Rex Still Pimping Semantics
After more than a year of using taxpayer-funded resources to promote its latest misinformation campaign, the S.C. education establishment has collected only 50,000 signatures for its “Goodbye Minimally Adequate” petition – well short of its 1,000,000 goal.
What percentage of those signatures are local administrators or State Department of Education bureaucrats?
Yeah … take a guess.
Anyway, the “Goodbye Minimally Adequate” campaign has benefited from massive earned media exposure and vocal support from State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex, who over the weekend sent out yet another plea urging people to sign the petition.
From Rex’s latest blast email:
The petition to support a constitutional amendment establishing “high quality education” as our standard for public education instead of “a minimally adequate education” has reached 50,000 signatures.
You can help us take that number to the next level on the way to 1,000,000 signatures.
Of course, the campaign is also relying on voter ignorance.
As our guest columnist Bob McAlister noted earlier this year, the words “minimally adequate” don’t even appear in our state constitution – which means that there’s no standard to change and nothing to amend.
“Goodbye Minimally Adequate” is a scam, people – a distraction.
But even if there was some element of truth behind this petition drive, there’s the larger question of semantic versus actual change.
Everyone agrees that the ultimate goal of the “Goodbye Minimally Adequate” campaign is to increase funding for K-12 education, but haven’t we done that already?
Isn’t per pupil funding in this state double what it was a decade ago? And didn’t taxpayers dump a billion new dollars into the system over the previous four years? Also, don’t S.C. public schools currently have $800 million in carry-forward balances just sitting in the bank?
The answer to all of those questions is “Yes.”
Which means that our answer to educrat scams like “Goodbye Minimally Adequate” is a resounding ‘No.’
And from the looks of it, the people of South Carolina agree with us.
Comments
By GnuBerry on April 27th, 2009 at 10:22 am
You seem fixated on vouchers.
By fitsnews on April 27th, 2009 at 11:02 am
GnuBerry = The new BIN
By Darth on April 27th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Let me see, isn’t Rex’s performance minimally adequate?
By David O on April 27th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
In my town of Greenwood, it seems nearly every school is brand new, recently renovated, or in the process of major renovations. In fact, the school buildings are some of the nicest looking structures in our town. How can this be, if there is not enough money going to the government school system?
When one does not have enough money to feed their family, they don’t buy a new home. Shouldn’t the school districts also prioritize feeding (educating) the students? Until a majority of students are mastering the basics, like reading, writing, and math, how can we allow spending on anything else?
What is the purpose of the government education system? Is it to provide health care, train future pro athletes, sex education, music, dance, proms, and humanist indoctrination???? Why do we have government schools if they don’t teach children the three R’s?
One can survive without many of the classes and activities provided by our government schools. Believe it or not, the kids will not be doomed to a life of poverty if they don’t have sports, band, social studies, sex ed, field trips, dance, music, computers, pretty buildings, etc…., but an adult that can’t read and write is doomed to failure.
No one is willing to make any cuts in the government education bureaucracy and anyone that wants to try anything new is demonized. God forbid that the government school system give up one dime. Meanwhile, millions of minds are turning to mush.
By BIN News Editorial Staff on April 27th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
At our BIN Staff meeting today our Funding Editor pointed out that the casual reader of this porn site certainly has difficulty discerning whether sic(k) willie is a paid voucher scam carpetbugger or just an “ignorant slut.”
The term “ignorant slut” comes from a great old SNL skit. sic(k) willie gets the hives every time we remind him he acts like an “ignorant slut.”
Those of us who know sic(k) willie best know he is both. He’s a paid voucher pimp and an “ignorant slut” (in the SNL context).
He knows the voucher scam is the biggest insult to taxpayers and all children since the Jim Crow era. But sic(k) willie pimps anything for money.
BIN News Editorial Staff
Flair and Balanced
P.S. Great job picking up on our terminology. But the words “pimp” and “scam” will always best describe Howie’s voucher cr@p.