The CHAIR of the House Education Committee LIES About Opt Out Bill Controversy #grammarmatters

Today, State Rep. Earl Jaques (who is also the Chair of the House Education Committee) finally responded to my Facebook post about the status of the opt out bill, House Bill 60.  He is claiming…well, sort of…that no bills were walked because of the non-existence of a quorum in the House Education Committee meeting last week.  Which is funny, because the other four bills show they are out of committee.  As for House Bill 60, it is still showing as “House Education Committee”.  It doesn’t say if it was released or not released.  Can someone please tell the right hand what the left hand is doing?

It is hard to know what he is saying because his grammar usage was…how shall I put this…without offending him…very poor.  For a Chair of the House Education Committee I would expect more, but I digress.  This led to some very hysterical responses by the way.  Which can be seen below…

Gotta love that Earl Jaques!  To be honest, aside from opt out bills, Earl and I get along very well.  I would love to know what it is about opt out that makes him so crotchety!  So if ALL bills were signed during the committee meeting, doesn’t that mean House Bill 60 should be on the House Ready List, meaning it gets a full House vote?  Why is it showing this:

Whereas, as an example, House Bill 193 shows it was released:

And by the way, Speaker of the House Pete Schwartzkopf never responded to my email.

ALL The Delaware Education Legislation In The General Assembly: Signed, Passed, Pending, & Tabled

*Updated with new legislation, votes on the floor, and committee agendas for tomorrow

Confused by all the Education legislation floating around in Delaware?  Can’t keep track of it all?  Don’t worry, I can’t either sometimes.  But I felt it was necessary to reestablish my old tradition of putting it all together.  I will update this as the Delaware 149th General Assembly finishes off the first half of this session on June 30th and when they reconvene in January 2018.  Below are all 50 of the education bills that have come up in the 149th General Assembly just this year alone.  More legislation will come by the time it is all done on June 30th, 2018.

Cursive Bill Released From Delaware House Education Committee

It seemed to be an even split between advocates and those who oppose the bill, but State Rep. Andria Bennett’s House Bill was released from committee today with 12 votes.  Next stop, the House Ready list.  Many of the folks who opposed the bill were in favor of students learning cursive but felt that was a decision best left to the local school board and not a mandate from the state.  The Delaware Department of Education opposed the bill for the same reasons, along with the Delaware Association of School Administrators and the Delaware School Boards Association.

Both sides cited research or studies weighing the pros and cons of the bill.  I supported it and gave public comment on how my son seemed to like cursive more than regular writing.  Another advocate for students with disabilities, Robert Overmiller with the Governor’s Advisory Council for Exceptional Citizens, also supported the bill because of the beneficial nature for special needs students.  A retired teacher supported the bill.

State Rep. Bennett said her idea for this bill came last Christmas when her own daughter was unable to read her grandmother’s cursive writing in a Christmas card.  Some advocates said it is important children know how to read original historic documents, such as The Declaration of Independence.  One gentleman said he would not hire someone at his company who didn’t know cursive since so many old property deeds and paperwork were written in cursive and they would not be able to understand those documents.  One parent stated they were vehemently against the bill and that it shouldn’t matter if kids can read historic documents in cursive because it is all available online.  She also said grandmothers are texting and using Instagram more and more these days.  State Rep. Joe Miro said with our state budget deficit we should not be mandating curriculum at the state level.

If you are in favor of this bill, please contact your state legislator and let them know!  I know I will call my own State Rep, Trey Paradee and ask him to support this bill!

House Bill 50 WILL Be Voted On By Delaware State Reps Either Next Week or Week After

House Bill 50, which would allow parent opt-out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment, will be on the floor of the Delaware House of Representatives either next week or the week after.  And this is coming from the Delaware Speaker of the House Pete Schwartzkopf.  I will certainly let you know once it is on any agenda.  But I need your help!

Please email your Delaware State Representative, not once, but twice, or even a third time.  Call them as well.  They need to know you support this bill, because at the end of the day, it is the people of Delaware they serve, not the Governor, not the DOE, and not the many corporate business entities in our state that opposed the bill yesterday.  Let your legislator know that WE ARE DELAWARE!  Let them know you want your email to be a part of the public record.  Let them know that parent rights are more important than test scores.  Because at the end of the day, that is all your child is to those who would test them incessantly with the Smarter Balanced Assessment: they are a test score and data, and the scores and data they receive will NOT help your child.  They won’t even get the data until after your child has left their grade level.  And do not believe for one second the hollow threats about Federal funding cuts because there is no law or regulation in Delaware or on a Federal level which would allow any Federal funding to be cut in regards to parent opt-out.

Let these legislators know you believe in the right of parents to determine what is best for YOUR child.  Your child is not owned by the state.  I would not go into Mark Murphy or Governor Markell’s house and tell them what is best for their child, and I do not expect them to do the same with mine.  Even if you think the Smarter Balanced Assessment is the best test in the world, this is about a parent’s right.  If you believe in school choice for your child, that is also a parental right.  WE ARE DELAWARE!

Delaware House of Representatives

District 1: Charles Potter Jr., email: Charles.Potter@state.de.us
District 2: Stephanie T. Bolden, email: StephanieT.Bolden@state.de.us
District 3: Helene M. Keeley, email: helene.keeley@state.de.us
District 4: Gerald L. Brady, email: gerald.brady@state.de.us
District 5: Melanie George Smith, email: melanie.g.smith@state.de.us
District 6: Debra J. Heffernan, email: debra.heffernan@state.de.us
District 7: Bryon H. Short, email: Bryon.Short@state.de.us
District 8: S. Quinton Johnson, email: Quinton.Johnson@state.de.us
District 9: Kevin S. Hensley, email: Kevin.Hensley@state.de.us
District 10: Sean Matthews, email: sean.matthews@state.de.us
District 11: Jeffrey N. Speigelman, email: jeff.speigelman@state.de.us
District 12: Deborah Hudson, email: Deborah.Hudson@state.de.us
District 13: John L. Mitchell, Jr., email: john.l.mitchell@state.de.us
District 14: Peter C. Schwartzkopf, email: Peter.Schwartzkopf@state.de.us
District 15: Valerie Longhurst, email: Valerie.Longhurst@state.de.us
District 16: James Johnson, email: jj.johnson@state.de.us
District 17: Michael P. Mulrooney, email: Michael.Mulrooney@state.de.us
District 18: Michael A. Barbieri, email: michael.barbieri@state.de.us
District 19: Kimberly Williams, email: kimberly.williams@state.de.us
District 20: Stephen T. Smyk, email: Steve.Smyk@state.de.us
District 21: Michael Ramone, email: Michael.Ramone@state.de.us
District 22: Joseph E. Miro, email: joseph.miro@state.de.us
District 23: Paul S. Baumbach, email: paul.baumbach@state.de.us
District 24: Edward S. Osienski, email: Edward.Osienski@state.de.us
District 25: John A. Kowalko Jr., email: john.kowalko@state.de.us
District 26: John J. Viola, email: John.Viola@state.de.us
District 27: Earl G. Jacques Jr., email: Earl.Jacques@state.de.us
District 28: William J. Carson, email: william.carson@state.de.us
District 29: W. Charles “Trey” Paradee III, email: trey.paradee@state.de.us
District 30: William R. “Bobby” Outten, email: bobby.outten@state.de.us
District 31: Sean M. Lynn, email: Sean.Lynn@state.de.us
District 32: Andria L. Bennett, email: andria.bennett@state.de.us
District 33: Harold J. Peterman, email: jack.peterman@state.de.us
District 34: Lyndon D. Yearick, email: Lyndon.Yearick@state.de.us
District 35: David L. Wilson, email: David.L.Wilson@state.de.us
District 36: Harvey R. Kenton, email: Harvey.Kenton@state.de.us
District 37: Ruth Briggs King, email: Ruth.BriggsKing@state.de.us
District 38: Ronald E. Gray, email: Ronald.Gray@state.de.us
District 39: Daniel B. Short, email: Daniel.Short@state.de.us
District 40: Timothy D. Dukes, email: Timothy.Dukes@state.de.us
District 41: Richard G. Collins, email: Richard.G.Collins@state.de.us

As well, please sign this petition, and this will be presented to every single Delaware State Representative prior to the meeting.  The link says House Education Committee, but the wording has been changed to represent the FULL House vote.  Please sign the petition!