In response to the 10/25/12 post, “The Hidden Agenda of Choice,” a LYSSuperintendent writes:
SC,
Amen to this LYSer. In my district we have watched first hand asstudents return from suspect charters having been told that the charter cannotserve the child's needs, even though it IS a public school and MUST provide fora free and appropriate education. With the emasculation of TEA and itslimited resources, no oversight entity is in a position to address this publicschool choice experiment's violation.
So, what do we do? We ignore the issues with the experiment so far andsay we MUST need even more choice. Private choices. Competition does not makeEVERYthing better. Sometimes it merely tramples on civil rights, safety andcosts.
Did you make out better with electricity competition? How about statecollege tuition? How about the run away competition of the late 1800s with noregulations on industry safety?
If you think public charters have problems following the rules... waitfor private schools taking public money. Who will police them? I wonder howwilling the elite private school will be to accept my high need, ADHD/Dyslexicchild in its perfect private world?
Plato always feared a Democratic form of government as rule of the mob.We proved him wrong by educating the mob to a higher level than anyone everimagined, adding more and more educated voters to our rolls. In the process, wecombined democratic principles, with capitalism and free public schools tocreate the most successful nation state ever. Now we want to roll thingsbackwards with an Indian style caste system. I weep for the America that mykids may inherit if that happens. Rome may be falling... Like my political,historical and legislative references? I owe everything to my public schooleducation.
SC Response
Segregation: The voucher is the tool of the segregationist. Look at the typical private school inyour community. You will noticethat the student population is predominantly high SES, white, and/or representsa specific denomination. Publicschools, rightly, are prevented from openly perpetuating such a system. At the private school, not only is thisby design, it is a selling point to parents. Though personally I find it reprehensible, I will defendyour right to self-select a segregationist solution for your child’seducation. But I am not willing tofund that option with public money.
Perpetuating a wealth-based aristocracy: The voucher is the tool of thewannabe aristocrat. An enlightenedsociety works to expand opportunity and create an infrastructure that furthersthe greater good. Public educationis perhaps our best example of this. The community provides a means to educate the masses to ensure that thecitizenry is informed, can produce and can create. There are some (primarily the wealthy and elite) that choosenot to educate their children in the public system (as is their right). In opting out of the system, thewealthy and elite purchases a different peer group for their children(primarily made up of other wealthy and elite children). But they pay for thisand the money that would have been used on a now private school student isreallocated to students that remain in the public system. This is a capitalistic win/win. The elite (who can afford it) get whatthey want. The masses get increased resources to further their education andhence expand their opportunity set.
But the wannabe aristocrat will say this is unfair. They will say that the fair solution isthat the money should follow the student. But let’s look at the policyimplications of this seemingly fair solution.
1. The moneyfollows the student from the public school to the private school. This means thatthe students already out of the public system must first be funded. Now with allthings being equal, there is significantly less money to serve the currentpopulation of public school students. So immediately, the non-elite take a significant hit to benefit theelite (Lose / Win).
2. To prevent thesignificant defunding of public schools, the legislature adds to the educationbudget the amount that funds the private school vouchers. Now the state is funding private schoolsthat are segregated, and/or openly promote a specific creed, and are notsubject to state accountability standards. Add to that the fact that the elitenow receive a financial incentive to participate in such a system (Lose /Win?).
But what about the families that will now be able to let their childrenescape from bad public schools and enroll in good private schools, because ofthe availability of vouchers? It won’t happen because:
A. Even with thevoucher, the price of tuition will remain price prohibitive to the poor and lowermiddle class.
B. The soft and/orhidden admission requirements of the private school will not be met.
C. The tuition ofthe private school will increase to capture the entire voucher amount.
For all the problems (real and perceived) that beset public education,vouchers are not the optimal solution. For all of the reasons discussed above (and many more), I believe that vouchers are badpublic policy.
Think. Work. Achieve.
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They stuff the turkeys under their shirts and get back on the bus!! Toooo cute!! This was the perfect book to write about what they would eat instead of turkey as a reader's response. Making those connections brought us to brainstorming a list of yummy "turkey-free" foods! the kids wrote amazing lists and then created a turkey stuffed character to go along with it!
We also used the book to help us with our "counting on" strategy to compose numbers in math. We made a giant Farmer Mack Nugget over-all pocket on the floor and learned a new song about putting the big number in your pocket and counting on on the second number. the kids then got to work independently in small groups to practice this strategy. this will be part of my math SOLVE tubs this week!
