Immigration Politics Georgia

looking for a better life • news and pro-enforcement opinion

Search Results for: school choice

Erick Erickson on “school choice” – no mention of the illegal immigration invasion and excluding illegals this time, Nov. 18, 2022

By

Erick Erickson. Photo: Wikipedia.

We have noticed that most of the people pushing “school choice” are careful not to acknowledge the ongoing invasion at the southern border.

We remember a different quote from EWE on the same topic.

Related: Here is what a pro-enforcement conservative voter wrote to his local newspaper in Georgia on that lunacy.

The below was transcribed by Rev.com from the Erick Erickson radio show on WSB radio in Atlanta on Nov 18, 2022.

____

Erick Erickson (host):

“Erick Erickson here. Uh, there is some news Republicans nationwide should pay attention to. School choice motivated midterm voters in school superintendent races around the country. Even USA Today is noticing this. Americans are divided on school choice, that was reflected in their votes last week. Seven states chose state school superintendents, schools with robust school choice programs like Arizona voted in candidates who support it. Uh, Oklahoma ushered in new leaders who believe they could give school voucher options for the first time. Oklahoma’s incoming state school superintendent is Ryan Walters, a Republican.

He campaigned on giving parents the option of school vouchers to decide where their kids to go to school and to take public money along with them to a private school, religious school, or homeschool program if that’s their choice. He was one of a small number of state superintendents elected last week who’s an advocate of school choice and whose backing of powerful groups of politicians, uh, are calling it a school choice wave. Uh, unfortunately in Georgia it was the Democrat who’s the school choice advocate. And she lost to the Republican, all the Republicans in Georgia won. Um, but there is a pattern shaping up that you really need to pay attention to.

Republicans around the country are starting to realize they can win longterm if they embrace school choice. And it is my hope that in my state of Georgia and others, Republicans will realize this is really a winning issue for you. Not only is it a winning issue, but over time, uh, you as a Republican, uh, will see your share of the vote grow. Look at what happened in, um, Florida. There was a conversion of African American and Hispanic voters towards the GOP. And a lot of that had to do with Black and Hispanic parents not wanting their children to have to go back into public schools after being given options for private schools. And you had Charlie Crist of the Democrats campaigning on shutting down school choice in Florida.

Once you give this entitlement to parents, they’re not gonna vote Democrat if the Democrats try to reverse it. And even in Arizona where they went with a Democrat over Kari Lake, they went with Katie Hobbs, they elected a Republican school, uh, superintendent for the state to make sure school choice happens. Republicans, I’m telling you, you’re crazy if you don’t push school choice in your state. Georgia Republicans need to pay attention.

Now, before I get out of here, I need to tell you…

(end of “school choice” topic and show).

Photo: New York Times

Inger Eberhart in DC Journal: “School Choice” — Taxpayers Shouldn’t Foot the Bill for Illegal Immigrants

By

“Lawmakers should tweak the legislation to ensure that taxpayer dollars don’t flow to illegal alien households”

October 23, 2022

By Inger Eberhar

Inger Eberhart is communications director and a member of the advisory board of the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society. She wrote this for InsideSources.com

Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement officers encountered roughly 2.5 million illegal aliens in the fiscal year that just ended September 30 — shattering the previous record of 1.7 million set last year. That number will only grow if one supposedly conservative group gets its way.

The well-financed State Freedom Caucus Network (SFCN), an offshoot of the congressional Freedom Caucus, deploys extensive resources to promote conservative values in state capitols across America. Recently, in Arizona, the group helped pass the “most expansive school choice legislation in recent memory,” in the words of Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey. Riding high after that victory, SFCN boasted the Arizona law is “model legislation that we have every intention of passing in every state.”

SFCN recently began its nationwide push to duplicate that law in Georgia.

Three separate bills failed in the last session of the Georgia legislature that would have allowed school choice vouchers, worth thousands of dollars each, to go to illegal immigrants. Replacement measures have been promised that would burden Georgia taxpayers and attract even more illegal aliens. Georgia already has the 7th-highest population of illegal residents in the nation. A study by University of Wisconsin researchers found illegal immigrants consistently cite superior American schools as a key reason for remaining in the United States.

Lawmakers should tweak the legislation to ensure that taxpayer dollars don’t flow to illegal alien households…  More here.

 

“School Choice” Promise Scholarships Should Not Include Illegal Immigrants – Inger Eberhart on Insider Advantage Georgia

By

 

The column below originally ran on the subscription news and opinion website Insider Advantage Georgia and is posted here with permission.

 

“Lacking language that excluded illegal immigrants from this “driver’s seat” position, had the bills passed, Georgia Republicans would have created a system in which illegal alien parents/guardians had authority to distribute and directly manage taxpayer funds for a private school education for their illegal alien children.”

By Inger Eberhart

Inger Eberhart is Communications Director and a member of the advisory board of the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society

One of the first things I learned in my years as an occasional citizen lobbyist under the Gold Dome was that one should not accept the hype or the “trust us” narrative on any legislation unless and until you actually read the bill. As the old adage goes, “the devil is in the details.”

That advice should be taken to heart by voters who are understandably clamoring for legislative financial help in moving their children from the public K-12 school system and the legislators and conservative groups pushing for “school choice” in Georgia.

Inger Eberhart

Another hard-earned lesson in judging the worth of legislation is to keep a firm grasp on reality while all about you are howling for quick passage of what seems to be a “popular” bill.

Some too-often ignored reality in Georgia is that Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement officers encountered roughly 2.5 million illegal aliens in the fiscal year that just ended September 30 — smashing the previous record of 1.7 million set last year.

More reality: For a large share of these illegal border crossers, Georgia is a very popular destination. We are already home to more illegal aliens than live in Arizona.

School choice is a solid idea. Encouraging and rewarding illegal immigration into Georgia with offers of a taxpayer-financed private K-12 school education isn’t. The former does not have to include the latter.

In the fiscal year ended September 30, at least 266,000 unaccompanied migrant children/minors have been encountered at the southern border, per U.S. Customs & Border Protection agency data. That’s almost enough to fill up UGA’s Sanford Stadium three times. Jessica Vaughan at the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington tells us that about 80% of the minors are placed with family members who are already living here illegally – including in Georgia.

A 2013 study of the motivation of illegal immigrants in choosing U.S. locations as migration destinations (“Why we stay…”) from University of Wisconsin researchers reported that illegal immigrants consistently cite superior American schools as a key reason for remaining in the United States.

In the 2021-2022 General Assembly, three separate “school choice” bills were introduced by Republican sponsors. HB 60 and HB 999 were stopped in the House committee process and SB 601 was defeated on the floor when the vote came for final passage. None of them had genuine, effective, or workable language to exclude illegal alien students or families from accessing the taxpayer funded “Promise Scholarship” accounts set up for students.

The bills, products of model legislation from the open borders Cato Institute-linked American Federation for Children, set up accounts that could be used for private school tuition, private tutoring and homeschool co-ops. Advocates say the bills would have “put the parents in the driver’s seat…” Indeed.

The process of administering the tax dollars sent to “Promise Scholarship” accounts for the students would have been done by the parents or guardians. Further, the legislation set up an oversight committee process made up of parents who would have had the legal ability to decide on eligible scholarship expenses.

Lacking language that excluded illegal immigrants from this “driver’s seat” position, had the bills passed, Georgia Republicans would have created a system in which illegal alien parents/guardians had authority to distribute and directly manage taxpayer funds for a private school education for their illegal alien children. Not many thinking Georgians of any description can believe this “school choice” benefit would serve to deter illegal immigration into the Peach State.

A poll on the subject from the school choice advocacy group ‘GeorgiaCAN’ shows high favorable numbers on the “Promise Scholarship” concept described here, but the element of sending illegal immigrant children to private schools courtesy of Georgia taxpayers was not part of the survey.

We submit that the results of a voter poll with a simple question “do you favor the use of tax dollars to send illegal immigrant students to private school in Georgia?” would not be useful in selling most voters on any poorly written school choice legislation in the 2023-2024 General Assembly.

An August letter to the editor published in my hometown Cherokee Tribune from an independent conservative voter summed up the sentiment of a large swath of informed voters with “as a black, conservative American who votes Republican, it is impossible to express my own outrage that any politician would suggest that we increase the benefits already offered to illegals and thereby make Georgia even more attractive to the endless stream of illegals the GOP claims to want to stop.”

A 1982 Supreme Court decision, Plyler v Doe, requires states to offer K-12 public education to students regardless of immigration status. There is no law or ruling that creates a requirement for Georgia taxpayers to send illegal aliens to private school. Legislators with serious intent to pass “school choice” legislation should include common sense language that limits eligibility to U.S. citizens and green card holders.

#

Please read the entire column from Inger at Insider Advantage.

 

Taxpayer-funded K-12 private school for illegal aliens? Coastal GA radio show host Scott Ryfun takes note of D.A. King column in the SSI Islander – *School choice

By

Scott Ryfun.

Recommended pro-American Georgia radio!

Scott Ryfun does a great four hour (!) radio show that is heard from “Savannah to St. Mary’s” every weekday 6-10 AM. You can listen to it on WGIG, 98.7 FM from the Golden Isles and on  iheart radio. I do.

Ryfun (@ryfun) on Twitter.

I wrote a short column for this week’s  St. Simons The Islander newspaper (I am a loyal and longtime subscriber) on the “school choice” topic explaining that there are Republican state legislators in Georgia who are determined to use taxpayer funding to put illegal aliens into private K-12 schools in our state. Scott was kind enough to give it and the Islander a mention. Thanks, Scott! And many thanks to Islander editor Pam Shierling for the space!

You can listen to the short segment here.

The column is pasted below, and under that an informative chart from Reuters.

Ga state Sen. Greg Dolezal.
  • I noticed an omission in my column (my fault) on list of names of GOP legislators who are members of the Georgia Freedom Caucus. I left out the Chairman of the GaFC – state Senator Greg Dolezal (@dolezal4senate) from Forsyth County. My apologies to Sen. Dolezal.  

Note to Scott Ryfun: I am happy to expand on the goals of many legislators who want to include illegal aliens in the “school choice” issue (again) anytime his schedule allows on the air! The topic should be “an issue” for the looming election – and beyond!

BTW: Here is a letter writer’s opinion printed in metro-Atlanta’s Cherokee County newspaper –“Black conservative to GA GOP: “It is impossible to express my own outrage that any politician would suggest that we increase the benefits already offered to illegals.”

 

 

 

 

 

Black conservative to GA GOP: “It is impossible to express my own outrage that any politician would suggest that we increase the benefits already offered to illegals” *School choice

By

 

 

 

The below letter to the editor was published in the Cherokee Tribune & Ledger News today.

LETTER: School choice bill would allow taxpayer-funded vouchers for children living in U.S. illegally

Dear editor,

Since Pres. Biden was sworn in, we have all seen the unforgettable images of the now literally millions of “migrants” crossing the rivers in Texas and gaps in national security in Arizona to enter the U.S. illegally. The truth is most of these people are coming to America in violation of our already extremely liberal immigration laws “for a better life.” Many are either bringing their children with them or sending for them after arrival.

It is also true that the Democrats who run the federal government have not only encouraged this illegal scheme and stood by and watched as these illegal aliens swarm the southern border – but have also loaded these illegals onto busses to be distributed all over the nation. Many are landing in Georgia where we already host more illegal aliens than Arizona.

The insanity doesn’t end with the Democrats. I learned last week that a group of Republican state lawmakers here in Georgia is pushing hard to pass legislation next year that would require Georgia taxpayers to fund K-12 private school education for illegal alien children. It would be part of a “school choice” plan in which education dollars ‘follow the student…” The group is called the ‘Freedom Caucus Network’ and is 100% GOP.

As a black, conservative American who votes Republican, it is impossible to express my own outrage that any politician would suggest that we increase the benefits already offered to illegals and thereby make Georgia even more attractive to the endless stream of illegals the GOP claims to want to stop.

Cherokee Rep Charlice Byrd is a member of this “Freedom Caucus” group. We hope she can explain why illegal aliens would be included in taxpayer-funded private school education when it is so easy to exclude then from any such legislation. This political trick will not create a better life for Americans in Georgia.

Everett Robinson

Canton

Here.

__

Note, Everett is a dear pal, a former thirty-four year neighbor and a member of the board of advisors, the Dustin Inman Society.

“Conservative” State Freedom Caucus Network pushing for taxpayer-funded K-12 private school tuition for illegal aliens – including in GA *”School Choice!” *Updated

By

_____

*Update: August 24, 2022, 5:21 PM: The below column has driven a pro-enforcement Cherokee County resident to send a letter to the editor of his local newspaper. You can read Everett Robinson’s letter as it was published yesterday here.

_____

A well-funded group in Washington D.C. that describes itself as “conservative” is boasting that it has put a law in place in Arizona that gives illegal aliens taxpayer-funded K-12 private school tuition. The group is an off-shoot of the congressional “House Freedom Caucus” and is known as the “Freedom Caucus Network.” They have chapters in several states, including Arizona, South Carolina and Georgia. They claim to fight for “conservative values.”

The State Freedom Caucus Network sent out an email alert yesterday boasting that they had successfully fought for a bill in Arizona that sends tax dollars to all K-12 students for private school and that the Arizona governor has signed the legislation into law – it’s HB 2853.

The Freedom Caucus Network says they will now work to pass the same language into law in other states. Including Georgia.

Georgians with memories that go back to the 2022 session of the Republican-ruled state legislature may recall that three separate “school choice” bills (example) died before Sine Die. What the media and the Republicans successfully hid was the fact that the bills required Georgia taxpayers to fund the private school education of illegal alien students – with illegal alien parents included in the system set up to allow parents/guardians to distribute state funds sent to an account set up for the student.

After exposure and pressure, the House and the Senate bills saw amendments/language that purported to exclude illegals. They didn’t. It was hokum.

Here in Georgia, public comment was not allowed in the committee process that passed out the senate “school choice” bill that did not exclude illegals.

 

It is incredibly easy to put language into the legislation that really does exclude illegal aliens and their families from receiving taxpayer-funded private school tuition in school choice legislation. We have it here.

  • Related: Neither federal law or the 1982 Plyler v Doe Supreme Court decision require states to pay for private school education for illegal aliens.

The State Freedom Caucus in Georgia was founded by outgoing state Rep Phillip Singleton.

You can read about the Freedom Caucus Network on their website, but only after you sign up for their alerts. Here is part of the “Leadership” page:

“In December of 2021 Philip founded the Georgia Freedom Caucus and helped launch the State Freedom Caucus Network. Philip is now the acting Georgia State Director for the State Freedom Caucus Network and the Vice Chair of the Georgia Freedom Caucus.”

*Update:”Georgia’s contingent includes Rep. Philip Singleton of Sharpsburg, Rep. Charlice Byrd of Cherokee County, Rep. Emory Dunahoo of Gillsville, Rep. Sheri Gilligan of Cumming, Rep. Timothy Barr of Lawrenceville and Sen. Burt Jones of Jackson. Sen. Brandon Beach of Alpharetta also stood with the group…” (Georgia Recorder).

*Update again, August 29, 6:06 PM: State Senator Greg Dolezal is also a member of the Georgia Freedom Caucus. He was omitted from the list pasted above. Dolezal serves as the Chair or co-Chair, depending on what news outlet we check. 

There is a fight coming between Republicans who want “school choice” at any cost and pro-enforcement conservatives who refuse to reward and encourage more illegal immigration into Georgia by expanding benefits for the illegal aliens who are right now crossing the border with their children.

We have picked a side. We hope you will too.

Below is part of yesterday’s Freedom Caucus Network email. On top is a photo of just some of the illegal aliens who came last week looking for a better life.

 

 

Frontline Policy Action lobbyist makes “school choice!” a 2023 legislative priority – we hope they are truthful this time *Cole Muzio

By

 

Cole Muzio, Frontline Policy Action & Frontline Policy Council. Photo: Facbook.

The latest email from Cole Muzio:

Georgia’s Frontline Policy Action lobby  sent out a lengthy email today in which he announces that one of their legislative priorities for the 2021 General Assembly is “universal school choice – taxpayer dollars following the child” – known as “school choice.”

Screenshot of August 16, 2022 email newsletter from Cole Muzio/Frontline.

We take no position on the school choice issue other than we think it could be a good idea if implemented considered with the constant awareness that Georgia is home to more illegal aliens than Arizona and our schools are crawling with illegal aliens. And that the feds say we must provide K-12 education to illegal aliens in public schools – not private schools. And that the model legislation most often used to create state legislation on “school choice!” comes from the ‘American Federation for Children‘ led by a character named Cory DeAngleis (see here also) who is also hooked up with the open borders Cato Institute. All concerned there have made it clear that they do not want to exclude illegal aliens from receiving taxpayer funded, private school tuition.

Muzio and his Frontline staffers should be reminded that honesty in promoting their legislative goals is imperative. The truth is that there was nothing in the three bills that were defeated in the 2022 session that would have prevented illegal aliens and their families from accessing the private school tuition funded by tax-paying Georgians. And the truth is that if passed, the legislation from last year, including SB 601 would have benefitted a small fraction of Georgia’s K-12 students – not “…the vast majority of school children in the state…” as was asserted by Muzio’s Frontline Policy Action on SB 601.

Related: We have taken the time to show legislators how to easily exclude illegal alien students from any “school choice!” legislation.

Our constant goal is to make Georgia as inhospitable to illegal immigration as possible. We wish that were true of the Republicans who rule the state legislature. We hope it is true for Frontline Policy Action. We don’t think so.

“Conservative groups,” Frontline Policy Action and the con on “school choice!” in the 2022 GA General Assembly

By

Image: Mental floss.

Illegal immigration in Georgia: Beware the BF from trusted “conservative groups” on “school choice!”

We passed on some important facts on the “school choice!” hustle in the 2022 legislative session. We are happy that the excessive exposure to the facts helped kill three separate bills aimed at providing taxpayer funded private school scholarships to relatively few K-12 students in Georgia – including illegal aliens. The bills were HB 60, – HB 999 and SB 601. All of them were derived from model legislation provided by and pushed by an organization called American Federation for Children. The bills would have given the taxpayer funded money to a small fraction of the total K-12 student body in the state.

None of that model legislation contained any prohibition or device to stop the scholarships from going to illegal alien families.

One more time: Illegal aliens would have been included in the benefits while many American students and families would have been excluded because of limited funding that was subject to appropriati0ns.

I take the time to type this all again so that nobody forgets the corporate-funded “conservative” groups (hello, Buzz Brockway at the Georgia Center for Opportunity) that pushed these bills and lobbied so hard under the Gold Dome and the fact that they all withheld the whole truth from trusting voters.

I’ll add to this post when I get time to include a list of names but today we focus on ‘Frontline Policy Action’ run by Cole Muzio.

On the “who we are” page Frontline Policy Action describes their effort as “a state-focused, biblical organization that could tactfully address issues of life, religious freedom, educational opportunity, God’s design, human dignity, free speech, and principled government.”

Indeed.

Muzio still has the call to action on the Frontline website. In it he is telling people that the last “school choice!” bill to fail, SB 601, would have increased “educational opportunities for the vast majority of school children in the state…”

As gently as I can say it: Bull Feathers! This is simply not true. Again, the bills would have applied to a small fraction of K-12 students.

From the Frontline call to action page:

 

 

SB 601 2022 Breitbart News: Georgia Senate rejects education bill for illegals *School choice

By

 

It turns out that passing a poorly-written bill out of committee while refusing to allow public comment does not guarantee final passage! We are very happy here!

 

Breitbart

March 15, 2022

The Georgia Senate has blocked a draft bill that would have sent taxpayer funds to illegal migrants, says D.A. King, an activist for pro-American bills.

“Senate Bill 601 was voted down about 2.10 in the afternoon here in Georgia and I’m extremely happy and very proud,” said D.A. King, the founder of the Dustin Inman Society, which advocates for pro-American immigration policies

The bill was backed by the GOP leaders, including state Sen. Butch Miller (R-49), who is the Senate President Pro Tempore. Miller is also a candidate for the Republican nomination in the state’s pending lieutenant gubernatorial election.

“I can tell you, them being hammered with enough facts on the illegal immigration angle and the facts that the students in the country illegally could easily be put in private school while American citizens were skipped over,” King added. “Having illegal alien parents in charge of not only disbursement of the money — but oversight of the expenses — did not help them.”

The legislation would have created a small-scale school choice program for all students, including illegal-migrant youths. The bill also allowed illegal immigrants to play a role in overseeing the funding.

However, the program would have been funded by appropriated funds, so… the rest here.