Christian pastor and author Denny Burk called it "execrable slander" from The Louisville-Courier Journal.
In a post on X, he accused the paper of publishing a "multi-part hit-piece on a Christian school," along with an op-ed "attacking the same school... Because they want to scare people away from Amendment 2 and school choice by telling lies about Christian schools."
Kentuckians will vote on Amendment 2 when they go to the polls in November. The ballot language is straightforward:
To give parents choices in educational opportunities for their children, are you in favor of enabling the General Assembly to provide financial support for the education costs of students in kindergarten through 12th grade who are outside the system of common (public) schools by amending the Constitution of Kentucky as stated below?
The Louisville-Courier Journal is doing what newspapers always do when leftist monopolies and teachers' unions are threatened: ginning up fear so Kentucky voters will oppose the school-choice amendment.
In a story about Highlands Latin School and its affiliates on Wednesday, the paper recounts the inspiring story of the entrepreneurial Lowe family that started a makeshift school in their living room and grew it into a burgeoning chain of private classical Christian schools and curricula providers. The article by Josh Wood and Krista Johnson starts off on a positive note until you notice the word "empire" popping up every few sentences. In fact, the word is repeated 15 times. That's not an accident.
The paper followed up the article with an op-ed by columnist Joseph Gerth titled "Could Amendment 2 force tax dollars to schools where kids are mistreated?" The subhead declares, "Private schools like Highlands Latin could stand to make a windfall if the legislature passes laws that would allow the state to pay all or part of a student’s tuition."
The opening graphs explain the premise:
If a constitutional amendment on the ballot in Kentucky in six weeks passes, your tax dollars could soon go toward sending kids to a school where former students say teachers bully kids and drive them to tears and self-harm.
Former students told Courier Journal reporters Josh Wood and Krista Johnson that Highlands Latin School also routinely discards kids who fall behind in class or have minor behavioral issues, and forces them to leave because they’re just not good enough.
There are a few more examples, but you get the idea: teachers demand academic excellence, kids get their feelings hurt, and students who don't behave are kicked out. The horror.
Plenty of parents and former students testify on social media that they had a terrific experience with the school (read through the comments on the X post below). A teacher at Highlands Latin wrote her own op-ed in the newspaper extolling the virtues of the school and describing the abuse she received at the hands of public school children.
But all this is missing the point: Parents know what's best for their own children.
No one forced parents to put their kids in Highlands Latin or keep them there. If they believe there's bullying or abuse, they're free to pull their kids out at any time. Parents send their children to schools like this because they see value. Some want their progeny to be challenged academically. Others are desperate to get their kids out of dangerous public schools.
Schools using the Highlands Latin model are thriving, even as the surrounding public schools have deteriorated into violence and shameful third-world academic performance.
@Joe_Gerth is the clown that wrote this. He lives out in the richest zipcode in the state and doesn't want the same options for kids that his daddy provided for him (he went to a religious private school). This is the district he's fighting for and supporting. pic.twitter.com/kSKTS4gbiq
— Bob Gilson (@Bobgilson03) September 27, 2024
The Left hates competition. Merit and excellence are anathema to them, so they're panicking about tax dollars following the children in Kentucky instead of the money being funneled into their failing public schools.
The same people who screech about "choice" when it comes to murdering tiny humans in utero don't want families to be able to choose where their children go to school. The elites, of course, have all the choices in the world. But they hector you for demanding anything beyond a one-size-fits-all school catering to the lowest common denominator.
School choice advocates have been notching victories in state after state. Polls show that parents—black, white, and purple-haired—want it. It's been called the civil rights battle of our age, and rightly so. The statist and globalists want kids in government institutions from sun-up until bedtime and they will bribe parents with everything from free food to free babysitting to keep them there. School choice gets in their way, so they fight like feral cats to destroy it wherever they see it. Hopefully Kentuckians will see through the lies and disinformation and vote to approve school choice in the state.
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