Set Our Teachers FREE!

You do me a favor

and I’ll . . .

The Washington Post published an article in their series about problems in Washington, D.C. schools that explains a lot about how politics, money & education are interwoven.

Entitled “A Reading Program’s Powerful Patron”, the article is written by James V. Grimaldi, Washington Post Staff Writer. Among other examples, the article details how Senator Mary Landrieu, Democrat - Louisiana (pictured above) was able to use her position as chairwoman of the Senates’ D.C. appropriations subcommittee to “earmark” $2 million dollars of taxpayers’ money to force a reading program (developed by one of her major campaign contributers) into Washington, D.C.’s elementary schools.

The program, Voyager Expanded Learning literacy program, was a new product at the time with absolutely no track record. In fact, the D.C. school district had already selected a different program when they were informed that they had to use Voyager’s program if they wanted the $2 Million. Nice little system called “earmarking”, which determines HOW funds may be used.

Evaluations of the program have been mixed, ranging from “effective” to “needs more investigation”. Some educators commented that the program helped with reading, but did nothing for comprehension.

Whether the program can work to help students read or not, isn’t the primary issue in the article. Campaign contributions linked to contacts is the central theme.

According to the article,

“Voyager employed lobbyists and made political contacts to obtain at least 14 earmarks over five years, worth more than $8 million, according to a review of congressional records. Some went to other parts of the country, but most — $5.23 million — went to D.C. schools.”

The article explains how Washington, D.C. schools are the only school district in the nation with their school budget subject to approval by Capitol Hill.

“No other school budget is subject to approval by Capitol Hill. None is so susceptible to the whims and policy prescriptions of federal lawmakers. And the parents, teachers and administrators of D.C. schools are the only ones in the country who lack a voting representative in Congress.”

Perhaps most important to note is that D.C. schools routinely rank at the bottom. Seems that close ties to the “purse strings” doesn’t do much to improve the quality of education.

While the article continues with examples of other lawmakers impacting the monies that schools receive and the political ties involved, I’d like to share an incident from our own life.

In “Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan to Save Public Education”, my husband Don Kingsland, shares his experiences with a mandated reading program that he was forced to use in his last teaching assignment - the ‘last straw’ that precipitated his leaving teaching for good.

Don is a Master Teacher who has specialized in remedial reading, among other subjects, for over a 50 year span.

• Don co-authored one of the very first Drug Abuse Prevention Teaching Programs in the USA, back in the 60’s. It was marketed nationally and to the U.S. Military in Europe.




• He co-authored the PACT Program (Parent-Adolescent Communication Training) in the 70’s.




• He’s taught under contract on the East Coast, the West Coast, and the Deep South.




• He has helped thousands of students learn, not only to read well, but to comprehend and enjoy reading.




• His students came from all socioeconomic and intelligence levels.




• Each student left his classes with the joy of reading instilled into their hearts and brains, whether he was teaching math, reading, social studies, etc. Each student developed a love of learning while they were in his classes.

When he was forced to utilize a program that he (and the other teachers using it) felt was inadequate, and even counter-productive, he caused red flags to go up when he supplemented the program with teaching techniques and tools that he knew were effective. The end result was that he asked four to five times as much from his students as the program dictated and his students received awards as “most improved” at the end of the year. More importantly, each student developed both skill in reading and a love for reading.

We often run into these students at the local mall or grocery store when we are out shopping. Invariably, these young adults share their success stories with Don and thank him. Most of them are now college students and they always tell me how “Mr. Kingsland turned my life around.”

This is just one of the reasons we know that The Kingsland Plan is so important to the youth of our country. We have no political paybacks, and no “earmarks” set aside. We just have a workable, proven plan that can straighten-out public schools quickly.

We just need your help to get the word out.

Brennan

Filed under: Education News