Thread by @insomnochick

Dear EVERYONE who cares about education in America: I have some homework assignments for you.
1. Learn all you can about the history of school boards in America, starting here 1/
cepa.stanford.edu/sites/default/…

...also read this 2/
brookings.edu/wp-content/upl…

2. Research the following:
- ESSA
- IDEA
- TITLE I
- TITLE IV
- NCLB
- Common Core 3/

3. Research how your state school board is constituted (appointed vs. elected/how many of each, if both, etc.)
4. Read your state constitution, look for "EDUCATION" statutes; KNOW THEM COLD
THEN...4/

5. Come back and tell me how you think running for local school board, going to meetings, etc...is going to do a g-damn thing for you when it comes to how
- teachers are educated
- curriculum is chosen and mandated
- achievement standards are set
- achievement is measured 5/

- funding is allocated
- materials are purchased and placed in the library (or removed)
- principals are hired and fired
- teachers are hired and fired
- students are disciplined 6/

IF you're mostly concerned with bathroom policies, and whether or not you can half-hope your superintendent will get away with thumbing his or her nose at the state BOE, admins and teaching staff of all the schools in your district, not to mention the FEDERAL GOV'T, 7/

by all means, go for it. Make it your life's ambition to find Captain America-level superheroes to be your district superintendence, but I wish you luck...The pipeline of qualified candidates isn't exactly chock-full of such people of impeccable character.8/

BUT, if your goal is to get more school choice, or just gain control over education dollars you have had confiscated from you, while being denied that choice, you need to turn your attention elsewhere. You need to start being MUCH harder on 9/

- Governors who appoint state BOE members
- Legislators who do the same, AND make ed law in the state, AND who distribute state and federal funds
- Mayors (large urban districts) who have a large say in city BOEs
- Unions, who deserve all the venom and derision you can muster 10/

- Congress-critters who appropriate federal funds at the behest of the federal EdDept (DOE is Dept of Energy)
- PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES who kiss union ASS, and or fail to stand up for parental rights, pupil rights, and who fail to commit to returning power to states at least. 11/

Tell all your friends, because they OBVIOUSLY have no clue, and I promise you the people who do are LAUGHING THEIR ASSES OFF behind your backs. I don't hold you responsible, I had to learn this stuff myself. 12/

We were all educated in the institutions (even private education didn't teach this) dominated by progressives who created this top-down, centrally-planned clusterfuck we call "American Public Education," why would they want us to fully understand it? 13/

But here we are, and once you know how it really works, you will hopefully shift your energies to working on things that will be FAR more fruitful. You can win every seat, on every board, and it WILL NOT MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Let me repeat that: IT WILL NOT MATTER. 14/

They WANT you to focus there, to waste your time and money creating more fodder for their "Parents are rabid animals" narratives -- they'll just use that to ELIMINATE local school boards altogether. They've been wanting to for a long time 15/
theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…

Can't say I didn't try to warn you, or educate you, because now I have.

p.s. If you disagree with me, better explain how reality doesn't apply to you. /END

*Superintendents