From: "John D'Aloia" sawsee@oct.net
Subject: TRACKSIDE
Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2000 16:41:33 -0500

TRACKSIDE (c) by John D'Aloia Jr.

Recent TRACKSIDEs have presented a gloomy picture of our elected representatives selling us down the river with what appears to be premeditated attacks on the Constitution. But wait! There still may be hope! Some people in Congress may still retain an understanding of the Constitution, our heritage, and their oath. Even though the Senate, doing Caesar's bidding, passed a bill that OK'D no-warrant searches, an odd collection of people across the political spectrum in the House have risen up to prevent it from becoming law. When they demonstrated the votes to be able to call for a recorded vote on the no-warrant provisions of the Senate bill, the bill's sponsors postponed scheduled hearings, in effect killing the bill. It is revealing, is it not, that the threat of a recorded vote on the no-warrant provisions would be feared by the bill's supporters. They knew that the bill was blatantly unconstitutional and inimical to the freedom of their constituents. They did not want to take the heat that would be generated. If they had been able to sneak the bill through, as was done in the Senate, there were many excuses they could use to feign surprise that such a dastardly deed would be done.

"They didn't tell me." is one excuse used by legislators. A committee works a very long and complicated bill. The committee members have a good handle on what is in the bill, but other members of the legislative body do not. The other members rely on what they are told about the bill by committee members and the leadership. It is a system that depends on trust, honesty, and integrity. It is a system based on quicksand given the traits illustrated by all too many of those that inhabit the halls of Congress, people for whom personal and party power take priority over the Constitution and the freedom of the American people.

See, there I go again, doom and gloom. Let's try again. Have you heard of CEO Kansas? You are probably going to hear more about it, especially from the Wichita-area educrats who are already starting to cast stones at the project. They know that it has the potential to erode their power base by demonstrating that they have been less than honest with parents and taxpayers.

The mission statement for CEO Kansas reads thus: "The purpose of CEO Kansas is to assist in equalizing educational opportunities for low-income families with children by offering those families an educational option normally denied them because of cost. All funding is from private business, charitable and individual contributions. We believe that all children, regardless of economic circumstances, deserve access to educational opportunities. We believe that parents are the primary educators of their children and deserve the right to choose among the broadest possible range of educational alternatives to meet the needs of individual children and families."

CEO stands for "Children's Educational Opportunity." CEO Kansas is affiliated with CEO America which invested $16.4 million of private funds in 1998-99 in the education of children in 42 cities across the country. In the eight years that the project has been in operation, a total of $61.5 million has been put towards the education of 13,158 children, with a waiting list of 44,450.

CEO Kansas is offering scholarships to low-income families in Wichita, with the amount awarded based on the total education cost and a family-income sliding scale. Each scholarship is capped at $1,500.00 and reserves are set aside so that CEO Kansas can guarantee that the funds will be available for the three-year term of the scholarships. To participate, parents must also contribute to the cost of their children's education. The Wichita superintendent of schools thinks this is a ridiculous request, that parents won't be able to comply with the requirement, yet operation of the program in other cities has shown that parents are more than willing to sacrifice to provide their children an education alternative to a failed government school. The scholarships will be good at any accredited school in Kansas, including government schools that accept out-of-district children for a tuition charge . (Scholarships will also be available to home-schoolers.) There are no academic qualifications to enter the program. With basic program eligibility otherwise satisfied, families will be selected by lottery to blunt the often heard criticism that a private scholarship program will skim the cream of the crop. Scholarships will be made available to all children in a selected family.

CEO Kansas is a helping hand as a helping hand should be - private citizens helping those in need of help without government involvement or coercion.

See you Trackside.

For more information about CEO Kansas, contact Cindy Duckett at 316-942-4545 or CEO-Kansas@prodigy.net. For information about CEO America, call 501-273-6957 or ceoamerica@ceoamerica.org.