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‘Scary stuff’: Dem Rep says ‘the quiet part out loud’ about school choice for lower income families

March 21, 2023 | | Print Article

The battle against government-run education continues to unmask the most perverse ideologues and Monday that included a Georgia lawmaker who said “the quiet part out loud” as to whether or not she thinks parents have rights.

Whether catalyzed or vulcanized by COVID-induced remote learning, parental concern over curriculum has led to advancements in battles that would secure more say from parents over how their children are taught. For Georgians, in addition to a parental rights bill against pushing queer theory, the legislature advanced a bill that would expand school choice, funding students instead of systems.

During the Georgia House Education Subcommittee on Policy hearing Monday, state Rep. Lydia Glaize (D) voiced her concern over such a system applying the biases of credentialism when she asserted some parents simply wouldn’t be smart enough to handle such freedom.

“I see access as a problem. I see parents being able to direct their child’s education and they’re already in the lower 25 percentile, meaning a lot of those parents did not finish high school…could not finish their own education,” Glaize said in a clip highlighted by school choice advocate Corey A. DeAngelis. “I am extremely concerned that we would put money in their hands and that entire piece of life in the hands of parents who are not qualified to make those decisions, and they don’t have the money to put in the difference that their child would need to attend a private school.”

As written, the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act would establish the parameters by which qualified students would gain access to a state-funded $6,000 scholarship toward education expenses. For Glaize, who helped start the state’s first charter school and herself admitted “All of my children graduated from private school. We paid for it,” there appeared to be an inherent bias not only against the education level of Georgians but against their economic status as well.

Christina Pushaw, rapid response director for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) reacted to Glaize’s comments and wrote, “Definitely saying the quiet part out loud. What she’s implying is, government ‘experts’ know better than parents about raising kids, so parental rights should not exist without government approval. Scary stuff.”


She wasn’t alone in pointing out the obvious implications of the legislator’s stance as another Twitter user surmised Glaize may as well have said, “We failed to successfully educate the last generation and we are extremely concerned that we will not have a chance to fail this generation.”

DeAngelis went on to note on partisan lines the bill advanced seven to five out of committee and 33 to 23 through the Senate. Its passage was joined by a similar measure toward universal school choice that passed through the Arkansas Senate on March 8.

Kevin Haggerty
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