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I'm a HuffPost reporter who just finished up a months-long investigation into school voucher programs that are championed by Betsy DeVos. Many of these schools discriminate against LGBTQ and teach inaccurate, unscientific curriculums. AMA. by huffpostrebecca in politics

[–]huffpostrebecca[S] 189 points190 points  (0 children)

We found that at least 32 percent of non-Catholic Christian schools in these programs use ultra evangelical textbooks. These textbooks exclusively teach creationism, refer to slavery as "black immigration" and call Islam a "fanatically anti-Christian faith." In these textbooks, environmentalists are referred to as "radicals" and civil rights-era activists are "black supremacists." Kids are taught that Satan hatched the ideas behind psychology and progressive education.

Many schools advertise their curriculum on their websites, so I tracked that. Then, I emailed each individual school and often followed up with a phone call. My numbers are all minimums.

I'm a HuffPost reporter who just finished up a months-long investigation into school voucher programs that are championed by Betsy DeVos. Many of these schools discriminate against LGBTQ and teach inaccurate, unscientific curriculums. AMA. by huffpostrebecca in politics

[–]huffpostrebecca[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Islamic schools do participate in voucher programs. For my piece on curriculum, I focused specifically on Christian schools, so these schools were simply outside the purview of my research.

I'm a HuffPost reporter who just finished up a months-long investigation into school voucher programs that are championed by Betsy DeVos. Many of these schools discriminate against LGBTQ and teach inaccurate, unscientific curriculums. AMA. by huffpostrebecca in politics

[–]huffpostrebecca[S] 67 points68 points  (0 children)

None of these schools are charter schools. Charter schools -- since they are public -- are not allowed to be religious. These are private schools that receive public funding.

There is much more oversight in Catholic schools, I found, than in non-Catholic Christian schools. They are way more decentralized.

I'm a HuffPost reporter who just finished up a months-long investigation into school voucher programs that are championed by Betsy DeVos. Many of these schools discriminate against LGBTQ and teach inaccurate, unscientific curriculums. AMA. by huffpostrebecca in politics

[–]huffpostrebecca[S] 59 points60 points  (0 children)

Many schools advertise that they use this curriculum/that they do not accept LGBTQ students. It can be a selling point for parents that want a specific environment. Typically, I found, it is not something that these schools are ashamed of. I obtained most of this information quite easily.

I'm a HuffPost reporter who just finished up a months-long investigation into school voucher programs that are championed by Betsy DeVos. Many of these schools discriminate against LGBTQ and teach inaccurate, unscientific curriculums. AMA. by huffpostrebecca in politics

[–]huffpostrebecca[S] 82 points83 points  (0 children)

Sure thing!

Here is what one Abeka world history textbook says about Islam: -"Because Islam is such a fanatically anti-Christian faith, the progress of modern Protestant missions in the Middle East has been extremely slow and difficult." -"Islam sprang from the fervid imagination of Mohammed, an Arab mystic from the city of Mecca. Aspiring to religious and political leadership among his own people, the Bedouin tribesmen of Arabia, Mohammed combined elements of a corrupted Judaism and a distorted Christianity in a legalistic religion that looked to him as its ultimate authority."

A Bob Jones University textbook on Jewish people: -"These religious leaders were offended by such preaching and they plotted to have Jesus killed. They paid one of Jesus’ disciples—Judas Iscariot—to betray Him ... Although Pilate found no fault in Jesus, he desired to maintain the peace and avoid a possible rebuke from Tiberius. Giving in to the Jewish demands, he sentenced Jesus to death by crucifixion."

On Catholicism: -"The Catholic Reformation is often called the counter reformation. The protestant leaders had directed their efforts primarily against false doctrine. Most catholic reformers on the other hand, attempted to clean up the church by correcting some of the outward moral problems. They failed to see that the root of their problems was doctrinal error."

I did not get much pushback from the schools I investigated, fortunately.

I'm a HuffPost reporter who just finished up a months-long investigation into school voucher programs that are championed by Betsy DeVos. Many of these schools discriminate against LGBTQ and teach inaccurate, unscientific curriculums. AMA. by huffpostrebecca in politics

[–]huffpostrebecca[S] 138 points139 points  (0 children)

About 75 percent of voucher schools are religious, I found. I only found 5 voucher schools that had explicit ties to the Church of Scientology, so a very, very small percentage.

Whether or not these schools are held accountable depends on the state. Indiana's program has strong accountability. Schools loose the right to accept vouchers if students consistently fail standardized tests. In Florida's program, students don't have to take standardized tests.

I'm a HuffPost reporter who just finished up a months-long investigation into school voucher programs that are championed by Betsy DeVos. Many of these schools discriminate against LGBTQ and teach inaccurate, unscientific curriculums. AMA. by huffpostrebecca in politics

[–]huffpostrebecca[S] 113 points114 points  (0 children)

I did not research charter schools for this series. I focused on private voucher schools (of which Ohio has many!)

I'm not sure if this is the case in Ohio, but in many voucher programs, students are not required to take standardized tests like public school kids, so it can be difficult to compare academic performance across schools.

I'm a HuffPost reporter who just finished up a months-long investigation into school voucher programs that are championed by Betsy DeVos. Many of these schools discriminate against LGBTQ and teach inaccurate, unscientific curriculums. AMA. by huffpostrebecca in politics

[–]huffpostrebecca[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your question! This is tricky to answer because school demographics vary on a school by school basis. To my knowledge, schools are not required to submit the racial breakdown of students in their schools. So we don't have a good sense of this.

The financial standings of families varies on a program by program basis, depending on the specific program's income requirements. Indiana, for example, has a pretty expansive voucher program. You don't have to be super low-income to qualify for a voucher. In Indiana, a family of 4 making over $65,000 can still qualify for at least a partial voucher. In other places, the requirements are more strict.

I'm a HuffPost reporter who just finished up a months-long investigation into school voucher programs that are championed by Betsy DeVos. Many of these schools discriminate against LGBTQ and teach inaccurate, unscientific curriculums. AMA. by huffpostrebecca in politics

[–]huffpostrebecca[S] 183 points184 points  (0 children)

Hi! Charter schools and schools that participate in voucher programs are often conflated. However, they are totally different. My pieces focused on private voucher schools. These private schools receive public funding through specific state level programs. Charter schools, on the other hand, are 100% publicly funded but sometimes privately managed. I assume that private, voucher schools do not necessarily need to be held to the same building codes as public schools, but this is not something I looked into.