It does not matter the accomplishments that have or been made in South Carolina Public Schools, Mick Zais, Nikki Haley, charter school and school voucher supporters don’t want to hear it, since they have other plans of their own. They are not rooting for public schools, because they dislike public schools. To Zais and his supporters, they have found a new means to give more money to charter schools and they plan on keeping that money as a part of their Educational Transformation Plans.
“The whole current system of No Child Left Behind is confusing to the public, its misleading to the parents and frankly its demoralizing to the hardworking professionals who are working so hard in out schools every day to help our children,” Zais said.
“Traditional proposals for improving education — more money, better facilities, improved curriculum and smaller classes — will not work. We’ve tried that. We’ve tried that for 40 years,” said Zais.
Schools certainly should have a certain bit of accountability, as I say this waiver speaks in circle and the best judgement of what someone is saying is to look at their actions. In the waiver I present below it says it will eliminate dissentives that have cultivated low performance such as resources. That contrasts with Zais previous and still current actions. Is Zais really concerned about a poor school funding. As stated at the beginning of this blog Mick Zais doesn’t look to money as being an improvement to school. We already seen that when he had the chance to apply or millions of dollars he turned his head.
South Carolina State Representative Mia Butler Garrick introduced legislation that in would in fact prevent educational officials from turning down any federal education grant that does not require matching funds.
So what does he mean now by applying for a waiver to the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. Let’s face for Republicans their solution to the problem if it isn’t school vouchers it’s funding for charter schools with funding from public education.
As it so happen mentioned in the waiver the office that is set to handle these transformations mentioned in the waiver is the office that handles charter schools, alternative education and poor level school. I have enclosed the waiver statement below stating as much they will be the ones handling things. Lowering standards just enough to keep the money, but still not too low so you can say in South Carolina you have a need for charter schools as your fix to the problems
In 2011 Zais was concerned that the this big Republican state of South Carolina teachers were too liberal and that our school text books were too liberal. For one it’s not any of his business what political party any of his teachers vote for or support. Second it is very far from the truth that this big Republican state of South Carolina has liberal textbooks. If these text books were they would get an ‘F’ because they sure haven’t influence the voters of this state from voting Republican. That’s Zais after the state of Texas and their nonsense and waste of money. In the Republican state of Texas they created brand new textbooks for their schools for the 2011-2012 school year, because they thought their books were too liberal.
South Carolina Department Education are planning to send in a waiver the U.S. Department of Education by February 21, 2012. Prior up until January 23 were some town hall meeting to discuss this issue. To see a draft of that waiver you can go to this link: http://ed.sc.gov/agency/lpa/documents/ESEA_Flexibility_Request_for_Public_Comment_12-20.pdf
If your state never fund South Carolina education I wouldn’t trust a waiver by them I would contact the United States Department of Education with your concerns.
What is confusing is the waiver process that the Governor and Zais are proposing. We already know they are against Race to the Top funding so you have to wonder why they don’t state clearly for parents at home to understand what they are for and against. I’m pretty sure parents found it confusing with all the so-call initials, especially the so-call initials not stating what they were ever in this waiver or the ones it you had to go searching for to get the real name for. A contract is easier than this waiver. Out of all these initials one of the most important thing missing is stating the full name “Elementary and Secondary Education Act”. That is who the waiver is in reference to.
ESEA flexibility request is in reference to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. That isn’t the only name for that ESEA. That’s what this waiver is supposed to be about are against but clearly it is no where indicated. Unless you are someone who has kept up with some of the back and forth between the U.S. Department of Education and South Carolina Department of Education the initials may you leave wonder who is Zais is talking about since the there waiver doesn’ give the name. Not every parent, new parent, grandparent, new resident of this state, and guardian who has a child in public schools don’t have a computer to figure out who Zais is talking about. Just like they aren’t talking about neither is their waiver clear on what it is that they want. In that case all we have to go on are Mick Zais previous actions which are not good for South Carolinians
What is the ESEA:
“The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) (Pub.L. 89-10, 79 Stat. 27, 20 U.S.C. ch.70), is a United States federal statute enacted April 11, 1965. It was passed as a part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty” and has been the most far-reaching federal legislation affecting education ever passed by Congress. The act is an extensive statute that funds primary and secondary education, while explicitly forbidding the establishment of a national curriculum.[1] It also emphasizes equal access to education and establishes high standards and accountability.[2] In addition, the bill aims to shorten the achievement gaps between students by providing each child with fair and equal opportunities to achieve an exceptional education. As mandated in the act, the funds are authorized for professional development, instructional materials, for resources to support educational programs, and for parental involvement promotion. The act was originally authorized through 1970; however, the government has reauthorized the act every five years since its enactment. The current reauthorization of ESEA is the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, named and proposed by President George W. Bush. The ESEA also allows military recruiters access to 11th and 12th grade students’ names, addresses, and telephone listings when requested.”
Overview
Title I (“Title One”), a provision of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act passed in 1965, is a program created by the United States Department of Education to distribute funding to schools and school districts with a high percentage of students from low-income families. Funding is distributed first to state educational agencies (SEAs) which then allocate funds to local educational agencies (LEAs) which in turn dispense funds to public schools in need.
The waiver concerned a Proposal in 2011 by the President and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
What is ESEA Flexibility? What type of waivers are being offered to states?
On August 8, 2011 President Obama directed Secretary Duncan to move forward with plans to provide flexibility to states who are looking for greater relief under the No Child Left Behind law. Find out about ESEA flexibility at: http://www.ed.gov/esea/flexibility.
State education agencies will have multiple opportunities to submit requests for flexibility. In order to provide flexibility to SEAs by the end of the 2011−2012 school year, there are two windows in which an SEA may submit its request:
Submit requests by November 14, 2011 for December peer review
Submit requests by mid-February, 2012 for a Spring 2012 review
SEAs should notify the Department, by October 12, 2011, of their intent to request ESEA Flexibility, including the submission window in which they intend to submit their request. Please send the notice of intent as well as SEA requests for flexibility to ESEAflexibility@ed.gov.
If you have questions regarding ESEA Flexibility that are not answered in the attached documents, or as SEA teams you would like to schedule a time to speak with Department staff about ESEA flexibility requests, please contact us at ESEAflexibility@ed.gov.
Second Submission Window
The second submission deadline to request ESEA Flexibility is February 21, 2012. As of January 23, 2012, 27 States, D.C. and Puerto Rico have submitted an intent to request ESEA Flexibility for the second window. Please send new or updated notices of intent to ESEAflexibility@ed.gov.r
The ESEA concernc public schools, but in the the waiver by South Carolina Department of Education besides speaking round in circles, they mentions Colleges and Universities as well as charter schools.
But then from people who are involved with this waiver process with Mick Zais their statements would suggest the waiver is more concerned about getting funding for public schools. Mick Zais has avoided all effort before to get millions of dollars for South Carolina Public schools.
“We want to stress and emphasize at the stakeholder meetings that we are not trying to opt out of the No Child Left Behind program,” Bosket said. “We will not lose and federal funds by receiving these waivers. What we will gain is more flexibility to better serve our students. We want to stress that this process will not have a negative impact.”
Bosket said the waivers would eliminate the “all or nothing” component that is presently part of the No Child Left Behind law
Stakeholder may refer to:
Stakeholder (corporate), a person, group, organization, or system who affects or can be affected by an organization’s actions
Consumer stakeholder, a person or group with an interest in a business or organization
Project stakeholder, a person, group or organization with an interest in a project
Stakeholder theory, a theory that identifies and models the groups which are stakeholders of a corporation or project
Stakeholder analysis, the process of identifying those affected by a project or event
Stakeholder (law), a third party who temporarily holds money or property while its owner is still being determined
While some individuals may create Charter schools,
Many Charter Schools are created and run by or involve Corporations, who still seek public school funding to create and run them.
Besides Charter Schools being for some an alternative education they are also considered by some as a means to segregation (the Birch Society), and also they are considered as a means to make profit.
Public Schools are funded by you the tax payers and we arent referred to as stakeholders. It sounds like waiver by Zais and Haley will be used so our keep public schools don’t have to meet the national standards, so that any money gain can be kept with out any worries of it being taken back while more charter schools can be funded and created. Charter schools are funded with public school money. While Public School funding ended with them cutting a lot of school programs, charter schools will get to enjoy the luxury of having a variety of programs rather than your basic classes like math, history and english. Charter schools are mention in that waiver.
We already have court ruling stating are schools don’t meet national standards. Are they and their team say South Carolina students aren’t capable enough.
Lowering standards make it seems as Zais and his team have done their jobs and getting to keep up their appearances as if they are trying to improve things your child. Instead it looks like you child will be getting less than a standard form of education. In the wings Charter schools will be waiting to open up more Charter schools and continuously fund the ones they have now.
For years South Carolina State Constitution has said that South Carolina government is only needed to provide for the minimum education. In 2004 Judge Thomas Cooper ruled that the state of South Carolina did not provide economical adequate education and that K-12 did not minimally adequate standards.
ABBEVILLE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, et al. v. THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
The waiver itself is filled with initials and never spells out who the waiver is in response too.
As a part of South Carolina’s 8 page waiver they write as :
CREATING STRONGER COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
We have to change this. South Carolina’s plan is to eliminate the disincentives that have cultivated lowperformance so that we can leverage state and federal resources to build capacity in the lowest performing schools. We will accomplish this, in part, by reducing the number of ineffective “treatments” that are imposed on struggling schools so that we can recruit and empower effective leaders for these schools where we most need to set a new course. In the newly created Office of School Transformation, the state is changing from a model that largely forces compliance on inputs to one that requires progress to reaching attainable results….We will identify, recognize, and reward those who perform well with the flexibility they need for continued success. Those who perform poorly will receive appropriate intervention so that they can serve their students more effectively. Leaders will be held to a higher standard: continued failure will no longer be an option for those who accept the responsibility of leading our children in their educational pursuits
While South Carolina may try to create a waiver where they don’t meet standard at a national level does not mean however they won’t be signaling out areas for creating charter schools. In essence this charter school process will be Mick Zais solution, because as you see in the statement above Zais disagree with what others call a solution providing more funding to public Schools in other words that’s why he didn’t apply to the President’s race to the top program. Zais ignores the fact that teachers have been layed off and school programs have been cut in our public schools. If anything public schools funding is very far from what it should be. This waiver allows Zais to waive standards and using the money towards what he considers the other solution, Charter schools. This is a part of a Republican national effort across country to build more charter schools.
http://ed.sc.gov/agency/lpa/documents/ESEA_Flexibility_Request_for_Public_Comment_12-20.pdf
In other words they are going to dumb it down so they and their stakeholders can keep federal money for their other programs like charter schools, while many South Carolina Children will be the ones who will pay later life for this lack of education.
The Office of School Transformation is designed to offer an array of options for schools to transform from within with the ultimate goal of increasing student achievement. Through the supported efforts of SC TAP, Palmetto Priority (PPS), School Improvement Grants (SIG), Charter Schools, and alternative education methods such as Single Gender and Montessori Education, the South Carolina Department of Education, through the Office of School Transformation, is offering an wide range of opportunities to change the structure of schools to better serve students.
In 2011 Zais refused to apply twice to two Race to the Top programs. One grant would have given South Carolina $144 million and another a part of $200 million.
Would you trust Mick Zais and Governor Nikki Haley motives in the way they are seeking money. Clearly their previous actions and current statements say their plans are quite different what many would think that any money received would go to public schools.
They simply don’t want any kind of funding from the federal government money when it comes to public schools,, but charter schools and pulling the wool over our eyes is a different story.
Here is 2011 Press Release from the U.S. Department of Education:
The U.S. Department of Education released today the proposed requirements for Race to the Top round three (RTT3), a $200 million grant fund to continue State-led K-12 reform. RTT3 will invite finalists from round two—Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and South Carolina—to apply for a grant that supports a portion of their previously established Race to the Top plan and includes a meaningful focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.
“Through Race to the Top, these nine States helped lead the way in laying the groundwork for key education reform around the country,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “We look forward to working with them in round three as they continue their work and transform their plans into significant investments that improve education for more students.”
The suggested process for States to apply will require them to submit applications in two parts. The first will include assurances demonstrating the State’s commitment to education reform and maintaining its investment in education. Part two will include a detailed budget and narrative explaining which portion of their plan the State will pursue, describing how it will have the greatest overall impact on the their education system, and providing further details on activities their plan will support in an effort to improve STEM education in their State.
Beyond their RTT3 application, States will be expected to express a continued commitment toward the four key reform areas that frame the Race to the Top competition-Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace;Building data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals how to improve instruction; Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most; and Turning around persistently lowest-performing schools.
Suggested awards sizes correspond with state population and final award amounts will be consistent with a State’s plan. As proposed, Colorado, Louisiana, South Carolina and Kentucky are eligible to apply for up to $12.25 million; Arizona can apply for up to $17.5 million; Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey are eligible for up to $28 million; and, California can apply for up to $49 million.
RTT3’s nine eligible applicants are among a total of 46 states and the District of Columbia that put together comprehensive education reform plans to apply for Race to the Top in rounds one and two.
We know how it has been a struggle or poor schools in South Carolina to get funding for years, and when we have a chance to obtain funding, Mick Zais and Governor Haley are against Race to the Top Fundings, and they some how want you to trust some waiver they are problem. A medical dictionary can spell out better what they are talking about.
Zais is supposed to have given and still giving Town Hall meeting on this waiver, and plans to turn in a waiver to the United States Secretary of Education Arne Dunne by mid-February. In that letter why they don’t state what their real plans are. Nikki Haley and Mick Zais simply don’t want federal money for our public schools. I bet the lack of public school fundings won’t prevent them from funding more charter schools or seeking private school vouchers. Anderson School District 5 has announced they will opening a brand new charter school in August 2012.
To see their letter you can go to this link: http://ed.sc.gov/agency/lpa/documents/SouthCarolinaESEAFlexLetter_101011.pdf
For parents considering or entertaining support for Nikki Haley and Mick Zais waiver take at look at how your public school funding is set for example to fund the new Charter School in Anderson County while we have poor school still trying to climb of the pit they have been in for years and decades.
Perhaps Haley and Zais would like to forget the Corridor of Shame.
“Establishing a charter school frees us from a number of state regulations such as seat-time requirements that make it difficult to for students to earn credits through computer courses or special academic projects outside of the classroom,” said Superintendent Betty Bagley. “This will give us a greater opportunity to tailor our curriculum to the unique needs of our students.”
The school will use the Advancement Via Individual Determination, or AVID, a philosophy which focuses on attending college and implementing better study habits.
According to Bill Baker, spokesman for the district, the district received a grant from the South Carolina Department of Education for $650,000 over the next three years to help fund technology and software for the school.
“We estimate that we will need to spend an additional $500,000 to $600,000 of fund balance money to launch our new school,” Baker said. “We expect to enroll about 100 students in the 11th and 12th grades in August. We hope to add an additional grade each year until it becomes a grade four through 12 school.”
If you disagree with how Mick Zais, Governor Nikki Haley have handle education in South Carolina there is always the ballot box, and you don’t have to wait til 2014 to show your distrust, you can show it in 2012. They maybe leading the charge but for years Republicans had no real concern for education in South Carolina especially when it concerned the poor. If so there would have never been a movie made called the Corridor of Shame.
Frederica Cade's Blog 
Haley and Zais are trying to rape the public school education system. The hate Obama so much that they will let our school children suffer because of it. To turn down federal funds that DON’T HAVE STRINGS ATTACHED ALTHOUGH THEY WILL CLAIM THEY DO is absolutely absurd. I bet the lack of public school fundings won’t prevent them from funding more charter schools or seeking private school vouchers – private school vouchers are just hand outs for the rich who don’t want to pay for their children’s private school education.
There has got to be a way to force them to take the federal funds. The legislature did it when Mark Sanford tried to refuse federal funds for schools.
So much for Damage Control Nikki Haley – you will go down the tubes for this one too.
Posted by Silver | January 28, 2012, 7:37 am