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December 21, 2006
A lump of coal in their stockings......that's what a bevy of pro-voucher groups and lawmakers should receive based on their latest antics.
Up first, the group that calls itself "All Children Matter" is in hot water over allegedly illegal PAC donations used to attack Wisconsin lawmakers in the recent elections. The state Elections Board will address the complaint next month. The pro-voucher group, the brainchild of Michigan multi-millionaires Dick and Betsy DeVos, started not long after Michigan voters rejected DeVos's 2000 voucher proposal. Since then, the group has backed pro-voucher candidates for statehouse races across the country, attempting to get other states to do what their own state's voters rejected.
One of those states is South Carolina, where the folly of trying to manufacture a grassroots movement in support of tuition tax credits continues to hit some bumps along the way. Great insider report from a local school board member in this month's Rural Policy Matters from The Rural School and Community Trust. Gotta love the membership ID bit. That's one way to bolster your membership numbers quickly.
Finally, Santa may want to skip the homes of several Ohio lawmakers after the Legislature, in the waning moments of what was essentially a lame-duck session before a new anti-voucher governor is sworn in, expanded the state's fledgling school voucher program. The Toledo Blade's lead notes the curious move given current low enrollment:
With three-quarters of Ohio's 14,000 school vouchers left unused in the program's inaugural year, lawmakers yesterday again expanded the pool of students eligible to apply.
The change makes students at more schools eligible to receive a voucher. More coverage from the Columbus Dispatch here. The expansion comes despite low interest, at least in this first year of the program, and no actual academic evidence from this or Cleveland's voucher program suggesting it raises student achievement. Imagine medical decisions being made with such scant research. But hey, it's only kids' educations and millions in taxpayer money at stake, so the "we don't need no stinking evidence" approach wins out. Go figure.
Posted December 21, 2006 10:58 AM | Privatization & Choice
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