SENATE BILL: The Duke-Scott Educating The People Reform (Debating)

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I'm not comfortable with section IV's changes. We do have evidence that climate change has been affected by man, but saying we can only teach about that and nothing else is forbidding its study. I'm not looking to dictate anything about that to schools. I don't want them teaching that man made climate change is false, but we don't have any scientific facts that climate change is all man made.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

What does "recess" for high schoolers consist of, anyway?

Drinking in the school parking lot or going off campus to hook up with someone for an hour or so.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I wish we cared more about our children than we are showing. Don't you all love our children?

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

What hell man? This isn't a Senate election here this thread, you people should be voting.

If it takes shaming you people to achieve progress, then so be it.

For the children!

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

What is the point of the amendment offered? Schools must offer those things and if they cannot afford it, they can apply for grants so they can afford it. Why do we need to change the wording? So we will set a limit? Do we even know how much money these needy schools will need?

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Our reasoning was that the federal government wouldn't deny these schools grants to comply with section one arbitrarily. We don't know how much it will cost to bring these needy schools up to speed, and placing a $ amount on it is pretty short sighted. Even if we appropriate $3B for grants, the schools will still need to get approval, so this amendment doesn't change that.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Our reasoning was that the federal government wouldn't deny these schools grants to comply with section one arbitrarily. We don't know how much it will cost to bring these needy schools up to speed, and placing a $ amount on it is pretty short sighted. Even if we appropriate $3B for grants, the schools will still need to get approval, so this amendment doesn't change that.

If we are not putting a number on it, how are we going to budget for it?

God knows! But I am sure it will be more than $3 billion before it's all said and done. Hard telling how many at need schools exist out there.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

What is the issue with recess? Does the senate not like it?

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

No, I see why it's redundant, but my issue is that for legal and liability purposes, we may need to have the schools given high school seniors permission to leave campus. For example, if a student leaves campus and gets killed when he should've been at school, we would know if they had given him permission to leave or not.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

No, I see why it's redundant, but my issue is that for legal and liability purposes, we may need to have the schools given high school seniors permission to leave campus. For example, if a student leaves campus and gets killed when he should've been at school, we would know if they had given him permission to leave or not.

Why would that apply specifically to high school seniors at recess and not otherwise?

What do you mean not otherwise? Otherwise, they should be in class. Unless we just do as my high school did and allow seniors to just leave campus whenever they want to. Or we can just leave the decisions up to the regional governments and simply do as we are doing now, and say they should get recess, as in they shouldn't go to class continuously for hours and hours, and nothing more.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

No, I see why it's redundant, but my issue is that for legal and liability purposes, we may need to have the schools given high school seniors permission to leave campus. For example, if a student leaves campus and gets killed when he should've been at school, we would know if they had given him permission to leave or not.

Why would that apply specifically to high school seniors at recess and not otherwise?

What do you mean not otherwise? Otherwise, they should be in class. Unless we just do as my high school did and allow seniors to just leave campus whenever they want to. Or we can just leave the decisions up to the regional governments and simply do as we are doing now, and say they should get recess, as in they shouldn't go to class continuously for hours and hours, and nothing more.

I mean how is the solution to the liability issue addressed by giving high school seniors the ability to leave at recess?   Is there not also this liability issue if the student leaves at other times of day, or if a younger student leaves?

I wish I could tell you the intricacies of school liability, but I can't.

I am just assuming in the event something happens to a student during school hours, the court would want to know whether that student had been released from school or whether they were supposed to be at school but wandered off on their own accord. Some schools are entrusted to protect the children, especially smaller children, during school days. If the child or student wanders off and is harmed, someone could he held liable.

I remember a case involving a young student at a daycare. The child wandered off and drowned in a lake during the time when he was supposed to be under the case of the staff. I forget who was liable. But this type of thing would also apply. Presumably, if a student was given permission or released from school to go elsewhere, the school is free of liability. But I really don't know. Perhaps this isn't something we even need to worry about with this bill especially since I don't remember the details of the case I just cited.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I am fine with the amendment. I'm not in the business of punishing underfunded schools for non-compliance.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

My big goal with this initial bill is mainly to expand the access of technology to all our public schools. It's the 21st century. We need a 21st century educational system. I'd LOVE to tackle the textbook industry in general and shift from paper to electronic books that allow more interaction, but perhaps that is biting off too much at once.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I'm surprised this has taken so long. I released part I first because I thought it would pass rather quickly..

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

This is where having a GM would come in handy, or some form to find the answers to these questions. Maybe Simfan can help us!

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Think of this as an investment in our children's future.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Wouldn't LA be more expensive to outfit than other schools across the country?

And I am fine having regions put up 50% of the cost provided they can afford it. In the end, I just want to get this passed. It appears as if the rest of the plans Scott and I wanted to push through may not see the floor before I leave office.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I have no idea, but I would presume you'd be correct. We really have no way of knowing under our current system of playing this game.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Can we all stomach $45 billion?

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Can we all stomach $45 billion?

I certainly can't.  I don't suspect the taxpayers can either.  Imagine all the other ways that money could be spent - is this really the best use of that?

Is there a way we can keep it to less than that? Does all size fit all? I wanted to keep it to $20 billion max, if that.

Have another beer and get back to me, shua.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

The way I see it is, this investment will have to be made at some point in the future; schools will not be without wifi forever and ever. And I anticipate the cost of such a project will only increase, unless the technology gets substantially cheaper, which I suppose is possible. But it's 2014. Our schools need wifi in the age of cloud computing and the technology we have access to. It would be nice if a company would donate the technology like Apple has offered to do in the US, but that might not be possible in Atlasia.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Our tax rates are 60%??? I thought we cut those back a while ago.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Anyone that knows anything about the history of our tax system knows that that was a very different tax code than we have now. I recommend you study the Kennedy/Johnson tax cuts in the 60s if you don't.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Thanks for that, SirNick. I agree with your assessment. Obviously, most if not all are covered for health insurance in Atalsia, but what we meant by this was a school nurse, psychologist, etc. Thanks for picking up on that, without you, we may have passed a bill that may have done terrible things!

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

As someone who wrote a paper on the Kennedy and Johnson tax cuts while studying economics, I'm happy to discuss the differences between our tax code then and now whenever necessary. It's all about context. If our top bracket was 90% now, goodbye economy.