Lamar Alexander, Republican Senator from Tennessee, will propose voucher legislation today in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute.
“The Tennessee Republican will roll out a school choice bill at the American Enterprise Institute today. It consolidates dozens of federal programs that make up about 41 percent of all federal education spending, with an incentive for states that use the money to expand school choice for low-income students. States could allow families to use their share of the federal funding – about $2,100 per student – for private school tuition, tutoring, extra-curricular enrichment, even homeschooling materials.”
Mark Miller, a Republican from Pennsylvania who is an officer of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association and a director of the Network for Public Education, described to me the Alexander proposal:
“He wants to give 11,000,000 students in poverty a voucher to go to “whatever accredited institution they want”. The $24 Billion package only gives $2,100 per student. Of course the rest of the tuition will come from the “School District of Record” meaning about $100 Billion will “follow the child”.”
Bottom line: the Alexander plan will destroy public education in the U.S.
Do not be fooled: this is not a conservative plan. This is a radical plan. It will send public dollars to backwoods churches and ambitious entrepreneurs.
No high-performing nation in the world has vouchers.
“When you wage war on the public schools, you’re attacking the mortar that holds the community together. You’re not a conservative, you’re a vandal.”
― Garrison Keillor, “Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
$2,100 would not really help our private school enroll more low-income students. Where would the remainder come from? The fundraising we already do! So, no thank you, Lamar. We don’t need that paltry sum, particularly as it comes at such a very, very high cost to the local public schools!
If allowed to pass….Next headline nation-wide would be…”private school tuition rises $2,100!” Who wins? Whoever owns the private school or the charter…kaching.
If a private school costs $10,000 to attend (or more – not unusual in the northeast) – then who comes up with the extra $8,000 per year per child? Fundraising from the schools is often haphazard and unpredictable except for the richest and most storied schools who often have the most expensive tuition.
So who effectively will this benefit? Rich people who already send their kids to private schools will get essentially a tax cut. It will also undoubtedly attract some people who will claim to have children they are homeschooling as that’s ripe to be gamed (how do you prove you have a child that you’re homeschooling? Do you tap into every database in every school district as well as tapping the Social Security numbers? What about the private schools who wouldn’t need to disclose such information?)
I’ll let Mr. Garrison Keillor speak for me (again) from the article:
“When you wage war on the public schools, you’re attacking the mortar that holds the community together. You’re not a conservative, you’re a vandal.” ― Garrison Keillor, “Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America”
The Delbarton School, an elite private school in NJ, to which Christie sends his kids, has a tuition above $32,0000. It has a school day of 6 hours, a year of 163 days and class sizes of 12 to 15 pupils.
In Arizona we have tax credits that go to private school “scholarships” You are not allowed to donate directly to your own child, so parents donate to each other’s friends and family. It does not really support scholarships for the poor. It is a way for middle class and richer people to get the State to subsidize their private school choices.
Hello, I’d like to connect with you. I am a public schools advocate in Arizona.
http://indianapublicmedia.org/stateimpact/2014/01/27/voucher-indiana-students-spending-time-public-school/
Here’s some info on the Indiana ed reform voucher plan, in action.
They know how this turns out, where it mostly benefits kids who were already attending private schools. They’ve put it in plenty of states. How long have vouchers been in Milwaukee? 20 years? It’s not like they lack “data”.
Yet another ed reform idea that harms kids in existing public schools while providing them absolutely no benefit.
Do ed reformers ever push policies that benefit existing public schools? Why do public school kids always lose under these schemes? Who is working for those kids?
If they’re “agnostics” on publicly-run versus privately-run schools then why do publicly-run always lose? Maybe we need an actual advocate for public schools in government, huh?
Alot of that federal money is special education money. The public schools could be deprived of much of the funding the need for special needs students. The kids would not be accepted into most of the private schools so they would be messed over from every angle. Of course kids who can’t take the almighty tests don’t matter to the state.
Because we have seen how well for-profit colleges have worked out for low income students . Lamar’s plan sounds like a winner!
Follow the money. . .these people have no shame, disguising outright greed with “compassion” for the poor.
I want to thank you, Chiara, for the great research you do. I was interested in the link about the firing of the 5 principals in Hammond, IN yesterday. I grew up in Hammond and am familiar with some of the schools listed. The ones I knew are, of course, in the poorest part of town. Indiana supported it’s schools in the 60’s & 70’s, when I was growing up there. Of course, it also had a strong tax base before NAFTA, et. al., gutted it’s industrial base. It was also known for it’s high quality, public colleges and universities, as was Ohio. Did you know that online library cataloging basically started with an Ohio Library consortium?
“Did you know that online library cataloging basically started with an Ohio Library consortium?”
No, I didn’t, thanks. We have a Carnegie library here that we really love. The state cut funding during one the austerity rounds, but we were able to raise local taxes to keep it open and public.
It sounds like you’re having the same reaction to all this as I am, where I’m shocked we’d abandon public education and replace it with a privately-run system. It really cuts against entire past history, including the original (and subsequent) versions of the state constitution.
If you had told me twenty years ago that the only organized advocates for existing public schools in the Ohio statehouse would be teachers unions I would have told you were crazy. Yet that has come to pass! Thank goodness they were there! Our schools would be gone by now without them 🙂
If the parents are allowed to use the money for home schooling, not only do they have free access to brainwash their children with right wing bull, but they are freer to abuse them because there are no teachers around to observe for child abuse.
There is a pair of parents in Gwinnett County Georgia who are up for the death penalty for starving their 10 year old daughter to death. They had left her in the bathtub prior to her death and apparently forgot about her. She had been dead for at least 6 days and weighed 32 pounds. These parents were supposedly homeschooling the child.
Gwinnett is a very large suburban school system with a pretty good reputation, in a northeastern suburb or Atlanta. The death penalty is rarely used in metro Atlanta. I keep thinking about how if this girl had been in school this could not have happened.
Yes and charters were suppose to change the inner city school choice. All a scheme for wealthy to steal more taxpayers money.
FYI Chiara & others who support PUBLIC EDUCATION I have found it ironic that so many in the computer field are libertarians. There’s not another area (except perhaps pharmacy) that has benefited more from publicly funded research.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCLC
Well, $2,100 per student.
Let’s see….
How about we check into the yearly tuition for HS at some of Atlanta’s well known, well respected private schools:
Paideia: 21K
Lovett:24K
Westminster:39K
Woodward:24K
Marist (Catholic) :17K
Pace:23K
(All rounded to nearest K, all for high school, day students, not including fees for sports, books, lab, etc)
So, now who is this voucher money supposed to help, exactly?
“So, now who is this voucher money supposed to help, exactly?”
Emphatically NOT the low-income parent who dreams of enrolling their bright and enthusiastic kindergartener in the Paideia School. In order for that student to enroll, the school would have to have to finance $19,000 year after year. Certainly this does happen for a select number of students at private schools already but to think that $2,100 is enough to push open more access is beyond ridiculous.
Looking at the plan, it appears that the winners would be charters who don’t get federal money. (Am I correct in understanding that the money goes to the district only?)
…and also educational products companies – “educational” software, Sylvan Learning , etc.
They’re selling this gift to educational products companies with the feel-good fantasy that more poor students will have the “choice” of enrolling at Sidwell Friends, Dalton and Choate.
“it appears that the winners would be charters who don’t get federal money. ”
The big winners would be, IMHO , those who can already afford these schools. Another case of the middle class and poor subsidizing the wealthy.
Rest of my little post…
Eventually….
Even if this plan is just for the poor, it will swing the door further open for more vouchers.
Ang, I think there is an income provision in the proposal – some % of the poverty line. I could be wrong, but the parents already affording these schools wouldn’t qualify. Of course, what it does do is set a policy context for expansion to wealthier families down the line.
“set a policy context for expansion to wealthier families down the line”
Yes.
The point I was trying to make!.
Emmy & Ang: remember that stirring cry of—well, it seems only yesterday—“education reform is about giving poor parents the same choices rich parents have.”
Why am I not seeing long lines of poor parents enrolling their children in Harpeth Hall and Delbarton School and Cranbrook and Lakeside School and Waldorf School of the Pacific and U of Chicago Lab Schools and the like?
Oops, my bad. So, let’s say, in order to keep the student/teacher ratio at 8:1 [see reason #29 on Harpeth Hall website, link below], you have to keep out the non-strivers [thank you, Mr. Michael Petrilli!] and uneducables [thank you, Mayor Rahm Emanuel] and the rest of that rabble known to the leading charterites/privatizers as OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN.
After all, wouldn’t THEIR OWN CHILDREN suffer in large classes that lack that personal touch for the oh so special few?
Link: http://www.harpethhall.org/podium/default.aspx?t=151749
Am I missing something?
😎
If it’s not vouchers, it’s opening the door a bit wider for conflict of interest.
This news from Idaho: The following article just appeared in the Idaho Statesman. My comment on the article is copied in the second paragraph.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2014/01/28/2995844/school-boards-spouses-could-get.html
Why is the size of the school the criteria if this is about drawing candidates for a position? A small isolated school district is one thing. A small charter school in a larger population area is quite another. Enough has been written about charter school finances with insider deals and conflicts of interest to raise all kinds of red flags. http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/19/v-fullstory/2541051/florida-charter-schools-big-money.html#ixzz1gVm5fARf The Miami Herald series is just one of several.
It’s not just about vouchers. It’s about opening the door wider for ventures that use tax dollars.
The following article just appeared in the Idaho Statesman. My comment on the article is copied in the second paragraph.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2014/01/28/2995844/school-boards-spouses-could-get.html
Why is the size of the school the criteria if this is about drawing candidates for a position? A small isolated school district is one thing. A small charter school in a larger population area is quite another. Enough has been written about charter school finances with insider deals and conflicts of interest to raise all kinds of red flags. http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/19/v-fullstory/2541051/florida-charter-schools-big-money.html#ixzz1gVm5fARf The Miami Herald series is just one of several.
So they don’t have money to make sure that all public schools have nurses, a fine arts curriculum, etc. but they have money for a voucher system? Of course!
Americans United for separation of church/state has a petition on line in their legislative action. Even if you don’t sign the petition read their page supporting their viewpoint. I signed it and i will offer assistance for anyone who has never done this before. The opening paragraph is set, then you can add your own comments, and then the closing is stated. If anyone wants guidance on how to do a petition (it’s the first time) I will assist (jeanhaverhil@aol.cog)…. you write your own comments I just guide through the steps. Senator Kennedy told us this was very important when he was in Mass; he brought a valued civics education program into the schools…. and encouraged teachers to show their students how to be active in these different ways.
AU.org — americans united (separation of church/state)
Lamar Alexander’s plan since 1998 – “create a brand new American school.” And when you do that, you develop “new goals and new report cards.” Starting at the “maternity ward” create the year-round, 6-6, serve children 3 MONTHS OLD to age 18″ A team of teachers that stay with child…
Is he talking about children from ALL homes??? This is Common Core and RTTT happening to all of us! No competition in programs, ONE school? How does this align with charters???
Who is this guy????
11,000,000 students in poverty will receive $2,100 of education fund each.
And they call this voucher… That’s signifantly low, comparable to elementary schools in rural districts of my country receiving small funding for English language education. And they are not gonna receive any aids from private education enterprise. No single dime will ever be thrown into maintenance of school building, classrooms, school supplies, whatsoever. And they’re not gonna hire experienced teachers, staff, and program directors…
“And, they’re not gonna hire experiend teachers…”
they/the state ed board
That’s right 41% of federal bucks boils down to just two grand in voucher money ….. Is that even going to buy you a semester ? Can I get nine weeks??? This is doa
Chiara I have a question – does anyone have a voucher system that is solely set up for PUBLIC schools? Meaning another country – I thought there was in Europe and it worked quite effectively. ? It would probably take us virtually eliminating all the employees of the Dept. of Education and funneling at least 95% of all federal money directly to the states – then have the state directly divy out the $ to parents of school aged children who then go pick what school fits them the best…is this crazy talk ?- I for some naive reason seem to think this would be a fantastic plan. Now…to get the retarded people in DC to fire themselves…isnt D of Ed essentially run by gates now anyway? You’re FIRED gates foundation! How do we fire people in DC? anyone? How do we the people say something is essentially unnecessary? What has the D of Ed done for anyone? Monitor and keep stats – and employ useless idiots who have no background in education?