Why do Moral Monday Supporters hate parental school choice?

Ask Steve Ford who wrote a blog post which was then ‘reprinted‘ at News and Observer.

“Steve Ford, former editorial page editor at The News & Observer, is a volunteer program associate at the N.C. Council of Churches, from whose blog this is reprinted.”

Ford is also a former N&O employee.

NC Council of Churches? Why not just say Moral Monday?  Is Mr. Ford the PR guy doing the press releases for Moral Monday on behalf of the NC Council of Churches? Looks likely it to me.

That figured. News and Observer, you wonder why your circulation is declining?

The fact Ford spends so much time criticizing the NC Supreme court lends to the flavor of this article as politically motivated.

My favorite bit was this section:

So, as a hypothetical: A child from a poor, inner-city family is awarded an Opportunity Scholarship, is accepted at a well-resourced, academically superior private school in the suburbs and somehow actually manages to attend.

Her performance in the classroom is outstanding. Surely she’s receiving a “sound basic” education, partly at public expense. But what about her peers who find themselves in unaccredited religious academies where the quality of instruction is sketchy at best? Those kids’ parents may think all is well, but it’s the children who end up paying a price for the lack of enforceable standards.

Voucher supporters claim they are simply trying to give disadvantaged students who may be struggling in the regular public schools the same kinds of alternatives for private education enjoyed by more affluent peers. No doubt some children will make good use of that opportunity – while for others, it will be a mirage.

A “mirage”, eh? The only mirage here is Ford thinking he has any sort of valid point.

Mr. Ford apparently know what is best for your kid and the rest of North Carolina’s.

What is under attack here is parents and their ability to choose for their child. You parents out there might want to choose…a religious school! Cue the pearl clutching and gasping.

Mr. Ford,
Let me enlighten you a bit.

An opportunity scholarship IS a basic sound education. I’ll remind you, those are not just YOUR personal tax dollars. They are mine and those of parents who want more school choice too.

If schools were providing it, parents would be happy and we would not be seeing the high demand for school choice that we are today.

We would not see parents voting with their feet by pulling their kids out to homeschool, change to a charter school or a private school.

The Opportunity scholarships would not be seeing thousands of applicants it does. Such a large number of applicants that far exceed the number of actual scholarships available, I might add.

You are not the parent of my child or anyone else’s.
Your opinion on this matter means exactly NOTHING to me or to the thousands of parents across this state who want to be able to and should be able to choose the education our children receive.

The increased bureaucracy, administrative staff bloat, regulations, rules, zero tolerance policies, government intervention in lunch programs, the over-testing, the data collection and adoption of fundamentally flawed standards like Common Core have made parents run for the exits.

School choice is not going away. Opportunity Scholarships is just one mode. The public school model is failing and needs to change to survive.

Related:

ICYMI @newsobserver reposts a former editorial staffs blog as an “op-ed” to slam parents who want #schoolchoice. pic.twitter.com/TszsW1gNGm

— A.P. Dillon – LL1885 (@LadyLiberty1885) August 10, 2015