Gulp
For the 2018-2019 fiscal year $873,565,674 is the cap on what can be diverted from our schools to private schools that take vouchers. It joins billions more lost to the black hole that the voucher program is.
The problem with vouchers are legion. They can use certified teachers and teachers without degrees, they can teach junk science and history and most don't even have to report how they use the money. The over site on these schools is so low it is practically non existent. Well now we can add kids at a quarter of the schools regressed, REGRESSED, in math or reading skills. They actually lost knowledge.
I am just going to get right to it.
From the Orlando Sentinel,
There are no consequences, however, for the students or schools when the studies show some schools leave children worse off academically. More than 70 schools, out of about 280 studied, showed declines in students’ math or reading skills, according to the most recent report.
For the 2018-2019 fiscal year $873,565,674 is the cap on what can be diverted from our schools to private schools that take vouchers. It joins billions more lost to the black hole that the voucher program is.
The problem with vouchers are legion. They can use certified teachers and teachers without degrees, they can teach junk science and history and most don't even have to report how they use the money. The over site on these schools is so low it is practically non existent. Well now we can add kids at a quarter of the schools regressed, REGRESSED, in math or reading skills. They actually lost knowledge.
I am just going to get right to it.
From the Orlando Sentinel,
There are no consequences, however, for the students or schools when the studies show some schools leave children worse off academically. More than 70 schools, out of about 280 studied, showed declines in students’ math or reading skills, according to the most recent report.
Now some of you might be saying well Chris aren't there nearly 3000 private schools that take vouchers? Yes there are but when people do polls they don't ask everyone the question they take a sample and 280 out of nearly 3000 is a pretty good sample.
Here is the thing, what if it is only 20 percent or 15 percent, though isn't it just as likely its 30 percent or higher, of kids that regress, isn't that too much? Public schools get slammed when the poorest of the poor, the most disadvantaged of the disadvantaged don't show a years worth of growth, let alone no growth or as in the case of these schools, reverse growth.
Can you imagine what would happen to a public school where the kids lost knowledge in reading and math?
How is this permissible?
Oh wait that's right, its because the republican party is determined to dismantle public education and who cares if only a quarter of the kids regress, heck they don't even care that hundreds of millions of dollars are wasted in the pursuit.
We need a change friends, this cannot be allowed to continue.
Here is the thing, what if it is only 20 percent or 15 percent, though isn't it just as likely its 30 percent or higher, of kids that regress, isn't that too much? Public schools get slammed when the poorest of the poor, the most disadvantaged of the disadvantaged don't show a years worth of growth, let alone no growth or as in the case of these schools, reverse growth.
Can you imagine what would happen to a public school where the kids lost knowledge in reading and math?
How is this permissible?
Oh wait that's right, its because the republican party is determined to dismantle public education and who cares if only a quarter of the kids regress, heck they don't even care that hundreds of millions of dollars are wasted in the pursuit.
We need a change friends, this cannot be allowed to continue.
Chris is absolutely correct in this post as is, of course, The Orlando Sentinel in their own reporting. Both the Orlando paper and the Miami Herald have reported on voucher schools extensively with truly extraordinary discoveries. The reaction by the legislature? A showcase hearing where only voucher supporters were invited to speak. The result of the hearing? A bit of meaningless paper shuffling.
ReplyDeleteBRAVO, CHRIS. When students return to from poor-quality, voucher schools to the public schools, they are worse off than when they left. This is a clear example of privatization actually doing harm to students, without accountability. While traditional public schools and hybrid, quasi-private charter schools are accountable to Florida Standards, voucher schools are not. The people who run them are content to let their students fluctuate in the mediocre range on the bell curve, while passing proselytization for teaching. Voucher schools, like charter schools, also tend to re-segregate our students by race.
ReplyDelete