House Democrats Send Letter to Sen. Coons and Carper Urging Them to Oppose Betsy DeVos

The House Democrats sent a letter to Sen. Coons and Carper urging them to oppose Betsy DeVos as the next U.S. Secretary of Education.

Specifically, we are concerned about Ms. DeVos’ lack of knowledge of basic education policy, her advocacy for private school vouchers, her views on guns in schools and her positions on civil rights.

Teachers, students and parents deserve a Secretary of Education who will push for the improvements to strengthen our public education system, not weaken it.

Below is the letter that was sent to the Senators.

View this document on Scribd

A Few Delaware Legislators Sign onto a Letter in Support of Betsy DeVos Appointment as Secretary of Education

Below is the letter that was sent to Senator Alexander, Chairman of the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. I thought it was interesting to see a few Delaware State Senators signed onto the letter.

View this document on Scribd

Delaware General Assembly has a new bill tracking system

The Delaware General Assembly has a new bill tracking system, you will be able to view new legislation that has been recently filed. You will also be able to track all legislation and easily view which legislator has sponsored or co-sponsored legislation.

Click here to visit the site. Go to the tabs at the top of the page and click on Bills and Resolutions.

Trump Announces Next Secretary of Education, Guess What, She is Not an Educator!

The next Secretary of Education has been named and again it is not an educator. Why does our Presidents and state leaders think it is ok to appoint someone as Secretary of Education who has never taught? Our Surgeon General is a doctor, the US Attorney General is a lawyer – so why is the Secretary of Education, one of the most important jobs, not required to be an educator? Every four or eight years a new federal education plan is introduced and the students are the experiment. We have no stability when it comes to our educational system here in the US. Things will never change when we keep appointing the wrong people. Things will never change when we have billionaires who do not normally send their children to public schools and who are making decisions about how to best serve our kids.

Click here to read Betsy DeVos Bio.

Farmland Preservation, which lawmaker benefited from this program?

Last year, Rep. Wilson introduced a bill House Bill 124, this bill would amend the Delaware Constitution to restrict any appropriation of the state’s transfer tax collections until farmland funds receive $10 million. The Delaware Farmland Preservation Fund was created under the Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Act in order to conserve, protect, and encourage improvement of agricultural lands within the State. A Constitutional amendment requires two-thirds approval of the House and Senate in consecutive sessions of the General Assembly.

On March 9, 2016, The News Journal published an article titled:  Bill would ban lawmakers from raiding farmland funds.  Rep. Wilson is quoted in the article stating that “They have robbed that fund for the past six years,” Wilson said. “We want to keep it sovereign.”

My issue with Rep. Wilson, he sponsors a bill that is amending our constitution and he does not disclose that he has benefited from the fund. According to DNREC’s website, he has received from this program almost $400,000.00, see below document.

I introduced House Bill 391 which would require every member of the General Assembly or person elected to state office to  disclose as part of their financial disclosure if they have received more than $10,000 in the last 10 years due to the sale of land, development rights, an agricultural conservation easement, a forest preservation easement or any other type of easement to the State of Delaware, any county, any municipality, any public instrumentality, or any government agency or organization. My bill did not make it out of committee. We need more transparency in our state government.

View this document on Scribd

Why Do Some People Who Run for Office Feel the Need to Lie?

 

I just cannot understand why some people feel the need to lie when running for office. My opponent, Jim Startzman, who ran against me two years ago, put up a post on his Representative Facebook Page which stated that I was a representative only 17% of the time. I find personal attacks and nasty ads to be a tool to deflect from the real issues. I think you should run on the work that you have done or propose to do. I do think you should defend yourself when someone is lying about your record.

I did go on my opponent’s page and left a comment and so did many others in defense of me. Thank you to all that did make a post on his page, I really appreciated seeing all of your comments. Mr. Startzman eventually started deleting certain comments and eventually deleted the entire post – so much for Freedom of Speech. I happened to make a copy the post earlier in the day.  Mr. Startzman was using a Conservative Report Card who graded all Delaware legislators on how we voted on certain issues, that is where he got the 17%. I have been in office for four years and I have never missed a day. Mr. Startzman, if you are going to lie, people are going to call you out!  See below to read his Facebook post and comments that where left.

View this document on Scribd

When the auditor’s office does not do its job who audits the auditor’s office?

I was going through the Delaware Online Checkbook and I came across an entry in the checkbook that I wanted more information about – it was a charter school petty cash entry. I sent the entry to the Auditor’s Office for clarification. I was told the Auditor’s Office was reviewing their petty cash accounts.  The Auditor’s Office had a document titled:  Charter School Petty Cash Expenditures – Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2015 which was never released to the public even though Wagner’s office had been working on this for months. Instead Tom Wagner sent the following letters to the charter schools and others in place of the document.  The public was left in the dark once again, so much for transparency with our tax dollars.

View this document on Scribd

View this document on Scribd

View this document on Scribd

View this document on Scribd

View this document on Scribd

View this document on Scribd

View this document on Scribd

View this document on Scribd

Who Controls Our Schools?

Read for yourself, Who is Controlling Our Schools? This was written by the Independent Media Institute.

View this document on Scribd

Why Was the former Indian River School District CFO Able to Get a State Job in the First Place?

Below is a media advisory that was released on October 20, 2016 by Tom Wagner in response to media inquires. Thanks Kevin Ohlandt for posting this on Facebook. The Auditor’s Office is going to comp employees time to get the Indian River Investigation/Audit Report done. I started emailing (see below email) Tom Wagner back in May 2016 right after I learned about Indian River’s CFO. To the Auditor’s Office: How about getting an investigation/audit done because of inquires from the General Assembly.

The News Journal reported in April 2016 that Indian’s River CFO Miller was put on paid administrative leave. Delmarva Now reported in May 2016 that Indian’s River CFO Miller resigned.

Miller also had been audited in his previous job as chief financial officer of the Brandywine School District. He faced criminal charges as the result of that audit and resolved his legal troubles by entering a no contest plea before Superior Court Judge Carl Goldstein. How was this guy even able to obtain another state job in one of our school districts, that is the question that we all should be asking? In this article, it states that Miller will be in a position a year from now to seek under another state law, to have the criminal record resulting from the charges expunged. Unbelievable!

View this document on Scribd

MEDIA ADVISORY

State Auditor’s Investigation into the Indian River School District

Posted On: Thursday, October 20, 2016

Dover, Del. – In response to media inquiries regarding the Auditor of Accounts’ (AOA) investigation into the Indian River School District, members of the media are advised that AOA intends to release its report in advance of the District’s referendum vote scheduled for Tuesday, November 22, 2016.

State Auditor R. Thomas Wagner, Jr. has authorized compensatory time for individuals working on this investigation in an effort to expedite the release of the report.

For more information, please contact John Fluharty at 302-857-3937. 

How Will the Proposed Title 1 Regulation Supplement not Supplant Affect Charter Schools?

If the feds approve the proposed regulatory changes to Title 1 Supplement not Supplant this could force districts to move staff from one building to another, how would this this impact charter schools? Will charters be forced to move higher paid teachers from Non-Title 1 schools to Title 1 schools. Delaware charter schools are incorporated and are independently run, so I would assume this would not affect them or would it? Also, correct me if I am wrong, I believe every charter school in Delaware is considered a Title 1 school except for Charter School of Wilmington, so salary caps on buildings would not affect them, right? If anyone has any information about this, I would love to hear from you.