An insurrection, just without the blatant rioting and death, is happening under our noses. ALEC-backed lawmakers and other insiders are working overtime to lock in the most heinous law changes and siphon off every last drop of resources from our public schools before driving that final nail in the coffins of public schools before this year’s General Assembly ends on April 14, 2022.
It’s a sad, sad situation for Kentuckians in particular because, until now, our community has successfully held these predators at bay. They are like Shingles. They don’t care. And once you realize these individuals are not that different than those who organized a violent insurrection at our nation’s Capitol, it all makes sense how they are trying to accomplish the same things, but going about it differently. This time they are going against the will of their constituents while spreading disinformation to justify their role in changing the laws to make it legal, accessible and low-cost for their financial backers to prey on Kentuckians. It’s an inside job.
We are Kentucky, after all. Home of #MoscowMitch McConnell. Let’s examine the similarities.
Senator Stivers is to the Kentucky Senate what Mitch McConnell is to the US Senate. Only worse because, right now, the Kentucky GOP has the supermajority, so they can pass as many “sue me to stop me” bills as they can get out of committee. No matter how compelling the facts, testimonials and arguments, they vote in favor of every bill that aligns with the Trump agenda. These laws will be vetoed by our very popular Democratic governor who no doubt save thousands of Kentuckians lives by his reasoned and measured leadership during the pandemic, which was a rare find in most red states. The legislature has sufficient time to override any of the governor’s vetoes, and so, any bills that their dark money backers say must pass will pass.
Prior to Governor Andy Beshear (our Biden), we had Matt Bevin, who was our Donald Trump. He was sent packing in 2019 in large part because of his hateful rhetoric toward teachers, but also because his campaign came out hot for charter schools right out of the gate, and we quickly organized and put a stop to their efforts. They weren’t prepared for our response. They thought they were going to come right in and execute their plan that had worked so well in 42 other states.
On the 11th hour in 2017, the charter school bill passed, but since it wasn’t a budget year, it didn’t come with any funding. So they made a sister bill and ran over to an appropriations committee meeting to try to get the funding, but there weren’t enough votes. Fast forward to 2022 and we sit in pretty much the same shape as before, until HB9 was introduced. It is the bill they have been waiting to pass for years that will finally allow them to use taxpayer dollars to let the money follow the child to charter schools, vouchers, private schools. Instead of finding real solutions that our struggling schools and students need now, we will waste time, money and resources we don’t have entertaining folly that is brought to you by predatory outsiders that are funded by dark money.
Unrelated, but in case you missed this, please watch.
https://crooksandliars.com/2022/03/sen-karen-berg-delivers-epic-smackdown