Do Local Republicans Want to Gut or Reform FCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line is this: R’s want to lower taxes, which means funding for schools will be reduced. You can’t have it both ways. That, or they will make cuts everywhere else.

If there is less funding, will FCPS stop wasting on ST math, Lexia, Math Space. etc? Maybe switching back to textbook is not a bad idea.
Oh, also, if the funding is cut, will FCPS cut some useless positions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The schools become good under republicans. Downhill slide became the situation when democrats became the majority. Not the board is totally D and we are in free fall. I will vote for Rs until because D vote- a vote to return the current board members to the board is a message that you like what they are doing. I don’t like what they are doing so it will be R for me.

And we see plenty of R states ruining education right now. We have no proof they’ll be better for VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bottom line is this: R’s want to lower taxes, which means funding for schools will be reduced. You can’t have it both ways. That, or they will make cuts everywhere else.

If there is less funding, will FCPS stop wasting on ST math, Lexia, Math Space. etc? Maybe switching back to textbook is not a bad idea.
Oh, also, if the funding is cut, will FCPS cut some useless positions?

That’s not usually how it works, but feel free to believe that will happen (one textbook per kid is far more expensive than any app that can be delivered via the internet). What I’m sure WILL happen is, all schools will be defunded to some degree; however, wealthy districts will continue to thrive because they have strong PTOs that can raise a $hit-ton of money to offset the lack of funding.

[Anonymous]

Just ask how they feel about vouchers.

[Anonymous]

Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior.

Republicans are taking away women’s right to health care when pregnant.

They also want to privatize education.

I’m not willing to trust in a republican school
Board candidate yet given their past behavior.

I have voted for r and d before but will not vote r in the current climate. Their goal is to undermine government.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The schools become good under republicans. Downhill slide became the situation when democrats became the majority. Not the board is totally D and we are in free fall. I will vote for Rs until because D vote- a vote to return the current board members to the board is a message that you like what they are doing. I don’t like what they are doing so it will be R for me.

Do they? Can you give concrete examples?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The schools become good under republicans. Downhill slide became the situation when democrats became the majority. Not the board is totally D and we are in free fall. I will vote for Rs until because D vote- a vote to return the current board members to the board is a message that you like what they are doing. I don’t like what they are doing so it will be R for me.

Do they? Can you give concrete examples?

I wonder if the issue is less Rs vs. Ds and more to do with the pitfalls of an elected vs. appointed school board. I agree the current all-Democratic SB is a total disaster - ideologically driven, no practical skills or common sense whatsoever, and deeply hypocritical. The only SB member who commanded the least bit of respect (McLaughlin) is not running again.

But, again, it's not like some of the Republicans whose names are surfacing aren't total ideologues as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Republicans will always oppose and undermine public schools.

Always.

No. I’m a republican and I teach. I don’t indoctrinate and push my views on my students either. I just teach the curriculum and provide a warm, loving, nurturing environment for my title one students.

Same as Democratic teachers. But you're not running for office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All republicans want to gut and privatize all public schools. Any attempt to argue otherwise is a lie.

Absolutely not true. You are speaking from your own point of view.

Like if I wrote:
All Dems want to let kids read porn in school. They want all schools to teach that our society is systemically racist. They want to get rid of all standardized testing and leave parents totally out of decision making.

I grew up in public schools --through the Masters' Degree level. DH did the same, except for Masters was private.

We sent out kids to public schools and colleges.

I have always wanted my grandchildren to go to public schools, but I am beginning to rethink that.

When people think that 'Gender Queer" a graphic novel with sexual depictions is okay to have in SCHOOL libraries, something is wrong.

I am NOT for book banning. But, discretion in what is ordered for school libraries is just common sense. Book banning is keeping books from being published or sold. It is not keeping them out of school libraries.

It's not porn. Where did you go to school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior.

Republicans are taking away women’s right to health care when pregnant.

They also want to privatize education.

I’m not willing to trust in a republican school
Board candidate yet given their past behavior.

I have voted for r and d before but will not vote r in the current climate. Their goal is to undermine government.

+1

Current Rs are anti-public education and anti-democracy.

[Anonymous]

I think having a board comprising members of one party encourages a kind of group-think. There's a lot of talk about the importance of diversity, but diversity of viewpoints is far more important, to me, than diversity of skin color or religion or sexuality. If all the members of the school board were Republicans, I would vote for the Democratic candidate, hoping to expand the viewpoint diversity. Likewise, with this board, a few Republicans would (one hopes) push back on the long, self-congratulatory parts of board meetings, and request an increased focus on things that the current members seem to have ignored. I don't particularly blame any of the current board members for Jeff Platenberg's facilities planning fails. But I didn't ever hear any of this current board asking why some schools have been allowed to fall into such disrepair. Maybe an opposing board member would ask the hard questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think having a board comprising members of one party encourages a kind of group-think. There's a lot of talk about the importance of diversity, but diversity of viewpoints is far more important, to me, than diversity of skin color or religion or sexuality. If all the members of the school board were Republicans, I would vote for the Democratic candidate, hoping to expand the viewpoint diversity. Likewise, with this board, a few Republicans would (one hopes) push back on the long, self-congratulatory parts of board meetings, and request an increased focus on things that the current members seem to have ignored. I don't particularly blame any of the current board members for Jeff Platenberg's facilities planning fails. But I didn't ever hear any of this current board asking why some schools have been allowed to fall into such disrepair. Maybe an opposing board member would ask the hard questions.

Tend to agree with this; will probably vote D for our district seat but do NOT want 3 Ds for the at-large seats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Republicans will always oppose and undermine public schools.

Always.

No. I’m a republican and I teach. I don’t indoctrinate and push my views on my students either. I just teach the curriculum and provide a warm, loving, nurturing environment for my title one students.

I have a 10th grader and have never, not once, had a teacher "push [him/her] views on my child or DC's friends. My kid and I have had talks about it on many occasions. KIDS definitely talk and influence each other. But, as a teacher, hopefully you are not trying to censor that just b/c you may not like what you hear or some other parent may not like it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior.

Republicans are taking away women’s right to health care when pregnant.

They also want to privatize education.

I’m not willing to trust in a republican school
Board candidate yet given their past behavior.

I have voted for r and d before but will not vote r in the current climate. Their goal is to undermine government.

This is exactly right. They want to privatize and defund (do we not remember Betsy DeVos, as well as the schools Kansas????) They have not backed off those proposals. This includes Youngkin and Virginia GOP:

https://bluevirginia.us/2023/02/republicans-try-once-again-to-privatize-public-education-in-virginia
This session, Republicans again have sponsored a number of bills to privatize public education in furtherance of school choice. The most prominent of these — House Bill 1508 — would revive education savings accounts, now renamed “Education Success Accounts.” Under the proposed legislation, eligible parents could receive a portion of the amount ordinarily appropriated by the Commonwealth to a public school to educate that student. Parents could use the funds to pay for a wide range of educational services, including tuition, fees, and textbooks at a private elementary or secondary school in Virginia. On February 1, the bill was approved and reported out of a House Education Sub-Committee (on a party line vote).

He's luring people in with scare tactics to make you think your kids are going to be exposed to scary trans kids, read porn in school, and be told "white people are bad", among other boogey man fantasies. And then when he/they have you sufficiently riled up, they'll do things like this. Because who wouldn't WANT this if your kids are being made to suffer all these scarey "woke" situations. And y'all are doing JUST WHAT THEY WANT.

Shame on you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior.

Republicans are taking away women’s right to health care when pregnant.

They also want to privatize education.

I’m not willing to trust in a republican school
Board candidate yet given their past behavior.

I have voted for r and d before but will not vote r in the current climate. Their goal is to undermine government.

This is exactly right. They want to privatize and defund (do we not remember Betsy DeVos, as well as the schools Kansas????) They have not backed off those proposals. This includes Youngkin and Virginia GOP:

https://bluevirginia.us/2023/02/republicans-try-once-again-to-privatize-public-education-in-virginia
This session, Republicans again have sponsored a number of bills to privatize public education in furtherance of school choice. The most prominent of these — House Bill 1508 — would revive education savings accounts, now renamed “Education Success Accounts.” Under the proposed legislation, eligible parents could receive a portion of the amount ordinarily appropriated by the Commonwealth to a public school to educate that student. Parents could use the funds to pay for a wide range of educational services, including tuition, fees, and textbooks at a private elementary or secondary school in Virginia. On February 1, the bill was approved and reported out of a House Education Sub-Committee (on a party line vote).

He's luring people in with scare tactics to make you think your kids are going to be exposed to scary trans kids, read porn in school, and be told "white people are bad", among other boogey man fantasies. And then when he/they have you sufficiently riled up, they'll do things like this. Because who wouldn't WANT this if your kids are being made to suffer all these scarey "woke" situations. And y'all are doing JUST WHAT THEY WANT.

Shame on you.

There are few sites as partisan as Blue Virginia. It's the Daily Caller of the left.

There wouldn't be an appetite for school vouchers unless people were losing faith in the competence and intent of public schools officials. What you call "boogey man fantasies" are, in fact, part and parcel of what the far left wants to normalize in public schools. It wasn't Republicans who spend $500K on "equal outcomes for all" equity consultants and speeches by race hucksters like Kendi to make Democrats look bad; the Democrats did that to themselves.

But it still leaves open the question as to whether Republicans want to privatize public schools or whether they simply want to gain more influence over the public schools by threatening to privatize them. I actually don't care if they do the latter if it would push the public school establishment back towards the center, but I don't want schools defunded, either.