Marcus Aurelius
09-11-2013, 11:08 AM
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-09/obama-s-misguided-war-against-school-choice.html
The White House considers any government funding for private or parochial education, even indirect funding, to be a betrayal of the public schools. The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program -- which provides federally funded vouchers for poor kids in Washington (http://topics.bloomberg.com/washington/) to attend private schools -- seems to have had some positive results, including higher high-school graduation (http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20104018/) rates for participants. Yet the Obama administration, not generally known for its tightfistedness, has repeatedly tried to end funding for it.
In April, the Justice Department (http://topics.bloomberg.com/justice-department/) announced (http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/470968/883240753/name/04%2009%2013%20Letter%20to%20Wisconsin%20DPI.pdf) that private schools that participate in a choice program in Milwaukee (http://topics.bloomberg.com/milwaukee/) will be subject to new regulations under the Americans with Disabilities Act. They will be treated as though they were government contractors. Never mind that the schools have contracts with parents, not with the government that aids the parents. Never mind, either, that in the program’s 22 years of operation no complaint about the treatment of a disabled student has ever been filed (http://educationnext.org/school-choice-and-students-with-disabilities-in-milwaukee/). A five-year study of the program found (http://www.uark.edu/ua/der/SCDP/Milwaukee_Eval/Report_35.pdf) that being disabled had no bearing on a student’s likelihood of getting into a participating school.
The administration’s latest strike against school choice is a lawsuit (http://media.nola.com/education_impact/other/US%252http://media.nola.com/education_impact/other/US%20DOJ%20petition%20vouchers%20deseg.pdf0DOJ%20p etition%20vouchers%20deseg.pdf) against a program in Louisiana (http://topics.bloomberg.com/louisiana/), created by Republican Governor Bobby Jindal (http://topics.bloomberg.com/bobby-jindal/). The Justice Department is using a 1975 desegregation order to argue that Louisiana should get approval from a federal court before giving scholarships to students in some school districts. Otherwise, the department claims, the scholarships could make Louisiana schools less racially integrated.
The program is open to poor families with kids in public schools that have gotten a C, D or F from the state government. In Louisiana, most of those families are black, not members of the White Citizens’ Council. The Jindal administration says 90 percent of the recipients are black. The state’s department of education reports that so far these students are doing better on math and literacy tests than they were in public schools.
The Justice Department cites two public schools to illustrate its concerns. Five white students used scholarships to leave one, “reinforcing the racial identity of the school as a black school.” In another, the exit of six black students made a “white school” whiter.
This is racial bean-counting at its worst. Jason Bedrick, who studies education policy at the libertarian Cato Institute (http://topics.bloomberg.com/cato-institute/), calculates (http://jaypgreene.com/2013/08/25/doj-lawsuit-would-keep-blacks-in-failing-schools/) that the first school went from 29.6 percent to 28.9 percent white. The second went from 30.1 percent to 29.2 percent black. These are trivial changes.
...seven studies have found that school choice promotes racial integration -- measured correctly -- while one found it has no impact. No study has found that it promotes segregation.
Just another example of how libtards think they know better than parents how best to educate our children.
The White House considers any government funding for private or parochial education, even indirect funding, to be a betrayal of the public schools. The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program -- which provides federally funded vouchers for poor kids in Washington (http://topics.bloomberg.com/washington/) to attend private schools -- seems to have had some positive results, including higher high-school graduation (http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20104018/) rates for participants. Yet the Obama administration, not generally known for its tightfistedness, has repeatedly tried to end funding for it.
In April, the Justice Department (http://topics.bloomberg.com/justice-department/) announced (http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/470968/883240753/name/04%2009%2013%20Letter%20to%20Wisconsin%20DPI.pdf) that private schools that participate in a choice program in Milwaukee (http://topics.bloomberg.com/milwaukee/) will be subject to new regulations under the Americans with Disabilities Act. They will be treated as though they were government contractors. Never mind that the schools have contracts with parents, not with the government that aids the parents. Never mind, either, that in the program’s 22 years of operation no complaint about the treatment of a disabled student has ever been filed (http://educationnext.org/school-choice-and-students-with-disabilities-in-milwaukee/). A five-year study of the program found (http://www.uark.edu/ua/der/SCDP/Milwaukee_Eval/Report_35.pdf) that being disabled had no bearing on a student’s likelihood of getting into a participating school.
The administration’s latest strike against school choice is a lawsuit (http://media.nola.com/education_impact/other/US%252http://media.nola.com/education_impact/other/US%20DOJ%20petition%20vouchers%20deseg.pdf0DOJ%20p etition%20vouchers%20deseg.pdf) against a program in Louisiana (http://topics.bloomberg.com/louisiana/), created by Republican Governor Bobby Jindal (http://topics.bloomberg.com/bobby-jindal/). The Justice Department is using a 1975 desegregation order to argue that Louisiana should get approval from a federal court before giving scholarships to students in some school districts. Otherwise, the department claims, the scholarships could make Louisiana schools less racially integrated.
The program is open to poor families with kids in public schools that have gotten a C, D or F from the state government. In Louisiana, most of those families are black, not members of the White Citizens’ Council. The Jindal administration says 90 percent of the recipients are black. The state’s department of education reports that so far these students are doing better on math and literacy tests than they were in public schools.
The Justice Department cites two public schools to illustrate its concerns. Five white students used scholarships to leave one, “reinforcing the racial identity of the school as a black school.” In another, the exit of six black students made a “white school” whiter.
This is racial bean-counting at its worst. Jason Bedrick, who studies education policy at the libertarian Cato Institute (http://topics.bloomberg.com/cato-institute/), calculates (http://jaypgreene.com/2013/08/25/doj-lawsuit-would-keep-blacks-in-failing-schools/) that the first school went from 29.6 percent to 28.9 percent white. The second went from 30.1 percent to 29.2 percent black. These are trivial changes.
...seven studies have found that school choice promotes racial integration -- measured correctly -- while one found it has no impact. No study has found that it promotes segregation.
Just another example of how libtards think they know better than parents how best to educate our children.