The Arkansas Department of Education today released a video promoting Cornerstone Christian Academy, a K-12 independent school in the southeast Arkansas town of Tillar.
At Cornerstone Christian Academy in Tillar, the growth and modification are extremely positive for teachers, students, and their households.-- Arkansas Department of Education (@ArkansasEd) November 14, 2023
The video appears to have been produced by the department. If I receive a response, I've asked for confirmation of this and will update. I have actually also asked whether the department has any concerns about a public education department explicitly marketing for an independent school-- and one with a spiritual curriculum.
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Josh Cowen, professor of education policy at Michigan State University and a popular researcher on vouchers and other education policies, expressed shock that a state agency would participate in such blatant promotion of a private school.
" It's become all too common to see state departments of education taken over by political appointees more interested in using their perch to develop out personal coupons-- which extremely fund kids already in private school-- than in serving public school kids," Cowen stated. What's less common-- what I've yet to see, in truth-- is a state firm leaning this heavily into promotion of private education.
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According to state data, as of Sept. 20, 64 out of Cornerstone's 150 enrollees, 64 are receiving vouchers. LEARNS, the state's brand-new education overhaul law, this year enacted a voucher program that uses public funds to pay up to $6,672 per student for independent school tuition and costs. That would cover the complete expense at Cornerstone, where the overall tuition and charges are $6,550 this year. Around 95% of coupon students throughout the state this year did not go to public school last year.
Including interviews with parents, trainees and an administrator, the Cornerstone video's message is that thanks to coupons, more kids can get an education at the Christian private school, which uses the Bob Jones curriculum, as well as materials from similar Christian publishers Abeka Book and Positive Action for Christ.
Christian research studies is a mandatory class at Cornerstone, according to the school's site; chapel is held every Wednesday. "We get to learn about God," one trainee says in the video.
" That has been exciting for parents to have the opportunity to choose the Christian environment that we offer," describes the school's administrator, Monica Daniels, standing beside a large red Christmas tree in the video.
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As part of the application procedure at Cornerstone, moms and dads are asked what church they go to and must consent to "keep the basic principles of biblical morality in my home." They also must report whether their child has actually been involved with "sexual immorality" and "give a statement as your child's individual experience and faith in Jesus Christ. If your child has not yet made that decision, please note."
I have actually left a message with Daniels to learn what the school's admissions policy is for LGBT students or households (or single parents, or students who become pregnant); I will update if I hear back.
The curriculum's mentors have been questionable, consisting of young-earth creationism in its science materials (" based on the authority of Scripture, our science program develops for trainees a young-earth design that sees the earth and the universe as being about 6,000 or 7,000 years old," according to BJU Press). Past texts from BJU Press have actually supposedly taught that dinosaurs were fire-breathing dragons.
This is not the first time the state's department of education has run as a propaganda organ. However as Cowen and others kept in mind, it's a noteworthy shift: Our public agency in charge of public schools is promoting a slick PR video for a private school over which it has nearly no oversight, even as the religious school draws up 10s of thousands of dollars in public funding.
The Arkansas Dept of Education has actually become a right-wing political operation #schoolvouchers https://t.co/rmEukLliMf
—-- Josh Cowen (@joshcowenMSU) November 16, 2023
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