A simple "Thank You" would be polite
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March 23, 2006
March 10, 2006
Separate and Unequal
What would you do if your child were stuck in a school that offered sub-standard education in a dangerous environment? What if you knew there was a better school nearby that would accept your child, except the tuition was beyond your means? And what would you do if you were a teacher in an overcrowded classroom of unruly youngsters, some of whom yearned to learn, while others clearly needed a more restrictive environment? Would you try something new?
An examination of education statistics raises more questions than it answers: why do some St. Louis schools fail, when they spend $11,000 per student?
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, education funding increases year over year; Missouri currently averages $7600 per pupil per year. Despite the expense, student performance in failing school districts continues to stagnate. Urban Charter schools, state-funded but more independent, offer a viable alternative, but the vastness of our public education system requires that we pursue all possibilities to educate our kids. Total United States funding for Elementary and Secondary education stands at $536 billion per school year, yet many schools perform poorly, and many parents wish to pull their children out of failing schools and place them in a better environment.
A February speech by Hillary Clinton declared that if a voucher program funded students attending a Catholic school, they would also have to give vouchers to a "school of the church of the white supremacist" or a "school of the Jihad." Senator Clinton's fanciful rhetoric is unhelpful and misleading, as eleven states and Washington DC currently employ voucher programs; no such offensive schools exist, nor have ever been proposed. Chelsea Clinton attended Sidwell Friends, an elite private school.
This week Reg Weaver, President of the teachers' union, the National Education Association, flew into town to visit two of our school districts: Wellston and University City. As President of the NEA, Weaver is visiting to voice his opposition to school choice initiatives, including vouchers and tax credits, which create new financing opportunities for parents whose children are in failing schools.
Over the years, various school voucher and tax credit bills have been introduced in the Missouri legislature, dying quietly in committee, or amended to death in a parliamentary drowning. Currently vouchers are not the issue, as school choice advocates are working toward tax credits for tuition payments to private schools, for students removed from failing schools. Weaver will paint the tax credit programs as vouchers by another name.
Opponents of school choice claim that taking students out of public schools will reduce school funding, yet public schools are funded by a combination of property taxes and other state, local, and federal tax receipts. There is no mechanism to decrease public school funding while increasing educational alternatives. Also, schoolteachers' top complaints are violence and overcrowded classrooms--removing some students from the classroom would relieve pressure.
The Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) in Washington D.C. has shown positive results after one year, including the sidenote that scholarship-accepting private schools show greater ethnic diversity than public schools. The successful urban schools attract parents and students from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. Parental satisfaction with OSP was detailed in a study by Georgetown University: "Higher academic standards, improved safety, increased discipline, greater parental involvement and access to a religious and values-based environment were among the top reasons why parents express satisfaction with OSP."
Since the first voucher program began in Milwaukee in 1990, many thorough studies have shown that everyone benefits from the programs--even the failing schools from which students departed have shown improvements. There are no studies which show negative outcomes from such programs. Opposition to vouchers comes solely from the NEA which, like any union, is protecting the salary, benefits, and job security of its members. That's understandable, that's what unions do, but we're not talking about assembly line manufacturing here, these are our children--they deserve the very best education available.
March 03, 2006
Ilan Halimi: Nice Jewish Boy Tortured and Murdered in France
