SENATE BILL: Power to Parents Act (Failed)

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

Perhaps we could come up with a compromise, and give local communities the incentive to adopt this policy, rather than a mandate?

Though I must say, I am also uncomfortable with gutting the Go Green Fund.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

Perhaps we could come up with a compromise, and give local communities the incentive to adopt this policy, rather than a mandate?

Though I must say, I am also uncomfortable with gutting the Go Green Fund.

I don't see any reason why we should offer incentives.

Because if we do, we can give a strong reason for why the policy should be adopted by the individual communities without taking their role out of the equation.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

Amendment:

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I'm still not completely sold on this bill, and I think there needs to be more discussion about the Go Green Fund line item (which is why this amendment doesn't affect it), but I think we ought to start from somewhere.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

Very well.  I will change this-

Amendment:

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[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

I find Clarence's response to be persuasive, and am willing to go along with his plan and see what happens provided the incentive is dropped, the mandate reinstated, and the billion dollars we are going to spend on School Choice Transportation Assistance doesn't come from the Go Green Fund.

Benefits for the regions with strings attached is a serious pet peeve of mine. I consider it corrupt.

I don't see what corruption could come from this.  It merely encourages school districts to adopt the plan so we can experiment and compare the performance of the ones that are under the policy to the ones that are not.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

It could promote a political culture in which local bureaucrats are tempted to do whatever will promise them more federal funding, perhaps to the detriment of staying true to their core responsibility in office of serving local communities as best they know how. If the desire here is to experiment and compare, why not begin with some sort of pilot program and then decide whether to proceed on a large scale based on the results?

I still don't see how this would harm the leaders' ability to serve their local communities.  If they do not believe it is the right policy and that more harm than good would come from law, even with the funds, then they can refuse to apply for them.  We could also, perhaps through another amendment, ensure that the funds are designated toward restructuring the schools themselves and not used in a way that benefits someone at the expense of the schools.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

I still don't see how this would harm the leaders' ability to serve their local communities.  If they do not believe it is the right policy and that more harm than good would come from law, even with the funds, then they can refuse to apply for them.  We could also, perhaps through another amendment, ensure that the funds are designated toward restructuring the schools themselves and not used in a way that benefits someone at the expense of the schools.

Schools oftentimes don't receive as many local and regional resources as they feel they need, which creates an incentive for some administrators to accept sources of federal funding - even if the policies attached are considered bad. I'm willing to work with you on this if everyone is willing to agree that the funding ought to be appraised on a school-by-school basis and strictly limited to expenditures on completing the conversion necessitated under this policy. Otherwise I feel obliged to stand by my previous post.

If the policy turns out to be bad, then we can cease continuation of the project or add a sunset provision to the bill.

Clarence, would you be open to appraising these communities on a school-by-school basis?

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

I approve.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

I'm going to make this brief... I'm really stressed today because of personal matters, so I'm sorry if I won't be as involved today.

Personally, I'd rather cut a little from each department whether than take a lot out of one expenditure.  Some can be taken from the surplus, but I don't favor reducing programs to the point that they're ineffective.

Please tone down the rhetoric here, guys.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

Mr. President, do you have any specific proposals that would improve the bill so that it would better fulfill its intention?

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

Mr. President, do you have any specific proposals that would improve the bill so that it would better fulfill its intention?

Kill it.

You are completely missing the point. I am not interested in fulfilling the intentions of this bill and you shouldn't be either. This is a $40 billion boondoggle by my estimates. I could not care less how the Senate decides to fund it at this point if you actually believe this policy is pratical then there is nothing I can say to convince you otherwise.

I believe I already indicated that I'm not automatically a vote for or against this.  I am still weighing the pros and cons of the legislation, and even if I vote against the final draft, I want Clarence and everyone else to understand that at least I looked at both arguments and based my judgment off of that instead of simply having a knee-jerk attitude against it.  But even if you don't like the mechanics of the bill itself, it's better to provide an alternative solution that aims to accomplish what this bill does in a better way (that being, of course, improving our country's education and expanding access to it).  (Personally, I'd prefer a bill that transition our nation's education system into a Finland-based one, but I'm not sure how we'd go about achieving that right now.)

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

I have some concerns with this amendment.  If fewer low-income students are attending the better schools, then not only would they be deprived of the better education, but student diversity would be lower in these schools.

I don't have a very favorable opinion on this.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

I have some concerns with this amendment.  If fewer low-income students are attending the better schools, then not only would they be deprived of the better education, but student diversity would be lower in these schools.

I don't have a very favorable opinion on this.

Senator, have you considered that the variation in school performance within individual districts is nearly nonexistent?

Would you provide a link that shows this information?

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

I was under the impression that all the costs would be borne by the Feds, regardless of how much or how much the regions might have to spend from their budgets.  Nevertheless, this bill will be very expensive..

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

Nay.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

What is the final text?

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

I didn't want to do this, but nay.

I don't think we were able to find much common ground or work out the bugs with this legislation.  I hope we can craft a better, comprehensive education plan when sbane's bill comes to the floor.