Pub Ed Thread 🧵

I need to get this off my chest, so I will start with a few pictures.

Photo 1 - On February 24, @DeAngelisCorey came to Dallas to debate the School Choice issue on a panel with me and @AllenWest and @NateSchatzline.

Photo 2 - The following evening, Corey debated my friend Meg Bakich in Highland Park.

Photo 3 - After the debate, I was sitting in the living room with some of my fellow warriors @AngelaBlac8824 and @Hollie_Plemons when a man approached us.

We asked him what he thought about the debate and he said he was hosting the two Public Education Committee Chairs @BradBuckleyDVM and @CreightonForTX for dinner at his home in Highland Park the following Saturday evening, March 1, including my state representative @MorganMeyerTX.

Photo 4 - Chairs Buckley and Creighton

I do not know if Morgan Meyer was in attendance or if this man was just blowing smoke.

I should have asked him if Commit/Texas Impact Network founder Todd Williams would be at the dinner.

The man walked home from the debate to go smoke cigars. So I did a little sleuthing to figure out who he was…


2) 🧵 I just realized the mystery man was featured in this article from @timmytyper so I guess it’s no secret who he is.

dmagazine.com/frontburner/20…

He’s a Dallas lawyer and former state district judge.

He is tight with a Democrat named Todd Williams who has an Uplift charter school named after him in Dallas.

Williams has been appointed to four education boards and commissions under Governor Greg Abbott.

“No Dem chairs!” 🤣 @lukemaciastx

I get attacked by the left for being a Trumper and attacked from the right for being anti-reform and anti-privatization.

At the top, these guys are in the same party. #uniparty

What’s the deal with @UpliftEducation and the bills for charter school funding like @BradBuckleyDVM’s HB2 this session?

Is that why Buckley and Creighton were invited to that special dinner in Dallas just days before the HB2 hearing?

My phone is blowing up over the latest DISASTER in the Trump cabinet. 🧵

He just appointed Penny Schwinn to US Department of Education as a deputy under @Linda_McMahon.

They keep moving her around the game board. She doesn’t stay in one place more than a year.

🚴💨 🚴💨 🚴💨 🚴💨

Penny was one of the original deputies hired by Morath at @teainfo after he restructured “the agency” with charter school proponents and @TeachForAmerica plants.

Schwinn and Morath were busted in a massive data mining scandal where Penny rigged the procurement process and steered the contract to her TFA buddies.

It was called the IEP Analysis Project.

Here is my mini documentary on the scandal with the help of @Tx4SPEDreform

youtu.be/8lcOeLpSvPE?si… 2)🧵 This is my friend (blonde) and fellow special ed activist who testified on navigating the public schools as a parent of children with special needs when TEA sent Penny to Dallas @EvaMarieAyala

👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

dallasnews.com/news/education…

“The Richardson mother was among a few dozen parents, educators and other advocates who attended a public hearing on Texas' plan to fix a system that federal officials say broke the law.”

Penny is the one with the arrow and her coworker Justin Porter. At the time, they worked under Mike Morath at TEA. Porter is still there.

Penny rode away after she was busted for selling private student data on vulnerable special needs children.

Don’t go where the noise is. Let’s examine this darling of Texas policy who figured out how to charm Dunn + Trump

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“In 2021, Dunn signed on as a founding director of the America First Policy Institute. The CEO of @A1Policy is @BrookeLRollins, who served in the White House as Trump’s domestic-policy adviser. But before Rollins was Trump’s wingman, she was Dunn’s. She served for years as CEO of the @TPPF, the drivetrain of Dunn’s political machine. 

Rollins has long acted as a spokeswoman for Dunn. In a 2014 interview, she defended his political influence, insisting, “This narrative that he’s the really bad guy behind the curtain is unfair, because what he’s trying to do is change the country.” Rollins recently described to The @WSJ how she approached Dunn to help launch AFPI, seeking “to create a national organization, similar to what we built in Texas, that could be ready for a second term.” (Rollins and AFPI didn’t respond to requests for comment.)”
@cjtackett @RollingStone @A1Policy @BrookeLRollins She also charmed Dick Weekley of @lawsuitreform

The deliberate dumbing down of the next generation starts with dumb decisions and groupthink.

Why is @BradBuckleyDVM wrong?

@BriscoeCain @ShelbySlawson @leachfortexas @AngieChenButton @LaceyHullTx @KingForTexas @CodyforTexas @RyanGuillen @StanGerdesforTX @BrooksLandgraf @JanieLopezForTX @GeanieWMorrison @AngeliaOrrForTX @ManoForStateRep @charliegeren @SamHarless126 @toddahunter @Hayes4TXHouse @StanKitzmanTX @CandyNobleHD89 @LujanForTX @JaredLPatterson @RepJamesFrank @CraigGoldman @CarolineForTX @ColeHefnerTX @JaceyJetton @RepStanLambert @TerriLeoWilson @willmetcalfTX @TomOliverson @DennisPaul129 @FourPriceTX @MattShaheen @DavidSpillerTX @KrondaForTexas @EllenTroxclair @RepMattSchaefer @ValoreeforTexas @RepEdThompson @GaryVanDeaver @RepSchofield @Reggie4Tx @CarlTepper @Toth_4_Texas @cvasut

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June 4, 2024

To: Members of the Texas House of Representatives

Subject: Repeal House Bill 1605 - Amplify Vendor Bill

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) opened a modifiable portal for SBOE review this week.

The letter you recently received from Representative Brad Buckley regarding HB1605 asking you to endorse a product which is not supported by the teachers nor parents is an indication this bill is not being well-received by taxpayers.

The link provided by the TEA to review the OER is not operable and ends the review session before the reviewer can read the full content. The vast majority of the OER content is hidden from view.

Additionally, the online portal for parents is dynamic and modifiable. Digitizing instructional materials allows them to be altered at any time without accountability. This essentially nullifies the possibility of Due Process, which is codified in the Fourteenth Amendment. There can be no such thing as transparency with dynamic technology. HB1605 ensures that parents will continue to be excluded from seeing and knowing what their children are learning.

The issues with HB1605 are as follows:

voicesempower.com/wp-content/upl… Open Education Resources (OER) - OER was listed 65 times in HB1605. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) coined and defined Open Education Resources (OER) in 2002 to establish a global curriculum and implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030. The US Department of Education defines OER to shift resources from textbooks to technology.

Removes practical control and transparency for parents - HB1605 mandates OER instructional material “allows for free use, reuse, MODIFICATION or sharing with others as described by Section 31.07101” According to the bill, Amplify must be dynamic and can be modified at any time. Parents will not be able to keep up with what their children are being taught. The parent portal was a marketing ploy perpetuated by lobbyists during the legislative session.

Not a classical education - A classical education involves a teacher instructing students with textbooks and time-tested curriculum, not dynamic and modified lessons printed and piled together as scripted lessons to be regurgitated by teachers. Amplify Texas is a rebranded digital resource to be distributed on 1:1 technology devices purchased by school districts across Texas.

Increases screen time - Technology was mentioned 50 times in HB1605 Under Section 28.0211 of HB1605, “the commissioner shall ensure full subject Tier 1 instructional materials are available as OER instructional materials in an integrated manner and for approximately 240 minutes of instructional time per day including time needed each day for accelerated instruction under Section 28.0211.”

After hours of listening to the RPT @TexasGOP committee deliberate and try to shrink the number of issues on the platform, they finally allowed public testimony around 10:00 pm.

I suggested we put School Choice™️ at the VERY BOTTOM since it was too late to kick it out altogether.

School Choice™️ keeps us from addressing the most important issues in Texas. @FamiliesEngaged

My next suggestion was to define strings :

Accountability measures - testing
Accreditation - control teachers - hiring - eliminates God and religious freedom
Accounting - where the money goes
Academic - controlling what is taught
Alignment - UNESCO, WEF, global standards with all children on devices learning the same junk
Access - what better way to access those outside the system (private/home) than to dangle the money?
Administration - Certified Education Assistance Org (CEAO)
Astroturf
Always follow the money… I was curious who the Chairman of the RPT Legislative Priorities was after participating in this process in San Antonio. #txlege

He asked me a question after I suggested we remove School Choice™️ from the priorities. #txed

I heard those funded by the billionaire boyz were stacked on committees but I wanted to verify that.

There are myriad names like Pale Horse Strategies, Defend Texas Liberty, Empower Texans, Texas Scorecard, Texans for Border Security, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, etc.

I’m on TEXANS for we the people team and I am not funded to be here.

So I googled Scott Bowen… @Woodyboy2020 @hanes_tracy1776 @MaryDunlaphome @TXHilltoDieOn @pat_huff

Why is @dallasnews losing money?

🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵

Newspapers are shifting from telling stories, doing investigative reporting, and reporting the news because they are being replaced by “solutions journalism” or “impact media” funded by investors. This shift is purposeful and serves the interests of #socialimpact investors and those who benefit from human capital markets. Those markets run on increased suffering, poverty, crime, natural disasters and chaos.

The Dallas Morning News has fallen prey to this trend. @DallasPolitics

Instead of relying on advertisers and readership for funding, they solicit funding from non-profits, family foundations, constructions companies, philanthropists, chambers of commerce, universities, and venture capitalists. 

@Commit2Dallas @soljourno @williamstodd78 @GiveWisely @SMU @MeadowsFound @valeriaoliesc @TaliRichman @EvaMarieAyala 2) What is solutions journalism?

Solutions journalism is an approach to news that focuses on social ills and societal problems by telling stories that tug at your emotions and present solutions driven by investors who bankroll the schemes up front.

They provide the funding and enter into smart contracts or agreements for social impact investing schemes with governmental agencies through public-private partnerships.

These creative financing schemes use euphemisms or cute titles like After8toEducate for homeless (unsheltered) youth. After8toeducate was first reported by Dallas Morning News in 2017 with a story about 35 homeless kids in Dallas ISD. The school district entered into a public-private partnership with a nonprofit and a social impact firm called Social Venture Partners.

dallasnews.com/news/education…

My district of @RichardsonISD forced my youngest child when he was 17 (a minor!) at Lake Highlands High School to sign @Commit2Dallas’s “Dallas County Promise.”

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He was coerced by counselors to enter his info for the #FAFSA. They came into his class and told them they had to do it to graduate.

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That’s was a lie. I made them DELETE his data. I have no proof they actually did.



What is the reason for this across Texas? #txed #txlegevimeo.com/616367349 2) @RachelHaleforTX reminded of this #data harvesting scam again this morning with her post on FB from yesterday:



facebook.com/share/hF8Pf7r9…
tea.texas.gov/academics/coll…

I attended a luncheon a few weeks ago with @laralogan as the keynote speaker.

My friend commended her for talking about the massive #data centers in Texas

They are measuring and scoring character traits in @hpisdschools and #txed #txlege

t.me/LynnDavenportS… What are the character traits being scored in Texas? @teainfo

What gets tested gets taught and vice versa

How do you test behavioral skills?

Who decides?
tea.texas.gov/academics/lear…