Since a large majority of school districts across Washington sent out RIF notices this week, here's how we got to the point:
First came the McCleary lawsuit & #waleg arrogantly & carelessly rushed to meet the deadline last minute without seeking any feedback from stakeholders. They fucked up royally, but ignored us when we told them they made things worse.
What this all means for kids is that fewer of their needs will be met, class sizes will get larger, teachers will be more stressed & under WAY more pressure, parents will get pissed, & the right wingers will increase their drumbeat for "school choice" aka school #vouchers claiming that public schools are failing. And in #waleg, the Democrats are just as much to blame for this as the GOP. None of them have made ANY attempt to rectify what they screwed up.
It says something when the news of the indictment of two #Denton school principals is broken by an astroturf group and a "newspaper" funded by Dallas billionaire Montgomery Bennett hours before it becomes more largely known to the public.
And, to be clear, this is not to insult the local paper or KERA, which broke the news a few hours ago.
Bennett made a major donation to Terry Senne's campaign for school board last year.
There is big money pushing very hard against #Texas public #schools
This is an important story about how government suffers when political rhetoric overheats
We need good politicians. It’s how we hold each other accountable and negotiate agreements for everyone’s benefit.
I think most of us are voting for good governance, not to literally have our reps “fight” for us, so you gotta wonder what is reinforcing all this bad behavior
In another example, We Texans have been governed by a single party for so long, it’s hard to recognize how little negotiation really goes on.
#Denton ISD is just one of many, many districts now facing layoffs, hiring freezes, building closures even though our state is growing and absolutely flush with cash.
Don’t forget those school taxes are an ersatz state property tax.
But Governor Abbott wants #vouchers and he’s squeezing our schools until he gets them
We are not being governed, #Texas, we are being ruled
"If you ever wonder why state laws and policies are more radical than most Texans would prefer, the answer has a lot to do with Dunn and his checkbook. If you question why Texas’s elected officials no longer represent the majority of Texans’ views, the reason can be traced to the tactics employed by Dunn and the many organizations and politicians he funds and influences."
I get a lot of people calling out my #Bitcoin skepticism (as in: Bitcoin is a worthless piece of hot garbage trying to kill our planet) because number is again going up. This time it's real, now that the scamers have been caught and all.
But if you want to know why Bitcoin goes up you just need to look at one curve: Tether has printed 4 billion USD from thin air in the last week.
While it's great to see the crypto scam artists SBF and CZ been caught and punished (sadly without making their victims whole) the actual rock that whole scam economy is built on is Tether. Has been Tether for years.
And I really don't get why US regulators let some weird company print fake USD.
“Lawmakers know that a voucher scam is going to ultimately take more money out of our #schools than it ever puts in. So, no, lawmakers won’t fall for this cheap bribe.”
Pro tip: State Sen. Menendez (D-San Antonio) proved it when he tried to make private schools accountable to educating children with disabilities through amendments to the voucher bill, but Sen. Creighton (R-Conroe) and the rest of the Texas Senate GOP wouldn't allow it.
From the archives: “In reality, it’s a subtraction from a student in the public school. Then, you’re never going to have an equitable system where every kid can access quality #education.”