Bernie can be bought. Bloomberg up!

It’s another “Super Tuesday” or for Slow Joe “Super Thursday/June” and as they did with Slow Joe Biden, the critics are calling Bernie’s campaign dead in the water. I suspect that the Demo-Dope swells have locked in the Slowest One’s victory tonight.  So two things will happen:  One, cheers at Bernie’s demise; Two, sudden buyer’s remorse at having to settle on the establishment pick Slow gaffe a second Joe Biden who is as likely as not to show up at his victory speech in a silver sequined unitard licking his wife’s neck and singing "We are the Champions." 

Immediate calls for Bernie to drop out will ensue and Slow Joe will go into hiding with his worthless drug addicted son, Hunter.  Dopes don’t really care if Bernie limps along.  They just don’t want the Slow One to have to be on stage for over an hour going toe to toe with Bernie in the next debate.  So pressure will be intense for Bernie drop out and clear the field so the Slowest One can nap most of the day until the general election campaign begins.   

Sadly for Dopes, Bernie will probably refuse to play nice with establishment Dopes, unless they buy him another “summer camp,” an airplane and a nice boat.  If Bloomberg throws enough money at Bernie he will grow a conscience, become a Party man and give a halfhearted endorsement to Slowest of all Joes. He’ll suspend his campaign with a promise to the Bernie Bros that he’ll be prepared to jump back in at moment’s notice when Biden insists he wrote the legislation for colonizing Mars.

For the rest of us with common sense, Biden is about as big a godless commie bastard as Bernie. The only difference or at least the major difference is that MSM insist on calling the Slow One a “moderate.”  He’s not.  He’s a fool tax and spend to buy votes with taxpayer money progressive POS only slightly less crazy than Bernie.

Today’s JG rant
I’ll stipulate that certain unscrupulous miscreant online charter school operators gamed the system and made off with tens of millions in state taxpayer funds.  The remedy for that theft, it seems to me, is legal.  The perpetrators of that fraud should be jailed, fined or both. Any public official that took money from the perpetrators of the fraud should return the money immediately. 

Now to be fair, something that never enters into the equation at the JG editorial board, calculate the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars failed public schools in Indiana have defrauded taxpayers out of over the last few decades.  If trying to expose the statewide fraud in public education is deemed too difficult, confine your investigation to FWCS.  If that’s too difficult, confine your investigation to North Side, South Side, Wayne and Northrop high schools.

How many of millions of dollars have been wasted in just those four failed public schools over decades of decline?  How many students did they fail – graduated with worthless diplomas?  Who is going to be held accountable for the failure in public education?  Red for Ed?  The teacher’s union?  Public school administrators?  Are teachers and administrators going to be jailed and/or fined for failure?  Is there ever going to be any accountability?       

Tuesday, March 10, 2020 1:00 am

Editorial

Unaccountable

Amid scandal, lawmakers still favor charter schools

The biggest public spending scandal in the state's history came to light in a State Board of Accounts report halfway through the current legislative session. As much as $85 million was misspent by online charter school operators funneling taxpayer funds to connected companies, including $65 million collected for students who were not enrolled in the schools. The investigation has been turned over to federal authorities.

If you expected lawmakers would scramble to tighten spending rules and oversight of your tax dollars in the wake of this mess – think again. The Republican supermajority not only rejected attempts to hold virtual charter schools more accountable, it's now ramming through a last-minute measure to allow charter schools a cut of property taxes from referendums conducted by traditional public schools. Gov. Eric Holcomb, through a tie-breaking vote cast by his lieutenant governor, chose to stand with charter schools and against 291 public school districts.

With evidence of millions in misspending, why are lawmakers and the governor intent on steering public funds to private interests? Where are the fiscal conservatives fighting to protect tax dollars? Where are the calls for greater financial accountability?

Rep. Ed DeLaney, D-Indianapolis, made multiple attempts to strengthen oversight of charter schools this session. He offered five amendments to Senate Bill 455 addressing problems brought to light by the virtual schools scam, but the GOP-controlled House Education Committee chose to kill the Republican-authored bill rather than strengthen accountability over their freewheeling school choice program.

“Loose oversight and lack of regulation from this legislative body led Indiana taxpayers to be defrauded of nearly $65 million from virtual charter schools, while delivering little to no satisfactory educational results,” De-Laney said last week. “The Republican supermajority has failed teachers, parents, school districts, taxpayers and, most importantly, students by refusing to act on any legislative matters from House Democrats that would hold virtual charter schools accountable.”

DeLaney's efforts to address fraud in virtual charter schools began well before the State Board of Accounts report was released last month. In August, he called on House Speaker Brian Bosma and members of the Legislative Council to direct the Interim Study Committee on Education to look into issues involving online charters. They declined to do so.

“The suggestion from House Republicans that it is not the Indiana General Assembly's responsibility to address this issue by legislative investigation shows a high level of irresponsibility and apathy,” DeLaney said last month. “We just threw taxpayer dollars in the middle of the street and let the bad guys pick it up.”

Demanding the same level of financial accountability for charter schools – both virtual and bricks-and-mortar schools – seems like a no-brainer for any lawmaker who claims the title of fiscal conservative. But the push is to expose more tax dollars to abuse. A measure inserted in House Bill 1065 last week – after the opportunity for public testimony was past – allows charter schools to collect a share of property tax referendum money when school districts ask local property taxpayers to raise taxes for construction, operating or security expenses. The provision is worded as “may” in the current language, but legislative observers know how easily the wording can be changed to “shall” in subsequent sessions.

Sixteen Republican senators voted no on the referendum measure last week. Northeast Indiana lawmakers – Sens. Liz Brown, Justin Busch, Travis Holdman, Dennis Kruse and Andy Zay – all voted yes, however. Holdman, an attorney, was a paid consultant to the virtual schools responsible for $85 million in misspent funds.

In Monday's conference committee session to resolve differences between House and Senate versions of the bill, the charter referendum language was maintained.

Lawmakers have one more chance to protect local tax dollars. Will they choose privatization or fiscal accountability?