What Parents Need to Know About the STEP•Star Program

Home school parents are being courted by government agencies (possibly other organizations as well) offering the STEP•Star program. At a 1997 home school convention in Spokane, Washington, Educational Service District 101, with offices in Spokane, had brochures and a representative on hand to talk with home schoolers who wandered up to ask questions. The question is, did that representative know the whole story and did he fully disclose to the parents he spoke with?

STEP is an acronym for Satellite Telecommunications Educational Programming, and is, as outlined in section 3202 of the Improving America's Schools Act (IASA), the vehicle for the Star Schools Program. The Star Schools Program is a federally funded program through the IASA which is the re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). The IASA is the infamous HR 6 which carries with it a mandate that every school district that wishes to continue receiving title funds under the ESEA will comply with the Title III requirements of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act. This is what the annual Goals 2000 report to the legislature (April 1997) states about Title III of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act:

Title III State and Local Education Systemic Improvement has been called the heart of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act. It authorizes grants to states that agree to develop a comprehensive plan for the improvement of elementary and secondary education.

Over the years, since the advent of the title programs of the ESEA, schools have become addicted to the funds, and now find it very hard, if not impossible, to operate without them. What has happened, essentially, is that tax dollars that should have been available to the states have been routed through the federal government, coming back to the states with strings attached.

The STEP•Star program is run through Title III of the IASA. Don't confuse this with Title III of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act. These are two different laws. The findings section (3202) states:

The Congress finds that

(1) the Star Schools program has helped to encourage the use of distance learning strategies to serve multi-State regions primarily by means of satellite and broadcast television;

(2) in general, distance learning programs have been used effectively to provide students in small, rural and isolated schools with courses and instruction, such as science and foreign language instruction, that the local educational agency is not otherwise able to provide; and

(3) distance learning programs may also be used to

(A) provide students of all ages in all types of schools and educational settings with greater access to high-quality instruction in the full range of core academic subjects that will enable such students to meet challenging, internationally competitive, educational standards;

(B) expand professional development opportunities for teachers;

(C) contribute to achievement of the National Education Goals; and

(D) expand learning opportunities for everyone.

(highlighting added for emphasis)

Section 3203 deals with the purpose:

It is the purpose of this part to encourage improved instruction in mathematics, science, and foreign languages as well as other subjects, such as literacy skills and vocational education, and to serve underserved populations, including the disadvantaged, illiterate, limited-English proficient, and individuals with disabilities, through a star schools program under which grants are made to eligible telecommunication partnerships to enable such partnerships to

(1) develop, construct, acquire, maintain and operate telecommunications audio and visual facilities and equipment;

(2) develop and acquire educational and instructional programming; and

(3) obtain technical assistance for the use of such facilities and instructional programming.

Section 3204 authorizes grants. Section 3206 sets down the stipulations for receiving one of the grants authorized under Section 3204:

(a) Applications Required. Each eligible entity which desires to receive a grant under section 3204 shall submit an application to the Secretary, at such time, in such manner, and containing or accompanied by such information as the Secretary may reasonably require.

(b) Star School Award Applications. Each application submitted pursuant to subsection (a) shall

(1) describe how the proposed project will assist in achieving the National Education Goals, how such project will assist all students to have an opportunity to learn to challenging State standards, how such project will assist State and local education reform efforts, and how such project will contribute to creating a high quality system of lifelong learning;

(highlighting added for emphasis)

The use of the word "shall" with regard to section (b) continues on for three more pages. What is being mandated is that the STEP•Star program augment the Goals 2000 agenda with outcome-based education as its mechanism.

The STEP•Star representative stated that all parents have to do to get this program is sign up at the local school. The school then reports the full time equivalent (FTE time) of the student and receives state money for the FTE time.

Right off the top, there are at least three points that parents should think about when considering involvement in the STEP•Star program:

If the local school district is receiving FTE apportionment money for your child, then your child comes under the mandate of the state. This carries with it many mandates that home school parents are not necessarily aware of. It is imperative that home school parents understand that the new purpose of education in the total quality environment of Goals 2000 is to produce a job-ready human resource unit to meet the needs of business. It has been decided by the behavioral psychologists, sociologists, psychiatrists, and social scientists that a child is incapable of becoming the best job-ready product possible unless his/her environment is carefully monitored and adjusted according to the edicts of the state. This gives the state a compelling interest in every aspect of the child's existence which is why schools are partnering with social services. Anything deemed to place the child in an "at risk" status must be addressed in the interests of producing the best job-ready product (human resource) possible. This means the child can be subjected to a whole array of services without parental knowledge or consent. The child may be placed in an "at risk" category if the school decides that the child does not meet the "ready-to-learn" standards of the state which is defined as the "child coming to school on the first day and every day thereafter ready to learn." This means physically, mentally, and emotionally as assessed by the school, not by the parents. A child may be deemed "at risk" if he/she has a quarrel with a sibling or parent, has a hangnail, or maybe has a hole in his/her shoe or pants. What parents need to understand is that under education reform, the compelling interest of the state in producing the best job-ready product possible supersedes the rights of the child or parent.

The child will be subjected to humanism. Every educational system is under girded by a world view. Most home school curriculums are built on a Judeo-Christian world view. Not so with the public schools. Public schools, and especially curriculums used to meet the mandates of Goals 2000, are built on the humanistic world view. While the STEP•Star representative couched the program as world view "neutral", there is no such thing as world view "neutral." If a parent does not want their child subjected to the devastating effects of humanism, they should keep them away from the STEP•Star program. The syllabus for the program bears witness to this. It becomes very apparent that the syllabus is intended to address social and life-related issues; that in the context of addressing social and life-related issues, the child is subjected to the four world order issues that "must be addressed if we are to save spaceship earth: world economy, world ecology, world security, and world population growth." In other words, the courses offered are to socialize the child, to condition the child to his environment, with any core knowledge that might be incorporated subordinate to addressing the social and life-related issues. While the STEP•Star program is "only to teach Spanish and Japanese," they will also teach the cultures. Will that be from a Judeo-Christian world view or a humanistic world view?

The STEP•Star program is funded with federal money. The federal government is known for giving money with strings attached. Strings are also attached to this one — the requirement that the programs presented serve to enable the child to meet the National Education Goals established by the Goals 2000: Educate America Act. Although the representative insisted that the program was free and voluntary to parents, it is not free when funded by tax dollars, and not voluntary when the strings attached are not disclosed to parents until after they sign up for the program; or, as in the case of the humanistic curriculum, such is never disclosed.

Any parent, who wants their child to receive a Christian education based on Christian principles, should avoid the STEP•Star Program.

© July 1997; Lynn M Stuter

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