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Black America Web
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Black America Web
10 Father's Day Gifts For Black Dads That Won't Break the Bank
Source: FG Trade / Getty Look, I'm not going to be that guy who comes around every June and reminds y'all how Father's Day is the unmitigated afterthought of parental observance holidays. I'm not here to count cards, compare brunch budgets, or shame your decision to spend half a mortgage payment on your momma's bouquet while Dad got a mug that says 'Grill Sergeant.' Nah. We get it. Y'all love your mommas. You love seeing them in their fancy hats at church. You love how they hold you down, gas you up, and remind you that you're worthy of good things. And you should! But when it comes to your fathers, especially your Black fathers, y'all consistently fail to meet the moment. So this year, let's flip the script. Forget the neckties nobody asked for and the Outback Steakhouse reservations we never requested. Here's a list of ten gifts that won't max out your debit card but will actually mean something to that Black dad in your life. Whether he's your biological pops, your bonus dad, or the community uncle who rolled with your old man an'nem back in '83, these are the kinds of gifts that speak to the heart of Black fatherhood in 2025. Black fatherhood is a constant state of preemptive planning. From knowing which gas stations we don't go to to how to avoid that one stretch of I-290 where they got that four-lane merge, we stay game planning. So imagine the relief when, just once, you come to us with a solved problem. 'I already talked to financial aid.' 'I figured out the plumbing issue.' 'I found a good internship.' THAT is a gift. That is peace. That is knowing that the years of preparing you for this moment weren't wasted. We don't always need to be heroes. Sometimes, we just need to know that you've got this. We're not saying dads don't enjoy a good time. But if Father's Day means being the unsuspecting star of your TikTok prank, or the punchline to your latest group chat roast, go ahead and miss us with that. This year, give us the gift of being cool again. Compliment the fit. Say our playlist actually goes. Ask us about our high school stats and act like they still matter. We know the hairline's on a journey, but damn, let us be who we still see in the mirror in peace. That thing? That we placed exactly there? With duct tape and prayer? That was done on purpose . Dads don't improvise, dads engineer . Whether it's a makeshift dryer vent, an iPad holder made from a coat hanger, or keeping you from that shady cousin who's always 'starting a business,' trust that our actions were protective, not just practical. So this year, honor the rigged solutions and the boundaries we set. That was love in action. Don't fix it. Don't move it. Just say, 'Thanks, Pops.' We know you're grown (enough). We know you're busy. But the world isn't going anywhere, and neither are we (well, not yet). Give us the gift of being present. Watch the game without checking your phone. Take the scenic route with us and don't rush to the next thing. Let's cook, sit, talk nonsense, and watch clouds roll by like we used to. Our favorite version of you is the one that remembers how to just be . You know we were right. About the relationship. About the job. About that used Saab 9-3 that was definitely lemon-adjacent. Give us the gift of admission. Not because we need to be right, but because it lets us know you were listening . Say, 'You know what, Dad? You were onto something.' Watch us light up like it's our birthday. We said what we said. Tell her she can text us if she wants to. 👋🏾 Listen, we know you're grown. But give us the gift of peace of mind. Stop rolling with that one friend who 'don't believe in car insurance.' Stop taking sketchy gigs from Craigslist. Stop posting cryptic tweets that sound like you're three minutes away from a situationship relapse. Let us breathe easy knowing you're choosing safety, peace, and long-term joy over fast chaos. Just for today. Please. We love you . Not your whole kickback crew. This year, we don't want the cookout to turn into a networking event for your friend's candle startup. We don't want to meet your situationship unless it's serious-serious. Give us some one-on-one time. It doesn't mean we don't love your people. It just means that on this day, we want you . This isn't a request for a gift. We really just wanna know in case we're close to there later. Might stop by. You never know. Let us know it mattered. That all the rides, all the sacrifices, all the times we stayed silent so you could find your voice, meant something. Give us the gift of acknowledgment. Tell us we mattered. Because while the world often treats Black men like we're disposable or dangerous, you've seen us be human. Be tender. Be tired. Be joyful. And you seeing that? That's the greatest gift of all. So yes, Father's Day gets the short end of the stick. But we don't need a parade. We just need you to know we were there. That we are there. That all of this—raising you, protecting you, building a life around your safety and your dreams—was never about the clout. It was about love. We are the menders of broken things, the fixers of what can't be explained, the protectors of dreams we were never allowed to have. And all we ask for is a little love back. A little attention. A little acknowledgment that we didn't completely fumble the assignment. This year, give your dad what he actually needs: peace, presence, and a 'thank you' said like you mean it. And okay…maybe a trip to Costco, too. SEE ALSO: Op-Ed: Black Fathers Vs. The Media And The Manosphere We Don't Need Another Podcast: Black Men and the Summer of Self SEE ALSO 10 Father's Day Gifts For Black Dads That Won't Break the Bank was originally published on Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Funding for homeschool programs lacks accountability, due to absence of state standards
A teenager studies at home. (Stock photo by FG Trade via Getty Images) Imagine a school of nearly 23,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, with thousands of teachers. There are no licensing requirements for any of the teachers who work at this school, and families who send their children are given state funding to attend. There are no curricular requirements, and they can spend the money on virtually anything they want. There is an expectation that all students are learning core subjects and skills in reading, writing, and math, but there is no way to determine if this is actually happening for each student, and there are no requirements to assess any educational outcomes. The governor recently stated, 'It is difficult to accept – here's a check, go do what you want,' in reference to increasing the base student allocation for public education in a recent press conference. And based on those comments, it would be hard to imagine this is the very system he seeks to expand — Alaska's homeschool programs — which accounts for nearly 20% of the student population in the state. While some homeschool families are diligently educating their children, resulting in positive outcomes, others don't engage at all in the professional work of teaching a student basic skills. But this isn't immediately obvious, as homeschool students have the lowest test participation rates in the state and no assessment requirement of any kind. Anecdotally, as an elementary school principal, I see the majority of students that enroll in neighborhood schools after homeschool need significant remediation due to a lack of state-provided structure. In this way the state gets a poor return on their investment as they are paying for the same service two times. Imagine a third grader entering their community school for the first time: the excitement of the classroom, the social interactions with peers, the joys of classroom activities and community building circles. And then the student quickly realizes there is something off. You see, this particular student did not know all their letters while all their peers were reading. Luckily, we have a data and accountability system to identify, monitor and support a student when they are so far below their peers. And this story is not unique. It happens every single year. We are so glad when families realize on their own that their children are falling behind and choose to seek out more support, but many parents do not even know how far behind their children are because there is no measuring stick required. Every year we commit massive resources to these students, and in most cases, we are able to make significant gains in closing the learning gap over the course of a couple years. The vast majority make tremendous growth — a testament to the high-quality instruction they receive! But not without a cost. The cost comes in many ways. First, when they come to the neighborhood school, we are held accountable in our AK STAR testing data for the time they were not making progress in the homeschool setting. Second, the amount of time required in a one-on-one or small group setting with an Interventionist teacher is significant to catch a student up. Third, it holds everyone back in a general education classroom, causing further inefficiencies negatively impacting all student outcomes. Not only are homeschool programs held to a lower standard when it comes to training — there is none — they also are exempt from nearly all the things the state requires neighborhood schools to do. The Alaska Reads Act is optional and anyone who has compared Individualized Education Programs from homeschools to neighborhood schools knows that disabled homeschooled students receive a fraction of the help. Sen. Shelley Hughes in the Senate minority caucus press conference on Feb. 13 touted Tennessee's homeschool program as an example of a direction to go, where they provide a bigger government giveaway of $7,000 with $0 going to school district correspondence programs. But Tennessee's system isn't remotely similar to Alaska's. Tennessee statutes provide many more restrictions and substantially higher accountability than the senator has proposed. In Tennessee, homeschool parents are required to have at least a high school diploma, students are required to take standardized tests administered by a professional testing service, parents must maintain and report attendance records to the local school district, students must have a minimum of four hours of instruction per day, and if they are not making progress, they are required to enroll in a school, to name just a few. In the current regulatory structure in Alaska, homeschools are in a race to the bottom. The program that enrolls the most students wins, and the 'winner' in this case has the lowest student success. Make no mistake, homeschool programs are cash cows for districts. Parents will choose to enroll their children in the program that has the least requirements and accountability, and as a result, Alaskans are getting a very poor return on their investment, while doing a disservice to thousands of children. One cost effective way to improve educational outcomes is simple; maintain the same expectations for both homeschool programs and neighborhood schools, including standardized tests, and incentivize homeschool programs to increase their standards instead of decrease them. This way we ensure Alaskans are getting the best return on their investment. And yes, I agree wholeheartedly with the governor on two things: Stop writing a blank check to 20% of our education system that has no measurable educational outcomes and make some desperately needed policy changes to eliminate the inefficiencies the current homeschool structure creates for the entire system. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Up to 1,000 ineligible SC students booted from voucher program, report finds
According to the S.C. Education Oversight Committee, up to 1,000 students enrolled in the K-12 scholarship program were deemed ineligible after parents received their first payment. (Stock photo by FG Trade via Getty Images) COLUMBIA — As many as 1,000 K-12 students may have received taxpayer-supported scholarship money for school-related expenses before being found ineligible for the program, a state oversight agency found. Between 868 and 1,000 students were removed from the state's voucher program after $1,500 was deposited in their parents' accounts last July, according to estimates the Education Oversight Committee provided to the SC Daily Gazette. That was the first of four equal installments for the program's inaugural year. The state House passed a bill Wednesday meant to revive payments for private K-12 tuition, which the state Supreme Court halted last September when it declared part of the 2023 law unconstitutional. The Senate, which passed its own plan last month, will need to decide whether to accept the House's changes and send the bill on to Gov. Henry McMaster's desk or insist on its version. That would send negotiations to a House-Senate panel to try to agree on a compromise. SC House passes bill to revive K-12 vouchers. The bulk of this year's money will go unused. This first year of the program was limited to 5,000 Medicaid-eligible students who had to transfer from their local public school to a private school or to a different school district. The exception to the transfer rule were students entering kindergarten. The law specifies the money can't be used for homeschooling. Nearly 8,000 students applied, but the Department of Education denied all but 2,880. Late applications, parents making too much money to qualify, and students being too old or too young were some of the reasons the department provided for denying applications. Of those who were accepted, 1,845 students had spent at least a portion of their allotment by mid-January, collectively totaling $3.1 million, according to data the department provided to the Gazette on Wednesday. That accounted for less than half of the $6.6 million the department had distributed by then. The third installment of $1,500 was due to families by Jan. 31. On Friday, the department said some parents didn't spend any of their allotment while their children were actively enrolled in the program, so the total number of accounts was greater than 1,845. It declined to say how many. The agency also declined to say how many students were found ineligible after payments went out, saying that information will be provided in a report at the end of the school year. As per state law, the first payment went to families before the beginning of the school year. Department officials checked in 45 days later to verify that students had transferred schools as required. The department then checks where enrollees are attending school before sending their quarterly installment, spokesman Jason Raven said in an email Friday. He noted the program's first enrollment check at 45 days aligns with the first student count in public schools, which verifies per-pupil state and federal funding. According to the agency, parents had to sign statements that they understood the rules of the program and went through training on how their children would remain eligible for payments. However, many parents said in a survey conducted in October by the Education Oversight Committee that they didn't know their children had to transfer schools to be eligible for the money. Some thought they could stay in their home public school and use the money for the program's allowed expenses other than tuition, such as tutoring and computers, according to the independent education agency. 'After an application was submitted, reviewed and accepted, months later we get a response that my child technically wasn't eligible and that his account was deactivated,' wrote one of the 243 parents who responded. That likely made parents more frustrated than not getting the money in the first place, the oversight agency said in a report presented to a subcommittee of its board in January. Part of the problem probably came down to first-year kinks, the report said. 'The next year of implementation will likely bring improvements made from lessons learned and experience implementing the program,' the report reads. Some parents with accounts that received money told the Education Oversight Committee their children were homeschooled. Other students were already attending a private school last year. One student was attending a school in a different state. Another was using the money for college, according to the responses. Those students should have been disqualified from ever enrolling. That suggests the department was not paying close attention to where the money was going, said Sherry Easy, president of the South Carolina Education Association. 'Our concern is this is the first of many unauthorized spendings that will happen,' East said. Once the funds were distributed, the state had little way to be sure parents were spending the money appropriately, the oversight committee's report found. For example, several parents responding to the survey said they had used the money to homeschool their child, despite the law saying that's illegal. The agreement parents had to sign last year included a pledge to not homeschool their child. If the department discovers a parent violated the agreement, the state will deactivate their account. The student can no longer be in the program, Raven said in a statement. 'In the statute, it says no, you may not use this for homeschool,' Jenny May, a researcher for the oversight agency, told its academic standards subcommittee. 'However, you can purchase curriculum, examinations, things of that nature, and there's not currently an existing oversight to see if you are homeschooling.' Several parents said that was what they did with the money, according to the report. The money 'has made it possible for me to home educate my children,' one parent wrote. Raven, the education spokesman, said the state did not approve any homeschooling options for scholarship money. Legislators banned homeschooling as allowable uses of the money because that's what homeschooling parents said they wanted. Last year, the House considered lifting the ban on homeschooling as part of a bill expanding the scholarship program. But as the bill advanced through the House committee process, a group of homeschooling parents fought back. They equated getting state aid with the state being able to tell them what to do, including on testing requirements. (That bill passed the House but never got a vote in the Senate.) Bothe the House and Senate versions of legislation that aims to reinstate private K-12 tuition payments would maintain the ban on homeschooling. But some of the curriculum approved in the online portal for parents to buy is advertised for use in homeschooling. Under the law, parents would be able to use the money to buy the lesson plans in order to supplement their schooling elsewhere, but no one seems to be making sure that's the case, said May, the oversight agency's researcher. The South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools fielded calls from some of its 1,300 members who were frustrated and upset over not being able to use the money, said Katina Prescott, the association's administrative director. Many don't understand how the money is meant to be used, she said. 'There is a lot of confusion about this,' Prescott said. 'A lot of people need help and support but also want to be legally homeschooling.' Raven said parents may be using the term homeschooling loosely. Maybe their children were taking virtual classes, and they attend with a computer from home, he said. Palmetto Promise Institute, a conservative think tank that's advocated for the program for years, didn't see anything wrong with parents using the money to educate their children at home. They may be sending their child to a school part-time, while completing their education with online classes and curriculum purchased through the program. That wouldn't officially count as homeschooling under state law, according to the think tank that helped write the 2023 law. 'We don't see why a parent could not use some of the qualifying expenses to craft an educational program for their child that would be conducted primarily at home,' the institute said in a statement. As the program goes into its second year, the state needs better oversight of where the money is going, said Rep. Terry Alexander, a member of the subcommittee that reviewed the report. 'If we're giving out that money, we need to know how it's being spent,' the Florence Democrat said.
