‘What passes for acceptable school choice rhetoric is frightening’
Supporters of charter schools rally at the Legislative Office Building on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016, in Albany, N.Y. Speakers at the rally said they’ll push lawmakers to increase funding for charters. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
This past week was School Choice Week with no less than 16,140 events held across all 50 states, according to the School Choice Week websites. They took place in 13,224 schools, with 1,012 chambers of commerce and 808 homeschooling groups staging events too. Twenty seven governors and more than 200 mayors/county leaders issuing proclamations to recognize School Choice Week, and, to top it off, there were rallies and special events at 20 state house buildings.
What is the purpose of the week? According to the website, to shine “a positive spotlight on effective education options for every child.” (Of course School Choice Week wouldn’t want to shine a spotlight on the many problems with school choice, including poorly operated charter schools and voucher programs that allow kids to go to sub-par schools.)
School choice proponents say that charter schools (including ones run by for-profit companies) offer parents important options for their children’s education and that traditional public schools have failed in many places. School choice opponents say that school choice is aimed at privatizing the public education system and that many of the choices being offered are not well-regulated, sometimes discriminatory and siphon funding away from local school districts.
So many activities need support, obviously, and School Choice Week had scores of educational, philanthropic, faith-based, school-based, business and other partners, as you can see here, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Walton Family Foundation, the Florida Department of Education, Harold Ford Jr. (as an individual), American Federation for Children, Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education, Democrats for Education Reform, Choice Media,and StudentsFirst.
The Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota in ‘What passes for acceptable school choice rhetoric is frightening’ - The Washington Post:
National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) Group: 1 in 5 charter schools not doing well enough to stay open
A group that oversees more than half of the nation's 5,600 charter schools said as many as one in five U.S. charter schools should be shut down because of poor academic performance.
http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2019784379_charterschools29.htmlBig Education Ape: Got Choice? Ubetcha! - ALL The RIGHT People Celebrate National School Choice Week http://bit.ly/1z2lai7