There are many reasons I support school choice, but the most important one is that it works. On April 29, 2016, I voted in favor of the Scholarship for Opportunity and Results Reauthorization Act (SOAR). This piece of legislation, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives with a 224-181 vote, reauthorizes the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program to allow parents to have more choice and control over their child’s education – something all parents should have control over.
School choice works and there are studies and data to back that up. A Johns Hopkins University study found that school choice programs saved local and state taxpayers $444 million from 1990 - 2006. Though saving taxpayer’s money is important, the competitive aspect of school choice incentivizes schools to take important steps to improve and become just as competitive.
The impact this has on student success is undeniable. Students participating in the Opportunity Scholarship Program have a 90 percent graduation rate, compared to an overall graduation rate of 58 percent in D.C. Additionally, the scholarship program has strong parental and community support, with 85 percent of parents reporting they are happy with their child’s current participating school and 74 percent of community residents supporting the program.
Sadly, that is not the case for Missourians. While many states are passing legislation that allows for different types of school choice options, Missouri has yet to pass legislation that addresses this issue. In 2014, Governor Nixon, for the second year in a row, vetoed school choice legislation in Missouri. Just as recently as 2016, the Missouri General Assembly tried and failed to pass school choice bills.
So why is there so much controversy? Powerful special interests and labor unions seem to think it is okay to dictate where our students, which are often disadvantaged, can and can’t go to school. Instead of looking at the facts and data presented to them, they would much rather fall in line with outdated thinking that is only hurting students.
I believe a good education begins with active, engaged parents that are allowed to make decisions at the local level. As the school year begins, we should all work to give students and families the options they want and deserve. Politics should never get in the way of a great education that each and every child is deserves.
15 comments:
Rex certainly got his moneys worth when he bought you Fat Man.
When public money goes to private or religious schools then the government fosters segregation. The public system has worked well for generations and has formed us into Americans. Break it and we will become warring tribes. Billy Long just spews the company line. Z
Teachers are just lazy and have no incentive to help students get educated.
WHAT A MORON!
Come walk in my shoes for the week, dude. You will get your fat butt on a plane by the end of first hour.
I have an idea for a bill- Teacher for A Week. Each Congressmen serves as a teacher for a week. There will be no lights, camera, security, etc. Each person will grade, deliver content, deal with students and families, prepare lessons, endure PD that is given to them because non-educators think it best, etc.
Make this viral!
We really need to vote this self serving POS out of office.
There is nothing in the Constitution that gives any government worker a "right" to a job paid for by the taxpayers, and that definitely applies to public schools.
You don't like competition from the private sector or by parents choosing the school they want for their offspring, then tough.
Not a problem. Let the poor folks keep their kids in tax supported Public Schools and you elitist folks go ahead and put your kids in Private non tax supported Schools. Hey it has been that way since the country was founded and there is no reason to change it now.
Love it!
Interesting that none of the critics are arguing that public school provides a better education than private schools.
There is no such thing as a better education. Each student will take what is offered and either use it to their advantage or become a statistic. There has always been the rule of thirds. One third of the kids will take what is offered and expand upon it to their personal advantage, one third will get by and join the work force early and one third will end up be drag on society. Smart one go to college, Realistic ones go to work and Dumb ones go on welfare. It does not matter whether the schools are public or private the percentages remain the same.
Probably the finest education bar none is offered by the Five Federal Academies which stand at the peak of the Public School System.
It is hard to compare public and private education systems. The clientele is different. When students struggle with poverty, poor family, etc, education does not become a priority for them. Private schools attract those families that do not have those issues. Now, I am not naive to the fact that the wealthy families do not have their own set of issues, though.
The biggest issue with education is the breakdown of the family. My strongest students come from families that are strong taking care of each other. My weakest students have a horrible home life. They are trying to figure out how to survive the moment, rather than building for the future.
Doesn't Jennifer Martucci have all of her remaining school-age children at TJ now? Just saying. I guess no one has a problem with that.
The "school choice" movement is pushed by Republicans, and it isn't about education. It's about money--diverting public funds into private hands in the pursuit of corporate profits. It's an attempt to privatize education, just as we've privatized many of our prisons and to some extent, our wars. Military contractors always clean up during a war. Education shouldn't be a profit-making enterprise, but Republicans can't stand the idea that there's a whole bunch of public money that remains out of the reach of corporate hands.They salivate at the thought of turning it over to private investors, just as they have pushed for years to get their hands on the Social Security fund. What a disaster that would have been in 2008.
Right-wing Republicans seem intent on dismantling public education across the board. In the last decade or so there's been a deliberate, focused attack on public schools and public school teachers, and in states controlled by ultra-conservative Republican legislatures, funding for pubic schools has been cut and cut and cut. To see the results, look at what has happened to public schools in Kansas and Oklahoma. Kansas voters may be waking up, though. In the last primary, they rejected ultra-conservative Republican candidates for the legislature and chose moderates who don't line up with Brownback's extreme political agenda.
It should be noted that Billy Long attended Greenwood Lab School in Springfileld, a private school (it charges tuition) on the Missouri State University campus.
And the boy is a low grade politician... Private school alumni at its finest.
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