Uvalde Families Reach a Settlement. The Fight for Justice Continues.

Good Day!

It is Memorial Weekend, and I hope most of you are on vacation mode. Teachers, enjoy your time off. You deserve it!

Cheers to your morning brew ☕

On May 24, 2022, the lives of parents and the small community of Uvalde, Texas, were upended days before the start of summer break. Nineteen students would not live to enjoy their summer break, along with two teachers who were killed on that day. Seventeen others were severely injured. This was the deadliest school shooting 9-and-a-half years after Sandy Hook Elementary and four years after Parkland High School.

We are now two years removed from the shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, and many in the community are still struggling with the reality of what happened.

Nineteen families agreed to a $2 million settlement from the city. They could have sought more, but as many family members put it, they did not want to bankrupt the city they lived in. Numerous lawsuits against the state agencies that failed to protect the children of Robb Elementary, including a $500 million federal lawsuit against 100 police officers, have been filed.

The father of slain 9-year-old Jackie Cazares stated:

The $2 million settlement includes better and “enhanced” training for Uvalde police officers and the establishment of May 24 as an annual day of remembrance with a memorial in the city plaza.

This wound will take many years if ever at all, to heal. The failure on that day of those individuals supposed to serve and protect cannot be expressed enough, and the Justice Department meticulously described the failings of everyone involved in a 600-page report. 

Despite the challenges they face, the families of the victims are not giving up. They are determined to turn their pain into a force for change, working tirelessly to ensure no one else experiences a tragedy like this ever again. Their resilience and determination are a testament to the strength of their community.

Who should voucher programs benefit?

There are currently 21 states that have some form of school voucher program. The programs’ idea is to empower parents to choose where they can send their children to school with the public funds that otherwise would have gone to a public school. The argument for this is that the funding that schools receive is primarily from local taxes, followed by state and federal taxes (in which the federal government, on average, only provides 10% of school funding in the U.S.). Most schools' local tax is in the form of property tax.

Those who can say that this is “my money” because I pay property tax are more than likely those who own a home, and those who have homes have more accumulated wealth. Wealth equals time, and those families that are better off can dedicate time to finding the right school for their children. Those who work a 9-5 job and live paycheck to paycheck do not have that luxury and are resigned to simply send their child to the school they are locally zoned for. But what happens to those public schools when money begins to be siphoned off due to these voucher programs? Money is tight for many schools in the U.S., and this can result in teachers not having the funds they need to be successful in the classroom.

A study by Brown and Princeton University cited Iowa and its voucher program. They uncovered that because of this program, private tuition for Kindergartners increased 25% since the voucher program was signed into law in early 2023. Currently, those who can qualify for the voucher program have to be at 300% at or below the federal poverty line. Yet, if there is any indication, this will only last for so long.

In North Carolina, the families that could receive vouchers were set at 200% of the federal poverty line. This coming school year, state legislators are working to remove that cap so that any family can receive the voucher. There are currently 55,000 families on the waitlist, and 70% of them would not qualify if they continued to mean test families.

The majority of the families that qualified initially and needed the money have already qualified, and the argument for removing the cap is that the funds will now be able to be used to take advantage of those who are considered “middle income.”

A senator for the removal of the cap stated:

It will be interesting to see what effect this will have on public schools in North Carolina as more and more money gets siphoned from public schools into private schools.

Arizona, the state with the highest concentration of charter schools and has been at the forefront of the school choice movement, has seen a drastic evolution of its voucher program. It first started, in part, to help students with disabilities more than a decade ago, and in its current form, 45% of the states’ voucher program (Empowerment Scholarship Account, ESA) go to families in wealthy zip codes. You can read more about it here: How Arizona’s school voucher program became a tax break for the wealthy.

And in Oakland

At two different graduations at two different schools in Oakland, two noteworthy events happened, with one, unfortunately, being more common than the other.

At Skyline High School, near the end of the graduation ceremony, people began to hear gunshots toward the end of the ceremony.

Two adults, one male and one female, were taken to the hospital. Both suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The shooting, according to the authorities, was an isolated incident. Currently, no motive was given as to why the shooting occurred.

The news is much brighter at Cristo Rey De La Salle East Bay High School. 100% of the graduating seniors are graduating. That is not the only amazing thing; every senior has been accepted into a four-year university.

And this is the third year in a row that has happened.

Can anything be more impressive than that?

Well, all the graduating seniors come from low-income families, and as educators, we can understand the barriers that many of these students and families face.

Many of these students are coming from families that are not only POC (people of color) but also from families in which neither of the parents obtained a high school diploma, so to see so many young men and women break this cycle should be applauded.

There are quite a few things to point out about the level of success that has occurred here, but one big component is giving students hands-on, real-world experience with corporate partners. That experience also helps offset tuition through their work program.

Let’s see if they can make it two years in a row with a 100% graduation rate.

Closing Bell

On this day in 1805…

Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned King of Italy. He is considered one of the greatest military commanders in history along with the likes of Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Hannibal, and Genghis Khan (or was Subutai the real brains behind Khan). Maybe, one day, with the magic of AI, we can witness an epic battle of military commanders play out on the battlefield.