Back-to-school time is expensive and it’s a huge time commitment–but I love it.
Okay, I don’t love how my kids keep changing sizes so I have to keep buying clothes. I don’t love that they need enough school supplies to equip an army. I don’t love the endless driving: for shopping trips, for sports physicals, for random errands.
And my heart breaks a little each year that I watch my “little ones” take bigger and bigger steps out in the world.
But I love that we have schools to go back to!
You know who doesn’t love back-to-school time? My opponent, Speaker Scott Bedke, and anti-freedom extremists who he has rolled over for, like the Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF).
Speaker Bedke supports “school choice.” That sounds nice, right? It’s not nice. It is double-talk from the far-right about its campaign to put public money into private schools. That’s a very bad idea.
IFF loves the idea of starving public schools, particularly rural ones. That’s a big reason why I refused to legitimize that radical organization when they wanted to host a debate. IFF is so radical that abolishing public schools is their top issue.
What’s not to love about public school?
Well, look at what happens in a school with professional teachers who challenge kids. The kids learn to live and work together. They learn that science is real and that it is the basis of medicine, solving modern problems, and exploring the stars. If they are lucky, kids share classes with kids who aren’t like them. They learn to love the differences, not fear them. They learn to respect other perspectives, not ignore them.
Public school kids learn the skills it takes to make democracy work.
It grieves me to say it, but that respect for diversity that kids might learn in public schools scares people like Speaker Bedke. It fuels his disdain for teachers and students.
The Idaho Freedom Foundation? They attack public schools to weaken our democracy.
Hey, but we still have back-to-school time. We are still strong people who can unite. We have power and we matter.
A vote for me is a vote for someone who will fight for your right to send a kid back to school every year–until they are old enough to vote.