Globe decries withdrawal of Whitmore-Smith nomination

In today's Joplin Globe, the editorial board says it is "a shame" that Gov. Matt Blunt has withdrawn his nomination of voucher supporter Donayle Whitmore-Smith to the State Board of Education:

What the governor was doing in offering up Whitmore-Smith and the Rev. Stanley Archie, an advocate of charter schools, was to put people on the board who would “ask tough questions,” would “press the envelope” of critical thinking on how best to prepare our children for the future, and would ensure a diversity of opinions.

The Globe acknowledged Ms. Whitmore-Smith is a voucher supporter and critic of public schools, two things which apparently mean little or nothing:

Gov. Blunt looked outside the box for people willing to expand the board’s conversation on the framework of public education. In tangent with Archie, Whitmore-Smith might have rocked the boat a bit, but she wouldn’t have sunk it. Diverse ideas or perspectives, including school vouchers and charter schools, have a place at the table for serious discussion on how to make the public school experience more valuable and enriching for all students.

Of course, Globe readers might have been mystified about what the editorial was about since I can't recall the newspaper offering much coverage of Ms. Whitmore-Smith's nomination in the first place. Perhaps I missed it, but other than an occasional school board article featuring a paragraph or two noting the board's opposition to the nomination, I failed to see any reporting about this nomination.

The Globe editorial fails to mention Ms. Whitmore-Smith's experience with the Ptah Academy, with its emphasis on daily meditation and incense burning (though I suppose that fits in with the idea of "diverse ideas and perspectives."

Also not noted are Ms. Whitmore-Smith's lack of experience with public schools. Her only connection was a brief period in high school where she did happen to land in a school that she described as "hell."

The editorial also does not examine the possible financial motive behind the governor's appointment. Gov. Blunt has received considerable money from the pro-voucher group All Children Matter, which bankrolled to the tune of $200,000 a late attack campaign that helped the governor barely defeat then State Auditor Claire McCaskill in 2004. The governor has been the keynote speaker at All Children Matter's national convention.

The Globe editorial is either conveniently overlooking or Globe Editorial Board members are blissfully unaware that the governor had already successfully nominated to the board another person who apparently shares his pro-voucher beliefs, Debi Demien of Wentzville, whose background was explored in the Dec. 17 Turner Report.

This is not an attempt by the governor to put one or two voices on the board to shake up traditional beliefs; this is an attempt to totally overturn the board and move away from a concept of public education that, except for a handful of schools, has worked well for this state.

Public schools are not perfect, but the solution is not to hand over public money to private schools under the misguided (and elitist) concept that because's it's private it has to be better.