tuition.

One more time, let’s break down the school choice options afforded to parents in Oklahoma even prior to the ‘Universal Choice’ bill:

Public school;
- Traditional public schools – Oklahoma has 509 school districts in Oklahoma. None have requirements for entry.
- Charter schools – according to the Oklahoma State Department of Education website, Oklahoma had 24 of these in 2022. All are taxpayer-supported. Some have requirements for entry, others are a ‘lottery’ system where if the child’s name is randomly chosen, the child may attend, others have no requirement for entry.
  - Virtual Charter Schools – the OSDE records six of these schools which operate either solely on the internet, or a combination of in-person and online, such as EPIC charter schools. There is no requirement for entry
- Magnet Schools – I could find no information about ‘magnet’ schools on the OSDE website, but an online site called Niche claims there are five in Oklahoma. Magnet schools provide a specific field of study along with ‘typical’ educational requirements for the state. An example would be Classen School of Advanced Studies where students have the opportunity to have in-depth study in the Arts while completing their Oklahoma educational requirements. There are entry requirements for attendance and all are taxpayer-supported.
Private Schools – According to Private School Review, there are 106 K12 private schools in Oklahoma with an average tuition of $7,293. These are private schools because families use their own household dollars to afford the school.
Homeschooling – The Homeschool Mom has an amazing list of homeschool coops and ‘enrichment’ classes available in Oklahoma. This is probably because Oklahoma is the MOST FRIENDLY homeschool state in the union, having written the ability for citizens of Oklahoma to educate their children at home in the state’s Constitution. This is also a private educational form because families pay out of their own pockets to afford this type of education.

So what is exactly the ‘choice’ School Choice proponents are talking about then? Oklahoma has LOTS and LOTS of choices that parents may choose to provide an education for their child/children. What choice did we not have that we had to have last year with Universal School Choice? Oklahoma taxpayer dollars funding private education for parents who can’t afford it – that’s it. That’s all. The ONLY thing our organization has ever objected to in the ‘choice’ menu – publicly-funding private schools.

Last Wednesday (6.5.24), our guest on ROPE Report Live was my friend and fellow homeschooling mom from Broken Arrow, Sarah DeNeui.

Sarah has become increasingly concerned about what would happen to homeschooling and private schooling since the passage of HB1934 and private schools began to receive state money. She talked with us about several of her concerns, mainly that once PRIVATE schools begin receiving PUBLIC money, they would no longer be PRIVATE schools.

Why? Because once tax dollars are involved, the government must maintain some control of the dollars in order to provide accountability and transparency to the public from whom it was taken (by force).

In addition, schools that receive funds from the Federal Department of Education, are required to comply with federal dictates, including, for example, President Biden’s decree that boys enrolled in schools taking federal funds and wanting to be girls, can use the girl’s bathroom. Though many states wrote laws to get around that particular dictate, the Biden Administration then proceeded to write a rule to keep states from placing a ban on the practice. How’s THAT for government control?

The full live video of Sarah’s interview with Michael and I can be found on our Rumble and YouTube channels, but here is the most concerning issue Sarah raised. In this short video segment, she tells the story of reaching out to her contact in the OSDE questioning a press release concerning the creation of an “Office of School Choice” in the Department. She was interested in exactly what the ‘office’s’ duties would entail.

Essentially, when the answer to her question was returned, it included a phrase she’d never previously heard – non-public education. Sarah wanted to know more, so she went out onto the internet to find that the federal government has an Office of Non-Public Education. Here’s their mission:

ONPE fosters maximum participation of nonpublic school students and teachers in federal education programs and initiatives. Since the initial passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in 1965, private school students and teachers have been eligible to participate in certain federal education programs.

So, the definition of ‘non-public education’ then, relates to private schools that take federal (and/or state?) funds.

The Office of Non-Public Schools even has a list of “private elementary and secondary schools, and/or home schools (?!?!) with which the U.S. Department of Education (Department) regularly communicates regarding the participation of nonpublic elementary and secondary school students and teachers in federal education programs and initiatives”.

It might behoove parents sending their children to ‘private’ schools to find out if the organization under which their private school is sanctioned, or accredited, is on the list provided here. And beyond that, to check DIRECTLY with their private school to find out whether or not they are truly PRIVATE – taking only private funds, no tax dollars.

This is HIGHLY problematic. It should go without saying that the more education becomes funded by a governmental entity, the more controlled it is by the government and the less free parents are to decide what is truly best for their child/children’s education. And we’re not the only organization to believe that.

Sherri Few, President of the organization USPIE (United States Parents Involved in Education) said this in a recent interview with FOX News:

“We don’t want private schools to accept money, no strings attached initially, get dependent on it and then the government starts throwing down these regulations in exchange for the funding. Then they’re stuck having to make a choice of either closing their doors or compromising their values in order to continue to accept the federal and state funding.”

Alex Newman of Liberty Sentinel told us the exact same thing in his interview with ROPE last year.

As did Robert Bortins, CEO of the worldwide homeschool organization Classical Conversations:

So how again then, does a school choice VOUCHER create freedom for parents? How is putting a school under federal ‘rule’ EMPOWERING for parents?

Sarah asks these types of questions and more in the video below. If you are a Republican FOR vouchers before you watch this segment and are still for vouchers afterward, I’m going to suggest you change your political affiliation – none of the questions asked by Sarah here, result in answers that follow the small-government, personal responsibility/liberty model of Republicanism. In fact, they could all be considered LEFTIST ideals, so how are Republicans buying into them?

The idea of every American parent choosing the form of education they want for their child is fundamental to the concept of personal freedom enshrined in the Constitution and I’ll fight with all I have to preserve that ideal.

HOWEVER, the ideal of ‘school choice’ that includes bringing in the government AT ANY LEVEL of a child’s education while asserting that as a ‘free market principal’ or freedom in any way, is a flat out lie and I’ll fight for that lie to be exposed for what it is and the detriment it will become to actual educational freedom in the long run, every day of the week.

June 10, 2024 0

Oklahoma Private Schools To Answer To The Feds? New OSDE Rules Appear To Say Just That.

Jenni White

Today I’ve been going through the NUMEROUS new rules that have been uploaded to the Oklahoma State Department of Education website in the last week.

Midway down the page I found this:

Subchapter 17. Federal Programs complaint procedures
210:10-17-1. Complaint Procedures [AMENDED]

Text of proposed rule
Rule Impact Statement

This is HUGE.

You can click on the link above to bring up the changes to the rule. Remember, that rules are like legislation. Sentences that have been stricken with a line through them are going away and new sentences being added to the rule are underlined.

Note that most of the rule changes here appear to be simple ones made to the procedure for filing a complaint based on the Federal Title (rule) structure. Our OSDE accepts federal funds for things like Title 1 programming that allows children to be fed at school on the public tax dollar – and much more. I’ve written much about federal education law and how it takes away local control from parents on many fronts, one only has to search our previous blog linked in the right sidebar.

If a public school parent believes their child is not getting services required by federal funding – such as that required for disabled children – they can file a complaint with the state and with the federal government. This rule above was originally written to make provisions for how to file such complaints.

What is HUGE is this: Under (b) covered programs, all the existing categories are revoked and new ones placed. NEVER was this listed under covered programs previously, making it an entirely new category – (12) Part F, section 7881 of Title VIII (Participation by Private School Children and Teachers).

WHAT? Haven’t we heard Superintendent Walters say numerous times that he wanted to get away from taking federal funds? In fact, in November of last year, here he is saying that he wouldn’t take federal funds that run counter to “Oklahoma values”.

So, is it an Oklahoma value for an Oklahoma PRIVATE SCHOOL TO ANSWER TO THE FEDS?

What’s going on? According to this rule, the OSDE must plan to take and disperse federal funds to private schools. Why would there be a specific rule added so that private school-associated families can complain about private schools not following federal dictates if that weren’t the case?

Unfortunately, this could make sense considering the Oklahoma Parental Tax Credit, because state tax dollars are going to pay tuition at private schools. It’s NOT taxpayers getting their money back (in the vast majority of cases) these are public dollars going to enroll Oklahoma (hopefully) kids in private schools.

Consequently, if public money is going to the private school, the private school would then fall under Federal education Title jurisdiction like a public school – especially if they choose to ask the OSDE to provide them federal funds.

And what’s great about Private schools getting public funds? Here’s a screenshot from the Federal Department of Education Title regulations page.

So, while Ryan Walters wants to change OSDE rules to make sure prayer is acceptable in public schools, he apparently also accepts the plan to provide private schools with federal dollars, making them secular, neutral and nonideological in the process. So what is the point of having private (religious) schools then?

I hope we will hear from the OSDE and Secretary Walters on this issue and somehow I will be proven completely wrong. Until then, however, I think Oklahomans can only see this as an assault on the independence of our Private schools being allowed by our state through our Oklahoma State Department of Education.

FYI: A public hearing will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 20, 2024, in Room 1-20 (State Board Room) at the Oliver Hodge Building, 2500 North Lincoln Boulevard, in Oklahoma City for the following rules. Also, you can write rules@sde.ok.gov to let them know what you think of the rule.

January 21, 2024 1

Representative Jacob Rosecrants Files Bill To Force Accountability For Education Tax Credit Dollars

1.16.24 – Jenni White

File under ROPEtoldyaso. In fact, thanks to this, ROPE and homeschoolers across Oklahoma will take the prize for “prophets of the year” already for 2024.

Yesterday, Oklahoma’s Channel 9, interviewed Representative Jacob Rosecrants who had the following to say about Oklahoma’s Parental Tax Credit for private school tuition.

Woah… Weird… Sounds exactly like what we’ve been saying could happen since nearly the beginning of the “Parental Choice” movement, right?

Yes. All one has to do is search this site to find out how many articles have been devoted to attempting to educate people about this specific issue.

“But Jenni, Rosecrants is a DEMOCRAT! This will NEVER happen here!”

Well picture me as Santa Clause in this quote from the movie Elf:

I’ve watched the legislature for nearly 15 years now and I’ve seen Republicans do some super UNRepublican stuff – the biggest example here being jumping on the Common Core bandwagon, where a majority of Oklahoma Republicans wanted a national curricula for Oklahoma kids until we began going to them individually with facts that showed how harmful such a program would be (and now we know – for the states who used it – how harmful it was).

In fact, one would have HOPED that Republicans – people whose platform indicates them to be bastions of smaller government and private enterprise over public control – would have spotted the whole tax credit/VOUCHER scheme from a mile off. Yet, how can we forget that there wasn’t a single Republican lawmaker who voted AGAINST the tax credit/VOUCHER – scheme last session. Not one. Here are the votes for the HOUSE. Here are the votes for the Senate so you can check me up on that.

So ask yourself…how did not a single Republican Senator or House member think it wouldn’t be problematic to give private schools public tax dollars?

Frankly, that’s a great question, and if we can’t answer that question, how in the world could we trust our legislature not to simply double-down on the whole thing and then turn around and tell us it’s a good thing – which is what they did with the tax credit/VOUCHER scheme in the first place.

“This is a tax credit, not a voucher”, they said.

“This is to help underserved/underrepresented kids”, they said.

Already, however – not even two months into the program – nearly every Republican talking point for the program has been debunked.

Not only is the program over budget 4 million dollars by using the globalist data collecting vendor MERITS INC. to administrate the program instead of the Oklahoma Tax Commission as stated in the bill, but there’s more.

In this video, I make the point that out of the 4 income categories proposed for the “tax credit”, only the upper two income categories are a true tax credit – and that’s only for one child – the lower 2 income categories are 100% VOUCHERS. So it’s just a boldfaced lie to have sold the program as a tax credit right there. Why were none of the Republicans crunching the numbers to find this out for themselves? This was easy info to find.

Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit Act (OPCTCA)

Then we have the idea that it’s to help disadvantaged kids/families.

According to Carmen Forman at the Oklahoma Voice:

The Tax Commission has received more than 30,000 applications for the tax credits approved by the GOP-led Oklahoma Legislature last year. About 45% are from priority applicants and 55% are from families earning more than $150,000 annually, Haxton said.

So, there you go. If you have a household income of $150k and you can’t put your own kids in private schools, OTHER PEOPLE SHOULDN’T BE SENDING YOUR KIDS TO PRIVATE SCHOOL FOR YOU. That’s 100% socialism – especially when I just showed that you don’t even get ONE KID as a tax credit at that level. Our household is near that income level and we had one kid at Oklahoma Christian School for two years, scrimping and saving and homeschooling the others. Why should I pay for YOUR kid when you didn’t pay for mine?

Meanwhile, back in Arizona, School Choice Inc’s MODEL for school ‘choice’ legislation – including full universal vouchers like Oklahoma’s Governor signed into law just last year – Democrat Governor “Katie Hobbs unveils plan to rein in Arizona school voucher program“. Yup, regulation of private schools on even a WORSE level than Rep. Jacob Rosecrants has suggested, including the following:

A requirement that private schools provide the accommodations and services in a disabled student’s Individualized Learning Plan or Section 504 Plan.
Require manual approval of any ESA purchase over $500. That should ensure the taxpayer dollars that fund ESAs are spent on academic purposes, Hobbs said. She also called for an end to ESA awards for items such as ski passes and luxury car driving lessons, although it’s unclear how those “luxury” items would be defined.
Give the state Auditor General authority to review and report on how ESA money is spent by private schools. This is a standard practice for Arizona’s public schools.

So, how in the world did a REAL threat that private schools be regulated for purposes of accountability and essentially turned into public schools over a tax credit bill rear its ugly head? How does this happen in Oklahoma? Aren’t we smarter than that?

Whelp…NO. According to EdWeek, Oklahoma was 49th in education in 2021. So, maybe we aught to be putting more effort into MAKING public schools actually educate kids instead of growing government to the point that it becomes the blob that ate private schools.

January 17, 2024 1

When Is A Tax Credit A Voucher? When Governor Stitt and The Oklahoma Legislature Rename It That To Empower Parents To Steal Money From Other Parents To Put Their Children In Private School At Taxpayer Expense.

I’ve written numerous articles about the “school choice” issue, but I’m going to make this short (relatively) and sweet by giving several reasons why Governor Stitt and the Oklahoma legislature needs to wave off on the ‘tax credit’ fighter before it misses the landing pad and goes into the drink (my dad was in the Navy, give me a break).

Nobody can receive a credit for something they didn’t buy/spend/pay for. If taxes weren’t taken by the government in the first place, they can’t just benevolently ‘credit’ you with tax dollars, no matter the semantic hoops that have been created to describe a tax ‘credit’. That’s the first thing.
Many legislators are apparently being told, “Homeschoolers have been on board with a tax credit” as a way to strong arm votes for the Governor’s education package, and because – other than lefties who will never be able to answer how much money the public school system actually needs yet stand there screaming about being underfunded with their hands out every year – homeschoolers have been the biggest, loudest voice against vouchers in the state. Why? We KNOW that the more government gives, the more it regulates and the more it regulates, the less freedom we have. Those who Constitutionally educate their children “by other means” in Oklahoma, do NOT want to tangle with the government. That’s why we removed our kids from the public system. If Governor Stitt had offered to let us keep the taxes the state takes from us to fund the public system we never used, that seems fair (same thing for others who don’t use the public system by the way – FUND PUBLIC ED WITH A USE TAX AND WATCH HOW FAST IT CLEANS UP ITS ACT!), but that was never the offer, so NO, we’re not “okay” with a tax credit.
In 2022, “President” Joe Biden announced that he would use taxpayer dollars to pay back some of the college loan debt racked up by students in the US. Guess what? “Student Loan Debt ‘Your Own Fault’: Conservatives Blast Biden Forgiveness Proposals” was the headline for a Newsweek article not long on the heels of the announcement. So student debt is – as any conservative worth their salt would say – the student’s fault, but because I don’t have the money to put my kid into private school, Governor Stitt and the legislature should GIFT me with another family’s money to put my kid into private school? How disingenuous is that? How OBVIOUSLY antithetical to the “student loan debt is the fault of the student” idea is that? What happened to, “scrimp and save” to give your kid/s a great education? Homeschoolers do that. Private schoolers do that. If you can’t do that, change something in your life to make it happen for you, but don’t pretend to be Oliver Twist and put your hand out meekly begging, “Please sir, I want some more“. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE CONSERVATIVE CREED OF NOT RELYING ON THE GOVERNMENT TO LIVE YOUR LIFE?
Oh no, do not hit me with, “But my tax dollars go to fund crappy public schools and I want my money back”. So what? Show up at the capitol and demand that the legislature, your State Superintendent of Public Instruction and your Governor MAKE PUBLIC SCHOOLS MIND, but don’t think it’s somehow conservative, Republican, or even sensical to tell the legislature to spend even more of our money to fix a problem of their own making! Tuesday night, Julia and I visited the Canadian County chapter of Mom’s For Liberty where State Superintendent Ryan Walters was speaking. He talked about how he and the Board of Education had instituted a new rule that could be used to take the accreditation of schools who won’t follow state law. Well if that’s the case, how many state laws do we have on the books (Title 70 – Oklahoma school law – is 1,488 pages) that schools don’t even know about let alone follow? Why in the absolute he## are our elected leaders NOT making schools follow the law? They could remove their funding. They could remove their accreditation. They could even remove their sports programs should they so choose, until schools began to focus on ACADEMICS and not politics and the newest, latest, horrible education fad. So, I cry BS on that! Don’t take my tax dollars to put your kid/s in a private school when me and my family have scrimped and saved to educate our kids OUTSIDE the public system on our own dime!

So there you have it. I didn’t even have to get to #5 to make the point. Don’t – especially if you’re a conservative – speak against socialism or rail about how Biden’s student loan debt giveaway is wrong – but then stand on the idea that it’s somehow ok – let alone conservative – to have the government gift each child in each family who wants it (until we’ve spent 200 million taxpayer dollars) $5000 taxpayer dollars to go to a private school. Period.

April 27, 2023 1

Dystopia Reached: Oklahoma Republicans Continue Their March Toward Socialism By Redistributing Wealth Through EDUCATION

Not that Oklahoma – and Governor Stitt in particular – haven’t begun to truly love giving our tax dollars away and calling it an “investment“, but here’s yet another. A BIG one!

An “HISTORIC” 700 MILLION dollar “investment” in Oklahoma education. Here are some lines from the Senate press release praising this “historic” vote:

Here’s what’s in HB1935. To see the other “historic” “investments”, click on the link to the press release. There’s plenty there to read:

The Oklahoma State Senate today gave passage to its historic $700 million education package.

Senators voted overwhelmingly on both measures 40 – to – 7 on House Bill 1935 and 46 – to – 2 on House Bill 2775, approving the single largest appropriations increase to education in state history, sending it back to the House of Representatives.

Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, said the Senate did its job and delivered for teachers, children and parents.
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/OKSENATE/bulletins/35206ac

Here’s what the press release says about HB1935:

HB 1935 will give parents additional options and control over their children’s education by providing a $100 million investment in school choice. This bill provides a $7,500 tax credit per eligible student each tax year if the eligible student attends a private school and the family has an income of less than $250,000. The bill also provides for a $1,000 tax credit per family, for certain qualified expenditures, each tax year if one or more eligible students is homeschooled. Valid receipts must be provided to OTC to receive the $1,000 tax credit.

NOT ONE OKLAHOMA REPUBLICAN SENATOR STOOD UP TO THIS. Not one.

Please, make sure you stop everything you’re doing and kiss your backside good-bye. Oklahoma is now a socialist state – and proud to be one. We just decided to take money from businesses and private citizens to educate the children of people making less than 250k at a private school.

Our family makes less than 250k. My husband and I both have Master’s degrees. We chose that I would stay home and educate our kids. We have never bought new cars, for years we couldn’t afford vacations, and we NEVER SPENT $7500 a year A PIECE on ANY of their educations – for FOUR kids.

Now, I get to be happy that, though we scrimped and sacrificed to provide our children with an education outside that provided by the government, others in our tax bracket can educate their kids at a private school ON MY DIME without that messy inconvenience of having to scrimp and sacrifice.

So let’s break down some issues with this “historic” investment :

1. The Oklahoma state government will take my property if I refuse to pay my property taxes and/or put me in jail if I don’t pay my income taxes and if I don’t pay my business taxes, they will divest me of the business I run which allows them to take my taxes.

2. The government cannot “invest” my tax dollars. They can’t take funds and apply ANY market ‘risk’ to the funds they steal from us by force. So the idea of an “historic” INVESTMENT is a complete crock.

2. The property taxes my husband and I pay for our schools are less than 2000. A tax credit – ideally – would be me not having to spend the money that comes out of my household that supports the public schools I DON’T USE. Can you imagine how fast the ‘public’ school would clean up when it became funded by a USE tax? If you can’t imagine, I’ll tell you: FAST, because THAT would be market competition – not this BS the legislature is selling calling it SCHOOL CHOICE.

3. Who pays the 750 million dollar price tag? Oklahoma citizens.

4. What happens if there isn’t a surplus, or we have a downturn in the economy? Where does the money come from then? If the ‘credit’ can’t be funded, where do all the kids go from private school who can’t afford it anymore? How much more will the legislature decide to ratchet up fees (they can’t call them taxes or a majority of the legislature has to agree which is why we haven’t had a tax increase in a long time – they learned they can tax us and call it a “fee” the legislature doesn’t have to agree to) when Oklahomans who have been hooked on the teat of FREE MONEY for PRIVATE SCHOOL have an absolute fit and demand ‘their’ money to finish educating their kids in private school? This ‘historic investment’ will become MEDICAIRE!!!

5. How many private schools are there to take all these new kids? Are there enough now? No, actually.

6. Does it make sense that enterprising Oklahoma legislators would go into the business of building private schools so they could make money on tuition?

7. What happens when a Satanist private school is built and accepts kids? The Supreme Court ruled recently that tax dollars can go to religious schools. What happens when my tax dollars fund a Satanist school? Wasn’t that one of the arguments against abortion? People were sick of their tax dollars funding abortions? Well I don’t want my tax dollars funding Satanic schools.

8. How many legislators/people complained it was socialism for Biden to pay for the student loans of flailing college students? ISN’T GIVING PARENTS 7500/KID TO GO TO PRIVATE SCHOOL THE SAME THING? What happens to those of us who schooled our kids on our own WITHOUT government help? Oh, that’s right. Tough luck – just like with business tax credits – the government will pick winners and losers and those of us with personal responsibility are the big losers.

9. The funding of public education is in Oklahoma’s constitution. The Oklahoma legislature is tasked with running these schools – hell, they make countless laws to make public schools kowtow to every year! IT’S THE LEGISLATURES JOB TO FIX OKLAHOMA PUBLIC SCHOOLS THAT AREN’T EDUCATING KIDS.

The legislature’s job isn’t to SHIRK their job and put that job off on parents and call it PARENTAL EMPOWERMENT.

10. How empowering is it to parents to have their taxes go up year after year to pay for public schools that don’t work and countless government programs so that they don’t have the money to educate their own children?

11. And the bottom line: how is it the GOVERNMENTS JOB TO PRIVATELY EDUCATE KIDS? The more government grows, the more our liberty shrinks, the more our liberty shrinks, the more socialist we become.

For God sakes! I feel so sorry for the people who have emigrated to Oklahoma from the left coast thinking they were going to get ‘freedom’ here. Here’s the bottom line, as Reagan said many times, “We’re only one generation away” from losing America.

Sadly, the subsequent generations from that quote were educated in government schools that took away their history, dumbed down their math, botched their reading so the majority of kids can’t read at grade level and hooked them on porn. AND WE HAD THE PLEASURE OF PAYING FOR THAT. Government is now king – personal responsibility is done for. Bye-bye America. Bye-bye Oklahoma. RIP.

April 24, 2023 0

Oklahoma Conservative PAC Arguments For “Money Follows The Kid” (Voucher) ‘School Choice’ Option Are Wrong-Headed and NOT CONSERVATIVE

Being a conservative is often a lonely position. Asking people to take responsibility for THEMSELVES to prevent government intervention is not an easy sell in a world where all the creature comforts of human existence are but a moment away. After being attacked personally by OCPAC for an opinion Reclaim Oklahoma Parent Empowerment corporately holds, a rebuttal is in order.

In full disclosure, several members of ROPE met with OCPAC President Bob Linn February 8th to discuss our concerns with SB1647, during which time Mr. Linn admitted he had not read the bill.

Let’s be very clear: NO, ROPE does not support the movement of tax dollars (government money – vouchers) to private or homeschools.

Here are the ways ROPE SUPPORTS PARENT EDUCATIONAL CHOICE:

Individual and family tax credits for home or private school. Oklahoma doesn’t have this option currently, but there are several bills in the legislature this year to do so – SB1471 – and several modifications to increase the EOES (below)
Tax credit scholarships created by private individuals and corporations that make a donation to a scholarship set up for families in need to use for a tax credit (Oklahoma already has the Equal Opportunity Education Scholarship program that fits this bill.) The EOES supports both students in failing schools AND low income families.
Money following the child throughout the public (government) school system from failing schools (open transfers)
Creation of charter and other ‘extra’-public schools of which Oklahoma now has 30 (OSDE charter school report)

Here is the email sent by OCPAC on Valentine’s day 2022, to which I respond using quotes from the email.

“The passage of SB1647 is a must and will give authority to the parent to direct their child’s education.”

This is incorrect. Oklahoma parents have more authority to direct their child’s education than many other states. Parents in Oklahoma can:

constitutionally home school their children in any way they please
send their children to an Oklahoma private school – many of which provide scholarships for needy families on their own (Casady, Heritage Hall, Oklahoma Christian School, Holland Hall, etc.)
send their children to a public online charter school like EPIC, which provides tax dollars to parents who would like to school their children at home using EPIC’s curriculum
send their children to a brick and mortar charter school (link above)
begin saving their money in a state-sponsored 529 program when their children are born to use for either college or a private K12 school
use the EOES mentioned above to attend a private school
transfer to another public school – if allowed by the school to which the transfer would be made
use the Lindsey Nicole Henry scholarship (voucher) for students with disabilities to attend a private school

“Education dollars are fiduciary funds”

The term ‘fiduciary’ comes from the word ‘trust’. A ‘fiduciary’ responsibility imposes a restriction that money given (or taken) is used in good faith and in the best interest of the owner of the money. That’s all that means.

The government has no money it doesn’t forcibly take from citizens (people who don’t pay their taxes go to jail or lose their property), so all ‘government’ dollars are tax dollars, taken from the people. Yes, government has a fiduciary responsibility for those funds, but how many times have those been overlooked and money spent wastefully and fraudulently? Who is NOT familiar with wasteful government spending? Tom Coburn was.

Bob uses Social Security as an example. This is a sad example of ‘fiduciary’ funds. Though I’ve paid into the SS system, it has been raided over and over by government overreach to the point that few of us my age will have funds to use for retirement. What happened to the government’s ‘fiduciary’ responsibility there? Clue: GOVERNMENT DOESN’T CARE ABOUT ‘FIDUCIARY’ RESPONSIBILITY or public schools wouldn’t be the problem they are now. If government cared, they would have appreciated their fiduciary responsibility and made schools responsible for not educating students all along.

TJ Schmidt, an attorney with Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), does not agree with Bob’s assessment and says that, because all money comes from taxpayers, any government money taken from citizens but then given back – as in to home or privately school children (voucher) – comes with the need to make those funds ACCOUNTABLE to taxpayers.

Here is a PERFECT example from Arizona, a state where government money is given to homeschooling families. CLUTCHING PEARLS…how could it be that a government audit found $700,000 abused by ‘homeschooling’ parents?

When citizens are ‘incentivized’ to use government money to do something they don’t have the personal responsibility to do on their own, there will be fraud – it’s simply human nature.

In fact, my contention is that parents who want to homeschool do so to ESCAPE government entrapment and don’t want ANY government involvement. Parents who want government money to school at home use a system like EPIC where government money pays for curricula to be used at home. Data from Arizona indicates I’m correct.

Arizona has the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (much like SB1647) allowing state money to go to numerous types of schooling including private or homeschooling. Please note several things:

parents funding private school OUT OF THEIR OWN POCKETS were the happiest of all
though polling shows 29% of Arizonans would use private school and 14% homeschool, the actual numbers are MUCH LESS – 6% and 2% of Arizonans actually use the GOVERNMENT programs respectively and Arizona was one of the earliest adopters of ‘school choice’ programs

In fact, EdChoice tells us that 23% of Arizona’s students are eligible for vouchers and tax credit programs and 100% of students are eligible for a tax credit scholarship, but ONLY 7% OF ALL ARIZONANS USE ALL PROGRAMS TOGETHER and that’s the best record in the nation!

No data had been collected on the Lindsey Nicole Henry voucher for children with disabilities for 10 years, until last year, providing no previous accountability to taxpayers for the program.

Data for 2021 indicate that after a 31 million dollar investment over the 10 years, only 1,135 students took advantage of the program in 2021 and of those that reported their status (112), only 32% (36) were economically disadvantaged.

“We have denied an equal playing field” to children sentenced to a failing neighborhood school

How have we done that? I just cited 8 ways parents can direct the education of their children and showed that, when offered, most parents don’t take advantage of voucher programs or tax credit scholarships.

But beyond that, since when did a ‘conservative’ talking point become ‘equaling the playing field’?

I searched the term ‘equaling the playing field’ and found this slide show about how COMMON CORE equaled the playing field for all kids. Now that’s great! But, as we said it would for YEARS, Common Core – making every child have the same curricula across the US – FAILED SPECTACULARLY, never amounting to any kind of positive change on student achievement of any kind.

CONSERVATIVES DO NOT USE GOVERNMENT TO ‘EQUAL PLAYING FIELDS’, we want the government to stay in its own lane and allow PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS AND THE MARKET TO CREATE CHOICE.

“Those who oppose educational choice where money follows the child display an arrogant and callous disposition to the less fortunate”

Gosh, I guess, people like Ben Carson, whose single mother worked three jobs to allow Ben and his brother a great education and Mark Robinson (Lt. Gov. of North Carolina) whose family was dirt poor but made sure he and his siblings were well educated have it all wrong. Government should have come in and incentivized their transformation – because government ALWAYS produces programs that work.

I find it sad that a Christian Conservative, would – essentially – call those who want LESS government and more personal responsibility ‘arrogant and callous’.

In Matthew 26:11, Jesus tells us that the poor will always be with us.

Leviticus 23:22 quotes the Lord as saying, “When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. Leave it for the poor and the foreigners living among you.”

In other words, INDIVIDUALS, left part of the harvest for the poor to harvest themselves. The Romans taxed the Jews horribly, but their religion told them it was THEIR responsibility to help the poor.

As PragerU said in a recent Instagram post, “Jesus advises us to be of “generous spirit” – to show kindness, to assist the widow and the orphan. But he clearly means this to be our responsibility.”

Conservatives are those who promote LESS GOVERNMENT, PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, PRIVATE COMPETITION and INDIVIDUAL GIVING.

“More than that, they also fail to understand that no parent should see their educational dollars forced into the government’s failed model of education.”

Nope, we get it – we just want it done THE RIGHT WAY – via tax credit and tax credit scholarship. Both would remove money from public education, but do so BEFORE the money is taken by the government in the first place.

Here’s something Bob doesn’t apparently understand – the legislature appropriates education dollars. Why don’t we ALL advocate that, instead of giving more and more tax dollars to FAILING government education, the legislature use the grade card the State developed to get ESSA funds, to pull funding from failing schools?

Bob acts as though schools just fail by themselves. It’s a cascade of failure from appropriations and over-regulation by the state and federal governments, through parents who have let school boards run amok by trusting they were doing the right thing and never checking up.

Bob complains that government schools are unGodly and parents shouldn’t have to leave their children in that situation.

OF COURSE THEY ARE! THEY ARE PROPPED UP BY SECULAR GOVERNMENT MONEY! Do you honestly think that sending government money into home and private schools WON’T PRODUCE THE SAME RESULTS? It absolutely will. Right now, the only thing staving off an atheistic society are Christian home and private schools. Why do you want to compromise the two things that are working under complete parent control? That makes absolutely no sense!

In fact, schools that participate in the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship – including private Christian schools – are required to comply with the antidiscrimination provisions of 42 U.S.C., Section 2000d, which the Biden Department of Justice has used to force schools into transgender bathroom policies and anti-discrimination policies protecting transgender athletes. I’ll just leave that there.

Why not instead work with churches to create programs like microschools, learning pods or to provide daily tutoring, or even create a school specifically for those below the poverty line? The Biden Justice Department can’t force policy there. Again, why does GOVERNMENT have all the answers? Don’t conservatives think the private sector has those?

In closing, Bob calling me “a bit callous, heartless and cold” for wanting the private sector to do their job instead of allowing government to do that is a bit social justice warrior for me – especially in the face of Conservative principles. Government doesn’t provide choices, the private market does and the more government ‘does’ the less churches and the private market do.

Note this: in 2021, homeschooling and private schools grew and Oklahoma public schooling LOST STUDENTS thanks to parents deciding to homeschool and leave government schools ON THEIR OWN POWER.

Just recently I posted a meme to our social media about how single-parent families could homeschool and was inundated with OTHER ideas as well:

coming together to co-house and afford housing to homeschool
working from home and schooling when able in their schedule
church-created homeschool coops for single parents
teaming up with other families to create a coop so that each day the parents rotate so one is in charge of the children every day
teaming up to hire a tutor to teach all the children each day
homeschool families bringing in children of single parents to school with their own kids (I did this with the child of a single friend. She just became a part of the family and she graduated with my own!)

These are AWESOME ideas that parents came up with all on their own without the ‘benevolent’ hand of the government ‘helping’ them.

CONSERVATIVES, STOP TRYING TO USE GOVERNMENT TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS WE LET GOVERNMENT CREATE IN THE FIRST PLACE. The only ways to help students out right now (other than making the legislature responsible for their funding of failing schools) is to provide individual family tax credits for home and private schooling and tax credit scholarships for the same. This would help parents and ‘punish’ failing schools without government strings while allowing the free market to work.

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