Nixa superintendent decries educational vouchers

You are unlikely to read a more impassioned (or accurate) criticism of public vouchers than that offered by Nixa Superintendent Stephen Kleinsmith in a letter to the editor in today's Springfield News-Leader.
Kleinsmith points out exactly why educational vouchers are poison for America:

Voucher schools don't have to let anyone in their doors. The CEO and staff can pick and choose whomever they want to attend. Voucher schools don't have to show the public how well their students are performing. And I can assure you, when the potion of NCLB does what it's designed to do, private schools funded by tax dollars will not have to abide by the same unattainable regulations as the public schools are required to play by.

They don't and won't have to give standardized tests, like the ones Congress and the president just required for every child, grades three through eight, in every public school. And don't forget that by 2014 our federal law requires that ALL public school children must be reading, writing and doing math at or above the "proficient" level (which in some states like Missouri equates to "above grade level") regardless of what language they speak or what disability they have.

And you'll seldom see a voucher school's board meeting on the local cable channel, because voucher schools don't have to abide by the open meetings law. All their decisions can be kept secret. I know, I used to work for private schools in the past. I didn't believe in vouchers then, nor do I now, mostly because I love this country of ours and because vouchers are bad for America!