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Carrie Cox: If shareholders include terrorists, should military families be able to opt out of KPREP test?


Some military families are outraged by the Kentucky Department of Education’s recent announcement that Kentucky families can’t opt out of the standardize KPREP testing.

In a letter sent to Kentucky superintendents on March 27, Todd Allen, Assistant General Counsel at the Kentucky Department of Education, informed schools that parents don’t have any rights to direct their children’s education.

Allen argued that a parents’ 14th Amendment rights are limited to their choice of public or private education. Staunch opponents of this view hold that the due process clause of the 14th amendment has been upheld multiple times by the Supreme Court with the understanding that the child is the property of the parent, not the property of the state.

That argument aside, some military families are objecting on the grounds that Pearson Education, who currently holds the contract for the KPREP testing has ties to terrorist organizations. When asked about their ties to terrorists, Pearson Education’s spokesperson, Chief Executive Officer, Marjorie Scardino said, “We did meet with one of their financial representatives, a European….We are a public company in a free market and we don’t choose our shareholders they choose us. The basic premise is, this is one of those glitches in the free market system. Unfortunately we can’t tell a share holder to get off our register.” (http://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/feb/28/libya-pearson-financial-times)

Only according to The Material Support Statute it is illegal to do business with known terrorist in the United States. An organization most definitely has the right to refuse to do business with terrorist. That is the reason you fill out all of that anti-terrorism paper work when you open a bank account or try to take out a loan.

Some military families believe taking a test purchased from a company with admitted terrorist ties opens the state, the schools, and their own families up to violations under the law.

They are also not too keen on their personal information being shared with Pearson Education at a time that all military families are being told to be on heightened alert about sharing information.

Families are also concerned that they have loved ones fighting overseas against the very people their school test is helping to fund. Many families are planning to opt out of the testing on the grounds they won’t support terrorist activity. It remains to be seen if their children will face disciplinary action for attempting to protect their deployed loved ones.

We need to come together as a community to support these military families. We need to let them know that we appreciate their sacrifice. We have to do our part on the home front to keep public institutions funded by our tax dollars from using that money to aid terrorist.

You have rights as a parent. Your child is your child, not the property of the state. If everyone stands up and says, “NO!” This stops now. There is no advantage to your child in taking these tests. Arne Duncan, the US Secretary of Education, has said that opting out is an act of “civil disobedience,” but the Constitution of the United States gives you the right to a peaceful protest. Simply refusing to take a test that undermines national security is both peaceful and powerful….and one could argue your duty.

You are a tax payer. That means anyone paid with tax dollars works for you. Use your voice to protect those who put their life on the line to protect your freedoms.

4x5-CarrieCox

Carrie D. Cox is host of The Military Mamas Radio Show, a talk radio program for veterans, active duty military and their families. She also works as the co-host of TWT-TV a veteran-owned small business. She grew up in Covington and graduated from Holmes High School. She moved away as a military spouse but returned several years ago and began writing and teaching. She has a doctorate and holds degrees in public relations, psychology, conflict management, neurolinguistics programming and forensic psychological profiling. Email: carriedcox@yahoo.com


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3 Comments

  1. Marvilene Hagopian says:

    So, please tell me if it would be possible for a terrorist company to purchase Pearson. That might be a scary unintended consequence.

  2. Kevin Killion says:

    I have been writing letters for years to my senator Mark Kirk regarding his support for so-called “impact aid” to school districts to which children of service members are assigned, given their base. It’s grossly unreasonable that these men and women have no choice when it comes to where their own children attend school. Civilians have the choice — it’s a lousy choice, but a choice nonetheless — to move somewhere else to find a school district that better serves their needs. Our men and women in the military do not have such a choice, as they go where they are assigned, and private school tuition is usually out-of-reach for military pay. If there is “impact aid” it clearly should go to the families of the service members themselves, with such a voucher being applicable to the assigned school district or to a private school or to another choice, as they wish.

  3. Tim Brown says:

    Children are not property of anyone. Not parents, not schools, not anyone.

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