News

Who is Worse- Dan Patrick or Scott Milder for Texas Lt. Governor? Side 1 VS Side 2

By Alice Linahan 11.4.2017

Frankly, both are bad news for education in Texas.

PLEASE, can someone else run whose campaign won’t be funded by public-private partnerships that profit off of stolen private education data; mined off our kids and their teachers in Texas. This is happening in public, private and charter school classrooms? There is NO CHOICE! 

WHAT DO WE DO?
 
1. Don’t fall for propaganda from either Side 1 or Side 2. 
 
2. Ask all candidates publically if they support restoring FERPA and repealing ESSA? 
 
3. Ask all candidates what they will do to protect our children’s private data in their classrooms. 

Okay, let me explain…

We’ve got two sides who want power and control over our children and who profit off our children and their teacher’s private personal data, mined in Texas classrooms.

  • Side 1. Ed Establishment Education Reformers – Which consists of the Texas Education Agency, 20 Education Service Centers broken down regionally, and over 1,000 Independent School Districts. There are many non-profit organizations and associations who have access to local tax dollars who are also considered “Education Establishment”. Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) and the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) and Raise Your Hand Texas. This education establishment is thought to be against “School Choice” and for local control. Although we will discover below, that is not always the case.“All districts come under the jurisdiction of the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Extracurricular activities involving competitions between schools typically come under the jurisdiction of the University Interscholastic League (UIL), which is not part of TEA.”  

 

  • Side 2. School Choice Education Reformers – Which consists of statewide non-profit and national non-profits such as Texans for Education Reform (now renamed Texas Aspires)Texans for Education Opportunity, Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), Empower Texans, Americans For Prosperity (AFP), Heritage Foundation, American Federation for Children (AFC), a charter school promotion group, and Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education (FEE). All of these non-profits are very much in favor of school choice where federal and state dollars follow the child (Vouchers and Charter Schools).

Side 1 and Side 2 are always in conflict and if you hear from their propaganda machines, the battle is defined as those who are Pro-Public School vs those who are Anti-Public School Education Reformers. Side 1 is said to be against school choice and Side 2 is said to be for school choice.

Now, let’s talk reality!

When you do the research and look at documentation coming out of the Side 1 and Side 2 camps, their end game is the same. Online Digital Personalized Competency-Based Learning with the same accountability systems known currently as the Next Generation of Assessments and Accountability. Which, happens to align with the federal mandates within the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WOIA) and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

But how can that be? Aren’t we suppose to take sides and fight?

The truth is, both sides need us to spend all of our time fighting against each other so we don’t pay attention to what both sides are stealing right from under our noses; our children and their DATA, DATA, DATA!!

Do you need proof? 

Let’s take a good hard look at the elections coming up in the next cycle.

The Education Establishment (Side 1) has an organic social media movement thats been set up called the Texans for Public Ed (@TX4PublicEd) whose facebook group now has over 17,701 members in their group. All members are said to have pledged to block vote against any Side 2 candidates, namely, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick. As of now, only 2 candidates for Lt. Governor have announced they are running in the Republican primary. Therefore, all in the Texans for Public Ed group have pledged they will vote for Scott Milder over current Lt. Governor and candidate Dan Patrick. The signature filing deadline for candidates is by 6:00 pm December 11, 2017.

In addition, Side 1’s non-profit organizations have come together to form a program called “Culture of Voting”. The non-profits involved in this program can be found at this link:  

The School Choice Education Reformers (Side 2) have a white paper circulating called “CULTURE OF VOTING”. This white paper exposes possible electioneering occurring by the Side 1 folks and calls on grassroots activists to take the following actions.

“The following actions are recommended to stop the unlawful use of taxpayer funds for electioneering:”

  • Texas Attorney General investigate to determine if the State Election Code has been violated

 

  • The Commissioner of Education direct the 209 ISD Boards of Education to rescind resolutions and cease implementation of TASB’s Culture of Voting program and, further, establish policies limiting election activities to encouraging voter registration and communicating election dates. 

 

Now let’s dig a little deeper into Scott Milder the Education Establishment (Side 1) candidate and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick the School Choice Education Reformer (Side 2) candidate and what their end goal in education looks like.

“Education Establishment” Scott Wilder

As noted in this Dallas Morning News article…This Rockwall Republican called Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick a ‘jackass.’ Now he’s running against him

Milder is a senior associate at Stantec, an engineering and architectural firm, and the co-founder and CEO of Friends of Texas Public Schools, a nonprofit dedicated not to investing “energy in education reform but rather in celebrating what’s right with our schools.”

He’s criticized “school vouchers,” the concept of funneling public education dollars to private schools, that is one of Patrick’s key policy goals.

There are two very important things to take note of in this description of Scott Milder.

First, Milder is a senior associate with Stantec. What you need to know about Stantec is that it is not just any engineering and architectural firm. Stantec is THE education establishment architectural firm in Texas that has very close ties to the Texas Association of School Administrators and was a key funder and player in bringing the Common Core philosophy of education into Texas schools through TASA’s New Vision for Public Education. Please take the time to listen to this audio clip from a Women on the Wall Conference Call exposing TASA’s New Vision for Public Education and connecting the funding to STANTEC’s education facilities and design arm, specifically.

 

It is important to note that SHW has merged with Stantec as their Education facilities and design team.

At the bottom of the blog post will be the documents that were mentioned in this audio clip above exposing SHW (Stantec) and TASA’s New Vision for Public Education and the High Performace Consortium that was funded in part by Stantec and Texas tax dollars.

 

Next, it is very important to understand that in the white paper written by the Side 2- School Choice Education Reformers, (Culture of Voting) exposing illegal election engineering, one of the non-profits included in that document was founded by Scott Milder and his wife Leslie Milder.  Currently, Scott Milder is the CEO of, Friends of Public Education.

Additionally, one of the sponsors of the Culture of Voting programs is Scott Mildner’s Friends of Public Education who happens to have Stantec as a Platinum partner.  

Now let’s take a look at the Side 2- School Choice Education Reformer Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.

It is key to understand that Lt. Governor Dan Patrick was formerly a Texas Senator. As a Senator, Dan Patrick was the chairman of the Senate Education Committee. This was at the same time legislation was passed and state funding was allocated for TASA’s New Vision for Public Education funded my Scott Milder’s employer, Stantec via SB 1557. That would have never happened if Senator Dan Patrick did not support it and allow it to get passed out of the Senate Education committee.

In addition, Senator Dan Patrick supported and worked to pass the following.

  • In 2011 Texas legislators overwhelmingly pass SB 6. 

    SB 6 allows textbook publishers to bypass the state adoption process. Under SB 6, the Instructional materials (IM)s only have to cover 50% of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills Standards (even though school districts by law are required to cover 100% of the TEKS). It is SB 6 that opened the door for Common Core/College and Career Ready aligned materials to proliferate our public schools. In addition, SB 6 allows for the permanent education fund (PEF) to now be used for professional development of teachers in addition to online digital learning.

 

  • In 2012 according to TASA, The Texas High-Performance Schools Consortium takes shape — originally 23 Texas school districts — were selected in 2012 by the commissioner of education. The Consortium began its work in October 2012 with superintendents and district teams working through the fall semester to determine the strategy for conducting the Consortium’s work as specified in SB 1557 and to produce the Consortium’s first report, delivered in December 2012. 

 

  • In 2013 Texas passes HB2103 which opened Texas students, parents, and teachers up to possible data mining by third-party entities.This bill set up cooperating agencies including the Texas Education Agency (TEA), the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), and the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) that will share data.Three centers for education research (CER’s) were set up to conduct research using the data from the TEA, THECB, and TWC that goes back at least 20 years.The data will be known as the P-20/Workforce Data Repository and will be operated by the Higher Education Coordinating Board.

 

  • Not coincidentally, please note, the above legislation HB 2103 passed after the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) was gutted by then President Obama, and no longer protected our children’s data from almost unlimited sharing. Under the new regulatory interpretation, the U.S. Department of Education (USED) (and in fact state departments of education) may disclose personally identifiable student data to literally anyone in the world, as long as the disclosing agency uses the correct language to justify its action.

 

  • In 2013 Texas legislators pass HB5 (Workforce Development) law. Both Republicans and Democrats overwhelmingly pass HB5, authored by Rep. Jimmy Don Aycock and Sen. Dan Patrick. The Workforce Development (HB5) just like the Common Core National Standards, expands the target from K-12 (Kindergarten through 12th grade) to a P-20W (Pre-school through College, Trade or Graduate School) system in order to control the economy and control our children by funneling them into certain career pathways.

 

  • In 2015 HB 2804 created the Texas Commission on Next Generation Assessments and Accountability to “develop and make recommendations for new systems of student assessment and public school accountability.” In the NextGen hearings, Dr. Orr and Dr. Rue testified that the High-Performance Consortium was the pilot program for the Next Generation of Assessments and Accountability that aligns Texas to the federal mandates of WIOA and ESSA. 

 

  • In 2016 Governor Greg Abbott appointed Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath who was subsequently confirmed by a unanimous consent by Lt. Governor Dan Patrick. Commissioner Mike Morath’s own testimony proves he is advocating the state have formalized standards and assessments evaluating and collecting data on the social and emotional state of Texas students? Basically psychologically profiling students for the workforce.

 


One only has to listen to Lt. Governor Dan Patrick himself to hear what “Education Reform” looks like, which is not any different than what Scott Milder is pushing through TASA and profiting off of with Stantec.

 

While the Conservative Caucus Republicans say they want “Privacy” in Texas bathrooms, they are legislating and allowing for our children’s “PRIVACY” to be completely violated through social and emotional learning (SEL) and the unconstitutional collection of private data in our children’s classrooms. Through state controlled “School Choice” they will have complete access to private and homeschool students.

As I see it, whether it is Dan Patrick or Scott Milder, the reality is, there is no real difference. Their end goal is the same.

They are working for those who profit off of our children and their intellectual property and private psychological data. Which by the way is an $800 billion $$ global industry. It is not about educating our children, the next generation of Texans. It is about adult jobs and those who are willing to use our children as guinea pigs and see them merely as “human capital” for the state. How sad.

 

Again- WHAT DO WE DO?
1. Don’t fall for propaganda from either side 1 or side 2. 
 
2. Ask all candidates publically if they support restoring FERPA and repealing ESSA? 
3. Ask all candidates what they will do to protect our children’s private data in their classrooms. 

 

Below are links mentioned in the Women on the Wall Conference call embedded above.

Gates Foundation- High Performing School Districts; Challenge, Support, Alignment, and Choice White Paper: https://docs.gatesfoundation.org/documents/districtwhitepaper.pdf

Visioning Institute- New Vision for Public Education: https://www.tasanet.org/cms/lib/TX01923126/Centricity/Domain/111/workinprogress.pdf

Texas High-Performance Consortium: https://www.tasanet.org/Page/544

Texas 82nd Legislative Session SB 1557: http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Actions.aspx?LegSess=82R&Bill=SB1557

 

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