Comments for Texas Patriots Tea Party

Comment on EDUCATION in Texas by Armadilla

Armadilla — Sat, 07 May 2011 02:00:54 +0000

Our children, our own children and grand children, belong to us… we should have the basic right to chose how they are educated… we do not need the government to tell us how to do it… we need to pay only once for their education… education is about us as individuals.. just as health care is about us as individuals… we don’t need the government to help us decide what level of care or what type of care we get… we don’t need the government to tell us what food to eat… we do need the government to get out of our personal lives…

And national defense is a fundamental responsiblity of the government… but, how we chose to educate our children is not.. the differences are night and day…. one is clearly a national responsibility.. the other are not… We do not need a nanny state…

Liberals are forever trying to press their values on everyone else… they need to get a life… their own life and let the rest of us adults live as we choose… Freedom is what we are about…. it is what the country is about…

Comment on EDUCATION in Texas by Ann Rose

Ann Rose — Fri, 06 May 2011 22:25:28 +0000

Armadillo, I read your article and am not sure why you see this article as such an indictment of Public Education since the author is an economic’s professor at George Mason University, which is itself a “public” university. His story was basically about how schools are funded; such as expenditures are made where they are collected. Isn’t that something that the Tea Party would celebrate? Local control of funds? I have to assume that like most public schools of higher education, they have rules and requirements for students that attend. I would think that they do not allow out of state students to attend at the cost as those who are payiing taxes for the institution. The fact is that home schoolers want to spend their tax dollars the way they want to. Imagine if our tax dollars for defense, a legitimate expense and responsibility for the United States federal government, were given to individual groups or people to decide how our country would be defended from foreign aggressors, then we would quickly be overrun by squatters wanting to claim parts 0f the US for itself.
If there was no unified defense the entire nation would be at risk. Tax dollars do not belong to individuals after they are collected. I guess the only recourse is to stop taxing and change the constitution to not require education of our State’s youth. What calamity would that bring? Until homeschoolers come up with an answer for how to educate all children, vouchers for a select few will not be the answer.

Comment on Redistricting by Truman Reid

Truman Reid — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 03:21:07 +0000

http://www.CitizenLobbyist.net provide training for individuals and organizations who wish to influence their legislators in person. My wife and I have completed the training and think it may be very good for our fellow TEA Party members. There is power in numbers. The power may be exponentially multiplied through the proper training.

I will be happy to contact them if we have enough interest in bringing them to Burleson for training.

Comment on EDUCATION in Texas by Ann Rose

Ann Rose — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 22:02:58 +0000

Armadilla, this thread was started by Barry Schlech when he posted two education articles and I commented on them. One I had no problem with. The other, I made comments about unfunded mandates and the consequence they have had on public education. Your President, Baker, then commented about the BISD budget and how much the district spent on playing sports. He pays for his kids to play and he thinks that everyone should pay for theirs as well.

I then commented on the idea of Home Schoolers feeling that they are being abused because they pay taxes and get no benefit from it. Baker and I have had many conversations and he’s not exactly been shy about what he says to me.
Baker then comes back and begins to make claims of how home schooling is trending upward and that it is apparently a better education as their test scores are better and colleges are wanting their admission. I then came back with an argument that indicated that one can’t make a case without data and only anecdotal stories. Home schools tend to reject providing data.

At that point you weighed in with your opinion about personal values and how only “politically correct” values are taught in public schools. I didn’t comment on anything you said. Mr. Schlech then contificated on how thet the public schools have failed us and made some inflammatory rhetoric to which I responded.

His comment was:

My experience is that home schoolers are excellent students and really learn the important stuff. They usually excel in scholarship competitions. This is all done WITHOUT a huge school district BUREAUCRACY with Assistant Superintendants, Asst Vice Principals, counselors, Vice-this and Vice-that and special studies teachers. In spite of all the public money thrown at it, the public school system has failed us. Many high school graduates are literally-illiterate, ignorant of world situations and American history. Many cannot write a reasonable succinct and intelligent paragraph. And few are articulate enough to give the basis of our country’s founding. So, we have a long way to go, but I would put my money on private schools or home-schools.

Mr. Schlech took the route of being insulting and I came back to him with my thoughts about his comments. It was at this point that YOU attacked my opinion because it didn’t agree with yours. This was your statement:

Ms. Rose’s comments documents exactly why America needs vouchers… and schools with less bureaucracy… for every “terrible “story about needy home schoolers, there are hundreds of thousands of like stories about children in public schools… Public schools are dumbing down our children and brain washing them with un-American values.

I will stick by what I say as well.
1. There are no teacher unions in Texas. They do not negotiate, they have no standing as a group in contract disputes (teachers do have legal representation paid for by their dues) and they do not strike.
2. The Constitution doesn’t say anything about Judeo-Christian values. They wanted religious freedom. We have nothing to fear from Sharia Law as long as we maintain that stance.
3. There also is nowhere is it mentioned that you have to be white to be an American. The “browning of American” as some are calling it isn’t any different than it was when the Irish, Germans, Scandinavians, and Polish were coming to this country. They faced persecution from Aristocratic Englishmen because they were poor.

I too want people to be legal if they are here. I want them to learn English when they come to live here just as other immigrants have done. However, I cannot believe that it is you who should interpret what the constitution says about who can come here for their piece of what’s left of the American dream.

You have not attended two years of school board meetings in this district and therefore you do not have any knowledge of what they do or how they do it. You paint everyone with your broad brush and your jaundiced eye. Your “history” of activism doesn’t compare to my years of board experience because you only personally witnessed one side. I knew all sides; as a taxpayer, a board member and a parent of four children over a span of twenty four years. Your comments indicate you are a person that doesn’t let facts get in the way of what you believe.

The Republican Party doesn’t belong to the Tea Party. You saying I’m a liberal doesn’t make it true, either. After all, you may know my name, but you don’t know me.

Comment on EDUCATION in Texas by Armadilla

Armadilla — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 15:04:24 +0000

Well, Ms Rose, you have shown your true self… the typical liberal… you attack me personally when you know nothing about me, just because I voice an opinion about public schools that is different than yours…. I have said nothing about you personnally, but you feel its necessary to attack me… tisk, tisk.

Yes, I do have a knowledge base from which to speak. I have attended ISD Board meetings and work sessions for more than two years at two different Texas ISDs… I have personally seen how they work. I have reported ISD activities in a news letters for more than a year. I have also worked for the Texas Education Agency and the Alabama Edcation Agency. I have had many conversations with ISD and other state Education officials….

I also know that there are Teachers Unions in Texas.. like the TSTA and UEA… I know several people who work in one of those unions. I also have a close relative who is an elementary school teacher. I have a friend who has been a lawyer at one of those organizations. I also have other acquaintances who work for teachers unions in Texas. I also know news paper reporters who have covered ISD activities.

Unforunately, many education administrators, like you, only opinions want to see and hear are their own views…. They attempt to control the press and the public conversation. Just like you… writing tomes on this forum….. volumes of words doesn’t change the truth.
I also know that they will attack folks who speak out for freedom of choice or any other issues that is not in line with the thinking of board members and ISD administrators.. I have seen them punish the children of folks who speak out… Unfortunately, I have had personal experience along those lines.

I stand by my statements. I have seen and experienced the truth. I don’t have a “lack of information.”

In regard to some of your comments:

Multiculturalism is destroying the country… the nation was founded upon Judeo-Christian values.. they are the basis of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, our most fundamental laws. The United States is an English speaking country. Education of our children should be completely in English and instill the values of our Judeo-Christian values, period. US history should be taught as it was in the 1950s and 1960s.

Don’t make assumptions about me… YOU DON’T KNOW ME…. so, when you speak or write, try to stick to the the truth and what you actually MAY know.

Comment on EDUCATION in Texas by Ann Rose

Ann Rose — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 05:06:51 +0000

Armadilla, you make statements like this one, “Public schools are dumbing down our children and brain washing them with un-American values”, like you know what you are talking about. However, I don’t see how you could or you wouldn’t make such uninformed statements.
Do you actually live in Texas? Your next statement, “public schools are nothing more than feed troughs for unions and contractors feeding off the ISD spending…” doesn’t sound like you are very well informed. Texas does not allow teacher unions. There are teacher organizations but they are NOT involvement in contract issues, there is no “right to strike” or none of that nonsense that is going on in other states.
Another statement that you made, “if a person were to go to all the school board meetings and board workshops for two years, and had full access to ISD data…” makes me wonder, have YOU attended board meetings and workshops for two years? I’ve attended board meetings for six years and never saw what you describe. You obviously haven’t looked at the district website, if you had you could find anything you want to know. The check register is posted on the site. Look all you want. I seriously don’t think you would find any corruption or kick-backs to “vendors”, who happen to be many of your Burleson neighbors. You also continue to make uninformed statements such as, “There seems to be no limits to how much they can spend and for what… how many administrators, coaches, under utilized school”. If you would go to my website you could see documentation of the facts regarding stable spending levels on administrator spending for the last 15 years as a percent of budget. You can find that administrators have been cut over the last 5 years. Coaches were cut for the next fiscal year in BISD. And the strangest statement was the part about “under-utilized schools”. You have a school in mind, right? I would like to know which one that might be. Have you not seen the portable buildings going up on both Middle School campuses.? What can you possibly be thinking about?
Last, I would like to note that your statement, “The “multicultural” values they teach are the core program the liberal community is using to destroy America”, proves exactly what I said it was the major home schooling motivation; elitism. How is the inclusion of multiple cultures destroying America? Was America not founded with many different people coming from many different countries. The fact they were all whiite did mean there was something of a certain sameness, but certainly those from England didn’t take so well to those from other European countries. Are you saying that our founding principles were to allow for freedom of religion but not to be a different color? YOU, Armadilla, have proved that you don’t know your history very well.
Now, having said that, if you are referring to this topic of Sharia Law, I do not embrace that and I do not believe that any law but the constitution of the United States should be used as a basis for conducting business or society in the U.S. I do not think it should be taught in Public Schools and although Mansfield was attempting to have an Arabic language class, that doesn’t constitute an attempt to institute teaching of Sharia Law. I’m sure this is on your mind with the upcoming speaker. However, I think your attack on Public Schools is unwarranted and gives way to your lack of information. Yes, there are many more failing public school students than home schoolers, but then again there are milllions of public schooll students and only thousands of home schoolers. You know, I defend your right to home school. But your right stops when you paint everyoine as a failure because they attend public schools. My children are not failures. They made quality adults. They are conservative, compassionate. and hard working, parents and individuals. They love God and they love their country. Home schoolers don’t have a corner on those qualities.

Comment on EDUCATION in Texas by Armadilla

Armadilla — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 10:17:16 +0000

Ms. Rose’s comments documents exactly why America needs vouchers… and schools with less bureaucracy… for every “terrible”story about needy home schoolers, there are hundreds of thousands of like stories about children in public schools… Public schools are dumbing down our children and brain washing them with un-American values.

The truth is, if a person were to go to all the school board meetings and board workshops for two years, and had full access to ISD data, they would find that public schools are nothing more than feed troughs for unions and contractors feeding off the ISD spending… public schools are not about “the kids” … they are about MONEY… kids are the ends to a means (litterally) in public schools. They are systemicly corrupt. They only suck up more and more public money. There seems to be no limits to how much they can spend and for what… how many administrators, coaches, under utilized schools will it take before the country comes to its senses..

And then, public schools teach history, morals and values that are far from the traditional American culture. The “multicultural” values they teach are the core program the liberal community is using to destroy America… those values are nothing more than an outright propaganda / brain washing.

America needs vouchers to give the children of all American citizens freedom of choice for the education of their children… and option to the disasster that public schools are today.

Comment on EDUCATION in Texas by Ann Rose

Ann Rose — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 06:20:26 +0000

Barry, you are a very educated man and it pains me to see you state the obvious in your statement above. If you are only educating one student at home, you certainly don’t need a vice anything. The parent is everything. But, then again, the home schooled student you are speaking of is probably going to be a white, middle class child of religious, college educated parents. What about the minority, poor child of two parents working at the same time and neither finishing high school? Who is going to educate them. The problem with that question is the answer is that you don’t care. When the constitution in Texas says to educate every child, there is no choice. There just aren’t enough white, college educated parents to go around. Someone has to be educated in public schools. While a home schooled student is with their parent all the time, their boundaries are consistent, their rules are consistent, their expectations are consistent. In public school you set boundaries, have rules and communicate expectations all day, but when the bell rings they go home and those things are but a distant memory. If they are not held accountable by the parent for what is done at school, it is all undone by morning. Now, there are good people with excellent children that attend public schools. In fact, there are many many more of them that there are home schooled students. But, public schools have no choice as to who they get to count in their academic achievement reports. Home schoolers don’t do reports. They just single out the high achievers and make that representative of an entire group with noting to back up the numbers.
One article I read indicated that there are 5 million public school students from K to 12 in Texas. A home school association estimates there are approximately 300,000 home schooled students. Others estimate that it is approximately 2-3% of public school enrollment – a big difference in numbers but nevertheless, it is a realitively small number of students. However, it appears to be growing. Or at least that is how it looked in 2008 when reports of large groups of students were reported leaving public school to be home schooled. Some said it was a ruse to disgise dropouts. However, as a social worker who have worked with families and children over several decades, I have seen children be truant while both parents work and when the truancy court summoned them and fined them for not making little Johnnie go to school, they withdrew him to “home school”. The fines stopped and they went back to work. Little Johnnie would go to work with self-employeed parents or worked for relatives for a while, or sometimes that stayed at home and perfected their drug use. Because Texas has a completely hands off approach to home schooling, thanks to more than a decade of Texas State School Board members who were home schoolers, there is no recourse if you know they are not being educated at home. There is no one to tell. It just doesn’t matter.
I was wondering why the home schooler group has had control of the State Board for so long and not made founding principles a priority in public schools?
I beleive that home schooling is a form of elitism. Just like private school is to the rich, I think that home schooling is the same for religous people. While God tells us to be salt and light, home schoolers want to hid their children away from the world falsely thinking that they can protect them from the rabble in this world. Jesus didn’t do that. He said to be in the world but not of it. No matter what my kids were taught at school, they knew what was right and what was wrong, not matter what a teacher said or required of them on a test. My husband and I along with our church made sure of that.

Comment on EDUCATION in Texas by Barry Schlech

Barry Schlech — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 17:29:11 +0000

Comment on EDUCATION in Texas by Armadilla

Armadilla — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:42:54 +0000

I think the issue of home schooling is about values… there are a lot of “politically correct” values taught in the public schools, directly or indirectly that are not the values that we should be teaching our kids… private schools and home schooling give parents the options to teach their children the values they beleive in… I think that PERSONAL and MORAL VALUES are the most important things that kids can be taught….