Editorial Cartoon courtesy of Clay Bennett

Second Progressive Idea: Regional Magnet School Districts

The Trump Education Budget calls for increased funding towards voucher programs that rich people will use as a tax cut to pay less towards their child's private school tuition. There is no net increase for traditional or public charter schools. This should not be allowed as both traditional and charter public schools are in desperate needs of additional funding.

Student performance at Traditional and Charter Public Schools have both good and not so good stories to tell. While most schools do well by the children they serve, there is still a need to restructure our education system which is still mired in a late nineteenth/early twentieth-century model.

One idea building on the charter school experience and that of districts under court order to better integrate their demographics would be to create magnet schools districts within regions and school districts. Magnet Schools were around before Charter Schools and there are similar missions in that they both pick a specialty. Some are art schools. Some are STEM. Some are liberal arts college prep. and some are career prep. Some cater to helping children earn a diploma while others assist students in graduating with college credit (either through A.P., I.B., or an alliance with a community college.) Instead of having schools in the district or region offer the same at each school, why not restructure and tell families in their school districts/regions that there are specialty magnet schools that are geared towards their child's interest. This would possibly foster better social development for the student as well as achievement. The child and families can reserve the right to change their mind at the semester or end of the year break.

This may be the perfect marriage between the traditional and charter camps and it could reinvigorate public education for the better.

If this were Clinton or Obama.

First, the President said he would donate his salary but then had his people clarify that it would be done at the end of the year to the charity the media (you know the dishonest and fake ones) suggest.

Then, the President said that the treasury would get the proceeds of any foreign visitors who reserved rooms and offices in Trump Buildings and Hotels. They then clarified that the fund will not come to the treasury until the end of 2018. That is almost two years from now.

If this were the Clintons or the Obamas, Fox News, their viewers, and patrons in the right wing spectrum would be foaming at the mouth. Where is the outrage? The outrage is with the people who are putting party before country.  The Party of Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower has become the party of the oligarchic plutocracy. Hopefully, people will wise up.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/324606-trump-organization-will-make-its-first-donation-to-treasury

Progressive Idea of the Week: Paid Family, Medical, and Bereavement Leave

One of the first acts of the Clinton Administration in 1993 was the passing of the Family and Medical Leave Act which allowed individuals who worked in businesses with 50 or more people to take time off for up to 12 weeks in a calendar year.

Now is the time to take the next step and pass a measure making some of that time paid leave (up to two weeks). This can be paid for by having employees at the beginning of each year deciding like when they pick their health insurance or 401 k options deduct a small portion of their paycheck (about three percent) to go towards the paid leave pot. Ladies who find they are with a child can opt to have a little more taken out for the six weeks standard time they are out on maternity leave. It is a way to give a greatly needed benefit to people in need and foster a sense of community and teamwork in the workplace. It would be a win-win. It should be stipulated that people who do not participate would not be eligible for the paid provision of the program and employers should reserve the right to stipulate each year, the percentage of people needed to contribute in order to maintain the option.

Chris Hayes just blew it on MSNBC

Chris Hayes just blew it on MSNBC.

He just let a freshman Republican Representative get away with saying (and this is paraphrasing) the people decided in the election that they wanted the repeal and replacement of Obamacare. Hayes should have followed up by saying two questions: 1) Then why did more people vote for Hillary Clinton and 2) Why do polls show that the majority of the people do not want repeal of Obamacare.

Mr. Hayes blew it this time. Journalists need to do better when Republicans say the election decided what the people wanted. That is far from the truth.

Budget Reality: Interesting article from the Atlantic

Maybe the people can breath a sigh of relief and be comforted by reading the below article. Thanks to the sequestering deal President Obama made with Congress in 2010, the President's budget is probably dead on arrival. Simply put, those rules will require eight Democrats to switch sides in the United States Senate to pass this budget and given the President's performance on all levels, we stand a better chance of getting hit by a meteor than that political earthquake occurring. Hopefully, the few that are competent and mature in this administration will see the writing on the wall and instill some common sense into the process.


https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/donald-trump-meet-sequestration/519798/?utm_source=atlfb

Suckers

Should we feel sorry for the many people who are part of the poor or lower middle class that thought Donal Trump spoke for them and returned that sentiment by voting for him now that his budget blueprint inexplicably slaps them in the face by slashing or eliminating programs that help them live?

In a word, no. If this group of Trump supporters feel huckstered, then they, like the majority of the country who did not support the President in the election, should make their feelings known through the political and public policy arena.

Maybe they will not feel the same way towards the President when he runs for reelection. We can only hope they are not fooled again.




https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/us/politics/trump-budget.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=a-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1