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| May 20th, 2013 by Cindy in WTP News [5.20.13 – 10:00 A.M. – Texas Sen. Dan Patrick has just announced that TESCCC/CSCOPE lesson plans are no more! This is a great victory for our Texas public school children, and there are many people to thank for the huge effort it has taken to get to this point today.
These are my thoughts: It is my opinion that TESCCC/CSCOPE knew they were about to be audited based upon their document dump of 5,000 pages last Friday. TESCCC/CSCOPE knew that financial inconsistencies would be found and that they would be legally liable for the public funds involved. By getting out now, they believe they are spared possible litigation against them. My question: If I am right, will there be any legal repercussions?
One other question: We have been told that there is language in the TESCCC incorporation documents that says that if TESCCC should go defunct, the federal government would get the product? If this is true, will the CSCOPE lesson plans become a part of Common Core Standards? We know that in the past, Common Core made overtures to purchase TESCCC/CSCOPE.
I am warning parents all over America whose states have committed to Common Core Standards to be on the look out for CSCOPE lessons.
Also, please notice the link posted at the bottom of this page to an article that tells Texas parents to be on the look out for TASA’s iCLOUD. This is yet another curriculum product without oversight by the elected members of the Texas State Board of Education! -- Donna Garner]
Continue reading “CSCOPE LESSON PLANS TO BE DUMPED IN TEXAS…by Donna Garner”
| May 20th, 2013 by Cindy in Education By Peggy Venable
CSCOPE is among the most controversial topics in the Lone Star State. Surprisingly, many Texans have never heard of it.
CSCOPE is a curriculum management system that has been sold to more than 850 Texas public, private and charter schools. It was developed by a division of the Texas Education Agency, which went to great lengths to avoid public oversight over the process.
Directors of the agency’s regional Education Service Centers created a nonprofit shell organization called the Texas Education Service Center Curriculum Collaborative, which exists in name only, and made themselves directors of this organization, which served only to move CSCOPE development out of public view. Since then, the directors, whose salaries are taxpayer funded, have met and worked in secret, using the nonprofit agency as a shield against open records and open meetings.
CSCOPE is controversial by virtue of its veil of secrecy, its financial trail (or lack thereof) and its contentious lesson plans.
Teachers had been required to sign a form that prohibited them from discussing CSCOPE and from publicly criticizing the lesson plans. Parents have not been given access to the lesson plans. Even the elected State Board of Education chairman was not given access to the curriculum for six months.
Some curriculum specialists claim CSCOPE helps schools utilize Common Core Standards, a set of general education standards pushed by the Obama Administration and that Texas has soundly rejected. Common Core Standards take control away from local educators and increase costs without adding rigor or improving student outcomes.
The leadership of the 20 service centers has worked to avoid transparency and review of CSCOPE, and in doing so have betrayed the public trust.
CONTINUE READING FROM LONGVIEW NEWS JOURNAL…
| May 13, 2013
In this MegaVote for Texas’ 1st Congressional District:
Recent Congressional Votes
- Senate: Internet Sales Tax ? Final Passage
- Senate: Water Infrastructure Projects ? Amendment Vote
- House: Private Sector Comp Time ? Final Passage
- House: Debt Payment Prioritization ? Final Passage
Upcoming Congressional Bills
- Senate: Water Resources Development Act of 2013
- Senate: Nominations
- House: To repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and health care-related provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010
- House: SEC Regulatory Accountability Act
Editor’s Note: Due to the redistricting of congressional districts, you may live in a new district and your subscription to this newsletter may need to be updated. To ensure that your congressional district information is correct, click on the “Edit Subscription” link at the bottom of this email. Scroll down to “Subscription Management” and enter your email to make changes to your district.
Continue reading “Recent Congressional Votes & Upcoming Bills from MegaVote”
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| May 14th, 2013 by Cindy in Education U.S. education has become less and less competitive with the rest of the world, and U.S. citizens are beginning to realize the inadequacies of American education. In fact, 61 percent of K-12 school moms believe that U.S. public schools have “gotten off on the wrong track,” says Paul DiPerna, research director at the Freidman Foundation for Educational Choice.
U.S. school moms not only believe that education has gotten off on the wrong track, but believe that the government has acted poorly in handling educational matters.
- Only 26 percent of Americans feel that K-12 education is going in the right direction.
- When asked to “rate the federal government’s handling of matters in K-12 education,” about four out of five school moms (79 percent) say “fair” or “poor.”
Based on this information, it is clear that the general consensus of school moms is that the U.S. education system is failing to live up to the expectations of mothers. The dim view of government-provided K-12 education is not exclusive to mothers — nearly three quarters of all Americans surveyed, regardless of whether they have children, view it as being fair or poor.
Continue reading from NCPA…
| May 14th, 2013 by Cindy in Energy Conservative groups seeking information from the Environmental Protection Agency have been routinely hindered by fees normally waived for media and watchdog groups, while fees for more than 90 percent of requests from green groups were waived, according to requests reviewed by the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
CEI reviewed Freedom of Information Act requests sent between January 2012 and this spring from several environmental groups friendly to the EPA’s mission, and several conservative groups, to see how equally the agency applies its fee waiver policy for media and watchdog groups. Government agencies are supposed to waive fees for groups disseminating information for public benefit.
“This is as clear an example of disparate treatment as the IRS’ hurdles selectively imposed upon groups with names ominously reflecting an interest in, say, a less intrusive or biased federal government,” said CEI fellow Chris Horner.
For 92 percent of requests from green groups, the EPA cooperated by waiving fees for the information. Those requests came from the Natural Resources Defense Council, EarthJustice, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, The Waterkeeper Alliance, Greenpeace, Southern Environmental Law Center and the Center for Biological Diversity.
Continue reading from the Washington Examiner…
| May 14th, 2013 by Cindy in Healthcare Reform Internal cost estimates from 17 of the nation’s largest insurance companies indicate that health insurance premiums will grow an average of 100 percent under Obamacare, and that some will soar more than 400 percent, crushing the administration’s goal of affordability.
New regulations, policies, taxes, fees and mandates are the reason for the unexpected “rate shock,” according to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which released a report Monday based on internal documents provided by the insurance companies. The 17 companies include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Kaiser Foundation.
Continue reading…
| May 14th, 2013 by Cindy in Education, WTP News We The People-Longview
May 6th meeting is now on You Tube
Topic: CSCOPE in our Schools
WATCH PRESENTATION HERE
CLICK HERE FOR QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION AFTER PRESENTATION
Guest Speaker: Jeanine McGregor
Jeanine McGregor (Ms. Mac) is an accomplished educator, author, speaker and researcher. She is a State Board of Education Professional Provider, an All Level Certified Teacher (Pre-K through grade 12). Jeanine McGregor has investigated CSCOPE extensively and will discuss the results of her research, how this is adversely affecting our children on several levels, and the negative impact this program is having on our educational system in Texas. Ms. McGregor travels all over Texas and the Country to educate people on CSCOPE.
| May 14th, 2013 by Cindy in WTP News IRS scrutiny went beyond Tea Party, targeting of conservative groups broader than thought
Published May 13, 2013 | FoxNews.com
An IRS campaign to apply additional scrutiny to conservative groups went beyond targeting “Tea Party” and “patriot” groups to include those focused on government spending, the Constitution and several other broad areas.
The additional guidelines created by the agency were part of a timeline, obtained by Fox News, from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, which is looking into the controversial IRS practice. IRS officials apologized Friday for the scrutiny, but new information suggests senior leaders were apprised of the effort as early as 2011 despite public denials from the top.
Republican lawmakers have vowed to investigate and hold hearings, calling the revelations deeply troubling.
Read more: http://nation.foxnews.com/irs/2013/05/13/irs-targeted-groups-criticized-government?cmpid=NL_foxnation#ixzz2TJnkUTV7
| May 14th, 2013 by Cindy in Education 5.10.13 – FROM TEX. SEN. DAN PATRICK:
CSCOPE FINALLY COMPLIES WITH REQUEST FOR FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS
5000 Pages of documents arrive after threat of a subpoena earlier in the week from Senator Patrick.
AUSTIN—Over the past several months, Senator Dan Patrick, Chair of Senate Education, and a vocal critic of the CSCOPE program, has asked for detailed financial information from the TESCCC and the 20 Board members who sell the CSCOPE lesson plans to nearly 900 school districts statewide. After becoming frustrated with a lack of response for the detailed financial information, Senator Patrick sent a letter earlier this week to all 20 participants in CSCOPE saying he would request a subpoena for this information if his committee did not receive it before today at 5 p.m. Late this afternoon the Senate Education Committee office received over 5000 pages of detail dating back 5 years on each CSCOPE region.
“I’ m glad that the CSCOPE board finally recognized that they must respond to our request for detailed financial information,” said Senator Patrick. “I only wish I didn’t have to threaten a subpoena before getting this information,” added Senator Patrick. “For some reason the board at CSCOPE believes they are above open disclosure and total transparency to parents and legislators.
Over the past year CSCOPE directors have fought back against requests from parents and others for information. They had used the non-profit corporation that they set up several years ago as the reason claiming they were not a public entity. The very first question Senator Patrick asked the CSCOPE witnesses in committee in January was about the non-profit.
Senator Patrick established that the non-profit didn’t have a phone number, an address, a checking account, or an address. He then asked them to close it down which they agreed to do. “It was clear to me the non-profit was set up to hide information from someone. I’m glad the board is beginning to understand they are a public entity and the people of Texas and the legislature have a right to their records,” said Patrick
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Continue reading “Good News on CSCOPE”
| May 2nd, 2013 by Cindy in Texas Politics
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