Matt Simmons corrects misspelling but keeps homeschool attack and airs ad

Recently democrat candidate for Missouri State Rep, Matt Simmons, aired an ad where he launched an attack on his opponent Kurt Bahr's view of homeschooling.  In his original ad, he misspelled the word lobbyist.  After public outcry, he pulled the ad.  He is now airing the ad again with the word spelled correctly.  However, his message against homeschooling and in favor of public education remains in tact.

While many found the misspelling in the ad to be sadly humorous and ironic coming from someone who was touting the benefits of public education, the issues at stake are obviously more serious than an educated grammatical error proofreader's game of Where's Waldo?  The deeper issue at stake is a matter of freedom.

Matt Simmons firmly takes the stand that only public education is viable when he clearly says:

public education is the foundation of our children's lives!

Matt Simmons is the husband of a public school teacher.  According to his web site for State Rep page, which by the way misspells the word "professional," Matt Simmons has received the endorsement of:

• Missouri National Education Association

• Missouri Association of School Administrators

The St. Louis Post Dispatch League of Women voting guide lists Matt Simmons' highest level of education as being "some college."  While, Matt Simmons' web site states that he attended Hazelwood East, St. Louis Community College and another university, it does not mention any college degrees earned other than an apprenticeship after studying at Ranken Tech.

Kurt Bahr is not seeking office in an attempt to destroy public education.  Kurt Bahr believes that parents should decide which form of education is best for their children.  This could include public, private or homeschooling among possible other choices.  This is fitting with his belief, expressed on a political web site that:

America was built on the concept of freedom

He goes on to explain:

I am running for State Representative to stand up to those who continually trample your rights and to ensure that the smallest minority group – the individual – is protected from ever-increasing governmental control.

Kurt Bahr came to his conclusion that education should be a parental right of choice after experiencing public, homeschooling, private and military forms of education.  He received a public education up to the 4th grade when his mother decided to bring him home where he could be more challenged in his education.  He was then homeschooled through high school.  After graduating high school, he attended and graduated with a Bachelor’s in History/Political Science from Oklahoma Wesleyan University and then received his Master’s in Government/Public Policy from Regent University.  Kurt has also served in the US Air Force, and interned for US Congressman and homeschooling dad, Todd Akin (MO 2nd Dist.).