The Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee was well aware of the concerns of many citizens regarding the creation and funding of this state boarding school thanks to the many calls and emails that it received. The People, LLC submitted a statement to be read into the record by a committee member; and, was told that this would happen. In the event that this did not happen, a fellow citizen attended the committee with the intention of reading our statement for us.
So, what happened? Chairman Morrell rushed the entire Capital Outlay bill through the committee with no debate while adding a set of his own amendments which were not read or discussed. Our fellow citizen was invited to give testimony; however, it seemed that Sen. Morrell was asking for testimony on the amendment only and not on the bill in its entirety. So, as soon as the citizen declined to speak at that time, the bill was passed "without objection."
The citizen then explained that they did want to speak to the bill and the chair did allow the testimony. Unfortunately, the bill was already passed; so, the testimony was given simply for the sake of being included in the record. Sen. Morrell interrupted the testimony and appeared to not want the details of Thrive Academy and its Foundation's proposed funding to be heard. He assured everyone that they were aware of the concerns and that it was something that could be taken care of between the committee meeting and the floor debate/vote. Sen. Colomb, however, was interested in the testimony and asked several questions. So, while our statement was not able to be read, the information was shared on the record; and, for that we should all be thankful to the lone voice who showed up and stood up for LA families. View the entire exchange beginning at about the 25:00 mark.
Were any changes made on the Senate floor? Yes! A set of Morrell Amendments was passed which included an amendment to revert the proposed funding of Thrive Foundation from the $3,000,000 back to the $500,000 level:
A definite and big step in the right direction; so, we must keep fighting!
--Leave daily messages for our representatives at their District Offices, through the Capitol Switchboard (225-342-6945), and by Email.
--Share the details of this school with your family & friends. Encourage them to contact their representatives daily to express their outrage and expectation that this funding be eliminated.
--Use info from our email to the representatives to craft your own. Reps tend not to open mass emails that say the same thing in exactly the same way.
Legislators wanting to pass these types of initiatives count on a couple of things:
1. That citizens will get tired and just stop trying to do anything.
So, JUST DON'T STOP!! Make it your daily mission to contact them and to get at least one more person to contact them than you did the day before.
2. Rep. Schroder once told us that none of "this" will ever change because "you two" will never be able to explain it so that people will understand. Evidently, legislators are counting on us not understanding what they are doing to us, our families, and our bank accounts.
Please, use our information and ask for clarification when we are not as clear as we need to be.
By working together, we can prove Rep. Schroder wrong.