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Donna Garner ~ What if she was right about HB5?

uptonsinclairCongrats to Donna Garner one of our heroes for being an Upton Sinclair Award winner! So excited and proud to work with Donna Garner to expose corruption in education and protect Texas’ next generation!! 

Texans you think HB5 is a good thing now. As our friend and writer Melanie Sturm says…”Think Again” It was a strategy and tactic to get Common Core into Texas just like Donna Garner warned!! 

Referring to Dallas Morning News article Texas high school teachers fight plan to scale back social studies

Author of Doing The Right Thing: A Teacher Speaks- Dave Greene says…,“Hmmm, eliminate the senior year in Social Studies? When they are about ready to take economics and politics and learn to question the system?” 

Donna Garner wrote today… 

“Revealed: The Dumbing Down of Texas’ Public Schools”  

Under HB 5 (passed by the last legislative session), Texas’ high school graduates will no longer be required to take both World History and World Geography.  They also will not be required to take the capstone course in English which is English IV.  Neither will all Texas graduates be required to take Algebra II and higher-level math and science courses. Not requiring these courses will send our Texas students out into the world bereft of basic foundational knowledge that will plague them the rest of their lives not to mention the fact that Texas public school graduates will go into college and/or careers with a shallow academic degree.  

 

I tried desperately before, after, and during the 83rd Legislative Session to get people to listen to my concerns about dropping the 4 x 4 graduation plan and gutting the individual student and teacher accountability at each grade level/course level.  Now the Texas State Board of Education, the Texas Education Agency, and local school districts are stuck trying to implement HB 5 which mucks up every public school in Texas.

 

I stand by my comments; and as each day passes, more Texans are beginning to see the damage that HB 5 is doing.  Here is what I said on 6.17.13 – “For the Historical Record: Texas Will Rue This Day” —  

 Strategies and Tactics of FED LED ED in Texas

So when you hear candidates say on the campaign trail- Vote for Me I have a strong conservative voting record. Ask them so why did you vote for HB5?

Do you understand how Common Core is coming in the back door in Texas?

What is your plan to defend Texas children in all schools- Public, Private and Charter schools. 

By the way HB5 was passed overwhelmingly by both Republicans and Democrats. 

What we are witnessing is a fundamental transformation of public school education caused not by the choices of Parents and Teachers but by legislation passed in the 83rd legislative session pushed by education reform lobby groups and Superintendents. Authors of HB5 were Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock and Sen. Dan Patrick. 

I can only hope that Texas will have success stories to tell like Milwakee, WI does. The flood gates of children leaving public school is inevitable. Because of what has been done allbeit with good intentions by some legislators the ramifications for children today on the ground in public school is going to be devastating. 

There are many who pushed for HB5 to pass and it did. Their motivation was education reform  providing college and career pathways for children across Texas in public schools. Below what the Texas diploma plans could look like under HB5.

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HB5 represents the state government controlling the future of our children through the pathways of education known as College and Career ready by the end of 8th grade. Let me say that again, Texas public school children will decide at the end of 8th grade what education pathway they will go down.  Let me ask you how many of you knew the career pathway you would take by the 8th grade? 

What if you are a late bloomer, well your education pathway now must be decided by the end of 8th grade based on assessments not freedom of a child to choose their pathway.  They will say, oh but a student can change that pathway at anytime. Really? Once they go through the counseling process to decide what pathway, the damage is done. 

I believe because of this, many parents will step up to give their children a good foundation in education, Reading, Writing, Literature and Math so they are free to achieve their god given passions, not their government given pathway and will leave the public school system. That is a devastating thought to the many wonderful small town communities whose local public schools are the largest employer of the community. 

I keep telling folks we can do what it takes to protect our own children by putting them in private school or home school but if the next generation of teachers is being trained to teach using the Common Core “Outcome Based” philosophy of education – the next generation will lose their freedom and liberty. For example what we are seeing in all Texas schools “Reform Math” teaching an agenda instead of numbers in Texas schools. 

Why are Math Teachers being trained to teach about Democracy in a Math class?  The U.S is a Constitutional Republic, not a Democracy? Texans this is from the Dana Center in Austin, Tx. Think we don’t have the Common Core philosophy of education in Texas Schools? “Think Again” Screen Shot 2013-12-28 at 12.07.33 AM

FED LED ED is not just in public schools it is in every curriculum product being made. It is time to face reality and look at the tactics and strategies of how this is being implemented and learn to expose the corruption and fight back. Together we have to power to stop this!!

Why is this devastating for Texas; because in many communities across our state our local public school is the  heart and soul of the community and the largest employer of the community.

In Texas when a 1a, 2a, 3a, 4a or even 5a high school football team is in the playoffs the whole community comes together; black, white, brown it does not matter your color the only thing that matters is winning a football game. Students from all activities come together- band, cheer, dance team, student journalists and the community come together to celebrate the victory or learn character from surviving a defeat.

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Many Texas schools will be under great financial stress now because of the mandates of the state to provide college and career ready pathway classes and curriculum. Where is the money going to come from to retrain teachers and rewrite curriculum?  This is just another unfunded mandate by the state that will devastate our public school system. Don’t let the Wendy Davis’ say this is all the Republicans fault. It was a joint effort to fundamentally transform education in Texas.

What is the beauty of our local public schools….. Private and charter schools are run by appointed boards who are bound to whomever is providing the grant money. Public schools are run by locally elected school boards who are bound to the local community. 

So as we move down this road of education reform I pray that parents will get involved and understand what is actually happening behind the scenes as their children are the ones who will have to deal with being born in a time where their freedom to achieve great success and happiness in life is under attack. 

Just as importantly I hope our elected officials will learn that they are a part of the problem because they have been as Donna Garner says…. duped by the truly unscrupulous education establishment that rebranded CSCOPE and is now moving Common Core into our state.”

While there are amazing stories of schools charter and private schools out there, there are also schools whose appointed boards have a different agenda. 

Take for instance the Gulen schools that are popping up all across the country. In Texas we have 41 of these charter schools and through the replication approval process these charter schools are expected to increase in large numbers over the next few years. 

The Gulen charter schools are tied to Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric from Turkey whose schools promote an Islamic curriculum. It has been said that the Gulen movement is what handed Turkey over to the Muslim Brotherhood.  

The FBI Raided a Gulen Turkish Charter school in Louisiana.  

As we move forward in school reform and fundamentally transforming education in America I pray parents and grandparents will give the “Gift of American Exceptionalism” back to their child or grandchild. To do this we must go into our children’s school and say….. 

Can I see Photo cover

#CanISee WHAT you are teaching my child, #CanISee HOW you are teaching my child and #CanISee WHO is financially benefiting from the curriculum products my child’s teacher is being evaluated on. 
 
To follow the movement building a coalition of parents and teacher to give the gift of  ”American Exceptionalism” to the next generation follow the hashtag #CanISee on Twitter. 
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