\nDo you love me? (I\u2019m in the groove)
\nDo you love me? (Do you love me?)
\nNow that I can dance (Dance)\u201d
\nThe Contours<\/a><\/p>\n
I apologize in advance \u2013 because you might have this song in your head the rest of the week! \u201cDo You Love Me (Now That I Can Dance)?\u201d was released by The Contours and topped the charts in 1962 and again in 1988 with the release of the movie \u201cDirty Dancing.\u201d You might be surprised to learn where my kids first heard the song: it was in a video from 2020 with dancing robots from\u00a0Boston Dynamics<\/a>\u00a0that now has a whopping 39 MILLION views on YouTube!<\/p>\n I really can\u2019t say how many times we watched the video or danced to the song, but it was a lot! Just today, my son and I listened to it again in the drive thru for In-and-Out. We still always think of the \u201crobot video\u201d as we call it, every time we hear the song. My kids were inspired and enthralled with the robots, and even more, the company behind the viral video. \u201cI wonder what kind of jobs they have there?\u201d \u201cI wonder who decided what the robots would look like?\u201d \u201cWho do you think picked the song and programmed the dance moves!?\u201d<\/p>\n Hold on, I\u2019m getting there.<\/p>\n Last week, an article came out where I was interviewed related to allowable ESA (Education Savings Account) expenses in the state of Florida. The article included reflections on other states, like Arizona, which allow approved education expenses outside of private school tuition with their ESAs. The article,\u00a0\u201cFlorida School Vouchers Can Pay for TVs, Kayaks, and Theme Parks. Is That Okay?\u201d<\/a>\u00a0by Jeffrey Solocheck, is a great look at the challenges that some states appear to be having related to \u201callowable\u201d ESA expenses. That is, what should students be allowed to purchase with their scholarships, and how is that determined? I\u2019ll give you a hint about what I think based on one of my quotes in the article:<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to do the most innovative things,<\/em>\u201d Clark said. \u201cAnd the most innovative things make people uncomfortable.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n I also share a bit about why I think flexibility when it comes to approved ESA expenses is important, and remind everyone that according to some experts, an estimated\u00a065% of the jobs<\/a>\u00a0our children will have don\u2019t even exist yet!<\/p>\n States with ESAs, like Arizona, have frameworks in place around approved expenses for ESA purchases, which are usually a mixture of state law, rules, and implementing agency regulations and guidelines. For example, in Arizona items that are\u00a0\u201csupplemental\u201d<\/a>\u00a0to a curriculum, like say a microscope or a blender, have to be required or recommended by the curriculum.<\/p>\n This means that if your ESA student is taking a class on kayaking, you can purchase a kayak. A baking class for home \u2013 a mixer, a 3D printing class \u2013 a 3D printer, and so forth. For some reason, this makes some people nervous, but why?<\/p>\n Well, because governments like to regulate and they like control. The more, the better. They like purchasing manuals and procurement guides that are 50 pages long, which no parent can manage to get through. They like hyper-regulating and vetting everything through a decision matrix, with a board of advisors, and somehow they think that every single penny of ESAs has to be perfectly proven and spent in a way they determine is \u201cacceptable.\u201d This kind of hyper-regulation will do nothing but stifle ESA growth and hold our students back from being ready for the jobs of the future.<\/p>\n Back to the dancing robots. One thing I know for sure, and I think most Americans would agree with this general sentiment, is that the status quo education model for K-12 is not working. We know the absolutely abysmal NAEP scores for reading and math across the country. We know where we stand globally in workforce readiness and the variety of issues our students face, and we know we need to make changes. Rapid changes, now. Government controlled, hyper-regulation is not going to inspire our kids to be the next engineer at\u00a0Boston Dynamics.\u00a0<\/a>It\u2019s not going to help our kids compete in the global marketplace, where for example, the\u00a0Kayak Industry<\/a>\u00a0boasts a market size valued at $521 million. Worrying about whether or not a student is using a TV for entertainment \u2013 or as their computer monitor, is backward thinking.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s empower our kids to explore their interests and passions so they can be innovative. So they can create the coolest new kayak, build the best robots, provide the best services in their new industry, and launch the companies that will provide thousands of jobs for others and make our lives better. Our kids need ESAs and they need flexibility with their ESAs so they can compete as Americans in a global marketplace \u2013 and win.<\/p>\n The status quo is not working. Why in the world would we impose it on ESAs?<\/p>\n Warmly,<\/p>\n Watch the Contours \u201cDo You Love Me\u201d music video<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cYou broke my heart Cause I couldn\u2019t dance You didn\u2019t even want me around And now I\u2019m back To let you know I can really shake \u2018em down Do you love me? (I can really move) Do you love me? (I\u2019m in the groove) Do you love me? (Do you love me?) Now that I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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<\/a><\/p>\nSo what in the WORLD does this have to do with ESAs?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
If We\u2019re Worried about Approved ESA Expenses, We\u2019re Focused on the Wrong Thing<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Why Dancing Robots\u2026 (and Kayaks and TVs), are good things<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Ditch the Status Quo<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/loveyourschool.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Jenny-Clark_Signature-300x126.webp\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/loveyourschool.org\/arizona\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/Screenshot-2024-05-22-at-3.26.36-PM-300x300.png\")
<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"