June 19, 2014
For Immediate Release
Contact: Nick Novak, 608-237-7290
nnovak@maciverinstitute.com
While the conference was billed as an educational event, it turned out to be quite political. One workshop leader said, “the longer you are in the Tea Party, the more racist you become.” Another facilitator bluntly told a room filled with teachers, “”If you don’t want to work for equity, get the f*** out of education. If you are not serious about being an agent of change that helps stifle the oppressive systems, go find another job. Because you are a political figure.”
Brett Healy, President of the John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy, released the following statement after it was discovered DPI had used special education funding to attend the conference:
“Taxpayers all across this country should be livid that their hard-earned tax dollars were used to send government employees to an offensive and ridiculous political conference.
“The idea that federal funds, that should be going to help children with special education needs, were instead used on seminars calling the Tea Party racist and telling teachers that if they don’t believe teaching is political they should get the f*** out of the profession is offensive.
“How is it legal to use federal tax dollars for this purpose?
“If federal funds were being used to send government employees to a Tea Party conference, the left would call for Congressional hearings and investigations.
“Federal tax dollars should not be used for political purposes, no matter the ideology, no matter the administration. This abuse of taxpayer dollars needs to stop.”
Read the full investigative report from the MacIver Institute by clicking here.