No surprise here. Just remember folks that when you hear the term “school choice” from Republicans, what they really mean is the public finance of (their) private schools.
U.S. Rep. Mark Green of Green Bay, the Republican candidate for governor, today proposed an education package that would eliminate the 22,500-enrollment cap on Milwaukee’s school choice program and expand the program to all of Milwaukee County.
The program allows children from low-income families to attend private schools using state tax funds. Green also proposed raising the current income limits for families participating in the program.
What Rep. Green really wants is public funding for private schooling, make no mistake about it.
Most people don’t know this, but these ‘choice’ schools are voucher schools that have no accountability at all in terms of what kind of curriculum they teach, how qualified their teachers are, or what – if any – benchmarks they have to prove their students are meeting the same achievement standards that public schools face.
The most disturbing twist on this is that he’s proposing raising the income limits for the programs which would in effect allow middle and upper class families to send their kids to private schools on the publics dime.
It’s been a Republican goal for decades to get the public taxpayer to finance private and parochial schools for their children, and the linguistic vehicles for that goal has been ’school choice’ and ‘No child left behind’. What Rep. Green is proposing here sends a loud and clear message that if he’s elected, he’s going to do everything in his power to not only gut Milwaukee Public Schools but to further blur the line between church and state in Wisconsin.
While affluent Republicans are sure to like his idea, it’s bad for Milwaukee, it’s bad for Milwaukee’s children, and it’s bad for Wisconsin.
I live in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Milwaukee, WI with my wife Jen, our daughter Emerson, and son Carter.
The big problem here is the church/state issue. When parents are allowed to use vouchers to pay for their kids to go to religious schools, the taxpayers are forced to support that religion. Although the Supreme Court has ruled that this is acceptable, as it is an indirect benefit to religion, it clearly goes against the intent of the Framers of the First Amendment, particularly Madison and Jefferson.
How else would upper class parents afford their cottage home on the lake though if the government wasn’t picking up the tab for their kids tuition at St. Rottura Di Iimposta?
I don’t have a problem with the part where parents have more say over what their children are taught, without having to take a big financial hit to do it. (I think the overly rosy view of the historical behaviour of the United States is one of the reasons a lot of people think we are an aboslutely good country and don’t understand why anyone would want to hate us. And if I had kids I would be providing a more balanced view of our history.)
I do think that leaving the public schools as a dumping ground for all problem children is a problem. (This is one of the reasons private schools can look more efficient. They can refuse to accept kids that take a lot of resources to properly support.)
As some of you know, I used to have a more open mind about “school choice” – until I worked in one of them. The fact is that they aren’t held accountable. Until politicians in Madison wake up and force the schools to meet the same academic standards as MPS, enroll all children, and manage their finances appropriately, our students will continue to fail.
If we really want to address the educational crisis in Milwaukee, we’d be asking why more than half of the high school students I taught could barely read. If we are failing in that basic skill, our children will have a tough time with just about everything else in life.
Bruno, I know where you’re coming from but parents DO have a say over what their children are being taught. It starts with being involved in the schools, going to PTA meetings, electing people to the school board who share your values and ideas about education, and finally going to those school board meetings where things like curriculum is being decided!
I am 77 years old, have been a member of a local Lutheran Church that had a school since 1930. My son went to that school, graduated, went onto High School and College, graduated and went to Law School. He died of cancer at 42, leaving a wife and 3 sons, 16, 11, and 5. We have been involved in their lives and today they are 1. A College graduate with a Masters in International Relations, and a Legislative aide to a Congressman, he is now 27, has been in 30 Countries, studied and worked in Egypt, India, Brazil, Ecuador, Ghana, Sierrs Leone and Liberia.
78 percent of the [parents] of the students in Choice are from single parent families.
We have to address the abberation that having kids does not mean that I have to pay for their education.