Education thread

[Vrede too]

Not that Mr.B cares about teachers or kids after they're born.

[Mr.B]

"Not that Mr.B cares about teachers or kids after they're born."

Nor do you, really. You're only a mouthpiece seeking attention.
Your family tree must be a cactus because you're a real prick.

[Vrede too]

From Progress NC Action:

Gov. Cooper proposes a 5% pay raise for teachers

On Monday, Gov. Cooper proposed a 5% pay increase for public school teachers as part of his push to raise North Carolina teacher pay to the national average. Cooper’s proposal also includes a stipend for school supplies, which would help ensure teachers no longer have to pay for their classroom materials out of pocket.

According to the Department of Public Instruction, the state budget for school supplies has been cut from $59 per student in 2008-09 to about $30 per student for the 2016-17 school year. Teachers are filling a funding gap created by politicians in Raleigh, and then teachers are paying higher taxes to fill that funding gap.

When Republican lawmakers tell you they are spending more on public schools than ever before, remember this: North Carolina invests less money per student than 46 other states in the U.S., and less than every other state in the Southeast.

When Republican lawmakers tell you they’re spending more money on public schools than ever before, remember this: North Carolina has 7,000 fewer teacher assistants than before the Great Recession, and the current budget would do nothing to change that.

When Republican lawmakers tell you education is their #1 priority, remember this: North Carolina was ranked the worst state for teachers in 2014, and second-worst in 2015.

Bottom Line: Public school funding is still worse than before the recession when you adjust for inflation, and Republican lawmakers are doing nothing to change that. It’s past time to restore teacher pay to pre-recession levels, and stop making teachers pay for their own supplies.

[Vrede too]

Dismal Voucher Results Surprise Researchers as DeVos Era Begins

... Three consecutive reports, each studying one of the largest new state voucher programs, found that vouchers hurt student learning. ... The new voucher studies stand in marked contrast to research findings that well-regulated charter schools in Massachusetts and elsewhere have a strong, positive impact on test scores. But while vouchers and charters are often grouped under the umbrella of 'school choice,' the best charters tend to be nonprofit public schools, open to all and accountable to public authorities. The less 'private' that school choice programs are, the better they seem to work....

Trinity Christian coach accused of embezzling more than $300,000

Private voucher school’s athletic director, accused of embezzlement, continues coaching basketball while awaiting trial

Trinity Christian has received nearly $1 million tax dollars since the Opportunity Scholarship program began in 2014.

The potentially ruinous consequences of diverting money for low-income students into vouchers

Place a Moratorium on (NC) School Vouchers (petition)

[Vrede too]

Betsy DeVos statement on black colleges sparks uproar

Angry social media users flew into an uproar Monday evening after Education Secretary Betsy DeVos issued a statement that some said ignored the context under which historically black universities were created.

The statement called historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) “real pioneers when it comes to school choice,” and came shortly after President Donald Trump held a meeting with several HBCU leaders on Monday.

Some social media users said DeVos ignored the history of how black Americans were denied access to higher education. Meanwhile, others said the statement applauded the segregated Jim Crow education system for giving black students “more options.”

The hashtag “HBCUs” trended on Monday evening and was briefly the most-mentioned hashtag on the social networking platform.

Some argued that the statement presents HBCUs as if they were created as a better option to traditionally white universities. The Department of Education lays out on its website that HBCUs were established because “there was no structured higher education system for black students.”

“At a time when many schools barred their doors to black Americans, these colleges offered the best, and often the only, opportunity for a higher education," the Department of Education notes on its website....

DeVos is a product of Christian primary and secondary "education".

[rstrong]

Private voucher school’s athletic director, accused of embezzlement, continues coaching basketball while awaiting trial

Trinity Christian has received nearly $1 million tax dollars since the Opportunity Scholarship program began in 2014.

Back in the early 90's when I was writing charity telemarketing software, two of charities I dealt with had managers embezzle their funds and disappear.

In both cases police were not called, and it didn't make the papers.

The charities could survive the embezzlement. But they wouldn't have survived having their continued funding disappear and various government licences held up if the embezzlement went public.

I have to wonder how many cases go unreported for each one reported.

[Vrede too]

Could have happened here if the school rather than the state has discovered the embezzlement.

Trinity Christian coach accused of embezzling more than $300,000

... The charges against Vandevender resulted from an investigation by a special agent with the department's (N.C. Department of Revenue) Criminal Investigations Section in Raleigh.

... The charities could survive the embezzlement. But they wouldn't have survived having their continued funding disappear and various government licences held up if the embezzlement went public....

We'll see what happens, but now the school is accountable for the embezzlement, keeping the coach on staff after he was charged and for not discovering the massive embezzlement on its own. I blame god (I don't capitalize sasquatch, unicorn or jackalope, either, Mr.B) for not having the school's back.

[Vrede too]

More swampish corruption revealed:

Petition to Betsy DeVos, Education Secretary:

As Secretary of Education, it is your responsibility to serve the students of America and put their needs first. Your continued investment in various for-profit education schemes calls into question whether decisions made by your department will be made in students’ best interests, or yours. In order to prevent even the appearance of a conflict of interest, please sell off your education-related holdings.

[Mr.B]

"I blame god (I don't capitalize sasquatch, unicorn or jackalope, either, Mr.B) for not having the school's back."

That's because your god is different from mine. billy dot doesn't capitalize his name either; no biggie.

[O Really]

"I blame god (I don't capitalize sasquatch, unicorn or jackalope, either, Mr.B) for not having the school's back."

That's because your god is different from mine. billy dot doesn't capitalize his name either; no biggie.

That's so totally wrong. There are no multiple gods or Gods. There are many names, many human attributes assigned by humans, but only one entity that created the universe and by definition existed before the universe, into infinity. It doesn't matter what you call that entity; it doesn't matter what you believe. That entity is omnipotent and doesn't share power with any other entity. Anything else is just humans creating God/god in their own image. Most descriptions are just humans trying to put some understanding into something they aren't able to comprehend. But it doesn't affect the entity that created the universe.

[Mr.B]

A god is not necessarily an entity. What one chooses as most important in their lives; i.e. money, wealth, lust, fame, or other worldly pleasures,
can also be a god. There is one God, a proper name when written, should be capitalized just as any other proper name.

My reply to Vrede was not intended as a smear or smart-aleck comeback; rather than to imply that because he neither serves nor worships God,
there are other things in his life that he places more importance upon.

I place nothing; wealth, what I own, who I love on this Earth, above God the Creator; therefore Vrede's god is different from mine.

[rstrong]

That's because your god is different from mine.

That's so totally wrong. There are no multiple gods or Gods.

Why not? Polytheists - pre-Christian Romans, Greeks and Egyptians with entire pantheons of gods - gave us the very foundations of society, culture, science, philosophy, literature and drama.

[O Really]

That's because your god is different from mine.

That's so totally wrong. There are no multiple gods or Gods.

Why not? Polytheists - pre-Christian Romans, Greeks and Egyptians with entire pantheons of gods - gave us the very foundations of society, culture, science, philosophy, literature and drama.

All simply assigning human-type characteristics to something they can't comprehend. Just because they made up stuff about a force beyond understanding doesn't mean they can't add value to their world.

[Vrede too]

I blame god ...

... your god ...

Whoosh.

[Mr.B]

"I blame god ..."

"... your god ..."

"Whoosh."

That would be 'whoosh' ... with a little 'w'.

[Boatrocker]

"Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a god superior to themselves. Most gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child."
ROBERT A. HEINLEIN, The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

[Vrede too]

To: UNC Board of Governors
public@bog.northcarolina.edu

Re:
Barring UNC centers from taking legal actions is an effort to muzzle liberals

In North Carolina, the conservative war on academia merges with its war on the poor and vulnerable

Silencing Advocacy That Irritates State Leaders
UNC board members want law school’s civil rights center to be barred from lawsuits and suing the state -- which the center has done with success in the past.

I agree with the News and Observer, NC Policy Watch and Inside Higher Ed Op-Eds.

The motion is coming on the heels of successful ventures by the Center for Civil Rights to defend community members in eastern North Carolina from toxic hog waste and to protect housing rights, clean air, and water.

Although not specifically named in the policy, this is aimed directly at the Center, and is a betrayal of the mission of the law school and the university, and the legacy of Julius Chambers, the center's founder.

This is an attempt to limit activism on the part of faculty, staff, and students and needs to be stopped.

Please OPPOSE this UNC Board of Governors member Joe Knott proposal.

I await your reply.

Sincerely,
(Vrede too)

[Mr.B]

"I await your reply."

Don't hold your breath ...

[Vrede too]

I won't. Many officials do reply, as I occasionally share here. No biggie if they don't. Requesting a response is just a good idea on all such notes if one wants even the possibility.

[rstrong]

Republican State Senator's "business degree" turns out to be from Sizzler Steakhouse

Iowa State Sen. Mark Chelgren wants to limit the number of Democrats the state university may hire.

This drew attention to the Republican's own academic background. Turns out the "business degree" listed in Chelgren's biography on the Iowa State Republicans web site, is from the "Forbco Management school" - actually a Sizzler steak house franchise.

"This was a management course he took when he worked for Sizzler, kind of like Hamburger University at McDonald's,"
[...]
Chelgren told NBC News on Wednesday he was not trying to inflate his education credentials.