Whether the problem is under-qualification or selfishness, the management of the
Thursday, July 10, 2008
More mismanagement from SLPS
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
School Choice in Florida makes headway
From the Penn Patriot:
The School Choice movement is growing in Florida, with Gov. Charlie Christ signing into law a $30 million expansion of the state's existing program.The expansion will provide scholarships to send an estimated 6,000 low-income children to better schools.Meanwhile back in Pennsylvania, the education lobby puts up roadblocks to School Choice, fearing that competition would expose the inadequacies of the existing public school monopoly.To learn more about school choice in Pennsylvania, visit SchoolChoiceSaves.org
Florida is really leading the way in the realm of school choice. It occurs to me that the states that really give school choice a chance end up loving it and seeing the value, and the states that seem bent in opposition are just the ones who haven’t had the guts to try it.
St. Louis Public Schools are starting to complain about how much money they need to make their schools better, yet they don’t want to go down the path of more choices for students. Florida, though, has seen $150 million in savings to the state budget. 10,000 families applied for scholarships in Florida over the funding cap, leading Democrats and Republicans alike to call for an expansion of the program.
Those who see any sort of voucher, tuition tax credit or scholarship program as a way for the rich to get a break on a private school will be shocked to note that the average household income for scholarship recipients (for a family of four) is $24,000.
This is really great news and a testament to the green-eggs-and-ham of school choice.
Try it, try it and you may! Try it, and you may, I say!
The School Choice movement is growing in Florida, with Gov. Charlie Christ signing into law a $30 million expansion of the state's existing program.The expansion will provide scholarships to send an estimated 6,000 low-income children to better schools.Meanwhile back in Pennsylvania, the education lobby puts up roadblocks to School Choice, fearing that competition would expose the inadequacies of the existing public school monopoly.To learn more about school choice in Pennsylvania, visit SchoolChoiceSaves.org
Florida is really leading the way in the realm of school choice. It occurs to me that the states that really give school choice a chance end up loving it and seeing the value, and the states that seem bent in opposition are just the ones who haven’t had the guts to try it.
St. Louis Public Schools are starting to complain about how much money they need to make their schools better, yet they don’t want to go down the path of more choices for students. Florida, though, has seen $150 million in savings to the state budget. 10,000 families applied for scholarships in Florida over the funding cap, leading Democrats and Republicans alike to call for an expansion of the program.
Those who see any sort of voucher, tuition tax credit or scholarship program as a way for the rich to get a break on a private school will be shocked to note that the average household income for scholarship recipients (for a family of four) is $24,000.
This is really great news and a testament to the green-eggs-and-ham of school choice.
Try it, try it and you may! Try it, and you may, I say!
Teacher's Unions at it again!
Parents have been struggling for years to get choices for their children's education. In some states, they have been successful, while other states, they have not. Missouri, unfortunately, has not had many big successes. We do have some great charter schools in our two biggest cities, St. Louis and Kansas City, but they cannot serve everyone. Teacher Unions have been at the forefront of every legislative battle against choice. Two legislative sessions ago, they fought and won to keep lower income families from getting scholarships to use at their school of choice, and this year, they won to keep thousands of special needs children in schools that will only fail them. They will stop at nothing to keep the status quo, whether the children are suffering or not. Their arguments don't change much, but their all powerful lobbying group has great influence at the capital. We are gaining momentum in the parade for choice and I know it will come soon...I must remain optimistic.
Florida's teacher unions are now causing havoc for those lower income families, who were stuck in failing schools, but finally were given a shot. Newsweek's "Choice Under Fire, Yet Again: Teachers Unions Fighting School Choice for the Children of Poor Families in Florida Use 19th Century Bigotry and 21st Century Obscurantism"
Florida's Supreme Court last week was the latest venue for the movable feast of meretricious arguments by which public-school teachers unions wage war in any city or state where families of poor children try to escape from failing public schools. The attack on Florida's school-choice program relied on 19th-century bigotry and 21st-century obscurantism.
Florida's Opportunity Scholarships, the nation's first statewide school-choice program, was enacted in 1999 to ameliorate a gross civil-rights injustice--the fact that poor families whose children are trapped in terrible schools are helpless to prevent their children's life chances from being blighted. The program empowers students to transfer from failing schools, as defined by set criteria, to the public or private school of their choice.
Teachers unions immediately filed suit to block this escape route--this underground railroad, if you will--from the public-school plantation.
The rest of the article goes over the weak arguments the unions have...and why they are so weak...Why they must fight against the children, will never make sense to me. At least I can sleep at night knowing there are people and organizations willing to put their neck out and do something for these kids.
However, according to Earth Times,
Florida Governor Charlie Crist this week signed into law a sweeping $30 million expansion of the state's popular Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship Program, opening the doors of educational opportunity to an estimated 6,000 additional low-income children.The Alliance for School Choice - the nation's largest nonprofit organization promoting school vouchers and scholarship tax credit programs - hailed Governor Crist's action and praised his commitment to providing a quality education for all Florida children. Florida's Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship Program is the largest program of its kind, and the Sunshine State has provided more children with enhanced educational opportunities than any other state in the nation.
Hooray!
Florida's teacher unions are now causing havoc for those lower income families, who were stuck in failing schools, but finally were given a shot. Newsweek's "Choice Under Fire, Yet Again: Teachers Unions Fighting School Choice for the Children of Poor Families in Florida Use 19th Century Bigotry and 21st Century Obscurantism"
Florida's Supreme Court last week was the latest venue for the movable feast of meretricious arguments by which public-school teachers unions wage war in any city or state where families of poor children try to escape from failing public schools. The attack on Florida's school-choice program relied on 19th-century bigotry and 21st-century obscurantism.
Florida's Opportunity Scholarships, the nation's first statewide school-choice program, was enacted in 1999 to ameliorate a gross civil-rights injustice--the fact that poor families whose children are trapped in terrible schools are helpless to prevent their children's life chances from being blighted. The program empowers students to transfer from failing schools, as defined by set criteria, to the public or private school of their choice.
Teachers unions immediately filed suit to block this escape route--this underground railroad, if you will--from the public-school plantation.
The rest of the article goes over the weak arguments the unions have...and why they are so weak...Why they must fight against the children, will never make sense to me. At least I can sleep at night knowing there are people and organizations willing to put their neck out and do something for these kids.
However, according to Earth Times,
Florida Governor Charlie Crist this week signed into law a sweeping $30 million expansion of the state's popular Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship Program, opening the doors of educational opportunity to an estimated 6,000 additional low-income children.The Alliance for School Choice - the nation's largest nonprofit organization promoting school vouchers and scholarship tax credit programs - hailed Governor Crist's action and praised his commitment to providing a quality education for all Florida children. Florida's Corporate Tax Credit Scholarship Program is the largest program of its kind, and the Sunshine State has provided more children with enhanced educational opportunities than any other state in the nation.
Hooray!
It's catching on...
The school choice movement is spreading. People are realizing the schools their children are allotted to are not performing up to their standards. People without children are realizing that without high performing public schools, our country's productivity is riding downhill, fast. Last year, I read a study the Show Me Institute put out that showed overwhelming support for choice in Missouri. While the majority of the legislature is stuck voting with the NEA's of the world leading their puppet strings, there are a few standing up for what they know is not only effective and necessary, but the right thing to do. I have faith eventually the rest will come around. The teacher unions are finally getting people and organizations to stand up against them. Choice won't kill the public schools, it will only help them. Oklahoma, not far from us, is realizing they want some choice as well. This was from an Oklahoma news source:
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Will Bourisaw’s Endorsement Help Wright-Jones?
State Representative Rodney Hubbard’s opponent in the fifth senate district election, Robin Wright-Jones, was endorsed this week by the outgoing head of the St. Louis School District. This endorsement by Diana Bourisaw demonstrates Wright-Jones’ stance on maintaining the status quo of the failing public school system.
However, the community view of Bourisaw is lukewarm at best. In fact, the School Board member who appointed her flipped opinions to the point of publicly criticizing Bourisaw for her suspicious performance. Recently, the supervisory board of the state joined the attack, beginning a search for a new superintendent. Clearly unhappy with Bourisaw’s performance, the board announced her replacement without even hearing her appeal.
Education will be a very significant issue in the upcoming August primary, since Hubbard is publicly and consistently in support of education reforms for the city of St. Louis. He stands for better educational opportunities though parental choice.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Friday, May 2, 2008
Lack of ethics in SC Teacher's Unions
The Voice for School Choice has a very revealing story today about South Carolina's Teachers Unions use of tax dollars to oppose a parent's right to choose the best school for their child:
Comprised of public school teachers and school officials, the SCEA should be the nonpartisan voice of educational improvement and access for all children. But working with politicians and bureaucrats at the South Carolina School Boards Association (SCSBA) and the South Carolina Association of School Administrators (SCASA), the SCEA aggressively uses taxpayer money and out-of-state special interest support to block all substantive reform to South Carolina’s worst-in-the-nation public school system. In 2005 alone, the SCEA took in over $125,000 from national teacher unions to fight against school choice.
How much are these public employees and officials willing to spend to defend the status quo?
A lot. Based on lobbying disclosure reports filled at the South Carolina Ethics Commission for 2005, 2006, and 2007 we can begin to see how SCSBA, SCASA and SCEA use taxpayer-financed membership dues to purchase political influence. In the case of the SCASA and SCSBA most members have their dues paid directly by the county of district that hires them! These numbers only represent money paid to lobbyists, not the additional money used for political action committees, maintaining websites, advertising, robocalls, email chains, and other attempts to manipulate public opinion.
School Boards Association
SCSBA: $176,811 in lobbying since 2005
Association of School Administrators
SCASA: $287,505 in lobbying since 2005
Education Association
SCEA: $50,000 in lobbying since 2005
Wasting a half million dollars in taxpayer money to politicize education reform and defend failing schools is shameful. Denying special needs children access to the best possible schools is heartless. These so-called “education” groups lack credibility. Their narrow concern with shielding a failing public school system shows how little regard they have for South Carolina’s children.
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