November 1, 2024 • 11 mins
AMENDMENT 80 ON SCHOOL CHOICE MUST PASS And I've got Joy Overbeck, who wrote a column on it here, today at 12:30. She reminds you of who is lining up against school choice and that alone should make it a yes. I know homeschool families have been told this will open up government intervention into what they can teach, but there is NOTHING to stop the government from doing that right now. This provides some protections that don't exist, and frankly if this doesn't pass now it will embolden the teachers unions to attack school choice with even more vigor. It's not perfect, but nothing is.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Column this joy over Back, who's recent column in The
Rocky Mountain Voice don't align with teachers' unions against Amendment
eighty for school choice.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Joey, welcome back to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Hey, thank Andy, great to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Well, let's talk about our Amendment eighty. What it would do.
Let's start with that.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Okay, Well, it would put in the lock box I
call the lock box of the Colorado Constitution the right
to school choice for parents to direct And that's really
an important word, to direct their kids schooling, where their
kids go to school. In other words, a lot of
people are misunderstanding this because the actual amendment language says
(00:38):
the children have the right to school choice. So some
people are mistaken mistakenly thinking that that means that the
kid has the right to decide on the school the
kid goes to, and that's just preposterous.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Well, it also says it says clearly in the initiative
that parents have the right to direct their children's education. Yeah,
the language is there's.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
But people are ignoring that because I think that language
is not in the actual uh, in the in the
language that's said that's on an Amendment eighting on the ballot,
and so people are missing that really important part. And
and some of the homeschoolers and some of the charter
people are saying, oh, my kid is going to decide
and I can't have my kid, and that if you
(01:24):
just follow that and let's just have a little fun
and follow that ridiculous assumption. Do they really think that
that a kid is going to sue the parent in
a Coloro court and have a radical judge who's usually
a Democrat who's totally against school choice and public money
being used to fund any private school, is going to
(01:45):
stay to the parent, Okay, Now your kid wants to
go to private Catholic school with his friends, so you're
going to have to fund that private Catholic school and
you're going to have to uh allow this kid to
do it. Or conversely, if the kid wants to go
to you know what, prepare it to homeschool. Does anybody
really think adem just going to say, okay, parent, you
(02:06):
need to quit your job and stay home and homeschoolier kids.
I mean, it's just so ludicrous and far fetched and
not happening.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Well, and for me, I mean, for me, the whole
argument stops when in the amendment it says parents have
the right to direct the education of their children. That
is part of the actual Amendment. So that should not
even we shouldn't even be doing like you know, hypotheticals
joy because I don't want to encourage people to think
down that line, because the language says the exact words,
(02:37):
parents have the right to direct the education of their children.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So we need to just put that to bed.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Believe. I know, I've gotten on Facebook from people who
do not understand that elementary fact that parents direct the right.
That's why I went to the to the preposterous scenario
of the judges. They just don't seem to get that.
And the other thing they're saying all over the place
is that the schools will be told by you know,
(03:03):
there's a line about quality education, that the kids have
a right to quality education. Or people are saying, oh, well,
quality education is going to be defined by the state,
by the government, and they're going to come in and
tell homeschoolers and charter parents and private schools this is
what you have to do. And you know what, already,
(03:23):
the Department of Education, the Board of Education in Colorado
is the one who really sets the curriculum. You know,
essentially for schools and so the government is already influencing
that and they're not going to influence anymore when this
an eighty passes. And that's the thing that people are
just they're just being gripped by these rational fears when
(03:46):
they should be welcoming this Amendment eighty with glad hosannas
and singing in the crashing of drums and symbols. Instead
of that, they're coming up with these really frankly ridiculous
objections to it. And as you said, actually at the
top of the hour, I think if we don't have
this Amendment eighty, the legislature is going to continue to interfere.
(04:10):
And they're already trying because they're going to say, oh,
look at the Republicans, the charter people, they don't care.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
They failed this.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
I think this is a big, big deal because now
that it's on the ballot, if this fails, because people
don't necessarily understand, and you've got this in your column
that last year House Build twenty four thirteen sixty three
was designed to start eroding charter schools and it would
have taken away their ability. A charter school can now
use available school buildings for free, and that would have
(04:40):
taken that away.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
It repealed the Yeah, it repealed.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
The ability of district charter schools to apply to use
the district building or land. So they're going to start
chipping away. And if we don't have this protection in
the constitution, those chipping away, they will just continue and
they will smell blood in the water if this pass.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
If this doesn't pass now.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Yeah, And actually the worst provision of that bill that
the Democrats tried to pass last time to erase charter
schools actually just to destroy the ability of charter schools
to function at all. At about fifteen percent of kids
in Colorado go to these wonderful and by the way,
they're public charter schools, which a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Don't get that either.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
They also, in this terrible bill that thank god didn't pass,
they would give the district the right to actually eradicate
all charter schools, even existing charter schools in the district,
if the district's per pupil enrollment is projected to decline,
not even if it declines, but if it's projected to decline.
(05:41):
So you see what that does. That absolutely strangles the
ability of parents just to me, It just effectively bans
all charter schools in the district if they're per pupil
enrollment is projected to decline, because, of course, the public
school people, the Democrats don't want the competition.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Of charter schools.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
That's why they're trying to kill charter schools and homeschooling
because these always are nearly always score a lot better
in testing and in proficiency than the regular public school.
So that's why they want they can't handle the competition.
And by the way, of course, just the mere fact
that the National Education Association at that crazy Randy Winingarten
(06:27):
and our local school unions teachers' unions tearing Paulo, have
actually kicked in between eight and ten million dollars to
try to destroy Amendment eighty. That should tell oh, it's working.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
I want to read this to you, this text message,
I just got it.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Joy.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
If the kid wants to go to the school where
they're encouraged to be trands, the legal system has already
wiped out parents. If the wording recognizes the rights of
the parent, cool, But if it bestows rights to a child.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
No go for me.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
So let me explain to this text where they're wrong. Okay,
they're run because it clearly delineates parents have the right
to direct their children's education. The implied right that you're
giving children is not clearly spelled out in this language,
and it would come in conflict with the clearly spelled
out language that gives parents the rights to direct their
(07:19):
child's education.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
So one of them is assumed. One of them is
clearly in the amendment.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Yeah, they just have to Well, if they look at
their blue book under this, I think page three nine
or something, then the language is explained about the parent
having the right to direct education and people just need
to look up the word direct. Do you understand what
direct means? People? I mean sincerely. And also this completely
ridiculous scenario that the parent is going to be taken
(07:49):
court by the child. That's just not happening for the
reasons that I explained. And even if it were to happen,
the parent would not be instructed by the court to
quit his or her job at homeschool the kid or
to pay her religious school, which is another thing people
a parent are terrified of, and to pay tuition for real.
(08:12):
I mean, no court is going to it's going to
command a parent to pay for religious instruction for their
kids at some Catholic school or Lutheran school or whatever.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
So I've got another text message I want to address here,
and that is how is this taking money from public schools?
That's what the antis are claiming. There is no money
being directed anywhere. All this amendment does is say that
parents have the right to choose the best educational choices
for their children, and that existing charter schools, homeschool options,
(08:48):
private schools.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Have the right to exist. That's all it says.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
There's no money, there's no economic impact, there's nothing. But
that's the scare tactics used by the unions who say
that this is going to be used for vouchers, when
no one is talking about that at all.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
No, that's exactly right. And so also the homeschoolers don't
want vouchers, right, they don't want vouchers for whatever reason.
And they're all using the weirdest thing and the most
bizarre thing is that the homeschoolers and the unions are
using the same language to try to defeat AMT eighties.
And that should be a clue. People don't want to
(09:24):
be on the side of the teachers' unions if you
care about school choice, because they don't. They've been trying
to destroy school choices, excuse me, absolutely forever, and that's
why they're spending, as I say, eight to ten million
dollars to destroy the amendment. And the other thing that
people say is, oh, we already have school choice in howrall. Well,
(09:46):
I live in the district that happened to have a
one person conservative majority on the board, but a while
ago they didn't. And any district area that has liberals
on the board, on your school board, they can just
deny school choice by denying charter applications, Willy Nill, you
just at the district level. And people don't seem to
get that either. But if we put it in the
(10:08):
lock box of the constitution, that's what we must do.
If you care about school choice, forget all these frivolous,
absolutely you know, bizarre, preposterous arguments about how the kid
is going to decide what schools she or he is
going to be in. That's just not true. And as
you say, there's no fisical what we call a fiscal
(10:29):
note on this amount. The fiscal note would be spending
of public money. There's no spending, and there's no possibility
of spending public money. This is just a clear statement
that we in Colorado and we parents and believe in
school choice for kids, period.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Joy Overbeck, I appreciate your time today. Hopefully people will
read Amendment eighty and see clearly that parents are given
control of their child's education.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
I appreciate you coming on the show today. Joyce Our Joy.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Thanks Mandy, thank you.
Column this joy over Back, who's recent column in The
Rocky Mountain Voice don't align with teachers' unions against Amendment
eighty for school choice.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Joey, welcome back to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Hey, thank Andy, great to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Well, let's talk about our Amendment eighty. What it would do.
Let's start with that.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Okay, Well, it would put in the lock box I
call the lock box of the Colorado Constitution the right
to school choice for parents to direct And that's really
an important word, to direct their kids schooling, where their
kids go to school. In other words, a lot of
people are misunderstanding this because the actual amendment language says
(00:38):
the children have the right to school choice. So some
people are mistaken mistakenly thinking that that means that the
kid has the right to decide on the school the
kid goes to, and that's just preposterous.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Well, it also says it says clearly in the initiative
that parents have the right to direct their children's education. Yeah,
the language is there's.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
But people are ignoring that because I think that language
is not in the actual uh, in the in the
language that's said that's on an Amendment eighting on the ballot,
and so people are missing that really important part. And
and some of the homeschoolers and some of the charter
people are saying, oh, my kid is going to decide
and I can't have my kid, and that if you
(01:24):
just follow that and let's just have a little fun
and follow that ridiculous assumption. Do they really think that
that a kid is going to sue the parent in
a Coloro court and have a radical judge who's usually
a Democrat who's totally against school choice and public money
being used to fund any private school, is going to
(01:45):
stay to the parent, Okay, Now your kid wants to
go to private Catholic school with his friends, so you're
going to have to fund that private Catholic school and
you're going to have to uh allow this kid to
do it. Or conversely, if the kid wants to go
to you know what, prepare it to homeschool. Does anybody
really think adem just going to say, okay, parent, you
(02:06):
need to quit your job and stay home and homeschoolier kids.
I mean, it's just so ludicrous and far fetched and
not happening.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Well, and for me, I mean, for me, the whole
argument stops when in the amendment it says parents have
the right to direct the education of their children. That
is part of the actual Amendment. So that should not
even we shouldn't even be doing like you know, hypotheticals
joy because I don't want to encourage people to think
down that line, because the language says the exact words,
(02:37):
parents have the right to direct the education of their children.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So we need to just put that to bed.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Believe. I know, I've gotten on Facebook from people who
do not understand that elementary fact that parents direct the right.
That's why I went to the to the preposterous scenario
of the judges. They just don't seem to get that.
And the other thing they're saying all over the place
is that the schools will be told by you know,
(03:03):
there's a line about quality education, that the kids have
a right to quality education. Or people are saying, oh, well,
quality education is going to be defined by the state,
by the government, and they're going to come in and
tell homeschoolers and charter parents and private schools this is
what you have to do. And you know what, already,
(03:23):
the Department of Education, the Board of Education in Colorado
is the one who really sets the curriculum. You know,
essentially for schools and so the government is already influencing
that and they're not going to influence anymore when this
an eighty passes. And that's the thing that people are
just they're just being gripped by these rational fears when
(03:46):
they should be welcoming this Amendment eighty with glad hosannas
and singing in the crashing of drums and symbols. Instead
of that, they're coming up with these really frankly ridiculous
objections to it. And as you said, actually at the
top of the hour, I think if we don't have
this Amendment eighty, the legislature is going to continue to interfere.
(04:10):
And they're already trying because they're going to say, oh,
look at the Republicans, the charter people, they don't care.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
They failed this.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
I think this is a big, big deal because now
that it's on the ballot, if this fails, because people
don't necessarily understand, and you've got this in your column
that last year House Build twenty four thirteen sixty three
was designed to start eroding charter schools and it would
have taken away their ability. A charter school can now
use available school buildings for free, and that would have
(04:40):
taken that away.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
It repealed the Yeah, it repealed.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
The ability of district charter schools to apply to use
the district building or land. So they're going to start
chipping away. And if we don't have this protection in
the constitution, those chipping away, they will just continue and
they will smell blood in the water if this pass.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
If this doesn't pass now.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Yeah, And actually the worst provision of that bill that
the Democrats tried to pass last time to erase charter
schools actually just to destroy the ability of charter schools
to function at all. At about fifteen percent of kids
in Colorado go to these wonderful and by the way,
they're public charter schools, which a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Don't get that either.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
They also, in this terrible bill that thank god didn't pass,
they would give the district the right to actually eradicate
all charter schools, even existing charter schools in the district,
if the district's per pupil enrollment is projected to decline,
not even if it declines, but if it's projected to decline.
(05:41):
So you see what that does. That absolutely strangles the
ability of parents just to me, It just effectively bans
all charter schools in the district if they're per pupil
enrollment is projected to decline, because, of course, the public
school people, the Democrats don't want the competition.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Of charter schools.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
That's why they're trying to kill charter schools and homeschooling
because these always are nearly always score a lot better
in testing and in proficiency than the regular public school.
So that's why they want they can't handle the competition.
And by the way, of course, just the mere fact
that the National Education Association at that crazy Randy Winingarten
(06:27):
and our local school unions teachers' unions tearing Paulo, have
actually kicked in between eight and ten million dollars to
try to destroy Amendment eighty. That should tell oh, it's working.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
I want to read this to you, this text message,
I just got it.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Joy.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
If the kid wants to go to the school where
they're encouraged to be trands, the legal system has already
wiped out parents. If the wording recognizes the rights of
the parent, cool, But if it bestows rights to a child.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
No go for me.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
So let me explain to this text where they're wrong. Okay,
they're run because it clearly delineates parents have the right
to direct their children's education. The implied right that you're
giving children is not clearly spelled out in this language,
and it would come in conflict with the clearly spelled
out language that gives parents the rights to direct their
(07:19):
child's education.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
So one of them is assumed. One of them is
clearly in the amendment.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Yeah, they just have to Well, if they look at
their blue book under this, I think page three nine
or something, then the language is explained about the parent
having the right to direct education and people just need
to look up the word direct. Do you understand what
direct means? People? I mean sincerely. And also this completely
ridiculous scenario that the parent is going to be taken
(07:49):
court by the child. That's just not happening for the
reasons that I explained. And even if it were to happen,
the parent would not be instructed by the court to
quit his or her job at homeschool the kid or
to pay her religious school, which is another thing people
a parent are terrified of, and to pay tuition for real.
(08:12):
I mean, no court is going to it's going to
command a parent to pay for religious instruction for their
kids at some Catholic school or Lutheran school or whatever.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
So I've got another text message I want to address here,
and that is how is this taking money from public schools?
That's what the antis are claiming. There is no money
being directed anywhere. All this amendment does is say that
parents have the right to choose the best educational choices
for their children, and that existing charter schools, homeschool options,
(08:48):
private schools.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Have the right to exist. That's all it says.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
There's no money, there's no economic impact, there's nothing. But
that's the scare tactics used by the unions who say
that this is going to be used for vouchers, when
no one is talking about that at all.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
No, that's exactly right. And so also the homeschoolers don't
want vouchers, right, they don't want vouchers for whatever reason.
And they're all using the weirdest thing and the most
bizarre thing is that the homeschoolers and the unions are
using the same language to try to defeat AMT eighties.
And that should be a clue. People don't want to
(09:24):
be on the side of the teachers' unions if you
care about school choice, because they don't. They've been trying
to destroy school choices, excuse me, absolutely forever, and that's
why they're spending, as I say, eight to ten million
dollars to destroy the amendment. And the other thing that
people say is, oh, we already have school choice in howrall. Well,
(09:46):
I live in the district that happened to have a
one person conservative majority on the board, but a while
ago they didn't. And any district area that has liberals
on the board, on your school board, they can just
deny school choice by denying charter applications, Willy Nill, you
just at the district level. And people don't seem to
get that either. But if we put it in the
(10:08):
lock box of the constitution, that's what we must do.
If you care about school choice, forget all these frivolous,
absolutely you know, bizarre, preposterous arguments about how the kid
is going to decide what schools she or he is
going to be in. That's just not true. And as
you say, there's no fisical what we call a fiscal
(10:29):
note on this amount. The fiscal note would be spending
of public money. There's no spending, and there's no possibility
of spending public money. This is just a clear statement
that we in Colorado and we parents and believe in
school choice for kids, period.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Joy Overbeck, I appreciate your time today. Hopefully people will
read Amendment eighty and see clearly that parents are given
control of their child's education.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
I appreciate you coming on the show today. Joyce Our Joy.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Thanks Mandy, thank you.
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