EXODUS MANDATE-WV

How about Education Savings Accounts?

By Michael and Mary June 1, 2016

Mary:

The ESAs (Education Savings Accounts) are another dangling carrot and this time it is aimed to trap homeschoolers.  The ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) passed into law in December of 2015 makes any educational entity that accepts federal money subject to the mandates of the ESSA which, of course, includes Common Core, the only USDOE approved “college and career-ready” standards.  There is not a state that has written its own new standards to replace CC that has not just rebranded Common Core. A homeschooler that accepts money in the form of an ESA becomes a private school subject to the ESSA.  ESAs are a trap that should be exposed as such and avoided.

Michael:

You can believe that these processes are not going to be used to further the range of churches and Christian homes covered by tax money. But, would you want the government's approval for your home teaching plan if they did?

This works against us either way!

The big picture is about obtaining absolute control over every detail, collecting the data that results, and streamlining the process of creating children with deficits and emotional problems, and then making the proper streams of programs available to resolve the issues that now exist. The most resilient students might get into more and more higher level programs or creative programs. If you are a piano teacher and the district is complaining about cuts for the arts, it will seem like a winner for students on a music based career path to get free piano lessons, while the child with ADHD gets therapy and pills.

This is going to extend wider and wider as the alternative ed and unschooling options, science-only options, extreme new age options ramp up.

The truly sad part is seeing the parents getting addicted to the system and to the process as well. They have their kids jumping through hoops to get approved for all of these different free programs, and their kids are so messed up they can't handle them on their own. They have to ask their kids what they want to do, as all of these programs have committees and are watching progress data strands. The parents are completely losing the capability to parent. None of these programs seem to involve basic disciplines.

I am SURE that there are excellent programs that get accepted into the process, and for every 100 nightmares, there is that one great instructor, or one incredibly resilient kid that makes a shining example of the whole thing, but I just see it as a mechanism for absolute control.

Also see "How Would People Pay for Private Schooling? What about Vouchers?, Should We Work for Vouchers?", and "Why Christian Education Is Important".

For in-depth discussion see “Vouchers Do Not Equal Victory (Neither are Charter Schools or Tax Credits)”.

Back to Money/Financial Issues.