Fiscal Rangers

Florida Parent Research Group Finds K-12 Public School Textbooks have Disturbing Indoctrination content biased to liberal viewpoints

Teams of 50+ activists and Florida parents spent most of 2017 reviewing K-12 Florida textbooks in subjects like social studies and history to identify excess liberal or Islamic religious bias.  We obtained their Oct. 2017 Interim Report of "Objectionable Materials" which is discussed below.  Read more →

Lake County, FL School Board workshop on Jan. 29, 20018 - guest columnist Jim Krakowski

Jan. 29, 2018 Tavares, FL The Lake County, FL School Board had a morning workshop and Jim Krakowski was at the meeting and wrote his observations below. You can watch the entire meeting on video at: https://youtu.be/HHzf3Uzq574 And you can see the online agenda and attachments HERE: http://www.boarddocs.com/fla/lake/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=AV3KH65177F7 Vance Jochim Meeting Observations From Jim Krakowski [email protected] My Comments / Observations – School Board Meeting January 29, 2018 (Jim Krakowski 2/2/18) Monday’s School Board Workshop meeting focused on three topics: • Updated student demographics …. past, present and future • Budget timeline • Review of staffing allocation policy Demographics: Every year the LCSD has an outside consultant review, update and present to the SB the projected student demographics for the District. The objective is to: • Identify student trends by grade level over the last several years, • Determine “natural” progression (Kindergarteners moving to 1st grade, 1st to 2nd, etc.) • Projected birth rates, • New housing starts within the County The objective is to use these updated demographics to help determine how many “student stations” and schools will be needed in the near term … i.e. capital needs After factoring the effects of the hurricanes in Puerto Rico and the... Read more →

We video a union bargaining session between Lake County Schools and their SEIU Union

We provide a link to a video of a public SEIU union bargaining session on Nov. 8, 2017 with the Lake County, FL School District plus an overview of the bargaining process and our conclusions. Read more →

Fiscal Rangers Update: Marion County, FL School District will choose own textbooks using committees including teachers, parents and community members

Marion County, FL School District leaders have decided to choose their own textbooks using local committees rather than select from State "approved textbook" lists. Read more →

Trump signs Memo directing more K-12 efforts in STEM and offering Coder skills.

Tavares, FL Sept. 26, 2017 President Trump just signed new Presidential Memo to the Education Secretary on STEM and need for coders in K-12. LCSD has consistently ignored need for code training, only focusing on robotics. I have brought this up at prior meetings. Yesterday's White House Press Briefing by Sarah Sanders mentioned this and the lack of code training in K-12, which results in importing foreign coders. There are many more jobs in coding than there are in robotics. Notice Trump focuses on needed JOB training for high paying jobs, thus doesn't discuss the politically correct "STEAM" that includes Arts. "Today, too many of our Nation's K-12 and post-secondary students lack access to high-quality STEM education, and thus are at risk of being shut out from some of the most attractive job options in the growing United States economy. Courses in Computer Science are especially scarce in too many schools and communities, despite the job opportunities that these skills create. Nearly 40 percent of high schools do not offer physics and 60 percent of high schools do not offer computer programming. Of the nearly 17,000 high schools that were accredited to offer Advanced Placement exams in 2015, only 18... Read more →

Lake Schools shorted $57-million since 2004 and Orlando Sentinel Editorial supports fixing it

Less affluent county school districts like the Lake County, FL School District receive less for schools than they pay in Florida collected education property taxes. This explains the problem and what to do about it. Read more →

Week of July 31, 2017 - Lots of Political News and Plans

This is a recap of all the upcoming political events in Lake County the week of July 31, 2017. Read more →

Why Doesn't the Lake County, FL School Board Demand Staff provide all Agenda attachments 3-workdays before Board Meetings?

The Lake County, FL School District Board needs to mandate that administrators and external speakers provide all attachments and Powerpoints for agenda items at least 3-workdays before Board meetings for attachment to online agendas. That is needed so the Board and the public have time to read and digest presentations and develope questions as needed. Read more →

Updated: Lake County School Board Faces Charter School Competition and Plans to Meet It - June 5, 2017 Meeting

The Lake County School District met today to discuss how to compete with charter schools while funding will be static for at least three years. Read more →

Lake County, FL School District Superintendent Selection Process Update - Updates on today, Tuesday's interviews

The Lake County, FL School District is undergoing a search and selection for a new Superintendent of Schools, assisted by national search firm Ray & Associates. Six finalists have been selected by the School Board and will start the personal, on site interview process on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2016. This post will be updated with information about the candidate selection process, the candidates and the selected applicant, which is expected to happen about Dec. 22. One round of interviews of six candidates will take place the week of Dec. 12, and the second round of three finalists will take place the week of Dec. 19, along with the assumed announcement of the finalist on Dec. 22 or soon after. Bookmark this page and return for updates. Read more →

Important new Scientific chemical element discovered - Governmentium aka the "Critical Morass"

Tavares, FL 32778 Dec. 18, 2017 This improtant scientific news is from Cathy Holden on Facebook: Subject: New Chemical Discovered The heaviest chemical element yet known to science A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest chemical element yet known to science. The new element has been named "Governmentium". Governmentium has 1 neutron, 12 assistant neutrons,75 deputy neutrons, and 111 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected as it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of governmentium causes one reaction to take over 4 days to complete when it would normally take less than a second. Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2 to 6 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization causes some morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron-promotion leads... Read more →

Updated FiscalRangers.com Conservative Voting Recommendations for Lake County, FL voters

Here are my recommendations for candidates and issues on the Nov. 8, 2016 ballot for Lake County, FL voters. Read more →

Lake County Schools DROP in almost all performance indicators, but Board gives good eval and raise to Superintendent

The Lake County, FL School Board recently gave a good evaluation and $17,000 bonus to the incumbent and retiring Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Susan Moxley, while most School District performance factors dropped. Read more →

Lake County Scoop: County Commissioner Leslie Campione discloses plan for school impact fee waivers

A new plan for school impact fee waivers was presented to the Lake County FL School Board today by Lake County Commissioner Leslie Campione. Read more →

Weekly FiscalRangers Update: Election Hijinks, Drug Smuggling, Supt. of Schools Search & More

Here is the FiscalRangers.com weekly update of local government and political issues in Lake County, FL. Read more →

Here is a $90-million REASON to vote out Lake County, FL Commission Incumbents - they ignored discussing a new $90-million liability

Here is a reason to vote out all three incumbent Lake County Commissioners on the August 30 ballot, and vote for Lake County Commission Candidates Wendy Breeden, Josh Blake and Tim Loucks (or Mike Levine) by August 30, 2016. Lake County staff and elected Board members are whining about lack of funds to pay for roads. But we describe how current Board incumbents ignored a new NINETY MILLION DOLLAR liability for retired employee pension and retiree health insurance benefits. We describe how more money would be available for roads, but instead, County staff and incumbent Board members are allocating increased pension costs first in the budget rather than reduce retiree or employee health insurance coverage to match rates spent by private sector employers. This is one of many reasons to vote out all incumbents and vote in new blood for County Commissioners like Wendy Breeden, Tim Loucks and Josh Blake. Read more →

North Lake County, FL Candidate Hob Nob Results - Leesburg, FL

Here are the results of over 700 straw poll votes for Lake County local, State and Federal elections taken at the Leesburg, FL Hob Nob. Read more →

FiscalRangers.com 2016 Lake County, FL Election Recommendations AND RESULTS for the August 30 Primary Ballot

This is the FiscalRangers.com Guide to Recommended Candidates for local Lake County, FL primary elections held on August 30, 2016. Does not include cities or special districts. Read more →

Lake Countians: Tonight, Tuesday and Thursday are the Public Hearings to collect your feedback on selecting a new Lake Schools Superintendent

The Lake County School District Board has initiated a process to use a headhunter to find candidates for a new School District Superintendent for 2017.   This article describes three public hearings the week of August 15 to collect public input on attributes needed for the new Superintendent. Read more →

Lake County, FL School Board Workshops - Guest writer James Krakowski

This is a guest commentary from James Krakowski about two major issues discussed at recent Lake County, FL School Board workshops in July, 2016. The issues were floating bonds vs pay as you go for new school construction, and selecting an advanced education program like IB or others. Read more →

School Alert: Satanist group launches effort to start Satanist after school clubs in nine school districts across the US.

Yup – here comes the next public relations crisis for schools. A Satanist group formed by atheists is demanding that school districts across the country allow formation of Satanist after school clubs. We tell you more here than the AP or your local paper. Read more →

Pictures & videos of Lake County, FL Republican candidates assembled for Flag Day and speeches

Many Republican candidates for elected office showed up Saturday, June 25, 2016 to make speeches and talk to voters during the Flag Day celebration held by the Lake County Republicans in Tavares, FL. We posted pictures and videos will soon be uploaded to YouTube. Read more →

A view point challenging Lake County Schools' "Personal Learning" Initiative

Lake County schools keep marching down the Bill Gates grant initiated "personalized learning" method, but here is a year old opinion clearly explaining the data collection dangers and mind manipulation used in the process due to requirements for testing by computers. Read more →

Video of Lake County, FL School Board candidate forum held on Apr. 21, 2016

I have posted the video of the entire candidate forum on Apr. 21, 2016 for Lake County, FL School Board member elections on my FiscalRangersFlorida YouTube channel. Read more →

Updated Jul. 2017 - Charter Schools alert: Gulen movement is funding stealth charter schools to spread Turkish Islamic doctrine - including at US military bases.

Tavares, FL April 1, 2016 - Updated July 27, 2017 with more references. The "Gulen" Charter Schools are founded by a Muslim from Turkey who is using Federal funds for them to spread Islamic culture This is not an April Fool's joke. The very credible "The Hill" reported yesterday that the secretive Turkish Islamic Gulen movement based in the US is establishing undercover charter schools to spread the Gulen doctrine. If you are involved or care about K-12 education or charter schools, then you should read this to understand if it happens in Lake County. "A secretive Islamic movement is trying to infiltrate the U.S. military by establishing and operating publicly-funded charter schools targeted toward children of American service personnel." A law firm reports they were hired to "conduct a wide-ranging investigation into the operations and geopolitical influence of the Gülen organization, which is behind the Coral Academy of Science and over 140 other public charter schools scattered across 26 American states. Our investigation, still in its early stages, reveals that the Gülen organization uses charter schools and affiliated businesses in the U.S. to misappropriate and launder state and federal education dollars, which the organization then uses for its own... Read more →

Lake Tech gets $2.8-million from Florida budget for finishing the Center for Advanced Manufacturing

Lake Tech in Eustis just received news they will get the rest of funds needed to complete their Center for Advanced Manufacturing. Read more →

Lake County, FL Candidate Meet & Greet Notice: Feb. 18 in Tavares

The North Lake County Tea Party and the Lake Federated Republican Women’s Club is hosting a local candidate election meet and greet event on Feb. 18 at 6:30 pm in Tavares, FL for ALL new and re-election partisan and non-partisan candidates for any party or office in Lake County. The event is open to all voters. Read more →

Islamic bias in textbooks: Well known conservative Law Center files Federal lawsuit against Maryland School District for teaching Islam in schools

A formal Federal lawsuit has been filed by the Thomas More Law Center, a heavy hitter in the conservative legal field, against a Virginia School District, their Board, and the Principal and Vice Principle who violated the US Constitution and Civil Rights regulations by requiring students to study Islam for two weeks. They have been collecting case notes and background on Islamic bias in schools for probably 18 months. Many K-12 textooks (or required “information documents”) have heavy Islam indoctrination in them, while there is not much on Christianity. The Islam sections break the US Constitutional boundaries of teaching any religion in schools, and it is time a Federal lawsuit was filed to challenge the biased textbooks and related Islamic teachings. Read more →

Lake County, FL Legislators Delegation Summit - Dec. 9, 2015, Leesburg, FL

Every year the five Lake County, Florida Legislators hold their annual Lake County Legislators' Summit to hear three minutes of public input from local agencies and citizens. Yesterday, Dec. 9, 2015, they held the annual meeting for three hours with 53 speakers. They use the input to set their priorities for the upcoming Florida legislation session that starts in January, 2016. Read more →

ESEA Federal Bill Needs to be Defeated - Learn Why and Call your Congressman

Concerned about Obama Education inititiatives and damage caused by Common Core? More damage will occur if you don't call Congress to derail a ESEA or No Child Left Behind bill vote on Tuesday or Wednesday, Dec. 2 or 3. Here is some background why you need to act. Read more →

Lake County School Board and Superintendent Restrict District Audit Director from Auditing Certain Functions

Today the Daily Commercial published a front page article about recent actions by the Lake County School Board to restrict the ability of the District Internal Audit Director from reviewing "teaching and learning" processes. We comment on why that is a bad idea. Never forget that government is a monopoly, so extra oversight and transparency is needed to ensure operations are efficient, effective and economical. One way to do that is have an independent internal audit function with full and unfettered access to all employees, vendors, and records. Read more →

Guest Writer Jim Krakowski Describes last Monday's School Board Workshop meeting

Tavares, FL Oct. 29, 2015 Here are notes on what happened at the Lake County School Board Oct. 26, 2015 afternoon workshop. They are by Jim Krakowski, past President of the South Lake 912 Project Group, who was there and here is what he said (I was not there): Vance Jochim My Comments / Observation – School Board Meeting October 26, 2015 (Jim Krakowski 10/29/15) Monday’s SB Workshop agenda covered several issues: • Update on the District’s Wellness Centers • Request of the Educational Foundation for an additional staff to focus on grants • Textbook management update • Discussion of purchasing an additional 10 acres for future elementary school in Tavares • Overview the District’s strategic plan • Initial review of performance metrics for the superintendent • LifeStream’s request for funds • Internal audit review of: o Construction audit of Eustis Heights ES o Grassy Lake ES o Physical inventory • Proposed sales tax proposal regarding future bonding of sales tax revenues Wellness Centers The District’s health services for employees is self funded and done via three Wellness Centers. One of the problems these centers are experiencing is “Appointment No-Shows”. Over a 12 month period (9/14 – 9/15) there were... Read more →

Florida Standards Abuse: Polk County, FL Teacher resigns due to Florida Standards violating professional standards for age appropriate curriculum and standards

A teacher in Polk County, FL resigned due to her dismay at the lack of age appropriate teaching standards used in lower grades. This is her letter of resignation that explains it all. Many others call the Florida Standards (aka 99% Common Core) as child abuse due to the lower grade teaching standards that are not considered appropriate for younger children's learning abilities. Read more →

Georgia School District hears from angry parents about use of Islam biased textbooks & lessons

Georgia parents upset of over Islamic bias in World History textbooks that don't mention Islamic killing of 270-million people, beheadings, stonings, abuse of women, rape, paedophelia. Will it happen in Lake County, Florida. Read more →

Blogger Article takes down Chicago Schools CEO Indicted for Funneling No-bid contracts to former employers for kickbacks

Tavares, FL Oct. 13, 2015 "Last Thursday, former Chicago Public School CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett was indicted by a federal grand jury for funneling $23-million in no-bid CPS contracts to former employers in exchange for kickbacks." Here is a local, Chicago TV video report. The CEO was appointed by Democrat Rahm Emmanuel Read why watchdog bloggers, internal audits and oversight are needed on all government agencies. A blogger's article was read by the Schools' Inspector General, who investigated further, and then the FBI took over. "Beginning in April 2012, the federal indictment says, Byrd-Bennett, Solomon and Vranas “knowingly devised, intended to devise, and participated in a scheme to defraud and to obtain money and property from CPS” by fraudulent means. Byrd-Bennett is said to have agreed to accept bribes and kickbacks that would be paid by $127,000 being deposited into each of her twin grandsons’ “college tuition accounts” when she returned to SUPES as an employee–even if for just a day." VJ Read more →

German Town tells Schoolgirls to "Cover Up" so as not to upset Muslims

Tavares, FL Sept 27, 2015 A German town is telling school age girls to "cover up" so as not to upset Muslim refugees located next to their school. Will this happen in the US and Lake County, FL? One problem with allowing Muslim refugees or immigrants into a town ( or like Lake County) is their fundamentalist "culture" will cause conflicts with American culture. In this article, a German town told all the schools to forbid girls from wearing revealing clothes or bare arms due to refugees being located nearby. They expect conflict like is happening in the UK and other locations in Europe where a small number of Muslims can disrupt communities by demanding accomodations to THEIR culture. Muslims move to other countries but usually refuse to adapt to the local country culture. An example is demanding that women be completely covered up. So, if you read about some of the 85,000 Muslim refugees being re-located in the US by the Obama administration into your neighborhood, this is what you can expect. http://newobserveronline.com/german-girls-must-cover-arms-and-legs-to-appease-syrian-refugees/ Read more →

10+ Reasons to Vote AGAINST Lake County, Florida's $800-million "Infrastructure Sales Tax" Referendum on Nov. 3

On Nov. 3, 2015, the ballot in Lake County, FL will have a referendum asking voters to renew an existing one penny sales tax for another 15 years that will generate between $450-800-million in taxes. The funds will be for capital spending like buildings or computers or vehicles and split in thirds for each of these three groups: 1) Lake County government, the 14 cities in Lake County, and the School District. This article covers 10+ reasons to vote NO on the referendum and conditions needed to save taxpayers $100-million plus by prohibiting use of bonds to run up government debt. Read more →

Video of Lake County, FL debate over Nov. Referendum to Renew $800-million "penny sales tax" for another 15 years

The Lake County North Lake Tea Party and the Lake Federated Republican Women's Club hosted a panel debate on whether to renew the "penny sales tax" for another 15 years, which would collect about $800-million from consumers. Below is the link to the video. Read more →

Lake County FL School Board approves $805,000 fiscal fiasco

The Lake County School Board voted 3 to 2 to GIVE AWAY a potential $805,000 in revenue from an offer to buy an old school property. Intead, they voted to NOT accept the offer, and instead explore how to let a favored after school activity non-profit use the land without competitive compensation. Read more →

Be SURE to attend tomorrow's debate on renewing the Lake County Penny Sales Tax in November

Lake County Florida voters are asked to vote no on the "penny sales tax renewal" issue on the Nov. 2015 ballot. This article includes links to pro videos and info on why the tax should be voted down until certain conditions are inserted into the ballot language. There is also a flyer and info for a panel on August 20, 2015 in Tavares to discuss the ballot issue with two for, and two against the referendum. Read more →

James Krakowski reports on Jul. 20 Lake County School Board meeting results

Tavares, FL July 23, 2015 www.FiscalRangers.com by Vance Jochim Updated August 19, 2015 to reflect additional facts James Krakowsi and I were at the recent July 20th Lake County School Board afternoon "Special Meeting" (like a workshop) and he did such a good job describing what happened that I am including it here. James is a leader in the South Lake 912 Project group that meets in Clermont. Their website is at http://www.southlake912project.com/ . Most of the reports are routine, but I spent time and added comments below on the PD360 program which is a classic case of government mis-management and waste. But the Dept of Evaluations & Accountability staff did a great job of exposing it after Board member Marc Dodd asked for a review of it. (Update: I was told that Supt. Moxley requested the review before Dodd asked questions, but in my opinion if he didn't ask questions and maintain visibility it might still be sitting in a drawer.) You can see the video of the entire 3+ hour meeting HERE on the Lake County Schools YouTube channel. You can read or download the full agenda of the meeting HERE on BoardDocs on the School District website.... Read more →

Tax Wars Start - County plans for renewing "penny sales tax" take hits from Right Side of the Lake Blog

Tavares, FL June 13, 2015 The Lake County Board, School Board and 14 local cities all want you to approve a 15 year renewal of the expiring 15 year penny sales tax. The issue will be on the November ballot, costing $440,000 (or I heard $900,000 at the Board meeting) to hold the election just for this issue. Today, like Vesuvius erupting, the old Right Side of the Lake blog, written by Don Magruder, erupted with many reasons to vote NO on the tax. Several of the reasons are correct. However, the School District and the Cities would be hurting if they each lost their 33%, or about $10-million per year for each of them. I also believe the vote should take place in 2016 during the regular election, and not in a special election costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. My Opinion - followed by link to Right Side of the Lake blog article My first argument against the sales tax renewal is that the school board (Rosanne Brandeburg), at least one city (Eustis) and possibly some County Board members are planning to SELL the future tax revenues in bonds to enrich attorneys, bond salesmen, construction firms and leave... Read more →

Lake County School Board May 11, 2015 6pm meeting video is up

Tavares, FL May 14, 2015 Here is the May 11, 2015 6pm Lake County, FL School Board meeting video. The meeting went on for 2 hours, 28 minutes but Board members only discussed two business issues. Most of the time was spent on awards, certificates and "representations". This is the meeting I described earlier that has a huge number of non-business presentations, etc. and only one Business item at the end. (Another, Tab 9 was also pulled for discussion). You can find the agenda HERE or on the LCSD website in the "Board Docs" menu under "Board". Board member Marc Dodd did a good job in the tab 9 discussion asking why they were adding more administrative vs classroom staff due to the "Strategic Finance Plan". If you want to watch the 2 hour, 28 minute meeting video from the start, go to: https://youtu.be/krDFvSs_PZU If you want to watch starting at public input at 1 hour, 21 min on the video after all the award presentations, Go to the link below. The very first public input was a husband of a teacher who ranted at Board Chair Debbie Stivender for replying to a parent complaint without also talking to the... Read more →

Are the Lake County, FL School Board members earning their $36,000+ Salary with meetings full of non-business issues?

Tavares, FL May 11, 2015 Are the Lake County, FL School Board members earning their $36,000+ salary by cramming board meetings with non-business awards, presentations and then only discussing ONE item on a 40+ item agenda? I don't think so, and School District Board Chair Debbie Stivender's method of stacking the agenda with non-business items, preventing discussion of business items by putting them on the consent agenda, then limiting public input BEFORE an item is even discussed is un-acceptable. At 6pm today, the regular Board meeting will be at the Lake County Administrative "round" Building in downtown Tavares. However, almost everything on the agenda is a "consent" item, meaning they won't discuss it. Additionally, Chair Debbie Stivender keeps filling the agenda with MORE and MORE non-business presentations of awards which wastes the time of anyone waiting for business issues on the agenda. The agenda for this meeting includes ALL of the following presentations which could take an hour or more, so it means you give public input AFTER waiting for all of them to be completed. If you think Stivender is doing that to waste time so people won't wait to give public input, ask your School Board member why... Read more →

Small Town California Newspaper gets Pulitzer for Investigation Series on Local School District Corruption

A California school district with only four schools and 6600 students suffered huge fiscal losses due to cronyism and corruption and overpayment of salaries. The local paper published a 10-part investigative series and won a Pulitzer. One of the lessons is the corruption that can occur when contracting firms support elected school board members to get huge school bond issues totaling $200-million and related projects approved. Additionally, the District Superindant was paid $663,000 in salaries, benefits and perks, which was much higher than the Superintendant of the much larger Los Angeles School District. Read more →

Lake County School District Workshop today - here is my initial update

Tavares, FL Mon. Aprile 20, 2015 The new agenda for next Monday's Lake County School Board meeting should be on the District's website because the Board's assistant mailed it out to those on here "newsletter" email list. They have a number of policies discussed today at a workshop that will be on the discussion agenda, and they will be re-voting on school boundaries for Lake Minneola High School. At the workshop, Bill Mathias passed out documents to the Board to show his analysis that any choice of optionswill result in the need to install 10 portables at the school anyway. They did not discuss options, which will be saved for the Monday meeting. Today's workshop included discussion of "re-allocating" funds to other departments as a result of a Bill Gates grant. There are two more expensive administrative positions and some other positions being added, but Board member Marc Dodd questioned why they were reducing school counselors to pay for the positions. The answer was the Gates Grant study indicated Lake County had more counselors than other schools, so the recommendation was to reshift some positions to other uses. I will post more later - probably Wednesday. Lots of stuff was... Read more →

Tomorrow's Lake County School Board 2pm daytime meeting - our overview of two agenda items, including the International Baccalaureate program (IB) and rant about lack of videos

This is an overview of the upcoming April 6, 2015 2pm Board Meeting for the Lake County School District. We provide links to Powerpoints on the Gates Foundation grant funded Engage LCS program as well as the staff one sided presentation on the International Baccalaureate (IB) program with out pro and con analysis. Finally, there is a rant about the lack of videos of daytime and some nighttime meetings. Read more →

Schools Update on APUSH (AP US History): GA State Senator files bill to change APUSH - "Leftist slant to APUSH turns America's melting pot into boiling pot"

A GA State Senator has filed a bill demanding leftist bias in the new high school AP US History course from the College Board be modified to be balanced. Other links on the liberal APUSH course and curriculum are included. Read more →

Common Core Update: Here is a FIVE minute overview of the dangers of Common Core by renowned speaker Dr. Duke Pesta - He is coming to the Villages Apr. 17

Tavares, FL March 21, 2015 Dr. Duke Pesta is probably the best speaker on why Common Core should be rejected. Watch his five minute overview of the dangers of Common Core HERE. He will be speaking in The Villages, FL on April 17, 2015. Visit his website http://fpeusa.org . Then, if you have time, watch my 90 minute video of him when he spoke last September in Lake County . Or, read MY older Factsheet on Common Core Dangers HERE. It lists links to many other speakers and resources. www.tinyURL.com/HaltCommonCoreNow Then join the Facebook page "Lake County against Common Core" HERE. The organizers frequently meet with the Lake County School Board and FL State legislators and are active in providing information on how to "opt_out" your kids from excess Common Core testing. AND, LIKE this Florida wide anti-Common Core Facebook page HERE (5100 other people have liked this page). Then, sign up to see him in the Villages on April 17, 2015 HERE. BONUS for blog readers: Another anti-Common Core expert, Diane Ravitch, wrote a LONG Jan. 18, 2014 article in the Washington Post about everything you want to know about Common Core, which is HERE, After viewing any of... Read more →

SEIU union funded group in Wisconsin preaches hate against police

Tavares, FL March 17, 2015 Here in Lake County, FL, the School District has two unions: The LCEA and the SEIU. One of their national affiliates, the SEIU, funded a Wisconsin group preaching hate against police, and the other union, the LCEA parent organization of AFT did not. The teacher's LCEA Union is pretty moderate in this right to work state, and works with the School District Administration and is focused on the kids. They are affiliated with the national AFT (American Federation of Teachers) , NOT the NEA (National Assoc. of Teachers) which always seems to be more radical. HOWEVER, the video says this same group, Wisconsin Now, received $700,000 from the SEIU national union, which is the union for non-teachers in Lake County Schools. I think the local SEIU needs to break off from SEIU and become independent. This news report shows one of the NEA & SEIU FUNDED groups, Wisconsin Now, preaching hate vs police. I am glad that Lake County's LCEA is not affiliated with the NEA and I hope AFT is not funding such activities. But, I think the local SEIU should drop out of the national and become an independent union to not be... Read more →