April 22, 2010 Volume 6, Number 16
In This
Issue
.
Fontbonne
Students
.
Getting out of
the Rat Race
.
Cynthia in the
News
.
Tax Day
Rally
.
A Little Bit
of Humor.
E-Mail
cynthia.davis@house.mo.gov
Find me
on
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Special
Committee on Children and Families
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Congressman Blaine
Luetkemeyer
Fontbonne
Students Visit the Capitol
Students
from
Can We
Opt Out of the Race to the Top?
Some
call it "Race to the Flop" because it trades away our educational freedom
for a "money grab". It appears that our state will be spending staff
time to apply for the next round of "Race to the Top" money
(Missouri to Enter
Race-to-the-Top), even though other
states like
This has
some parallels to the national healthcare bill in that those who are
obligating us have no idea what they will be getting into until after the
ink has dried. If you want to see my comments on the first round of
"Race to the Top" click here: Rep Davis: More on Race to the
Top
We do
not need unelected bureaucrats to relinquish the current oversight vested
in the legislative branch of government and our local school boards.
This week I filed a House Concurrent Resolution advising our Commissioner
of Education and the State Board of Education to retain flexibility to opt
out from any agreement that removes our ability to define our standards as
it pertains to how we educate our public school children.
Additionally, this resolution advises our congressional delegation
to be cautious pertaining to the next round of "No Child Left Behind"
money. We ought not to idly sit by while our legislative
jurisdiction continues to be eroded away.
The EPA
is an example of an unelected bureaucracy created by Congress. The
EPA has the ability to sanction our citizens and our state and create
regulatory hardships, functionally creating de-facto tax increases without
the consent of the governed. The Gateway Clean Air Vehicle
Inspection program is an example of the EPA turned tyrannical. People have
been complaining to me about the injustices of this program for
years. This program ended up
costing
Follow
this link to the Economic Policy Institute's
article
Let's do the
Numbers
by William Peterson and
Richard Rothstein wherein they discuss the U.S. Department of Education's
"Race to the Top" program and why it only offers "a Muddled Path to the
Finish Line".
To
protect our citizens from a lack of representation, I filed a resolution
this week that will send a message to the commissioner, the board of
education and our congressional delegation:
House Concurrent
Resolution
95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES
Whereas, the United States Department
of Education states that "Education is primarily a state and local
responsibility in the
Whereas, in 1965, the federal
Elementary and Secondary Education Act launched a comprehensive set of
programs, including the Title I program of federal aid and in that same
year, the Higher Education Act authorized assistance for postsecondary
education, including financial aid programs for college tuition;
and
Whereas, in 1980, the United States
Congress established the United States Department of Education as a
Cabinet-level agency; and
Whereas, nowhere in the United States
Constitution is the United States Congress granted authority to oversee
education, and the United States Department of Education is continuing to
take upon itself an ever increasing role of encroaching on the
jurisdiction that belongs to the states; and
Whereas, the Missouri General
Assembly has a constitutional responsibility to establish and maintain
free public schools for the
Whereas, Missouri's school districts
and educational methodologies are extremely diverse and the Missouri
General Assembly has been careful to avoid broad-brush state mandates,
favoring local control starting with the most local of all, that being the
family; and
Whereas, the federal "No Child Left
Behind" law is viewed by many teachers and administrators as a failure,
doing more harm than good in our nation's public schools because the
test-and-punish approach to school reform relies on limited,
one-size-fits-all tools that reduce education to little more than test
preparation, thereby requiring unproven, often irrational "solutions" to
complex problems; and
Whereas, the United States Department
of Education is administering the educational stimulus package known as
"Race to the Top", for which Missouri made a first-round application in
December 2009; and
Whereas, those in Washington, D.C.
may not understand or respect the uniqueness of Missouri and why we are
better off establishing our own standards that are defined by the needs of
our individual school districts, are tailored to encourage parental
involvement, and maximize and enhance flexibility for the local school
boards that are accountable to the parents;
and
Whereas, the Missouri Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education is refining its application for the
second round of applications with a deadline of June 1, 2010;
and
Whereas, the timing and process of
the application has made it difficult to ensure legislative awareness of,
participation in, and approval of the state's application process in
addition to circumventing the input of parents, teachers, and local school
board members, which turns a blind eye and a deaf ear to those closest to
the source who may have vital and practical information on what has proven
to be the most beneficial practice; and
Whereas, those areas as described by
the United States Department of Education have been predetermined by the
federal government as policy areas of emphasis, which may ignore and
circumvent the proper role of the states and the priorities of the State
of Missouri as defined by the people of Missouri;
and
Whereas, with federal funds comes
federal requirements, of which some may be more costly to implement than
the remuneration received; and
Whereas, some of these requirements
may obligate our state, both financially as well as in mandated program
implementation that may residually harm our budget and our autonomy for
years beyond the sunset of the "Race to the Top" program;
and
Whereas, whenever we delegate our
decision-making authority from the legislative branch of government to
unelected bureaucrats, we lose our accountability to our constituents and
diminish our residents from the satisfaction that their values are being
represented; and
Whereas, government exists to serve
the people and application for any funds cannot diminish the right of the
citizens or the school districts to educate their pupils in accordance
with the agreement of the parents of those children and the voters of that
district who elected their school board
members:
Now, therefore, be it resolved that
the members of the House of Representatives of the Ninety-fifth General
Assembly, Second Regular Session, the Senate concurring therein, hereby
advises the Commissioner of Education and the State Board of Education to
review carefully the policy implications of Missouri's second application
for Race to the Top funds to ensure
that:
(1)
Federal goals do not override state goals that have been legislatively
established;
(2)
The state does not cede any portion of control over our education policy
to the federal government;
(3)
Proposed implementation provides all the current flexibility afforded to
(4)
The Missouri General Assembly reserves the right to opt out at any time;
and
Be it further resolved that the
Missouri General Assembly advises our Congressional Delegation to respect
the four principles set forth above in its deliberations on the
reauthorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act;
and
Be it further resolved that the Chief
Clerk of the Missouri House of Representatives be instructed to prepare
properly inscribed copies of this resolution for Dr. Chris Nicastro, the
Commissioner of Education; the State Board of Education, and each member
of the Missouri Congressional Delegation.
Cynthia
in the News
Click
here to view the KMOV News
video
I can't
watch this video without laughing because it amazes me that people can be
so misguided or intentional in misleading others. We should all want
to believe the best in other people, so I will try to imagine the news
source as sincerely confused. The alternative is to believe that an
otherwise credible news outlet has lost its
integrity.
The
House passed a pro-life bill with three
elements:
1.)
More
information for the mother.
2.)
Coercion
Protections
3.)
Abortionists must retain
a DNA sample from an aborted baby if the mother was a minor. A minor
could be the victim of statutory rape and this provision retains evidence
that may be vital to the prosecution for rape and incest
cases.
The
Senate claims they do not have enough pro-life senators who are willing to
vote for #2 or #3, so they will likely only vote on enhanced information
for the mother. I will take whatever they give us, knowing that
passing anything at this point will improve the track record of the
senate, especially since they sabotaged the other pro-life bills we sent
them for the last two years.
Back to
the video: First of all, if you listen to the logic, the reporter says
they have to inform the authorities if a minor merely "asks" about
abortion. This is false. The bill only requires them to report
to the prosecutors 24 hours before they perform the abortion, not when the
mother asks.
Second,
if you listen to the anti-life legislator being interviewed, she says it
is absurd to ask questions when a minor is about to have a surgical
abortion. There are plenty of teenagers who only wish someone had
asked some questions when the perpetrator brought them in for an
abortion. Teenagers are looking to adults for guidance and caring,
especially when it involves statutory rape or incest. We let them
down when we behave as if their abortions are
meaningless. From the video, it sounds
like she is opposed to the DNA sample being retained. If the mother
chooses life for her baby, the DNA sample is an ongoing source of
information whereby the paternity can be established whenever the proof is
necessary. The sample is only retained after the baby is destroyed
because we believe rape and incest should be prosecuted, not swept away
with the innocent child.
Highway
K & N Patriots Tax Day Rally
Last
week I returned from the legislative session in
by Doug
Edelman
MO State Rep Cynthia Davis from Doug Edelman on Vimeo.
Your
thoughts are important to me, so please let me know what you think about
how we're doing. You can send me your opinion by clicking
here: Cynthia Davis
A Little
Bit of Humor . . .
A little boy wasn't
getting good marks in school. One day he surprised the teacher when he
tapped her on the shoulder and said ..."I don't want to scare you, but my
daddy says if I don't get better grades, somebody is going to get a
spanking."
This
Capitol Report is a weekly column by Representative Cynthia
Davis, from the
19th District, covering events in the Missouri Legislature and
district-wide issues.
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