Idaho Values Alliance: Making Idaho the Friendliest Place in the World to Raise a Family

September 3, 2010

Printer-Friendly Version

Charters represent choice; Charges dropped?

The Idaho Affiliate of the American Family Association

Signup For Updates |Donate Online

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Bryan Fischer, Executive Director

CHARTER SCHOOLS: ONE WAY TO INCREASE PARENTAL CHOICE

Because parents love their children more than anyone else in the world, we believe they are in the best place to decide what kind of educational environment is best for them. And so we support maximum parental choice in education.

According to the Center for Education Reform, the charter school movement is just 16 years old, but the nation’s 4,128 charter schools are now serving more than 1.24 million children, and 300 to 400 charter schools are expected to open next year. Charter schools have been expanding at double-digit rates since the mid-1990s, and almost 60% of existing charters have extensive waiting lists.

Charter schools are public schools which are designed to release educators from the bureaucratic red tape and stifling top-down regulations that hamper innovation and educational reform. In fact, 85% of the teachers in these schools do not participate in a teacher’s union, and about 20% of cha

rters offer merit pay based on student performance, an idea long overdue and whose time has come.

Contrary to the myth that charters are just for upper-enders, it turns out that the majority of charter school students are at-risk (50%), minority (52%) or poor (54%).

Despite receiving just 60 percent of the average funding of conventional public schools, charters typically offer longer school days, longer school years, and innovative curricula. And 86% of them administer some type of standardized test as a way of ensuring academic accountability.

Idaho, unfortunately, is hamstrung by a cumbersome approval process and by a government-imposed cap on the number of charters which can open in one year (six). Consequently, Idaho has just 30 charter schools, serving over 10,260 students, while Arizona, whose charter school program launched at about the same time, has 479 schools and more than 108,700 students.

Polling data reveal that 78 percent of the public supports allowing communities to create charter schools, and a poll commissioned by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice and co-sponsored by the IVA this year indicated that 25% of Idaho taxpayers would choose charter school if that option existed for them, while just 12 would choose a regular public school.

It’s time for the Idaho legislature to find ways to remove roadblocks and free parents and educators to create more charter schools for Idaho families.

CER Annual Survey of American Charter Schools: Executive Summary

CER Annual Survey of American Charter Schools

CHARGES AGAINST SPANKING MOM WILL BE DROPPED IF COMPLETE PARENTING COURSE

Melissa Farrell, the Rathdrum mom charged with criminal injury to a child for spanking her 21-month old daughter at the Fourth of July parade in Coeur d’Alene (to keep her from running into the street where she could have gotten run over by a truck), will have the charges against her dropped if she completes a parenting class.

(I had the opportunity to serve yesterday as a guest for two segments on Carmen Pate and Kerby

Anderson’s “Point of View” radio program to talk about this situation.)

After she entered a “not guilty”plea last week, the prosecutor asked for a continuance to allow Mrs. Farrell time to complete an 8-week parenting class.

It’s hard to see how the prosecutor could have won this case, since he would have had to prove the girl had been injured. But police made no effort to examine the child for injuries when they cited Mrs. Farrell, and when the parents took her to a hospital to be examined, for their own protection, the hospital gave the girl a clean bill of health.

In fact, the doctor who examined little Laila right after the mother had supposedly abused her said, “In general, this is a well-developed, very pleasant female patient, cheerful and interactive with her surroundings.”

The parents will go through the parenting classes in order to get this sorry affair behind them, but the classes still represent a form of punishment. I spoke with the executive director of the parenting program the Farrells will go through, and she proved quite evasive when I asked her if spanking was considered by her as something which would ever be appropriate.

She indicated they avoid the topic of spanking altogether in the class, which we can hope means that the Farrells will not be pressured to agree that spanking is a form of child abuse in order to graduate from the class and have the charges dropped.

Coeur d'Alene Press Newspaper - Spanking charges could be dropped

OBAMA OUTRAISING MCCAIN IN IDAHO

As a further sign of the malaise surrounding Sen. John McCain among conservatives, the Daily Kos is reporting that Sen. Obama has raised more money in Idaho than the Republican standard-bearer. Through June 30, Idahoans gave $376,000 to Obama while giving just $229,000 to McCain, although it should be

pointed out that Mitt Romney raised more than the two of them together as the preferred candidate among leading Idaho Republicans.

A further sign of the lack of enthusiasm for McCain in Idaho is found in the fact that in the Nampa, Meridian and Eagle areas, Ron Paul raised more money than the Arizona senator.

The lack of enthusiasm for McCain among Idaho conservatives – a well-justified lack of enthusiasm – may serve as a drag on turnout which in could be a hurdle for Bill Sali to clear in his effort to retain his seat in Congress.

Daily Kos :: Obama Outraising McCain . . . in Idaho?

THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS WITH CHIEF JUSTICE DAN EISMANN

Idaho’s Chief Justice, Dan Eismann, is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for lymphoma,

possibly connected to his exposure to Agent Orange while serving as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. Eismann received a Purple Heart for his war service.

While doctors indicate it is a relatively aggressive form of cancer, and therefore a bit more challenging, they say his prognosis is good and predict a full recovery.

Eismann is expected to maintain a full case load throughout the treatment phase, which is good news for Idahoans as Eismann clearly is a proponent of the strict constructionism we admire in Justices Scalia, Thomas, Roberts and Alito. His influence on the bench is much needed and greatly appreciated.

Our thoughts and prayers are with him, his wife Sheila and their son Matt.

Idaho Chief Justice Dan Eismann begins chemotherapy | Idaho Statesman

If you value the work of the IVA in representing our values, please consider a gift to our work. You may do so here. Together we can make Idaho the friendliest place in the world to raise a family! Thank you!

BONUS BYTES

Bradley Watson makes the point that, since California couples can register as domestic partners and get virtually all the rights and privileges historically reserved for married couples, the battle over marriage in California is really about language and whether homosexuals can call a same-sex union a “marriage.” What the state Supreme Court has done, in legalizing gay marriage by judicial fiat, is assert a “stunning claim: the right to a noun.” Watson reminds us of the Orwellian nature of this effort to control “the contents of the Oxford English Dictionary” by changing the definition of marriage from what has been throughout all recorded human history. Orwell recognized that the “political manipulation of language is essential to the full range of thought control,” and, if homosexual activists are successful generations of Americans to come will have no concept of marriage as it has been since the dawn of creation. The legal entanglements that are sure to follow – as both California and Massachusetts turn into a bi-coastal Las Vegas of homosexual marriage – surely dictate the necessity of a federal marriage amendment. As Lincoln said of the pressing moral issue of his day, “[T]his government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. It will become all one thing, or all the other.” It should be pointed out that, contrary to Sen. McCain’s position, a federal marriage amendment shows the ultimate respect for states’ rights because it cannot go into effect until 37 states ratify it. (First Principles - As California Goes, So Goes the Nation)

I’ve mentioned before the political gerrymandering being done on the language of California’s marriage amendment by Attorney General Jerry Brown, who effectively launched his 2010 gubernatorial campaign by making what one observer called “highly unusual” changes in the wording of the amendment initiative as it will appear on the ballot. He has added language that says the amendment would “eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry.” This obviously is designed to influence voters to vote against the measure, but this “right” only exists because of four judicial activists on the state Supreme Court. Further, Brown, with no foundation or evidence whatsoever, added language that the amendment will cost “tens of millions of dollars” in lost tax revenue. Homosexual activists have celebrated both changes in language, clear proof that Brown’s changes will make passage of the initiative more difficult. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office says that in the long run there would in fact “likely be little fiscal impact.” Brown gives no corresponding estimate of the lost revenue to the state if the amendment fails and even more families flee the Golden State for family-friendlier climes. (Opponents of gay marriage say they'll sue over changed wording in Proposition 8 - Los Angeles Times)

We’ve often observed that one problem with same-sex marriage is that once you break the one man-one woman threshold as a definition of marriage there is no logical place to stop. We’ve frequently suggested that barriers to polygamous marriages will be the next to fall. As if on cue, John Stossel argues today in a Townhall.com column that it’s time to embrace plural marriage. Worse, he pushes it as a civil-rights issue, parallel to the battle for racial equality in the 60s. (John Stossel :: Townhall.com :: How Many Wives Is Too Many?)

We’ve often suggested that the most effective way to deal with the 12 to 20 million illegal aliens already in the country is simple: vigorous enforcement of existing immigration law, including deportation for those detained by law enforcement officials. Proof is now coming that that approach – which includes raids on businesses that knowingly hire large numbers of illegal aliens – is working. Dr. Stephen Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies says that the illegal-alien population in the U.S. has declined by more than one million persons in the last year, much of it through self-deportation. His report concludes, “If the decline were sustained, it would reduce the illegal population by one-half in the next five years.” Unfortunately, both Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama pledge to provide a guaranteed pathway to citizenships for illegals once in office, even if they have been fraudulently using someone else’s Social Security number. This will reverse the outward flow of illegals and draw a fresh flood of unlawful immigrants hoping to cash in. (Democrats Want to Stop Immigration-Enforcement Raids)