The tall, attractive African-American mother from Baton Rouge, Louisiana was on a mission. Through a friend, she had heard about the New Orleans Scholarship program in which 2,000 low-income New Orleans children from failing schools are given scholarships to attend participating private schools. While New Orleans has the most robust charter school program in the nation, many kids are still trapped in schools that don't serve their needs. As a result, the New Orleans voucher program has given a lifeline to thousands of low-income children who would otherwise receive an inadequate education.
Over the past several weeks, that young mother has attended rallies and meetings sponsored by Louisiana Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO) because she wants a chance to gain access to the same type of scholarships being offered in New Orleans, so that her own 6-year-old son can attend a quality private school.
This week, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal will sign into law the bill he championed which does, in fact, expand the existing New Orleans scholarship program statewide. Since this measure gives low-income parents who have kids in low performing schools across the state access to these scholarships, ultimately hundreds of thousands of kids may benefit. Many working class parents, like the young Baton Rouge mother, are ecstatic to the point of tears about this bill's passage.
Others, however, are outraged, claiming that a statewide voucher program will lead to the demise of public education in Louisiana and the system will suffer irreparably as a result.
No education reform measure evokes as much rabid and intense opposition as does private school choice.
It's surprising that school vouchers are as volatile a public policy issue in this country as abortion rights, gay marriage and the death penalty. Teachers unions and school administrators view vouchers as the biggest threat to public education -- something to be viciously fought at all costs. But even some respected education reformers are hesitant to embrace school vouchers, seeing this issue as impractical and not worthy of the political capital it inevitably grabs.
And yet, as we draw lines in the sand about how far we go in embracing these programs, 7,000 children a day, over a million a year, are dropping out of school; while countless more are attending schools in which virtually no one is learning.
In response, we rehash three to five year old school district reform plans dujour, continue to debate about systemic reform and the best plan needed to implement them.
Through it all, still far too many of our kids aren't learning and the education achievement gap in America continues to grow. All which begs the question: Is public school system preservation really more important than properly educating as many children possible?
What about formulating a new standard in deciding education policy? One based upon whether children will learn as a result of the proposal. And in the meantime, as we decide on larger school district reform measures, why not offer as many quality options as possible to those kids who can't wait for systemic reform to take hold? Options like charter schools, home schooling, digital learning, magnet schools, specialty schools and yes, even school vouchers.
That young Baton Rouge mother isn't supporting school vouchers in Louisiana because of some esoteric education policy thrust. Nor has she been volunteering her time speaking to legislators on this issue because of a particular political bent. Her actions are totally motivated by doing what is best for her son and his future success. The least we can do is meet her halfway.
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For instance in Washington DC spending per student on K-12 public school education is over $24,000 per student. This when those schools are some of the worst performing in the nation. Think about the numbers on that. For that price you could run an 8 student classroom for $200k. How much would it cost you to pick them all up in your car, buy their materials, etc...? Where is all the money going that you could be more efficient on a small scale than the schools are on a large one? I could think of many reasons that would be a benefit of doing it on such a small scale though certainly it wouldn't HAVE to be that way. Opening education up to competition would have almost endless possibilities.
Kids don't like it? That's why there's a French Foreign Legion.
Those who want a private education are free to use their OWN money to do that.
I am under no obligation to SURRENDER MY MONEY to that cause.
The logic of the voucher movement is strained from the very beginning: Public money will be used to further the PRIVATE CONSUMPTION of a consumer good.
That is an unprecedented violation of property rights.
You cannot TAKE my money to pay for your PRIVATE education.
The better way is to allow poor families to take their portion of tax payments and then ask for tax deductible contributions from the wealthy.
The voucher system right now penalizes the middle class taxpaying families in a brutal way.
To me, the biggest thing a school can do is protect some kids from their parents' predjudices and shortcomings. Some parents are still in the Dark Ages. I'm amazed at how little my kids understand of checking accounts, credit cards, etc. But I'm sure some parents perpetuate closet racism/misogyny etc. at home as well. It's critical we bring the child into the modern world.
What if everything changes to private schools? Curriculum is up for grabs. They'll learn "Intelligent Design" with tax money, for instance. And agendas? If I pushed a personal political opinion in my class I'd catch hell---and rightly so, because my position isn't a pulpit---but private schools can do whatever they want. Rather than "Here is the info and let's make informed decisions" maybe at private school it's simply head-in-the-sand: God says abortion's wrong, birth control is wrong, no discussion, just don't do it!
Public school is a joke.
"The logic of the voucher movement is strained from the very beginning: Public money will be used to further the PRIVATE CONSUMPTION of a consumer good."
Well then this is the least of your worries, alas Welfare, Social Security, Streets, Public Clinics.
The current system is full of "money stealing" ...
Why should I give you MY money to educate your child at a school I do not like. I am using your logic against you. Why is it your right to ask for my money to pay for your child's education.
The solution is simple: It is the OPT OUT provision.
1. OPTING OUT is the default position.
2. Those who leave get back their tax receipts. No more and no less.
3. Those who choose to opt in keep every last penny of their tax contributions at the school of their choice.
Now THAT IS REAL CHOICE.
But you do not like it. The reason you do not is that you consider income redistribution to be a civil right. I do not .
If I ran a school for profit (evil grin), I'd auction off the cafeteria service (McDonald's?)---kids would love it. Put vending machines everywhere, too. Give high grades, deservedly or not, so parents think kids are getting an education (proposals I've seen would exempt private schools from the very tests that are used to flog us---the sad truth can wait till SAT time, or maybe when they're remediating in college). Offer Mickey Mouse classes---stay away from challenges. Pamper the kids, because ultimately they decide where they want to go to school and parents go along with it. Make it a glorified day care center...huge class sizes and we don't need fancy, expensive, "certified/licensed" teachers in a *private* school.
Some parents would catch on but by then, sorry, we already spent the voucher. Maybe the government can help you pay for a new school.
The first time I came to public school and found out that open note tests were standard I wished I had a voucher to get out.
Public school is at best creating mediocre citizens. Remember 30% of public school kids dropout and out of the other 70% only 20% actually go to a type of college( community or state or private) Whereas in a public school over 70% are going to colleges.
I loved school so big surprise, I became a teacher. I wonder what's different in how kids are raised now. Before I left home for school, I knew many things. 1) No means no. 2) A teacher has almost all the authority of a parent. 3) Your report card is your "paycheck," your contribution to your family.
I sense one other major thing is missing: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I heard that a lot. Get kids thinking about that; show them that school is a path to it. Then remind them that it takes some work, but most worthwhile things in life do.
And you're right: widespread, unrestricted access to vouchers WOULD result in the dismantling of much of that system. That's what happens when people have been systematically lied to about it for decades. But you're not right about anything else.
You are ready to use MY money to pay for the consumption of a private good.
I will not make the tired old religious freedom or freedom to choose argument.
You can have your portion of tax receipts, no more and no less.
I get to mine. We will both choose where to send our children.
Freedom is protected this way, and real choice is maximized.
Real choice only happens when you USE YOUR OWN MONEY.
Keep your hands off mine.
What vouchers do is allow schools to discriminate against students with high needs, whether that be cognitive, physical, emotional, behavioral or otherwise. Vouchers are a slick way of making segregation acceptable and circumventing laws, which is disgusting.
If vouchers could be used by everyone, it would be different. The charter schools in New Orleans were notorious for turning away children with disabilities while collecting public monies and that should be absolutely illegal and prosecuted to change their policies to accept anyone who applies.
As for "trapped" children, they are often trapped in families and neighborhoods that are unsafe and unhealthy for them, but I don't see so-called "reformers" complaining about that--although they may start doing so if they can figure out a way to use it to line their pockets.
Self-identified "education reformers" are the new con people. All they care about is privatizing and profiting from the lies the media continue to sell as facts. These people could not care less about the education of children; their goal is money. This is about pure greed and elitism. They know private and charter schools will continue to refuse enrollment to children with severe disabilities, but then those children wouldn't be a good return on their investment, so they are expendable in their eyes.
What an ignorantly false, misleading dichotomy.
Public school system preservation is important precisely BECAUSE it's the best, most effective way to ensure that we properly educate as many children as possible.
They never read Hobbes.
While I am sympathetic to parents avoiding difficult schools, a numbers of years of experience has not shown that the current alternatives are reliably better. Indeed, structured home/on-line schooling supervised by concerned and involved parents is probably better than most charter schools. And if the parents are not concerned and involved, the student going to the charter/alternative school is not likely to do well.
You can be an involved baseball players and totally stink at the game.
The problem is so much deeper than involvement.
It is mental capital.
And therein lie the problem with vouchers. It is NOT a system designed to properly educate as many children as possible, it is a system designed to elevate a few. You can use words like "hundreds of thousands" all you want, but the truth is, as soon as the conservatives dismantle public education, vouchers will mysteriously dry up, as they start their usual "We can't afford it" chant. But then, you knew that.
Support for the _ideals_ of public education has always been strong, and it remains strong today. But members of the reality-based community must distinguish between those ultimate ideals and the various policy mechanisms for pursuing them--between ends and means. It just so happens that monopolies have proven to be a bad way to organize any field. Education is no exception.
http://www.mackinac.org/archives/2002/sp2002-03.pdf
We haven't tried a monopoly in education, though we do know that public schools, on average, outperform charters in a straight-up comparison and private schools when studies (REAL studies, not the tripe that the Mackinac Center dreams up) control for student demographics. What you're advocating isn't the breakup of a monopoly; it's pouring scarce funding into the LEAST effective options because they better fit your ideology (and, perhaps, because you've got a vested interest in benefiting from those solutions; many "choice" proponents seem to).
I would support vouchers only if people used their own money to do it. Real choice never occurs with someone else's money. I am sure you understand that working for a non-profit. According to the CATO institute, it is obscene and a great moral evil to use public monies to fund private consumption.
Lucian remarked about the professional intellectuals. He said they live in fear that they will slide back down the slippery slope of false intellectualism and join the masses . He said they had spent their entire lives getting there and knew that if they fell they would never rise again. From their heights, he said, they could not see the ground.
Please read Lucian. It might open your eyes to those of us who actually make and do things and live in the real world ( not "reality based community").
One last remark: Why do I find so many TENURED, government patrolled professors on the rolls of your think tank and like minded think tanks?
Bill Jones
MS Mathematical Physics
Retired nuclear Navy