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August 15, 2006
Vouchers, vouchers everywhere
One of BoardBuzz's favorite topics rears its ugly head again. An interesting point-counterpoint (although not quite as snappy as the Chevy Chase-Jane Curtain repartee from days of yore) in yesterday's USA Today pitted the newspaper against Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. The exchange prompted a strong response from NSBA President Jane Gallucci, in a letter to the editor.
Spellings asserts that vouchers, oops, "Opportunity Scholarships," provide children with "a high quality education regardless of where they live or how much money their parents make." BoardBuzz has taken this idea to task recently and highlighted DeWayne Wickham's editorial as well.
USA Today asserts that the program, which would pay up to $4,000 a year for students to attend private schools (or to receive tutoring), is not as effective as funding master teachers and effective charter schools. The editorial further asserts that handing out vouchers encouarges "the most motivated families to abandon" schools in their own neighborhoods.
Gallucci, in her letter to USA Today, notes that:
Objective research proves that despite built-in screening advantages for private voucher schools their students do not outperform public school students. Even the U.S. Department of Education recently released a study that showed when comparing similar students, public schools perform as well as or better than their private counterparts that can pick and choose which students to accept.
And contrary to Secretary Spellings' assertion that vouchers "complement" the No Child Left Behind law, they actually would render the law obsolete because private schools receiving tax dollars at the expense of public schools would not face the rigid public accountability standards to which public schools must adhere. Vouchers would gut a core tenet of NCLB and make a mockery of the very accountability the law stresses.
A better approach is to focus on boosting the achievement of all students by fully funding NCLB, ensuring all schools have well trained teachers, and avoiding unnecessary distractions like vouchers.
Posted August 15, 2006 2:53 PM |
Privatization & Choice
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