Veteran educator Rob Miller of Oklahoma writes on his blog about the nefarious goals of the voucher movement. For his courage in speaking out for public schools, he was previously named to the honor roll of this blog.
He writes:
“Can you hear that noise?
“The sound is the thud of a hammer pounding the final nails in the coffin of our state’s free and equitable public education system.
“As I type these words, Governor Fallin’s office is sending out thousands of robocalls to Oklahoma homes encouraging citizens to contact their lawmakers to support passage of Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) this week.
“We already know that the Governor is strongly in support of ESAs after going on record during her State of the State Speech stating she supported the legislation 100% and would sign it as soon as it reached her desk.
“Representative Jason Nelson and Senator Clark Jolley’s voucher bills (HB 2949 and SB 609, respectively) serve as the nails which, if pounded into place, will forever change the landscape of education in Oklahoma.
“This voucher legislation will begin the final dismantling of our schools. By providing some parents with the ability to use public funds to support their child’s private or home school education, our state will begin the descent down the slippery slope towards the inevitable “vouchers for all”–the true aim of the power brokers behind these bills.
“This will essentially allow for the re-segregation of schools, if not on racial lines then certainly on lines of privilege. Those who can afford an education unencumbered by accountability and state mandates will have their escape valve.
“As such, parents seeking an educational setting for their children which emphasizes critical thinking, creativity and lifelong learning over test preparation will be able to use their shiny new ESA card to buy it for their progeny.
“For those children left behind, we will have education for the masses. Once public schools have been starved of resources, they will have little choice but to open the revolving door to less expensive, inexperienced teachers to turn on the computer or recite the scripted lesson plans.
“It doesn’t matter if these young apprentices burn out in only two or three years from boredom and unrealistic expectations. We’ll just bring in the next ones from the pipeline.
“We are in a final battle over the bedrock of a functioning democracy: our public school system.”
Read on. He explains how vouchers will destroy public education, and why that is their purpose.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
So how many states are being blanketed with vouchers now? How many are we up to?
Remember when ed reformers told the public they were opposed to vouchers and this was about “public schools”? More misrepresentation of the goals of this “movement”.
Which state will be the first to completely privatize and reduce the public role to accepting a voucher as a subsidy? Mission accomplished! It’ll be just like the health care law! Public money going exclusively to private contractors. They know that’s the dictionary definition of “privatization” right?
“Test-based accountability provides the blunt instrument to rank, sort and punish students, teachers and schools. ”
Exactly, but it is also the “outcomes only” policies and the budget cuts that makes test scores so devastating. These instruments of policy function in a synergistic relationship.
Public schools are being underfunded, cannot cherry pick students, are required to jump through hoops and respond to absurd mandates, participate in sending limited funds to privately run charter schools, and so on.
It would devastate my local public school if the higher-income parents all left for private schools. We would never again pass school funding. The bottom 50% would bear the brunt of this ed reform experiment.
What a shame we put reckless, careless people in charge of public education. We will regret it. The damage once done will be impossible to undo.
Along with the echoes of the hammer pounding those last few nails into the coffin of public education, I hear the echoes of Naomi Klein’s warnings in ‘Shock Doctrine – The Rise of Disaster Capitalism’. The creation of the illusion of the failure of the public education system has provide just as fertile an opportunity for privatization as any natural disaster – as in Hurricane Katrina and its impact first on New Orleans and subsequently the public school system.
“As such, parents seeking an educational setting for their children which emphasizes critical thinking, creativity and lifelong learning over test preparation will be able to use their shiny new ESA card to buy it for their progeny.”
How convenient. Mandate NCLB, RttT and ESSA and measure student, teacher, school and school district and even a state’s achievement with mandatory testing and the resulting test preparation. Then provide a financial escape (for those who can afford it) to a charter school environment that provides the opportunities to engage in those very activities that had previously been the hallmark or at least goals of the public schools (again, for those who can afford it) where mandated testing and the destructive test-preparation cycle, are not required.
Very crafty! An opportunity to make a profit while destroying public education (collateral damage or intended target?) while simultaneously providing an escape for, repeat chorus, ‘Those who can afford it’.
To those who can’t afford it, disaster capitalism is unconcerned for their predicament. It seems to be a real manifestation of financial Darwinism.
Which reminds me of “You’ve got to pick-a-pocket or two” from Oliver:
“In this life, one thing counts
In the bank, large amounts
I’m afraid these don’t grow on trees,
You’ve got to pick-a-pocket or two”
An ironic reality faced by many of these middle-class citizens willing to sell out the moral logic behind educating ALL students (as they so willingly jump at making a buck off “disaster capitalism”) is that their own special-needs children soon end up with no schools…
Anything that the public does not feel like fighting for is not worth getting angry over. Let it go back to the Dark Ages. Let us return to the serfdom and peonage from whence we came. Only then, will we realize what we have let slip out of our hands. We deserve no better.
Remember Franklin? When asked what kind of govt we had created, he replied, “A democracy, madame: if you can keep it.” Obviously, we are no longer up to it and so we shall lose it.
Giving parents more realistic options for their child’s education is not a bad thing. Don’t fear the change – parents can be trusted. They love their kids and want the best for them.
The vast majority of “vouchers” go to private school students that are already going to private school, or religious schools, doing an end run around separation of church and state. I resent having my taxes used in this way, it is wrong.