Dori: As families flee public schools, Seattle schools push mandatory vax

Shocking school enrollment numbers in Washington were presented to a state Senate committee this week. Total student enrollment in our public schools is down 55,000 statewide this fall. That’s 3.8% lower from June. For special education and bilingual education students, it’s even worse: at least a 6.3% drop.

According to Elaine Deschamps, executive director for the Caseload Forecast Council, they first thought the drop was temporary because of COVID. But they now admit the free-fall is “systemic.”

So why are families leaving public schools in droves? Could it be the radical agenda to put pornography in front of our kids beginning in elementary school? Or maybe it’s that public schools are teaching children to hate each other based on their skin color? Or perhaps it’s the trend of eliminating honors classes so lower-achieving kids won’t feel so bad?

Here’s what I know for certain: It’s time our state Legislature acknowledges that our schools are failing many of our families. The best way to rectify that is to give parents the $17,000-per-student that Washington state spends on educating each child. Parents can then use that money toward private school tuition or for homeschooling materials.

Going forward, the exodus could get even worse. The Seattle School Board is now urging the Washington State Department of Health to add the COVID-19 vaccine to its list of mandatory vaccinations for all students. This comes at a time when Forbes reports that a September Ipsos poll shows 43% of U.S. parents do not want their 5- to 11-year-olds vaccinated for COVID-19.

Maybe they’ve read the recently released study from the United Kingdom. It shows that 99.995% of young people under the age of 25 survive the virus. The risk for 5- to 11-year-olds is virtually zero. (This study refers to COVID-19 as SARS-CoV-2.) Statistics show 5- to 11-year-olds are much more likely to be killed by the flu, pneumonia, a lightning strike, or a motor vehicle accident.

In so many ways, it feels as if our schools are at a crossroads. My question: Will they continue to take our kids down a dead end?

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