Neighborhood Ministries

The schools have become increasingly secretive about what is being taught because they don’t want parents to know what is being taught. Our schools were founded on the principle that parents would oversee the schools but liberal politicians have been increasingly adding federal funding to help the schools, but are using it to blackmail schools into teaching what they want them to teach and hiding it from parents.  The Covid crisis forced schools to go online and opened the door to parents to see what is being taught in the schools. Many parents have been shocked to learn what the schools have been hiding from them. When parents objected, liberal politicians pushed the FBI to begin investigating parents who objected to what is being taught. Parents who only want what is best for their kids are being threatened and intimidated to silence opposition to the liberal agenda. Conservative politicians have introduced a bill in the House that would spell out and safeguard parents rights. It would guarantee parent’s right to know what is being taught in the school and to be heard when they voice opposition to it. It would also protect the child’s privacy and require schools to inform parents of violent activity in the school. Finally, it would protect parent’s right to view school budgets. In 2021, the FBI created a task force to investigate threats against school board members. Under Congressional investigation by conservative representatives, the FBI stated that they would not use it to infringe on parent’s rights to voice their opinions, yet they have opened a number of investigations on parents who have voiced opposition to their school’s liberal agenda, under the pretense that they pose a threat to school board members, in order to intimidate the parents so they will remain silent.

Public schools are increasingly teaching students to accept what they hear in school as fact and not question it, even though a great deal of it is politically correct but false. Churches need to educate both parents and students to critically examine what they hear and not be misled by propaganda put out by the schools and media. When I taught sociology at a local college, I ended up writing my own textbook because much of the information in the textbooks was outdated and false, or at the very least incomplete. The textbooks added news events like 9-11 to make them appear up to date but never examined old material. For instance, the textbooks talked about how African nations suffered under colonialism, in spite of the fact that colonialism had ended in Africa over 30 years before and most of the suffering is the result of civil war and corruption within their own governments. I published my lessons in two books under “Truly in the World, But Not of it” to make them available to churches and individuals. It is published by Outskirts Press and deals with issues in relationships, health, welfare, government, education, and finances and is simple enough for the average reader.

Truly in the World But Not of it-part-A (Relationships, health, welfare)

Truly in the World But Not of it part-B (Government, economics, education)

In Europe, only the wealthy got an education. Then America pushed for universal education and it opened up a time of great economic prosperity. Now with failing public schools, we are fast returning to where only the rich get a quality education. Churches have been using their extra space for schools for a long time but were expensive, since they received no public funds. Churches have a lot of space that is normally not used during the week and Sunday School rooms are often ideal for classes. New online curriculums make less demand for trained teachers. Currently church-based schools are mainly limited to large affluent churches who can afford to subsidize their schools to make them more affordable. Ohio Christian Ed Network and Center For Christian Virtue are partnering to develop schools in churches to provide Christ-based education at a low cost because they meet in churches. As a result, they have low overhead and can still provide a quality curriculum. They just opened their first church this year and plan to open more next year. Such schools are usually smaller and closer to students than public schools who have been increasingly moving towards consolidated schools with long bus rides to school. Churches and their members can assist the expansion of Church-based education by starting a school of their own or supporting schools in nearby churches through donations to the schools and scholarships for students, particularly those from their own church.

With many schools failing to teach and with all the teaching supporting free sex, abortion, Gay rights, and socialism, many parents are becoming frustrated with their schools.  In addition, with increasing bullying, violence, and male access to girl’s bathroom and shower facilities, students are feeling increasingly afraid at school. As a result, an increasing number of parents are looking for alternatives. Currently, public schools enjoy an advantage because they are supported by the community and free to students where parents who want their kids to have quality and safe education have to pay taxes to support the public schools as well as pay tuition to a private school. Christian schools currently do not often get federal funds because many States have rules preventing public money from going to church related schools in spite of the Constitution’s prohibition against discrimination on the basis of religion. In addition, many Christian schools are afraid to apply for public funds because they are afraid that they could be coerced to teach things that violate their beliefs by the government threatening to withhold funds. Churches can also push for laws expanding the use of vouchers to include all students so parents can choose the school best for their children and not be prevented by cost. A number of  States like Ohio are currently considering bills to expand their voucher systems.

Voters Beware-Liberal State Education Associations are promoting what they call “Fair Schooling Acts” but they are anything but “fair”.  Recently Ohio passed legislation which expanded Ohio’s program to give vouchers to families whose children attend failing public schools to allow them to transfer their kids to higher quality schools nearby. The Ohio Education Association and far-left politicians fought it because they were afraid of losing more of their monopoly on teaching Ohio’s students. They fought back by trying to deceive voters into thinking they care about quality education and that the private schools are providing inferior education, so they could promote their radical agenda. The public schools have seen an increasing decline in education, but the National Education Association and State affiliates continue to dumb down education standards to hide their declining levels of education, while most private schools are not seeing a decline. Parents should be free to move their children to better schools when their local school fails to adequately teach their children. In addition, competition would force the public schools to improve their level of education to prevent losing more students. With a virtual monopoly on education, they can continue to push their liberal agenda, which devalues life leading to more school shootings, promotes sex education which promotes sexual promiscuity and leads to more abortions, and attacks the family where moral values are taught. Parents should have more freedom to choose the best school for their children, not less.

The National Education Association continues to proclaim that the bills extending school vouchers to kids in failing schools are stealing money from the public schools to fund private schools. They make it look like greedy private schools are seeking to gain access to the public treasury. They miss the whole issue. American public education was developed with the principle that the schools would be controlled by parents and local voters. Liberal politicians have seized control of the local schools by funneling federal and State money to local schools which has enabled them to dictate what is taught and how it is taught. Parents and voters are becoming increasingly upset with the way the government is using their tax money to control the schools and indoctrinate students in liberal policies in order to further its own political agenda. Parents and voters are demanding that the schools either listen to them or they will fund other schools that will. If parents cannot mold the public schools to give their children the kind of education they feel is best, they must find a way to send their kids to schools that will.  These bills are the public’s way of trying to regain control of their schools. It is a question of whether we remain a free country where parents are free to choose the kind of schooling that is best for their kids or the government forces them to send their kids to schools that indoctrinate them in liberal philosophy and trains them to be obedient slaves to the government.