School Vouchers & Digital Learning to destroy Suburban School Districts
For over two decades the focus of corporate education reform has been on urban schools.
However, recently the powers that be have come out of the closet and are openly admitting that they are coming after suburban schools. Our schools.
"
With vouchers gaining momentum nationwide, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), )... has decided to drop the pretense
that vouchers have anything to do with social and racial equity, and is
now pushing vouchers for the middle class—a project which, if pursued
enough in numbers, will progressively erode the public school system and
increase the segregation of students based on race and economic
standing."
The agenda for the "...ALEC meeting includes a presentation entitled: “Problems in Suburbia: Why Middle-Class Students Need School Choice, Digital Learning and Better Options.”
Perhaps more importantly, ALEC's revisions to three of its "model" voucher bills make clear that it is changing focus from underserved inner-city schools to middle-class suburbia. The talking points at the end of the bills state:
Read more here.
In other words, suburban parents and tax payers need to wake up and look across the road to our cities because what has happened there is headed towards us. It will look slightly different in the burbs and will include weaning our kids off of real, brick and mortar schools with real, highly qualified teachers, in caring environments with their peers. Instead they will try to convince us that our tax dollars should go towards the private or parochial school of our "choice", but those tax dollars will barely put a dent in a private or parochial school tuition and they will KILL our public school systems. They will also try to convince us that our children, especially teens, want to sleep later and therefore will benefit from online learning. I wrote a previous post about the push for cyber/virtual schools here, titled, If I wanted to send my kids to cyber school, I would've.
I can't tell you enough how Isaac Asimov's short story, The Fun They Had, is disturbingly coming to life. Read it and weep. Then start speaking to school board members & school administrators and let them know what you think.
However, recently the powers that be have come out of the closet and are openly admitting that they are coming after suburban schools. Our schools.
The agenda for the "...ALEC meeting includes a presentation entitled: “Problems in Suburbia: Why Middle-Class Students Need School Choice, Digital Learning and Better Options.”
Perhaps more importantly, ALEC's revisions to three of its "model" voucher bills make clear that it is changing focus from underserved inner-city schools to middle-class suburbia. The talking points at the end of the bills state:
- "Legislators … should keep in mind the financial burden many middle-class families face in paying for private schools."
- “The authors believe that all children from low- and middle-income families should receive public support for their education regardless of whether they are attending a public or private school."
- “The authors do not adjust the amount granted to an ESA [Education Savings Account] student based upon the student's income because states do not adjust the public investment for a student attending a traditional public school or a charter based upon their household income.”
Read more here.
In other words, suburban parents and tax payers need to wake up and look across the road to our cities because what has happened there is headed towards us. It will look slightly different in the burbs and will include weaning our kids off of real, brick and mortar schools with real, highly qualified teachers, in caring environments with their peers. Instead they will try to convince us that our tax dollars should go towards the private or parochial school of our "choice", but those tax dollars will barely put a dent in a private or parochial school tuition and they will KILL our public school systems. They will also try to convince us that our children, especially teens, want to sleep later and therefore will benefit from online learning. I wrote a previous post about the push for cyber/virtual schools here, titled, If I wanted to send my kids to cyber school, I would've.
I can't tell you enough how Isaac Asimov's short story, The Fun They Had, is disturbingly coming to life. Read it and weep. Then start speaking to school board members & school administrators and let them know what you think.
Online learning, AKA Open Campus, Virtual Learning & Cyber School
if anything, should be a parent decision, NOT a state mandate or school district requirement.
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