What's wrong with charter schools? No standards, no unions, no minimal safeguards of
educational quality. A private charter school in Chi-town, nonunion of course, failed,
hadn't kept adequate records for several years. the kids in it lost two years. How
many of the minority youth there do you think were happy to do an extra two years of
HS? --jks
> The voucher idea is bad for economic reasons: it allows private schools to
> "cream skim," i.e., to attract the best students, leaving the problem kids
> to the public school system to handle (which then gets blamed for failing
> them). (There's adverse selection in that market.) Also, there are a lot of
> rules that public schools have to live under (such as rules for those with
> learning disabilities) that private schools can and do ignore. Either the
> private schools will ignore them (so that the rules won't be applied) or
> they will end up as rule-bound as the public schools, so that the "small
> bureaucracy" argument in favor of private schools would go away.
>
> I don't get the judge's argument against vouchers, BTW. My son goes to a
> non-profit "non-public school" because of his learning disability (mild
> autism) and it's paid for by the public school system. It seems to me that
> the judge is knocking down that kind of deal.
>
> What's wrong with charter schools?
>
> At 10:42 AM 3/15/00 -0500, you wrote:
> >I am not involved in the issue, but I think it is good news. The right
> >wingers have been undermining funding for and public commitment to the
> >public schools with voucher programs. These have been upheld, e.g., in
> >Cleveland and Milwaukee. They are attacked on 1st amend., establishment
> >clause grounds, which is right, because they provide an excuse to channel
> >lots of government money mainly to Catholic schools--which are,
> >incidentally, in big financial trouble.
> >
> >However, the real problem with these programs is that they are bad on
> >policy rather than constitutional grounds. They suggest that the solution
> >to the problem sof inner city schools ius to write off those schools,
> >privatize the system, and give poor kids money to go to Catholic school.
> >Also connected with vouchers is the charter school movement, if possible
> >an even worse idea, but one giving no purchase for constitutional attack.
> >
> >There have been a few setbacks for vouchers, mostly on establishment
> >clause grounds. What is surprising here is that this setback came from a
> >presumably elected state court judge. We will see if he is affirmed or
> >reversed on appeal.
> >
> >--jks
> >
> > > Any one involved in this issue that can give a overview of what this
> > > means?
> > >
> > >
> > > A Florida judge has ruled that it is a violation of the state's
> > > constitution for students to use taxpayer money for private school
> > > tuition, curtailing the nation's boldest experiment at using market
> > > pressure
> > > to improve failing schools.
> > >
> > > The decision, which the state says it will appeal, is the second major
> > > legal
> > > setback for voucher proponents in recent months, following a federal
> > > judge's ruling that Cleveland's voucher program contravenes the First
> > > Amendment's separation of church and state,
> > >
> > > Florida's was the first statewide voucher program and the first to tie
> > > voucher eligibility to schools' performance on standardized tests. It
> > > serves
> > > as a model for a national voucher plan proposed by Gov. George W.
> > > Bush of Texas, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and has
> > >
> > > been copied by several of the 25 state legislatures currently
> > > considering
> > > new voucher initiatives.
> > >
> > > rest of article at
> > >
> > > http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/late/14cnd-vouchers.html
> > >
> > > --
> > > Rod Hay
> > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > The History of Economic Thought Archive
> > > http://socserv2.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/index.html
> > > Batoche Books
> > > http://Batoche.co-ltd.net/
> > > 52 Eby Street South
> > > Kitchener, Ontario
> > > N2G 3L1
> > > Canada
>
> Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://liberalarts.lmu.edu/~jdevine
