Several years ago, I attended a conference of foundations interested in education. We met in New Orleans, and you can safely guess the topic of the day. I spoke on a panel with John Jackson, executive director of the Schott Foundation for Public Education. I have never forgotten his message.
He said he had traveled to the highest performing nations in the world to learn from them. Wherever he went, he asked the same question: What do you do when a school is struggling? What do you do when a school seems to be failing?
Everywhere he got the same answer:
“We support them. We help them improve. We send in whatever they need.”
He then asked, “What do you do if you help them, and they don’t get better?”
Uniformly, the ministers of education responded, “We help them more.”
The assumption from the leaders of other nations’ education systems was that they are responsible and accountable.
In the U.S., the politicians who make decisions about education assume that if a school is struggling, the children should be given the opportunity to abandon it and let it die. These are men and women who would probably leave their wounded comrades behind on the battlefield.
In Ohio, a study funded by the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a proponent of school choice, concluded that students who used vouchers fell behind their peers academically. So, of course, the politicians want more vouchers.
Bill Phillis of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy writes:
”An Ohio legislator: “If you are in a bad school…”
“Do some legislators not know that the General Assembly has the constitutional responsibility to secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools? When legislators talk about “bad schools” they should get about the business of making the common school system whole rather than providing a way of escape for some students.
“House Bill 200 and Senate Bill 85 set the framework for a universal voucher system. The sponsors of House Bill 200 are currently reducing the scope of this legislation as a means of attracting votes, but if enacted, this measure opens the door to a universal voucher system.
”In a discussion regarding House Bill 200, a legislator, according to a recent Gongwer News Service publication, said, “But if you are in a bad school and you don’t have the money, we want to give you the opportunity to be able to make a choice for your child.”
“The public common school system in Ohio was declared unconstitutional four times, and has not yet been fixed. Instead of correcting the funding deficiencies of the system, many state officials work hard to fund vouchers and charters which further diminish the fiscal capacity of school districts. This is reminiscent of the medical practice of bleeding of sick patients 200 years ago. Hence, if a school is considered “bad”, take away its life blood to heal it!
“The Ohio Constitution should be required reading for state officials.”
William L. Phillis | Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding | 614.228.6540 | ohioeanda@sbcglobal.net| http://www.ohiocoalition.org
Ohio E & A, 100 S. 3rd Street, Columbus, OH 43215
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Bill Phillis has become my most important resource for Ohio education issues. The only edit I suggest for his final sentence: not only should they be required to read the Ohio Constitution, they should be required to take tests over and over again to make sure they comprehend it.
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Such a painful topic to have to discuss….
I am working on compiling a list for a possible upcoming interview with Secretary DeVos and would LOVE everyone’s input. What are the biggest challenges facing teachers?
https://goo.gl/forms/EhcmCdiiJS2q3XBy1
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A list of challenges for teachers? A Secretary of Education who shows no interest in the public schools that about 90% of our students attend. Also,her boss– the US President. His vulgar and racist speech is causing big trouble for every teacher, parent, responsible adult, to say nothing of world leaders. Why is she silent?
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Can’t resist: Did you read Swacker’s book “Infidelity to Truth: Education Malpractice in American Public Education”? If yes, what are your thoughts about what he has proven about the standards and measurement malpractices?
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Shameless. 😜
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How do you see the role of a school in the community? How can a charter or private school which excludes some members of the community fill this role? What sort of plan do you have to keep schools impacted by students leaving due to vouchers from being under funded?
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“John Jackson, executive director of the Schott Foundation for Public Education… said he had traveled to the highest performing nations in the world to learn from them. Wherever he went, he asked the same question: What do you do when a school is struggling? What do you do when a school seems to be failing? Everywhere he got the same answer: ‘We support them. We help them improve. We send in whatever they need.'”
Inspiring message, & really cuts to the chase. Voucher AND charter systems represent the abandonment by state govts of their constitutional responsibility to educate the nation’s children. The fed govt, by supporting this public-to-private conversion, is saying ‘Don’t look to us, not our job either.’
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When we start to see our nation’s poorest kids begging on streetcorners, perhaps the larger society will then finally wonder: Who IS responsible for educating all of these children…
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There are plenty of poor and homeless Americans begging on street corners. The kids are probably in school or they’d be beside them. If read about families living out of cars or vans and the children go to school while the parents struggle to find enough money to eat and keep the car/van working so they can move around and avoid being arrested or getting a ticket. I’ve even read of homeless college students living out of cars, SUVs, vans, etc.
And many poor children and/or teens are selling their bodies in America’s illegal sex industry. In fact, many of those children were seduced into the trafficked sex industry and are now slaves of people that think just like Trump does.
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Since too many politicians accept that education is consumer good, it is easy for them to abandon schools and look for a replacement. Unfortunately, in poor areas this process repeats itself causing chronic destabilization for the poorest, most vulnerable students. This is irresponsible governance, and an abrogation of the government’s responsibility to its young people. Poor students crave stability as their home lives are often unstable. They do not need repeated market based failures. They deserve an authentic public education that seeks equity and justice for all students just like middle class students. Market based fantasy perpetuates a separate and unequal education for poor, minority students.
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I actually think “vouchers” are more about ed reform’s preferred system of funding than the schools themselves.
The ed reform chorus want “the money to follow the child”- vouchers put that in place without any kind of larger debate on whether “the money follows the child” makes any sense or will work – it won’t, because schools have fixed costs and system cost that ed reformers ignore.
They’re trying to change Ohio’s school funding mechanism without the POLITICAL problem of getting an actual, transparent, debated law thru an elected legislature.
It’s more back door deception and hiding the ball. They don’t care which schools children attend- what they want is “the money follows the child” and this gets them to that IDEOLOGICAL goal.
I would bet 1000 dollars right now that when this shakes out and ed reform reaches their ideological goal of “the money following the child” that will mean LESS money.
When they tried to sneak this by in Michigan they set the funding at 5k per child. That’s MUCH less than Michigan currently funds schools.
The next time a member of the echo chamber says “the money follows the child” force them to explain that slogan. How much money? Do children with disabilities get more money? They better- they’re more expensive to educate. What about low income children? Do they get the same “money following the child” as high income families? That won’t be equitable at all. Are we talking about less money than children get now for public education? We seem to be- these vouchers have very low value.
No one asks them any real or difficult questions. The slogan is just swallowed whole and regurgitated over and over. Force them to earn those Gates and Walton funded salaries. “The money follows the child” isn’t a sufficient answer. Reject it.
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I’d just like to point out to the parents of PUBLIC school students in Ohio (especially those parents who vote) that the lock-step ed reform chorus who dominate the Ohio State legislature have not done a lick of work this session on PUBLIC schools.
They find time for session after session on vouchers and charters, but these public employees we all hired can’t seem to get any work done on behalf of the 90% of families in this state who use public schools.
They take you, your kids, and your schools for granted. They assume you’ll show up and return them to the legislature although they provide little or no value to 90% of families in the state. Demand more from ed reform. They’re not providing any added value to public school families.
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Agreed! Good public schools are a public asset that enhances property values. Sending public funds to corporations outside the district represents a disinvestment in one’s own community. Why would anyone choose to devalue a local community to enrich a corporation, while damaging their own property values and harming the education of the majority of students?
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If the battle can be won, get your troops out and move them.
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Even in mainland China, the Communist Party [that alleged “horrible” autocratic government that is responsible for more than 90-percent of global poverty reduction and a middle class that now outnumbers the entire US population] supports lower performing schools by sending teams of teachers and administrators from the highest performing schools to help.
It’s safe to say that “a Trump” will never rule China. China already had their own Trump for 26-years and his name was Mao. The majority in China doesn’t want anyone like that back in power.
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