Stephanie Simon, one of the nation’s best investigative education journalists, reports that vouchers are a costly failure. In every case where they were adopted, voucher advocates claimed they would “save poor kids from failing public schools,” but nowhere has the promise been true.
Voucher advocates insist that they are supporting the “right” of children to attend a private or religious school with public funds. But the students who have used vouchers are getting a raw deal, while taxpayers have shelled out $1 billion to voucher schools that are usually worse than the public schools.
Simon writes:
“In Milwaukee, just 13 percent of voucher students scored proficient in math and 11 percent made the bar in reading this spring. That’s worse on both counts than students in the city’s public schools. In Cleveland, voucher students in most grades performed worse than their peers in public schools in math, though they did better in reading.
“In New Orleans, voucher students who struggle academically haven’t advanced to grade-level work any faster over the past two years than students in the public schools, many of which are rated D or F, state data show.
“And across Louisiana, many of the most popular private schools for voucher students posted miserable scores in math, reading, science and social studies this spring, with fewer than half their voucher students achieving even basic proficiency and fewer than 2 percent demonstrating mastery. Seven schools did so badly, state Superintendent John White barred them from accepting new voucher students — though the state agreed to keep paying tuition for the more than 200 voucher students already enrolled, if they chose to stay.”
Due to the number of far-right governors and legislatures, voucher use is increasing, despite their meager results.
The latest Gallup Poll found that 70 percent of Americans oppose the use of public funds for religious or private schools. No voucher program has ever been endorsed by voters. Just last fall, the voters of Florida decisively rejected a referendum to legalize vouchers.
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Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/vouchers-dont-do-much-for-students-97909.html#ixzz2hk1PvfC8
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Diane,
Your name came up with the comment section in today’s NYTimes editorial about charter schools both in the comments and replies to comments. The comments are running 10 – 1 in favor of public schools and de Blasio’s decision to charge rent.
Also I understand state reps are coming out against John King’s actions and some Republicans are hearing the parents in their districts loud and clear. John King calling parents “special interest groups” is not resonating well. And hopefully Cuomo will see this as a dent in his future ambitions. I hope you can write a post about this so others across the country, especially politicians, can see the pitfalls of rolling out Common Core too soon, and the amount of testing that goes with it as unfair to our children. These are voters, these are parents who King has decided to turn a deaf ear to.
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Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
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Did De Bladio correct Lhota in last night’s mayoral debate whenLhota called charter schools public schools? Why hasnt any politician stated the truth about charter schools? That they are private corporations who take public money and don’t have to educate all children.
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No, he did not, But he did say their are charters that are making lots of money and can afford to pay. And he did say that there are more public school parents than charter parents whose children are not getting a fair deal. That’s why I am so happy with the response the NYTimes is getting on their editorial regarding deBlasio and charters.
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