REGULATIONS THREATEN CHOICE
Some state lawmakers and the Obama administration have
attacked school choice programs in Louisiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin from behind,
through regulations. In a lawsuit brought by the Obama administration, a federal court
has ruled Louisiana must supply the feds the name, address,
race, and desired school of every child who wants a state voucher so federal
bureaucrats can decide whether the applicant children are the right race to
receive it. Yes, really.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed into law more
regulations on voucher schools this week. One would require private schools to
start sending the state far more information about students, including
graduation rates, family income levels, enrollment numbers, and scores on
annual state tests, and to submit to the state their annual budgets. These will
usher private schools that accept vouchers into the state’s forthcoming
annual report cards.
And Ohio lawmakers are working to close a loophole:
voucher schools aren’t required to administer the same third-grade reading
tests public schools are, nor are they required to hold students back if they
fail the test. That’s not a loophole. It’s a feature.
The main reason public schools must submit to myriad
state regulations is they are accountable not directly to parents but to
taxpayers through their elected representatives and whatever bureaucracies have
accumulated since states began. That’s why principals and superintendents can
afford to ignore and anger parents--because parents can’t choose not to pay
school administrators’ salaries.
Private schools function on a different kind of
accountability, to families. If those schools fail to manage their money well,
they will fold. Unlike school districts, private schools will not be
perpetually bailed out by taxpayers. If private schools fail to educate
children well, parents will know it quickly and can choose to send their kids
elsewhere. In short, private schools have a built-in, natural accountability
mechanism that public schools do not. This is why private schools do not need
to be pushed into accountability
schemes demanded and designed by people who oppose school choice.
Second, a central reason for establishing a school choice
program at all is to offer parents access to education options outside the
public school system. If choice programs instead absorb private schools into
the public school system--where they test the same, teach the same, use money
the same, and so forth--there is little reason to have a school choice program
at all.
MORE INFORMATION: Associated Press,
Columbus Dispatch.
IN THIS ISSUE:
FLORIDA: The House passes a bill creating
education savings accounts for special-needs students and
expanding the state's largest school choice program.
TENNESSEE: A school voucher
proposal died for lack of votes. But it’s not the only viable
school choice measure. This is the second year a Democratic state representative
has joined a Republican state senator to file Parent
Trigger legislation. This bill is unique in requiring parents
who petition for school reforms to pledge their support for carrying out the
reforms.
ARIZONA: Applications for
education savings accounts more than double this year, to 2,500,
after a concerted outreach campaign.
DESPERATION: Parents across the country camp outside in
freezing weather and risk jail time
to get their kids into better schools.
WISCONSIN: New state data show voucher students
performed better than public school students, but most
newspapers reported the opposite.
ALASKA: The House has passed a new
kind of school choice bill, where businesses can get tax
credits for direct donations to private schools.
NEW JERSEY: A court clears the way
for online charter schools after teacher unions sue in an
effort to ban them from the state.
LOUISIANA: Gov. Bobby
Jindal says he'll pull the state from Common Core national tests
if the legislature doesn't first.
MISSOURI: The House passes a bill to
replace Common Core with new standards, by a 132 - 19 vote.
SOUTH CAROLINA: The state board of education reverses the
state department of education's decision to drop Common Core tests.
The legislature has final say and has not voted yet.
COLORADO: The state board of education asks the
legislature to drop Common Core tests. Numerous complaints
about the tests have come from charter schools, districts, and parents.
TENNESSEE: Lawmakers trying to make a deal on Common Core
may delay it one year. Gov. Haslam has been resisting
attempts to reject or alter the standards despite a significant House majority
voting to do so last month.
WASTE: Is the debate over
Common Core a waste of time?
HUMOR: Some teachers get together to sing the Common Core blues.
TESTING: Three questions Rick Hess can't get Common
Core testmakers to answer.
PENNSYLVANIA: Pittsburgh recovers after a high school
student with kitchen knives wounded 22 people at his school
last week. The stabbing spree ended when an assistant principal tackled the
boy.
MARYLAND: An ex-contractor for the University of Maryland hacks into the
school’s data system and posts sensitive information to alert
administrators of their poor security.
LISTENING: As educators go gaga for tech-oriented and
hands-on techniques, they’re leaving kids
without the ability to listen and focus, which is necessary
for learning.
NORTH CAROLINA: A judge finds a state university
has discriminated against a professor for being a Christian
and awards him $50,000 in back pay and a promotion.
READING: A study finds computer scans
(such as the Lexile level or Flesch-Kinkaid) don’t accurately reflect the
reading difficulty of books.
Thank you for reading! If you need a quicker fix of news
about school choice, you can find daily updates online under the Ed News
Roundup at http://news.heartland.org/education.
And if you’d like to encourage Heartland Institute
Research Fellow Joy Pullmann to keep up the good work on education issues, please consider
making a contribution today. You can earmark your gift by
selecting education at the bottom of the online form, under optional questions.
Joy writes this e-newsletter, is managing editor of School Reform News, and is available
for speaking engagements on Common Core and other education
topics. For more information, contact Heartland Events Manager Nikki Comerford
at 312/377-4000, email ncomerford@heartland.org.
No comments:
Post a Comment