WWW.EducationalRightsAmendment.org

 

 

  

 Article 1. The School Choice Amendment

 

     This article affirms the right of all American citizens who are parents of school-going children, to choose a school from among several types of schools available, both public and private. (see note #1).

 

 

Article 2. Equality In School Funding Amendment.

 

     This article affirms the right of all parents to receive/apply state and/or federal educational tax dollars on a per capita basis to the schools of their choice. (See note #2)

 

Article 3. Teacher School Ownership Amendment.

 

This article affirms the right of teachers to recruit, own and operate private autonomous schools of excellence and maximize their incomes (See note #3)

 

 

Article 4. National (Voluntary, Daily) School Prayer Amend-ment.

 

This article affirms the right of school children to voluntarily attend 30-seconds to 1 minute prayer of the majority (Christianity) religion with its denominations taking turns daily.

 

This article affirms the right of school children to voluntarily attend 30-seconds to 1 minute prayer of one of the minority religions with all minority religions taking turns daily. (See Note #4)

 

Notes

 

The School Choice Amendment 

 

Note #1. A) This natural God-given right of parents has been taken away by the government(s) by using their power to organize K-12 and trade education in this country. For example, parents can choose what cars to buy with their money, so why can’t they choose a school to send their child or children to, since they pay for the government?

 

B). If the US Congresses proposes this amendment after debates and changes, all the states will act on it.  On the other hand, the US Congress can propose it as a referendum as the first step to assess the support of the great American middle class (GAMC) for the referendum.

 

C). The parents should prefer this to be a referendum or amendment to the constitution rather than a legislation that can be reversed by partisan legislatures or judges.

 

D)  One of the goals of this proposal is to make definitive progress on the low educational and earning status of disadvantaged minorities - blacks, Hispanics and others including a minority of disadvantaged white Americans, such that they can catch up with those above their level. The 1964-65 great society legislation has been an unmitigated failure for black education in this country.  Blacks especially are disproportionately affected by the failure of a significant proportion of government-run schools which has harmed millions of blacks spanning several generations. The two-party system and the educational beaurocracy have to bear responsibility for this debacle.

 

 E) The ‘several types’ of schools in Article 1 include 1) Public schools 2) Charter schools, 3) Church-run schools, 4) Teacher-owned private schools (TOPS), 5) Home schools 6) Investor-owned schools, and 7) Trade schools for 9-12 grade students that are not college bound and 8) any other schools that want to compete for the educational tax dollars on the basis of excellence. Trade schooling can be offered by private businesses during 9-12 grades in collaboration with 9-12 regular education imparted by private schools, the latter for students who also want to get college degrees.

 

F)  This proposal should be viewed as the introduction of the free-competition market system (FCMS) in K-12 education in place of the monolithic, monopolistic, unaccountable, often poor-quality current public education system which is one of the main causes of the American minority blacks, Hispanics and others and even a minority of the whites languishing at the bottom of the ladders of education and earnings.

 

G)  As some public schools get closed and others get less students than previously, the local school boards and state governments can consolidate these schools and use vacated buildings for sharing by private schools.

 

H)  An initial 1:1:1:1 (black: Hispanic: other minorities:  white students) ratio of allotting school choice slots shall be adjustable to 1:1:1:2 or 1:1:1:3 at appropriate times for administrators as guideline in order to first help disadvantaged minorities and also prepare for influx of a larger number of white majority students. These are general guidelines for cities/states to go by in the new system of education.

 

I). Disadvantaged minorities differ from numerical minorities. Numerical minorities are those that have education and earnings equal to or better than majority whites. Example is Indian American numerical minority. Disadvantaged minorities have average education and earnings figures much below majority whites in USA. This includes blacks, Hispanics and American Indians. A sizable segment of the white majority now needs the help of school choice.

 

J) Implementation: Parents will notify their school board or state department of education, of their intent to not send their child to a government-run school, by about September 30 to December 31st of the prior year.  By Jan 1 the authorities will know how many children will go to the public school system and how many to private schools.  The process of matching begins and should be completed by March 1, well before the summer holidays for the following school year.

 

Equality In School Funding Amendment

 

Note #2. A) Unless the per capita funding of government-run schools and various type of private schools is the same, the latter will suffer, will be able to pay less to the teachers and will eventually go out of business. So, equal per capita funding should be treated as a parental right.

 

 B). Over several years, approximately 30-35% of failing public schools will close as a result of this amendment. Public schools that can compete with the results of other type of schools will survive and thrive.  They will get better by virtue of the competition this amendment will generate. Thus, this amendment is a win/win for both Democrats and Republicans. 

 

C)  City and/or state governments shall deduct the administrative costs from the overall combined federal and state budgets for education and divide the resulting number by the total number of students to arrive at the per capita basis. There cannot be differences, or discrimination between funding of public schools and private schools of various types run by the private sector of the economy and not under the control of the government. 

 

D)  The city and state governments can adjust the per capita basis by deducting expenses for busing and school lunches. Nationwide, the budget per capita will be about $ 12,000 dollars on an average before deduction for busing and school lunches. The per capita education budget for each state will differ from other states depending on how much the overall allocation is for education in that state and how much federal tax dollars that it receives for education.  For many states, the latter is about 6% but it varies.

 

E)  Each school can decide for itself to accept or not accept the adjusted per capita budget if it can provide transportation and school lunches. Such schools will receive full per capita budget which will vary between type of schools only by the number of students admitted. In essence, no school shall be discriminated against. 

 

F)    City or state educational employees displaced by the closure of failing government-run schools, shall get priority for employment in the newly expanding private schools. City and state governments can also offer tax or other incentives for private schools to participate in this program of preferential hiring of educational bureaucrats during the transition phase of 5-10 years.

   Teacher School Ownership Amendment.

 

 Note #3. A)  Private schools educate less than 5-6% of school-age children in USA. With the passage of this proposed referendum, legislation or amendment, they will form a new and larger sector of the economy. This is positive for the economy. In educationally advanced countries like India, almost 1/3 of students go to private schools, many of them owned and operated by teachers. 

 

B) This will be a blow to the class warfare caused by socialism with only the most well-to-do members of the society being able to send their children to highly sought after and expensive private schools.  That will become history. Ordinary middleclass Americans (incomes between $ 40,000 and $ 200,000) will be able to send their children to private schools of one type or the other. The biggest winners will be the disadvantaged minorities whose children will get high quality education.

 

C)  It is the culmination of decades of efforts by Prof. Richard Vedder of Ohio, and Prof. Venkat Challa of North Carolina to promote Teacher-Operated Private Schools (TOPS) for all American and foreign students. As such it may be referred to as ‘The Vedder-Challa proposal’ for historical purposes and further discussions and deliberations. Many high-achieving Indian students go to TOPS in their country. Our country is a lot richer, so why can't we have TOPS?  A teacher-operated private school is potentially the cheapest way to send an American child to a private school. 

 

D)  The teachers in the TOPS system of schools shall retain autonomous control over salaries, benefits, curriculum, discipline and will be answerable only to parents, and not bureaucrats. Being in the control of teacher-owners, these schools will not need teachers’ unions for the protection of teacher’s interests.

 

 E)  The teachers shall develop and perfect ways of comparing the performance of different TOPS and a reporting system of results for the easy understanding of parents of prospective students.

 

F)  In a FCMS of education schools which do not perform well will fall by the wayside by the refusal of parents to send their children to such schools. This is how all other markets work in free market economy.  Violation of this basic economic principle by socialists in education is the cause of millions of minority and majority children getting poor quality education in failing public schools.

 

G)  Teacher earnings are expected to be maximum in the TOPS schools and less in other types of schools including public schools. The best and most capable teachers are expected to participate in the TOPS system and this will help recruit highly motivated students into teaching careers by teacher earnings comparable to earnings of other professions like accountants, lawyers, primary care doctors and computer programmers.

 

Here is an example of a hypothetical TOPS school:

 

Number of students:  200

Number of teachers:   10

Teacher:student raio: 20

Annual budget:  2.4 million

Budget per teacher:   $ 240,000

 

Expenses per teacher: variable depending on busing & school lunches & number of support staff: 50%

 

Expected average net earnings per school teacher: $ 120,000/year

 

 H) Teacher-owned schools shall be of 20-200 capacity, and home schools may be 0-20 capacity but neither suggestions are etched in stone. 

 

I)  American TOPS are expected to attract significant number of foreign students admitted on student visas because of their excellent and ambitious curricula and individualized attention not available in public schools.

 

 

Voluntary Daily School Prayer Amendment

 

Purpose: 1. To bring back the practice of praying every day at school before the beginning of classes.

2. To unite religious majority and minorities in the praise, prayer and service of God.

3. To keep students active practitioners of their own religions and earn the praise and respect of their parents.

 

Note # 4. A) The Christian and other religious prayers can occur in the same or different rooms or areas; considerable leeway is given to principal and teachers in arranging daily prayers.

 

B). Since the prayer is voluntary, atheist and agnostic parents can forbid their children to attend the school prayer.

 

C) After the daily prayer, the principal or a designee can optionally admonish the students regarding their duties as students, respect for other religions, bullying, drug use and other such important items, before dismissing the gathering for the first class of the day.

 

D) Parents of Christian students and non-Christian students shall volunteer to provide brief narratives of the prayers that generally last less than one minute.

 

E) All religions and denominations can rotate the prayers; thus no prayer need be used repeatedly by force or habit. Again considerable freedom of choice is given to parents, churches and school officials in organizing prayers amicably.

 

References 

 

References: 1. "The New Slaves of America", Venkat Challa, MD, author, www.Krishmediamarketing.com & Amazon.com

 

2. Vedder, Richard: "Can Teachers own their own Schools?: "New Strategies for Educational Excellence" 2015, Kindle Books

 

Message to Political Leaders:

 

President Trump’s campaign web site had this about school choice:   “Universal School Choice: Republicans believe families should be empowered to choose the best Education for their children. We support Universal School Choice in every State in America.” 

 

   We request President Trump and his Education Secretary, as well as Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House to place this website as a starting point for a referendum or constitutional amendment before the 2026 elections. We request them to make this the top policy issue for their party.

 

Those Democrat candidates that support school choice can inform this website and we will gladly give credit to them,  especially their Presidential nominee, in this website by name.

Our message to Democrats:

 

  ” Poor education is a middleclass issue, not Republican or Democrat.  Since president Trump has already endorsed school choice, please join him for the sake of the children of American middleclass parents.  Make school choice meaningful by following suggestions in this website, not 435 cooks spoiling the broth.”

 

                In 5-10 years we can have this dream come true for the GAMC:

 

                                 66%  -- well-performing public schools

 

                                 33%  --  several types of private schools of excellence

 

                                 A win-win for both Democrats and Republicans 

 

              Justice For the Great American Middle Class (GAMC)