Conveyor Belt Schooling
The good news out of Louisiana this morning--via The Advocate, in Baton Rouge--is that state auditors have ordered a legislative oversight committee to review operations and fiscal records of LA charter schools. A growing series of red flags over NOLA-area charters have been raised, causing State Senator Ed Murray to note that "more and more of these issues [are] cropping up, not only with the finances but with performance as well."
A charter allows local groups to establish schools with taxpayer dollars but without the oversight of regularly elected school boards.So what happens when public funding is used to educate kids, without democratically elected oversight? Answer: Take a look at southern Louisiana. The article references all kinds of unpleasant allegations, beginning with sexual abuse, and includes a semi-frantic quote from the LA Department of Ed, fretting about what will
Let Them Eat P.I.E.
In the end, it's about crayons.
How many crayons does my child get? And how many do other children deserve, once my child gets all the colors he needs and wants--preferably in that spiffy box with the built-in sharpener?
From a thought-provoking blog at Learning First Alliance, about efforts to integrate Omaha Public Schools and make resource distribution more equitable:
Harvard sociologist William Julius Wilson, in The Truly Disadvantaged, makes the salient point that the seemingly intractable problems of the "ghetto underclass" (his phrase) can only be addressed by creating and emphasizing programs in which everyone--including advantaged groups--can participate and also benefit.
How many crayons does my child get? And how many do other children deserve, once my child gets all the colors he needs and wants--preferably in that spiffy box with the built-in sharpener?
From a thought-provoking blog at Learning First Alliance, about efforts to integrate Omaha Public Schools and make resource distribution more equitable:
Anecdote relayed by an OPS lawyer in conversation with a mother from a wealthier district: "If I understood correctly, you're telling me that my child has 10 crayons and these kids have no crayons. And you want us to give some of our crayons to those kids. Now that's probably fair. But as a parent, I'm never going to get behind anything that takes away my child's crayons."
Harvard sociologist William Julius Wilson, in The Truly Disadvantaged, makes the salient point that the seemingly intractable problems of the "ghetto underclass" (his phrase) can only be addressed by creating and emphasizing programs in which everyone--including advantaged groups--can participate and also benefit.