Indiana finally got a research study of its voucher program, and the results were lackluster at best. The study showed that students who used vouchers saw their scores go down; after a few years, those who persisted caught up with their public school peers, but the lowest-scoring students dropped out and returned to public schools. Indiana has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on vouchers.
Legislators don’t care. They want to send more money away from public schools. The results don’t matter. They have stopped claiming that vouchers will “save” poor kids from failing schools. No one was saved.
They don’t care. They want to do harm to the schools that enroll the vast majority of students.
Why? I don’t know. What do you think can explain their determination to throw more money into vouchers now that they know they are ineffective?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Re: What do you think can explain their determination to throw more money into vouchers now that they know they are ineffective?
$ERIOU$LY ???
Right. The same thing that explained their determination before the knew that vouchers are “ineffective”. Vouchers are, in fact, extremely effective for what they’re intended to do. They’re just not intended to improve education.
WELL SAID.
They don’t want government involved in any part of our lives. Period!
Au contraire! There are lots of ways they want the government to be involved in our lives. When, where and with whom we can have sex, how we can prevent pregnancy, what we can do about an unwanted pregnancy, what our kids will be taught about such matters. Other medical decisions. Who we can associate with and when. What we can say and where. The same people who want the gubmint out of their medicare want the gubmint involved in all sorts of aspects of our lives. Or, at least, those people’s lives.
Good points, dienne77. You confirm my biases; you must be a genius! Thanks for your great reply.
The same can be said for legislators in Pennsylvania. They have all the horrible results staring at them, and they ignore the abject failure. They opt to pour more taxpayer funds into the black hole of privatization in order to move public money into private pockets. When are the voters going to wise up and decide to vote for those that represent their own interests?
Leslie Knope would be soooo disappointed in her state now.
Diane writes: “They don’t care. They want to do harm to the schools that enroll the vast majority of students. . . .Why? I don’t know. What do you think can explain their determination to throw more money into vouchers now that they know they are ineffective?
FIRST, I read that article that Susan Lee Schwartz posted (thank you Susan/re-posted below) from Rolling Stone about the Kochs. From that reading, you can tease out what I think is a basic set of generalities about such “I don’t care” thinking that can be generally applied to such legislators.
SECOND all of the social sciences (including economics) have some sort of differently-conceptualized but similar explanations for such aberrant thinking and behaviors. Underneath the defined theoretical concepts, we commonly can find cohesive/correlative threads in and between those sciences. In my own philosophical thread (and taking egregious liberties for brevity), it’s a wall of accepted (soul-invested in) ideologies wrapped in “hard-minded” dogmatic judgments that only can be broken down by a humility of spirit and a resultant openness of mind that allows contrary questions “in.” It takes a kind of “moral conversion;” in the legislative sense, it’s moral-political. Also, the lies, double-speaking, fabrications, and red herrings flow from those “hard-minded dogmatics.” Anything to keep the ideology undisturbed and in place.
In the case of the Koch brothers, they learned some faulty ideas early-on–ideas that may have even had some truth to them at the time, but never bothered to go back and question those ideas or change with their own or the country’s developmental movements. And so those ideas became “hardened” into ideologies and closed over and held in place by even harder judgments–A BIG NO. If they cannot break through those judgments, they cannot break into the ideas behind them. And it’s those ideas (ideologies) that are the drivers of all further thinking and behaviors.
One further point: as long-term habits of mind, the ideologies become un- or semi-conscious where they can, at those levels, run interference, so to speak, to potential breakthrough. The ideas grow teeth (again, so to speak) and don’t like to be bothered by what is contrary to them. Hence, they become laced with feelings and images that “help” the person remain ignorant of their own complicity in intellectual and moral calcification and degradation, and resistant to any kind of breakthrough that could be had should they become self-reflective and open-minded, regardless of their initial felt dread.
That’s just one reason why WE need government regulations that are built on and that manifest in what’s good for all.
That’s really too brief, but here’s Susan’s Rolling Stone article again.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/inside-the-koch-brothers-toxic-empire-20140924
Citizens United decision enabled the oligarchs like the Koch brothers to buy politicians. The DeVos family buys them too, shamelessly. Why do they do it? Power. Lower taxes, which enhances their wealth. And power.
dianeravitch As long as the ideologies and their dogmatic judgments hold and ward off truthful but contrary ideas, nothing will change. You never know, however, when or how SOMETHING will get their attention and trigger change. To a lesser degree, this same phenomenon plays out in the classroom, when students just don’t catch on, or even when someone tells a joke but no one gets it. And then boom, they do, and nothing can make them go back.
There has got to be a GREED GENE.
Yvonne Siu-Runyan About the “greed gene.” I think you are right; and under a microscope, it looks very much like a snake in the process of eating its tail.
The teachers’ union is one of the last strong unions left in the country, and the Republicans will do anything, including sacrifice our children on the altar of educational failure, to destroy that last traditional Democratic supporting group of organized workers. Add to that the ideology that believes the private sector can do anything more effectively and efficiently than the government can despite all the decades of evidence to the contrary. Their motto must be, My Mind is Made Up. Don’t Confuse Me with Facts!
Diane A post script to my note above. I said: “The lies, double-speaking, fabrications, and red herrings flow from those ‘hard-minded dogmatics.’ Anything to keep the ideology undisturbed and in place.”
What would disturb the ideologies in the legislators’ that you speak of, and their field of dogmatic judgments, are the facts about charters that oddly seem to turn legislators into zombies. Some are quite literally “on Koch.” It’s the facts that are so bothersome, but also what legislators understand at deeper levels as the concrete implications of those facts, like having funds dry up, or like being voted out of office because Koch and company pour money into advertising campaigns.
The “plutocrats” and techie-oligarchs really are becoming a “shadow government.” Maybe not so “shadowy” as we go along.
The legislators might think differently if the people in their districts showed up at the elections and voted them out of office.
You have a valid point. The maxim in common law is “Qui tacet consenteris” Latin for “Silence gives consent” or “Whom is silent, consents”. With less than 50% of eligible voters, going to the polls, politicians need only satisfy 25% of the population.
Charles,
We agree. That’s why certain states and politicians work so hard to suppress the votes of poor people.
Diane and Charles who reminds us of the meaning of silence. Below is a youtube video of Dwight Eisenhower giving his famous and quite timely farewell address and warning.
dianeravitch Yes–that’s the power of democracy as a power strucuture. Ultimately, it’s not Trump or even Congress, but the people being willing to exercise their power (while we have it). And it’s the Achilles heel of the money-as-power brokers, like the Kochs and so many others. Corrupt advertising and slick corporate/private schools find their limit insofar as the people (the real “constituents” of those in Congress) understand the significance of their democracy and work to preserve it.
Not much is said about curricula in education when “certain ideas” are purveyed and/or quietly omitted by corporations and people like Betsy, with her religious zealotry; but that’s the bait-and-switch moment that’s standing behind the door of every voucher and every charter school, waiting for complete deregulation and for public schooling to be sufficiently diminished so that it would be difficult or even impossible to revive them or the democratic idea they stand on.
I have to say that I was not surprised at reading of the Koch article, but WAS surprised at how extreme they were and completely careless they were about climate change and pollution. When we fool even ourselves, our own dogmatic teeth have us by the cahoonies.
Do you have any definitive proof, that certain states and politicians are working to “suppress” the votes of poor people? I once worked as an election judge (a terrific experience). The voting machines are indifferent as to the economic status of the individual voter. The vote of a wealthy person, counts just as much as the vote of a pauper.
On the contrary, I believe sincerely, that the individual states are bending over backwards, to enable universal registration and enfranchisement. The abolition of the poll-tax, which was a barrier to voting has been eliminated. The voting age was lowered to 18, nationally. Our nation has universal suffrage.
In Virginia (my state of residence), a person can register in any state facility, such as libraries, motor-vehicle offices, and so forth.
Story: In 2001, my wife and I moved from Philadelphia, to suburban Norfolk VA. We went into the DMV to get our Virginia driver’s licenses, and the clerk asked us if we wished to register to vote. I said, yes, but my wife cannot register, since she is not a US citizen. A week later, our voter’s registration cards arrived in the mail. I sent Larisa’s back to the state by registered mail.
Some states, including Virginia, have enacted voter ID laws, which mandate that individual voters present a government-issued ID, such as a driver’s license or passport, in order to vote. This is not a burden on minorities or the poor!
You could google voter suppression for starters.
Serious motivation to look for tax credits for “charitable” donations. Wall Street Journal reports “Hedge-fund managers for years accumulated offshore gains without paying federal and state taxes. Now Uncle Sam is going to get paid.” This could be $100 billion in taxes for the public but lines are forming to make those tax-deductible donations.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/loophole-closed-hedge-fund-managers-prepare-huge-tax-checks-1500543002
It’s simple.They really think that they and their rich friends will benefit if this becomes a third world nation.
I think there are different categories for those who push this. I haven’t thought this list through, so kind of going on the fly:
1.) The true believers. These include the Reformers we occasionally see on this blog, who have nothing to gain from Ed Reform but sincerely believe that solutions to educational problems can be easily attained with a market-based approach.
2.) Those seeking to establish their legacy. This brand of Reformer includes the Richer than Midas plutocrats who — having everything they could ever materially hope for — seek to put their names in the history books for their sweeping transformation of education via philanthropy. They are a version of category #1 above…except they do hope to get something out of it for themselves, trying to become modern day Andrew Carnegies. Included here would be the likes of Gates, Zuckerberg, and Steve Jobs’ wife.
3.) Those seeking to receive personal material benefit from Ed Reform. This includes those who make millions from their charter schools. This also includes the numerous public office holders who toady up to those in category #2 above in order to ensure campaign donations. And it also includes the media hoping to cash in on those same donations to stay financially afloat.
Oh, I have to dispute you on the people you put in #2. Gates and Zuckerberg most definitely intend to profit directly from ed “reform”. That’s what “personalized” (sic) learning is all about. That and the datamining. Zuckerberg barely even pretends to be charitable about what he’s doing, which is why CZI is a for-profit LLC. The legacy thing is just a nice bonus, assuming more people don’t wake up to their ravaging greed.
Willing to stand corrected, Dienne, though I might submit that changes their category from #2 to #3. Is there no one sincerely in Category #2?
I dunno, OAIIT. I’m so cynical I don’t think there’s anyone sincerely in Category #1.
Yikes! Everyone in #3! Even those providing the millions!
I hope that Diane will read the following by Rick Hess, who goes off on a wild ride into history seeking a justification for vouchers. Deep history…Tom Paine, John Suart Mill.
For more recent history, he cites the GI Bill among other voucher schemes (e.g., for low income housing).
As I recall, the GI Bill was for veterans of WW II who qualified for vocational training or college. Funds were available for post-secondary education, but funding was contingent on being admitted to and completing the requirements of the program.
This paradigm is misapplied to public schools where attendance is compulsory, students are not yet of age, not usually screened for admission, and failing students don’t go away unless and until they are of dropout age. Further, the GI Bill provided new and substantial increases in funding.
That is not the case with the Trump budget.
Hess got started on his pro-voucher argument against the backdrop of more than one recent criticisms of vouchers as the means of choice for segregating (or resegregarting) schools.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/449559/school-choice-not-racist-history-thomas-paine-john-stuart-mill
I did Laura, and I respond at 9 am tomorrow
dianeravitch Below is an interesting historical piece in “The Conversation” about the press, and the followers and normalization of fascists from December 11, 2016.
https://theconversation.com/normalizing-fascists-69613
“Why? I don’t know. What do you think can explain their determination to throw more money into vouchers now that they know they are ineffective?”
They worship MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thanks to:
ALEC/Koch brothers
Walton family
Bill Gates
Betsy D. does not care about what’s best for children, nor do many in the R party and some in the D party.
However, parents do care what’s best for their children!
Accordingly, it’s up to NPE, Teachers Unions and the politicians in the D party who do care about what’s best for children to convince voters (i.e. many parents) that vouchers and charter schools are not the way to go. We need to convince these parents and voters that strengthening public schools and communities are the way to move forward to a stronger Nation.
#1 Racism/Segregation
#2 Profit