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THREAT OF SUBPONEA PRODUCES TEXAS CURRICULUM RECORDS

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JOHN GRIFFING

WORLD NET DAILY

CSCOPE, a controversial school curriculum management system in Texas that once included a description of the Boston Tea Party as an act of terror and has called Islamic terrorists freedom fighters has given up pages of its financial records under threat of a subpoena by state Sen. Dan Patrick.

 

Patrick sought the records after Texans told him they had uncovered financial irregularities in the organization’s operations.

 

Patrick threatened CSCOPE with a subpoena of all financial documents if disclosure was not achieved voluntarily. CSCOPE TEXASprovided 5,000 pages of documents in response to Patrick’s request, and the information now is being reviewed.

 

“I’m glad that the CSCOPE board finally recognized that they must respond to our request for detailed financial information,” said Patrick. “I only wish I didn’t have to threaten a subpoena before getting this information.

 

“For some reason the board at CSCOPE believes they are above open disclosure and total transparency to parents and legislators,” Patrick added.

 

CSCOPE is owned by a corporate nonprofit started in 2009 called the Texas Education Service Center Curriculum Collaborative (TESCCC). TESCCC is comprised of 20 separate “Education Service Centers” who all pay for the right to sell CSCOPE as a product to independent school districts.

 

Board members of the TESCCC claimed for months that no financial documentation existed, since all funds leave the nonprofit and are transferred to a “fiscal agent,” a claim which has stumped some financial experts who told WND that only public agencies have “fiscal agents,” and that a nonprofit must show distribution of funds.

 

According Chriss Street, the former treasurer of Orange County, Calif., and the individual who was instrumental in exposing the savings and loan debacle of the 1980s, the TESCCC reporting methods are questionable.

 

“The Texas Educational Service Center Curriculum Collaborative appears to have not applied for a Government Exempt, or a Tax Exempt 501C-3 or 501C-4 determination letter. I have made an investigation and have not discovered any Government Exempt or Tax Exempt determination letters on file,” said Street.

 

“There is no federal or state requirement for individuals or associations without revenue or sales to file any tax reporting. But it is my understanding and belief that TESCCC appears to have substantial sales and significant fee income and may be fully taxable as a trade or business and or subject to gift taxes,” Street added.

 

All nonprofits are required to file what is called a “Return of organization exempt from income tax” – form 990 – which would show income and distribution. CSCOPE has never filed a form 990, even though it handles millions of dollars annually.

 

As Patrick told the press in his release of May 10, “It was clear to me the non-profit was set up to hide information from someone. I’m glad the board is beginning to understand they are a public entity and the people of Texas and the legislature have a right to their records.”

 

TESCCC board minutes obtained by WND show that expenses and payments have been approved by the nonprofit, yet no public record exists for these transactions.

 

According to information sent to WND through citizen public information requests, the TESCCC also did business with companies without formal contracts, and paid millions of taxpayer dollars to these companies.

 

“National Education Resources, Inc. (NER),” which turns out to be a single individual, James Jennings, who filed a DBA under his residential address, received over $6 million from the TESCCC without a formal contract, records show.

 

The documents indicate that CSCOPE did not have a contract with NER until spring 2011, when the contract was put in place and made retroactive to July 2010.

 

NER was paid an estimated $3 million from 2010-2011 and about $3 million 2011-2012, records show.

 

The TESCCC (CSCOPE nonprofit) voted against conducting an audit or background check of Jennings when his two-year contract was negotiated. When the contract termed out, CSCOPE gave Jennings another $213,000 during the summer, when teachers were not even utilizing CSCOPE.

 

CSCOPE’s original price tag was just over $4 million, but schools are required to lease the product annually, and costs by district can exceed the $1 million mark. Ector County ISD paid $1.7 million in a single year for what certified curriculum professional and WND education correspondent Mary Bowen says is a “glorified calendar.”

 

WND previously reported on a school district’s attempt to charge parents for copies of CSCOPE lessons that are the property of taxpayers.

 

Amy Zimmerman, a mother in the Collinsville Independent School District, asked to see the 7th grade CSCOPE science lessons used between September 2012 and May 2013, citing her “parental right” under state law.

 

But Zimmerman received a letter from an attorney for the district requiring the payment of $770 to see the materials.

 

CSCOPE has faced heavy criticism by parents, teachers and legislators, culminating in legislative hearings that revealed serious academic deficiencies in the areas of math, science and English, as well as what many critics believe is an agenda-driven bias in social studies content that promotes a negative view of America.

 

WND has reported on lessons claiming the Boston Tea Party was a terrorist act, and lessons requiring students to design flags for a new communist country. The latter lesson was created in October 2012.

 

Teachers also have told WND:

 

  • Lessons are not matched to grade level; a ninth-grade lesson asks students to circle capital letters in a sentence.
  • One social studies lesson teaches that capitalism is obsolete and communism is the best economic system, using a diagram that shows a man climbing a ladder towards communism.
  • A third-grade lesson defines American “equality” as “fair share.” Competing definitions that include “equality under the law” or “equal opportunity” are not discussed.
  • Muhammad is portrayed as a social justice crusader. There is no mention of his marriage to a young girl or his beheading of indigenous population groups.
  • Political parties are taught from what critics claim is a subjective and left-leaning perspective, e.g. Democrats “benefit each individual” while Republicans “favor big business.”

 

WND has also recently acquired lessons covering the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, teaching students that “medicine” and “food” are “rights,” and not a matter of personal responsibility.

 

Students who do not answer that “medicine” and “food” are “rights” have their answers marked as incorrect, sources report.

 

Other controversial lesson content includes a science lesson that instructs students to set things on fire in the middle of class and also lessons that promote anorexia and mercy death, according to Bowen.

 

CSCOPE also has come under fire for its secrecy and lack of transparency, forcing teachers and districts to sign “user agreements” – what whistleblowers say amount to “gag orders.”

 

Teachers are exposed to legal liability if they share lesson content or other class materials with the general public, and threats of termination have been reported by teachers who attempt to engage parents about controversial CSCOPE content.


Read more at 
http://www.wnd.com/2013/05/threat-of-subpoena-produces-texas-curriculum-records/#s2THHLHCzJigwhWA.99

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What is CSCOPE?

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Venable: CSCOPE or C-SCAM?

Posted: Saturday, May 18, 2013 4:00 am

Longview News Journal

CSCOPE is among the most controversial topics in the Lone Star State. Surprisingly, many Texans have never heard of it.

CSCOPE is a curriculum management system that has been sold to more than 850 Texas public, private and charter schools. It was developed by a division of the Texas Education Agency, which went to great lengths to avoid public oversight over the process.

Directors of the agency’s regional Education Service Centers created a nonprofit shell organization called the Texas Education Service Center Curriculum Collaborative, which exists in name only, and made themselves directors of this organization, which served only to move CSCOPE development out of public view. Since then, the directors, whose salaries are taxpayer funded, have met and worked in secret, using the nonprofit agency as a shield against open records and open meetings.

CSCOPE is controversial by virtue of its veil of secrecy, its financial trail (or lack thereof) and its contentious lesson plans.

Teachers had been required to sign a form that prohibited them from discussing CSCOPE and from publicly criticizing the lesson plans. Parents have not been given access to the lesson plans. Even the elected State Board of Education chairman was not given access to the curriculum for six months.

Some curriculum specialists claim CSCOPE helps schools utilize Common Core Standards, a set of general education standards pushed by the Obama Administration and that Texas has soundly rejected. Common Core Standards take control away from local educators and increase costs without adding rigor or improving student outcomes.

The leadership of the 20 service centers has worked to avoid transparency and review of CSCOPE, and in doing so have betrayed the public trust.

Texas Senate Chairman Dan Patrick held a full-day hearing on CSCOPE early this year and issued a statement urging the service centers to open their meetings to the public, shut down the nonprofit collaborative and allow parents to see the lesson plans.

The latter is a requirement of the state that lesson plans be made available to parents, something the CSCOPE program failed to do in violation of the law.

Aside from the cloak and dagger tactics, CSCOPE is costly. It was developed using public money, yet the lesson plans are “rented” to the school districts per pupil, per year, eating up even more taxpayer dollars.

Texas taxpayers and educators across the country have been talking about CSCOPE for months. Now the light of public scrutiny is finally being shed on the operation and the lesson plans.

Thankfully, sound-minded lawmakers in the Legislature are working to end this sham. Sens. Patrick and Donna Campbell authored a bill that would provide public review for CSCOPE lesson plans, which passed the Senate 31-1, and a similar bill originated by Rep. Steve Toth was approved by the House Public Education Committee last week. Lawmakers should get this legislation passed to start protecting students and parents from an unaccountable, centralized teaching authority.

Education is big business in Texas. The Lone Star State has 10 percent of the nation’s students and spends over $54 billion a year on K-12 education. This call to action on CSCOPE has been spearheaded by parents and courageous teachers who were willing to risk their careers to bring to light problems they found in the curriculum, despite the money and power involved. These parents have exhibited their passion to protect their children and their education.

It is appropriate that this review process proceed and that the practices of the Education Service Centers be investigated. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has indicated he is doing so, and last week Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said he would request an audit of their financial records.

Texans are no strangers to education battles. We are known for our “textbook wars” when the public debates educational approaches, ideologies and philosophies in textbooks. It is what citizens do when they care deeply about our kids’ education.

What is taught in today’s classrooms will shape our country and our economy tomorrow. That makes this controversy an important battle for our children’s education.

— Peggy Venable is Texas state director of Americans for Prosperity.

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CSCOPE: Rub a Dub Dub There’s Two in the Tub

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I have highlighted this lesson in an earlier blog titled Mom & Dad, My Global Footprint is too Large.  Looking further into this crazy environmental quiz you find where they demonize the parents for decisions they have made (large house, swimming pools, more children, etc) Shocking is the fact that they  suggest High School students share baths in order to lower their global footprint. Who are they suggesting these kids share a bath with? Do you feel comfortable sharing baths with your family members? I think I will stick with the poor score of having a higher environmental footprint.

rubdub

I also want you to notice that this lesson was uploaded into CSCOPE’S online portal on April 15th, less than a month ago. You would think that they would lay low with their controversial material due to public outrage that has taken place across the state of Texas.

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CSCOPES’ interpretation of your child’s Environmental Footprint SCORE. We may need more planets.

earthdub

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