This page was last updated on April 20, 2011.
Cruel hoax; Editorial; Beaver County Times; April 20, 2011.
Money trail; Editorial; Beaver County Times; April 20, 2011.
The last time we had a two-fer on this topic was exactly two months ago with “Quick hits/THE BIG LIE” and “Beyond the classroom.” They are just two more Times editorials opposing K-12 education alternatives to the traditional one-size-fits-all, brick-and-mortar public school system. There’s really nothing much new in today’s editorials, so please read my critiques of the February 20th editorials for most of my comments.
“Cruel hoax” says, “Republicans estimate the bill would cost more than $730 million in the first four years. However, Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, believes the bill would be more expensive than that, and he’s probably right. Politically, it benefits tuition backers to lowball costs.” That’s a fair observation, but you’ll note the Times didn’t make a similar observation about Obamacare, or about any program the Times supports.
The editorial asserts, “By the fourth year, families with incomes up to $67,000 a year would be eligible.” Since this is a program intended to help bring school choice to low-income families, this comment appears to imply “$67,000 a year” is too much to be considered low-income. The problem for the Times is, just a week ago in “Bottom line,” the Times appeared to buy into the notion the poverty level for a family of four is really “$67,920 a year,” not “the official poverty level for a family of four [of] $22,050.” As Sir Walter Scott wrote, “Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive.”
Finally, if you believe the providing the best education is the issue for these editorials, I have a bridge to sell you. It’s all about power of the state over families and the ability to control what our kids are taught. Campaign funding for Democrat candidates is also likely a consideration. Public school teachers must belong to a labor union. During the 2008 and 2010 elections, the AFT and NEA were two of the top four public sector labor union contributors at the national level and 96.7% of their contributions ($8.8 million) went to Democrats. There’s also the labor union member manpower used for in-kind contributions (knocking on doors, manning phone banks, generating and distributing collateral, rallies, etc.) to support leftist policies/programs/politicians.
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