On the first day of school, public school kids will have a treat:  they will be addressed by the POTUS for the first time “about persisting and succeeding in school.”  While I can’t imagine anyone having a difference of opinion regarding the importance of persisting and succeeding in school, I can foresee difference of opinion in how this is to be accomplished.  As it stands now, I feel that the current and previous administrations believe that such success is not possible without the government.  Loudoun County School District has not published this unprecedented piece of news; I can only assume that all schools will air this broadcast.  My questions are:

1.  Will they air the broadcast?
2.  Will participation be mandatory?
3.  Will students receive a diffing perspective or will only one be presented?
4.  Is this the first of many addresses to students? 

There are some who are calling for boycotting the address by keeping kids home from school that day and others who will politely and boldly asking these questions from their local school board.  What will you do?  While I feel that the government has it’s uses, like creating opportunities for success it is not their responsibility to ensure such success.  The broadcast will broadcast live on the Whitehouse website September 8th at 1pm.

Loudoun Independent reports on Deed’s latest speech this week delivered at GMU.  Common themes throughout were:

• Tax credits for small business.  Here, here!  Well it was a brief mention, but I grab onto these ideas when I hear them. We need lower taxes as well as tax credits!
• Not taking/reducing funding monies from Education.  Even though he says that he supports zero based budgets (Traditional budgeting only increases need to be justified.  Zero-based budget requires justification of all budgeted dollars), he says that he disagrees with reducing Education monies.  This doesn’t quite jive, but who’s holding him accountable for that?    In fact he seems to support Mo Money, Mo Money, Mo Money!  In “2004, I voted for the largest investment in education funding in the Commonwealth’s history.” 
• Government is best way to provide opportunity.  This should be taken away as the over-arching theme and the one with which I am most concerned.  “…it’s the people we elect who have the biggest impact on your educational and economic opportunities.”  I disagree whole-heartedly with this assessment.  In fact, it’s this governmental impact that I’d like to reduce….give the power back to the people. 

Ok, so Loudoun County has advertised that it spends $12,780 per student in 2009 (this is approx. $7k less than the amount spent in Arlington or Alexandria).

Private schools are providing an education at approx $8k per student, as is the case at Dominion Academy in Leesburg.

Shouldn’t we demand more from our local government?  They are spending 50% more per student than their private counterpart.  Perhaps government should get out of the education business?

What’s even more depressing is the reported $13k spent per student for the Loudoun Head Start program that is only half a day.  Compare that with approx. $7k at Dominion.

While not sure how accurate it is, Wikipedia reports that Loudoun County serves 50,000 students from K -12th grade.  If Loudoun County issued vouchers to attend any school and we assume that the chosen schools had same/similar tuition as Dominion, that would be a savings of approx $4500 per student. If only 20% (10,000 students) chose to participate in the voucher program, that would save the county…hmmm…10,000 x $4,500 = $45,000,000.  Not too shabby.

Tennessee law makers are considering a bill to allow full-time faculty and staff (is there some kind of liability with the part-timers?) to carry a handgun onto public campuses.

The President of the UT-Knoxville Faculty Senate, John Nolt, claimed little support from the professors; he said that “campus should be a place of learning not an armed campus…” as if the two were mutually exclusive.  With his logic, the six firearm training programs occurring in April in Tennessee are useless (don’t waste your money).   How does this logic apply to sex ed?

Meanwhile, State Representative Stacey Campfield reminds us that “By banning guns on campus you are not banning the criminals…All you are banning is the people from begin able to defend themselves.”  Amen.  Wish the proposed law would go further and make handguns available for all who can obtain permit.  If one were ever to plan something similar to the Virginia Tech tragedy, all one would have to do is take out the prof and the remainder of the classroom would be defenseless.

Here’s what he really said:

“It should all be free. Paid for by people who worked hard to get their own education and create their own wealth. Thank you very much.”

Loudouners, get ready to pay more taxes.  If your a fiscal conservative, shut your mouth, as these tax increases are for The Children.  I understand that during tonight’s public forum on the budget, resounding applause was the response to mentions of increase in taxes to benefit the most glorious of all recipients–The Children.  So, higher taxes are needed in order to sustain the current level of funding for education in Loudoun.  Let me see if get this straight.  Am I to believe from the Loudoun County Government that for past xx number of years (any number will do here) the education budget is the most efficient and provided the most benefit with the least tax dollars?  I don’t buy it.  I just don’t.  How did we not spend to our means and tax dollars at that time.  We need to tighten our belts, not steal the clothes off our taxpayers backs!  Who are these people!?!  Am I the only who is completely disappointed with the county government and their lack of fiscal creativity or honesty.  WTF?  I hope my son doesn’t pick up this government’s bad habits!

Well, I say to those who support paying higher taxes–you are more than willing to pay higher taxes and you can go ahead and pay my share.  It’s called the Legacy Fund.

Random thoughts on President Obama’s speech.

A little early for a State of the Union - like address, isn’t it?

Hillary is a camera hog.

Chris Dodd needs to be out of office, now.

“Short term gains were preferred over long term prosperity” Good.

Then the deluge, anti-low taxes, pro-regulation mantras.

Nothing new here folks. I wonder if one form of alternative energy is a wind farm in DC generated by Obama applause.

Democrats in Congress give themselves a standing ovation over passing the stimulus.

Extended unemployment benefits…ouch high unemployment to last for a while, eh?

Glad Obama gave props to Joe Biden. Nice.

More free loans for college, auto, homes, businesses…hmm isn’t this what got us in trouble in the first place.

Obama will refinance bad mortgages. Rick Santelli where are you?

A no “no strings attached” approach to bank bailouts. He’s right on the money here and the GOP stands up too on tis one. Ok, then guys don’t capitulate to the banks so easily from now on.

“It’s not about helping banks, it’s about helping people”. Ok if you have to say it then chances are you are doing the opposite. W said much the same thing, when he was helping out banks.

Dependence on foreign oil, health care, bad schools. Same old Same old.

A trillion dollar deficit, financial crisis and a recession…Ugh it’s true.

Bold action and Big ideas. Hold onto your wallets. (Standing O for the GI Bill…natch)

New research funds for medical research…Standing O in the Broussard home!

Energy efficiency blah blah blah.

“We should not and will not protect them from their bad practices.” Again if you have to say that it means you are protecting them from bad decisions.

Free health care for children gets a standing O…more candy for everyone! A cure for cancer?

Whoa the free health care for children gets a bigger O than a cure for cancer! Socialized medicine talk.

Teddy Roosevelt called for health care reform? Really?

Half of college entrants do not finish. Ouch. Is it wise to give everyone free money for tuition if they won’t finish college?

Incentives for teacher peformance is a good idea. Why W couldn’t think of that when he pushed NCLB I’ll never know.

Standing O for Obama telling kids not to drop out of high school. How can you be against that?

Education reform from Edward Kennedy….wait a second didn’t he author No Child Left Behind…I’ve gone cross-eyed!

Parents need to take care of their kids…another standing O!

I love how he swerved from endless promises of spending to being a committed fiscal conservative. I think I got whiplash.

Protectionist alert. Hard to get these Chinese to buy our T-bills if we don’t use stimulus $s to buy their goods. Still I’m all for the protectionist streak in Obama.

Tax free universal savings accounts…sounds good to me.

Oh yeah there’s a war going on…It’d be nice if he were to say “wins”, instead of “ends”, but the way he says ends sounds like, “ins” which is close to “wins” without the W. Maybe he’s just avoiding the W at all costs. “Unyielding support”, sounds more classy than Bill Clinton ever was to our citizens in uniform.

One of the District of Columbia’s latest priorities is setting up Global Positioning System for their snow plows as a public service…after all

“Citizens want information in real time,” Kundra says, “because now, with mobile technology being deployed, the expectations are increased.”

What a pathetic reason to fund or provide this service; it is plain irresponsible. I would think that the money could be used for other priorities like crime prevention/prosecution, infrastructure or other local efforts. When you hear your elected official telling you that it’s all about priorities and “smart” spending, take a closer look at what exactly that means.  

Speaking of irresponsible spending: DC currently spends the 3^rd most in the country on education (based on dollars per student).  Meanwhile, DC education has recently ranked dead last in the nation for Elementary and Middle School levels.  I don’t pay many local DC taxes, but part of their budget comes from national tax revenue…so, yes I feel like I have a stake in the city.  I expect the schools to perform better….I’m waiting!

Are you kidding me? If ever there was a case for homeschooling…:

Several sixth-graders from suburban St. Louis are being disciplined for creating “Hit a Jew Day” and then hitting Jewish classmates.

Four or five students at Parkway West Middle School in Chesterfield could be suspended and undergo counseling for last week’s incident, school officials told the Associated Press. Others who taunted Jewish students or encouraged others to participate face lesser punishment.

Officials said fewer than 10 of the school’s 35 Jewish students were hit. One was slapped in the face and the others were hit mostly on the back of their shoulders.

“There is a mix of sadness and outrage,” said district spokesman Paul Tandy. “The concern is a lot of kids knew about it and they didn’t take action or say anything.”

Kids these days.

This might be the next real big Supreme Court Case:

http://getliberty.org/blog/the…_is_at_stake/

A 5-4 decision as to whether we can defend ourselves in our homes, might indeed be followed (next yearm\, most likely, by a 5-4 decision as to whether we can raise and educate our children as we see fit. This is an extremely fundamental and decidedly important case. Truthfully, to me, the thought of the Government having an absolute right to be the one and only arbiter of the education of your children is as scary, or perhaps even more scary, than the thought that the Government can be the only ones to carry guns.

Hopefully, someone will convince a “Progressive” or two might be convinced that ACCESS to public education and REQUIREMENT of public education are two completely different things.