Heh.
Wisconsin school Superintendent Tony Evers is blasting a plan from a challenger that would make it possible for low-performing public schools to be converted into private charter or voucher schools.
The idea comes from John Humphries, a former Dodgeville school administrator who is challenging Evers. His proposal would allow the lowest-performing schools with a high percentage of low-income students to be reorganized, possibly as a private voucher school.
Evers says Humphries has no vision and wants to dismantle public schools. Evers says Humphries is peddling ideas that haven’t worked and won’t be accepted.
Yes, I agree with Evers. Instead of trying something different with failing schools to help them succeed, let’s just keep doing the same thing /sarcasm.
It’s an old saw, but it’s true. If you keep doing the same things the same way, you will get the same results. Apparently, that is the core of Evers’ “vision.”
Evers is a liberal racist, sentencing these kids to be stuck forever to failing schools.
The liberal institutional prison for kids.
Perhaps the “voucher” system should be expanded to other government services. Since the public transportation is terrible in the cities and non-existent in rural areas, shouldn’t everyone get a few thousand $$$ from Uncle Sam so they can buy their own car? And lots of folks…on both the left and right…are unhappy with their police department – perhaps vouchers could be handed out so individuals can hire their own private security force? If you ain’t happy that the military is (or is not) invading a particular country then “military vouchers” is the way to go, no?
We MUST do something different in order to change all those problems…right?
*rolls eyes*
(PS to Kevin – there are two more examples of you specifically saying “liberal” in this thread, in case you were unaware you are doing so)
Thanks. I really needed a laugh this morning or maybe I am the only one that sees no connection between schools failing the education of our children military vouchers.
Pen:
Great analogies. Here is another one, and a potential voucherless solution:
Lots of folks are unhappy with the way the snow gets plowed every winter. Perhaps we could all get $$ from some level of government so we could all own a snowplow. Or the serious ones in the group of dissenters could run for local government (town, county, village, city) and actually do something about it rather than demand their own plow. Just like the folks unhappy with public education should run for the local school board and work to make things better rather than create a parallel and unaccountable system that bleeds $$ of the existing public schools.
Vouchers really drive you liberals crazy, don’t they?
Why is it you favor choice for killing the unborn, but rail against choice for kids in education?
Why does liberal choice stop at the unborn baby death camps?
Nord,
I like your snow plow idea…if it can get streets plowed faster, better, and cheaper through private means, I would look at it. Snow plows are expensive and doing it through an efficiently run municipality is best option 99 times in 100. In Milwaukee, I think your idea (private snow plow vouchers) could be an improvement over what they are doing now.
When it comes to private schools, voucher is HALF the cost of public option, saving taxpaers $273 million in Milwaukee county alone for 50% not spent having the private school kids not in public school.
If public schools were not so massively costly, this ability to shift to private educational efficiency would not exist.
I really enjoy looking at liberals ripping educational opportunity out of hands of poor kids…that makes you look like elitist snobs.
“I really enjoy looking at liberals ripping educational opportunity out of hands of poor kids…that makes you look like elitist snobs”.
And your saying something so ridiculous make you look clueless, ignorant and judgemental.
“voucher is HALF the cost of public option”. Not true. Compare apples to apples and do the calculations. And look at ALL of the state.
It ain’t just the liberals who are against these vouchers..those of is in the middle aren’t too fond of them either. And frankly, I don’t understand how any True Conservative can be in favor of a welfare giveaway that has little to no oversight nor accountability…but obviously ya’ll justify it somehow.
And I ain’t against school choice at all – been a strong advocate for homeschooling for several decades now and have no problem with private schools doing what they want…but if I am gonna be paying for it then I damn well better have a vote in how that money is managed/used.
Pen:
With you 100%.
Penquin,
Are you telling me, when you
Look at abject failure and institutional racism that is MPS….you have any say as a taxpayer?
If you say you do have a say and thst sustem is accountable, you should be fired for tolerating lousy results.
Public schools are responsible to an electable school board, where the citizens have a vote on who represents them. Private schools which receive vouchers have no such accountability to the taxpayers. If parents are gonna reach into my wallet to pay for their child’s education then I get at least some say in how that money will be used.
As said before, no True Conservative could support this type of program.
Better school choices for 1/2 taxpayer cost?
Every conservative should support! Parents, not politicians, should have power in education.
You propose politicians have more power by that position.
Education is too important to leave to politicians.
If these schools truly are a better choice then there should be no concern about the people who are footing the bill having some oversight on how their tax dollars are being spent. If you are gonna insist on slapping duct tape over my mouth then keep your grubby fingers outta my wallet.
Penquin
I say exact same thing about godless public school system!
Here in the State of Wisconsin our public schools are ran by a board which is elected by the citizens of the community. Wasn’t aware they do things differently where ever it is you live.
Politicians have authority.
Parents should be the authority.
Are not parents eligible to vote for their school board members? They are up here. And all our board members are also parents.
Parents already have the authority to educate their children, and there are many different choices out there for them to choose from. I have very little qualms towards whatever they wanna do, but if their choice involves me helping pay for their kid’s education then i get a voice in how it is spent. That’s just common sense. Your proposal smacks of Taxation without Representation
Don’t want my input on how my money is used then don’t take my money…plain&simple.
Guess this is something else you&I will disagree with…but I am curious to know if this policy applies to all the other welfare programs? For instance, you’re ok with a parent using their food stamps on nothing but soda&cheetos for their kids? Their kids, their authority…correct? Please clarify…thanks.
Clearly you guys like politicians with their fingers in the process.
Education is too important to trust to politicians.
Not everyone in the process is a parent, that creates political interest against interest of parents…..that is the problem with making education political.
Vouchers takes that power away from those working to undermine parents…mainly liberal ideology.
My money is too important to blindly trust welfare recipients. You want politicians out of the process then keep your process out of my wallet. Why is that such a complicated concept for the conservative crowd?
This sense of entitlement you and your fellow travelers have towards my money is disgusting, appalling, and some may even say evil…
And with your silence to my request for clarification it is now safe to assume that is your position with all other welfare programs as well…
Penquin,
Your analogy to food stamps is off a bit.
Every kid in public school is on welfare. Don’t act like public school is not welfare.
The difference is: government is distributing the education “product” at double the cost. Private distribution is 1/2 the cost.
We don’t have government distributing the food….that would be foolish and expensive.
Schools public or private have testing standards. Food stamps have woefully few “testing” restrictions outside beer and alcohol.
So your point is a liberal one….defending government do something at substantially more cost.
Pen:
Looks like you got a response, unfortunately none are factual, or have any bearing on reality. This is the world we live in……
Been saying for years that public school is a form of welfare, so we agree there. And have also been saying for years that the food stamp program needs to be heavily reformed. I disagree with your opinion that a parent should be allowed to use government handouts to feed their child nothing but junk food.
None of that changes the fact that you are calling for not only expanding a welfare program, you also want to eliminate any input from the people who are actually footing the bill. There is nothing “conservative” about this policy nor your justification for taking my money while gagging my mouth.
Kevin – just to be clear, you seem to be in favor of eliminating all public schools and simply giving each&every parent a handout to spend however they wish.
If that isn’t true, then please clarify…thanks.
penquin,
I favor vouchering every kid up at 1/2 the cost, and public schools have to compete for kids to get the funding.
If public school is good, it will get kids….if not, it will fail.
Should private schools be required to accept any/all students who wish to attend, regardless any disabilities a child may have? Otherwise the rules are stacked against the public schools. Or perhaps you beleive our society shouldn’t bother trying to educate each&every child? (Not meant as a sneer…rest of the world operate as such and there are pro/cons on both sides of that issue)
And why do you always blame the schools when a student is failing? Don’t you beleive the parents have something to do with it as well…if not more so?
BTW – Are you absolutely sure there are testing requirements for private schools here in Wisconsin? ’cause a quick search on google seems to indicate otherwise, which is a huge concern of mine.
Yes, there are testing requirements….even on non-voucher schools.
You think so little of parents that they would send their kid to a bad private school by choice? Really?
Could you please provide a link that describes these testing requirements? The only thing I could find was attendance requirements, with optional tests that the state would provide for schools that “wish” to do so but nothing about tests being required. (And wouldn’t testing requirements go against your entire idea of getting the politicians completely out of the picture?)
I do recall a bill being proposed a couple years ago to have standards for private schools, but the GOP wouldn’t allow it out of committee. Has that since changed? If not, then do you better understand my concerns about this policy?
And given how we’ve already had scammy schools take voucher money and flee the state, I do think sometimes parents might make a poor choice in who they hand over their welfare check to.
The way you ignored my other questions seem to indicate that you’re aware of the HUGE problem with your proposal. Perhaps your implied opinion that we shouldn’t waste resources on educating “those” kids is a good idea…but we should actually have that convo before making a defacto choice on it, no?
I have 4 kids in Christ centered private school (1 in private high school) and students take same basic skills test at same grade levels as local public school….far out performing their public school counterparts.
The other private school in town also scores very well against public school.
The private schools recently changed name of the tests at rec. of DPI. I’ll have to dig that out.
Kevin, I bet you’re smart enough to be able to spell out the reasons why the kids in a private religious school might test differently when compared to a public school. What’s different about the families, the kids, and who is allowed to attend?
There is a small community which has a law on the books requiring every child from 7-17 to join the local Little League. One town in the area usually fields two different teams: One of ’em has their roster filled by the coach hand-picking&choosing exactly who is wanted for each position, while the other team gets all the other kids in town regardless of any athletic ability of the players. Needless to say, the kids on the All-Star Team has all the latest gadgets, training facilities, and all the parents are right there to cheer on the team & bake cupcakes for the after-game treats. The team of Others has some parental support as well, but most of the kid’s folks just use the practices&games as cheap babysitting with no other involvement at all.
Any bets on who usually is ahead when the two teams stats and scores are compared?
Penquin,
So parents who care should be punished?
That’s very liberal.
Kevin, I’d phrase it as “so parents who are religious should get a subsidy.”
Requiring accountability for welfare handouts equals punishment?
That’s a very high sense of entitlement. But I guess that is how True Conservatives roll now-a-days….
Penquin,
No, making parents pay for state funded secular humanist religion public school and then making them pay for values driven private school is punishment. (Double billing).
The tax money should be attached to kid for parents to decide….not politicians, bureaucrats, and those with no education interest to decide.
You can decide what to do with the welfare check all by yourself when you earn the money all by yourself. But if you’re gonna be picking my pocket in order to send your kids to some luxury private school then I get a say in the matter. Seriously, I know teenagers who have less of a problem understanding how that works.
Your sense of entitlement towards my money is greater than any liberal Welfare Queen ever encountered, and it’s appalling how so-called “conservatives” are so quick&willing to sell out their base principles in order to justify grabbing a free government handout.
On this issue, you’re a an anti-democracy socialist. Own it.
penquin,
Ever hear of Pell grants and government college loans?
Excellent example. When the government opened up the spigots and started handing out free money willy-nilly then all kinds of scammy schools started popping up in order to feed at that trough . End result: Tons&tons of people who wasted their time getting a worthless degree and a huge student-debt problem in America that will take generations to correct.
No True Conservative would be in favor of such a wasteful program, let alone wishing to see it expand it even further. On this issue, you are a Socialist.
penquin,
Vouchers….unlike pell grants and college loans, save taxpayer money because of the required nature of schooling from k-12.
Public school funding, Pell grants, vouchers…of the 3, vouchers are the most responsible and conservative.