Republicans to target unions, expand school choice in states

[DonViejo]

Source: Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Republicans are poised to use their newly attained capitol dominance to make Missouri the 27th right-to-work state prohibiting mandatory union fees. That is unless Kentucky’s recently crowned GOP majorities can beat them to it.

The race to expand right-to-work laws is just one of several ways that Republicans, who strengthened their grip on power in the November elections, are preparing to reshape state laws affecting workplaces, classrooms, courtrooms and more during 2017.

As President-elect Donald Trump leads an attempted makeover in Washington, Republican governors and state lawmakers will be simultaneously pushing an aggressive agenda that limits abortion, lawsuits and unions, cuts business taxes and regulations, and expands gun rights and school choice.

Republicans will hold 33 governors’ offices, have majorities in 33 legislatures and control both the governor’s office and legislature in 25 states — their most since 1952. Democrats will control both the governor’s office and legislature in only about a half-dozen states; the rest will have politically divided governments.

Read more: http://www.salon.com/2016/12/24/republicans-to-target-unions-expand-school-choice-in-states/

[SHRED]

1. Expanding school "choice" is misleading

They want to limit choice via privatization.

[cstanleytech]

3. Plus the other goal is to create a new low educated worker/voting class that they are hoping to rely

on as their voting base in the future as their current aging one dies off so that they can maintain their power.

[certainot]

9. and the absurd part is 88 universities have been helping them do it

the last 30 years

here are 88 unis helping 257 limbaugh stations by broadcasting sports on them - that brings advertisers and community cred - the number is num of limbaugh stations - to pay operating costs so the kochs and crew can yell about how teachers and unions suck, we can't raise taxes to pay for ed, and so on.

these schools need to be pushed to start looking for apolitical alts before trump gets in

from www.republiconradio.org

ALABAMA 8  Auburn 3, Alabama 2, Southern Alabama 2, Troy 1
ARIZONA 2 Arizona St. 1, Arizona 1
ARKANSAS 3 Arkansas 3
CALIFORNIA 5 San Jose State 2, USC 2, Fresno St. 1
COLORADO 4 Air Force 2, Colorado 1, Colorado State 1
CONNECTICUT 1 Connecticut 1
FLORIDA 20 Florida 10, Florida St. 4 Miami 2, South Florida 2, Central Florida 2
GEORGIA 14 Georgia 7, Georgia Tech 5, Georgia Southern 2
IDAHO 7  Boise St. 4, Idaho 3
ILLINOIS 7 Illinois 7
INDIANA 11 Notre Dame 6, Purdue 4, Indiana 1
IOWA 5 Iowa 4, Iowa St. 1
KANSAS 4 Kansas St. 2, Kansas 1, Wichita St. 1
KENTUCKY 3 Louisville 2, Kentucky 1
LOUSIANA 3 LSU 2, La.-Monroe 1
MARYLAND 2 Maryland 2
MASSACHUSETTS 1 Boston College 1
MICHIGAN 19 Michigan St. 11, Michigan 7, Western Michigan 1
MINNESOTA 4 Minnesota 4
MISSISSIPPI 6 Mississippi St. 3, Mississippi 2, Southern Miss 1
MISSOURI 6 Missouri 6
NEBRASKA 6 Nebraska 6
NEVADA 1 Nevada 1
NEW JERSEY 2 Rutgers 1, Seton Hall 1
NEW MEXICO 3 New Mexico 2, New Mexico St. 1
NEW YORK 7 Syracuse 6, Army 1
NORTH CAROLINA 16 North Carolina 8, North Carolina State 3, Duke 3, East Carolina 2
OHIO 10 Ohio St. 6, Toledo 1, Dayton 1, Bowling Green 1, Xavier 1
OKLAHOMA 5 Oklahoma St. 3, Oklahoma 1, Oral Roberts 1
OREGON 12 Oregon St. 7, Oregon 5
PENNSYLVANIA 14 Penn St. 11, Pittsburgh 2, Temple 1
SOUTH CAROLINA 4 South Carolina 2, Clemson 2
TENNESSEE 7 Tennessee 4, Memphis 3
TEXAS 16 Texas A&M 9, Texas Tech 4, Texas 1, Texas Christian 1, Baylor 1
UTAH 1 Utah St. 1
VIRGINIA 6 Virginia Tech 5, Virginia 1
WASHINGTON 6 Washington 5, Washington St. 1
WEST VIRGINIA 2 West Virginia 1, Marshall 1
WISCONSIN 5 Wisconsin 5

[CrispyQ]

2. This:

Republicans will hold 33 governors’ offices, have majorities in 33 legislatures and control both the governor’s office and legislature in 25 states — their most since 1952. Democrats will control both the governor’s office and legislature in only about a half-dozen states;

The damage about to be done is going to be monumental. I told two cousins of mine, who voted Trump, write down where you're at in your life right now - your assets, your health, your general well-being & that of your loved ones, & in 2020, pull that out & read it. You've been conned.

[certainot]

10. they need one more to call a constitutional convention i think

i'll bet they're looking for a close house where with some swiftboating they can destroy a couple of dems.

[DK504]

4. What would be great if we had

a real DNC that works full-time on a 50 state strategy. It'd be awesome for the Democratic national party support state and city candidates. Even down here in Mississippi it would be possible to get a democrat elected in 2 years.

[47of74]

5. We need hard, pipe hitting liberals in charge

Not the milquetoast set that got us where we are now. We need liberals who will defend our ideals, give no ground to our enemies, and stand together against attacks from within or without. We need liberals in charge who know how to fight hard against conservatives and won't back down just because they're worried about the next attack ad.

[milestogo]

6. They want us to work from 7 to 70 with no worker protections

and to have an educational system that is so dumbed down nobody knows how to fight about it.

[tenorly]

19. The GOP platform in a nutshell.

As long as most voters believe it will never be imposed on them (until it is, by which time it'll be too late), all is lost.

[DeminPennswoods]

7. The problem with school choice

Here in PA, up until the last election, the Rs controlled both the governship and legislature. School choice got lots of love with charter and cybercharter schools. Here's where it's run into a problem. The Rs represent everyone mostly outside the big urban areas of the state. In these places, the local public school is a source of pride to its community. These schools are facing ever increasing budget squeezes because of they have to pay tuition to whatever charter school a district student chooses to attend. The school boards have responded by raising property taxes, making students pay to participate in athletics and other things. This has a real impact on the residents lives. Adults with kids in school have to dig deeper in their pockets for extra-curricular activities and everyone gets to pay for the charter students through increased property taxes. These are the people putting pressure on the state legislature to rein in the charter schools.

[lancelyons]

16. If thats the case, then soon in your area, the voters will figure out the R way is not working

If that's the case, then soon in your area, the voters will figure out the R way is not working and will perhaps make their vote count next time.

[DeminPennswoods]

17. They'll still vote for Rs

The state legislative districts are so gerry-mandered, many Rs (and Ds, too) either end up running unopposed or with token opposition. They'll still vote for conservatives, but they're kind of become a check and balance on them on this issue. The Rs don't care how much damage charters do to the big urban school districts, especially Phila. Some of the smallest districts in the state reside in R districts. There aren't that many brick and mortar charters, but they get hit by the costs of cyber charter schools enrolling their students. It puts the Rs in a conundrum because they now have to choose between "school choice" and their constituents who don't like how it affects their schools. That's why the call for charter school reform legislation has generally been fairly bi-partisan so far.

[BumRushDaShow]

18. The one big issue about here in PA

compared to other states, is a lack of dedicated funding for schools. After 15 years, there is finally movement here in Philly to start dismantling the nonsensical "School Reform Commission" (which is nothing more than a financial oversight functionary), which the state law allows - but with the caveat that the city would be required to come up with a detailed plan for what would be its replacement. IMHO, we need to re-institute a School Board again - but perhaps with elected members in addition to the previous iteration that had appointed ones.

[DeminPennswoods]

20. There is a new formula from a bi-partisan group

But our fearless GOP led legislature made sure it applied to only "new" education funding, so it's barely helping even out the basic education funding imbalance.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

8. We're moving from a country that had the best public schools in the world...

shortly after the country was founded to one that's heading toward the Dark Ages in terms of basic education (more wealth dependent).

EDIT: By the way, how did we get to the narrative that businesses that want better educated/skilled employees shouldn't be responsible for that cost?! Is that how we run our military?! Do we expect new recruits to pay for all of their military training before they're accepted, or does our military first PAY them and then train them? If businesses are going to make these demands, they better pay for it one way or another! A universal basic income and free college sounds good to me! For crying out loud, the corporate owners will still make out like bandits... because they're the freakin' OWNERS! Education/training pushed onto individuals strikes me as very similar to the "hidden costs" of environmental pollution that many businesses avoid paying as well!

[Igel]

12. You should look into the history of public education, mandatory and otherwise, in the US.

It was really a mixed bag. My elementary school was, I think, the second in the county to be founded, and that was (a) 1896 or 1898, and (b) because a large steel mill built a community and that was one of the ways to attract and produce the next gen worker. It was a decade or more before elementary school became compulsory.

Middle school became compulsory in most states in the 1920 and '30s. Fifty percent of 18-year-olds finally graduated high school on in '42, and it wasn't until after the war that high-school graduation rates hit 50% again.

There were public schools around in the 1600s. But usually they were founded for a very good reason and served precisely those who wanted to send their kids to school. Now, if we had that model, we'd immediately lost about 10% of our student body, and most of those would be in the bottom 15%. Even now there's a kind of problem forming and it's reflected in the last PISA scores for the US: We've boasted about decreasing the "achievement" gap even though our averages are still mediocre. Now, if you are finding an average and average 90 + 50, you get a mediocre number, 70. If you keep the average at 70 but increase the bottom number to 60, what's that say about your high scores? (That's what many current education folk are proud of. Woo. Hoo.)


As for the military, the military pays the cost--which means the tax payers pay.

It's worth nothing that reasonably often if an employer gives you a special skill you get to sign a non-competition agreement. They own the skill. It's not a freebie, an act of charity. I know, I know, there's JFK's "ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country can do for you" and all that. (Oh. Did I get that bit of progressivism wrong?)

[Buckeye_Democrat]

14. I'd need to look up comparisons to other countries again.

Despite many people in the past being uneducated, my impression was that much of the rest of the world was even worse.

I recall that percentages of basic literacy was one of the comparisons to other countries. I'm trying to remember who wrote about it. I think it was one of Noam Chomsky's buddies who mostly studies the history of the media in this country, but I can't remember his name at the moment.

As for modern education, I still argue that it should be mostly paid through higher taxes on corporations and ownership. They benefit from it... they should pay for it. Employees who tend to get paid more for their educational investments is a reality, but it's always the ownership class who benefits more. Employee inventions and advancements are regularly owned by the employers. Look at automation. Did a bunch of businessmen create those advancements, or was it their more scientific and technologically gifted employees?

[Greybnk48]

11. If the power Democrats don't go after this like rabid dogs

after what's happened in Wisconsin, then our party is in VERY serious trouble.

I, for one, will be repulsed by it.

[elmac]

13. Well, the people have spoken

and they want to be poorer and less educated. The empty space between their ears and both coasts are one and the same.

[duffyduff]

15. No such thing as school choice for parents

The schools choose the kids, and these jokes called private schools take the easy kids and then they turn around and brag about how "rigorous" their curriculum is thanks to the overabundance of gifted and talented kids that are in these schools.

I would like to see private schools and charter schools outlawed.

[hollowdweller]

21. Isn't it interesting that the GOP campaigned on stagnant wages

But they keep passing things to keep wages lower??