MURFREESBORO Education babble can cause many of us non-educators to scratch our heads.

So when educators tell us about adequate yearly progress for those children getting that free and appropriate Common Core education without being left behind with significant achievement gaps by showing all those value added gains they're making on all those standardized tests, it makes the rest of us respond with a, "Say what?"

So with this in mind, I'm responding to the following Stump Scott question from Mary Merrill.

"Here are two questions for you Scott. Good luck? What are AMO's in the educational realm? And, what is the only school in Rutherford County to proudly meet its AMO's?"

Given I'm clueless about what AMO stands for, I sought the answer from Rutherford County Schools spokesman James Evans.

"Wouldn't that be cheating if I told your the answer?" Evans asked me in an email.

Yes, I replied, Merrill stumped me, and I asked him again to provide the following answer:

"I have your information," Evans said. "The answer doesn't exactly match with what the question that was asked. First, AMO stands for Annual Measurable Objective. Each school is assigned certain AMO targets under the state's accountability system. The preliminary numbers last spring showed that one school had met all of them. However, after additional data was crunched over the summer, 14 RCS schools have meet the state's target for AMOs."

I also asked Evans to identify those AMO schools.

"We don't believe the state has not yet lifted the embargo on the specific results for each school," said Evans, who used a double-negative sentence to tell me why the identity of AMO schools must remain hidden from the public at this time.

Although I'm unable to disclose what schools met the goals until the state announces this news, I'm at least good enough in middle school-level math to tell you that about 30.4 percent of the district's 46 schools will be able to celebrate whatever this AMO means.

"Under the state's waiver system, schools in Tennessee are given specific percentages to improve in math, English/language arts, etc., each year," Evans said. "These are known as AMOs."

Now that we're done getting educated, I'll address this question from Bob New of Smyrna: "Why do poor people in Tennessee vote against their own self-interest?"

Before I attempt to respond to this one, it should be disclosed that New is a proud Democrat who ran unsuccessfully against Republican Dawn White of Murfreesboro for the Tennessee House of Representatives 37th District seat two years ago.

Republicans such as state Rep. White would probably contend that citizens in Tennessee, be they rich or poor, are voting their interests in choosing the GOP over the Democratic Party.

People for the most part do vote for what they perceive to be in their best interests for their wallets, in particular, which is a principle that Manatee Junior College Professor Robert Tisdale stressed in his U.S. history classes I took in 1981-82 in Bradenton, Florida.

So it's not as much a question about who is liberal or conservative or radical or reactionary when it comes to voters choosing candidates. We voters choose who we perceive will be best for our wallets.

So if the Affordable Care Act means you're able to buy health insurance at a low price or maybe even qualify for free medical treatment, you're more than likely to vote Democrat.

If the law that's also dubbed Obamacare means you're having to pay more for health insurance while seeing more of your tax dollars used to subsidize others getting health care for far cheaper, you're more than likely to vote Republican.

Those in the health care profession may also be divided on the Affordable Care Act. If the law means expanding their services through the government funding health care or requiring more to be covered by insurance, they may vote Democrat because it's in their interests. If they encounter what they perceive as burdensome regulations that make it harder to provide their services in an efficient way, they may vote Republican because it's in their interest to change or even eliminate the law.

So indeed, it does come down to citizens voting what they perceive to be in their interests.

But are they actually voting in their interests? Given that voters sometimes elect lousy leaders to represent us, both Democrats and Republicans, I'd have to say I'm stumped by New's question.

Hopefully, we'll elect the best leaders to represent us in the upcoming Nov. 4 election.

Let's also hope none of them politicians confuse us with babble about Common Core education and many other issues. That way we citizens won't have to scratch our heads while electing our leaders.


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