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December 15, 2006
UPDATE: Tough choicesYesterday, BoardBuzz told you about the new report from the National Center on Education and the Economy, "Tough Choices or Tough Times."
Today The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Arkansas Times blog have picked up the story, quoting NSBA's Executive Director, Anne L. Bryant.
In the Post, Bryant noted that "hiring contractors to run the schools would create 'a huge new set of enterprises that we have no evidence will work.' Moreover, it would negate the administrative economies of scale provided by a central office and 'add a great deal of costs to a school,' she said. 'We've seen that to an extent with charter schools.'"
The CSM reported:
Anne Bryant, executive director of the National School Boards Association, says she applauds the goals and some recommendations, but worries that the financial aspects don't add up. Decentralized school districts would weaken the system, Dr. Bryant says."It's a groundbreaking report, but how much ground can you afford to break before you start rattling what's really working in order to fix what is not?" she asks. "There's a leap of faith here in about 10 different areas."
And the Arkansas blog quoted the Post's piece, which has sparked some spirited remarks on their site, including this one from commenter Archaeopteryx, "It's time to turn our most precious resource—our children—over to the lowest bidder. It's time to entrust the future of our country to the same people who gave us New Coke, clear Pepsi, Three-Mile Island, global warming, and Bhopal. It's time for us to give over our educational system to people whose motivation is not love of children or respect for knowledge, but instead is worship of the almighty dollar and the ability to see that what's important isn't tomorrow or next year or the next decade, but the bottom line this year, this quarter, right now."
What's your opinion? Weigh in with your comments on the subject.
Posted December 15, 2006 2:25 PM | School Boards
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Comments(1)
Posted by: JimMc on December 15, 2006 5:00 PM
I posted some thoughts today.
I think it boils down to this:
Some of their ideas may fly but most of it won't. Why? Entrenched interests and ambivalent legislators.
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