“It’s not important where the money comes from”
Read today's State newspaper for an interesting article about Curtis Brantley, the only member of the Legislative Black Caucus who supports school vouchers.
In addition to the quote above (regarding his 84% out-of-state voucher funding) Brantley offered this gem: "Whether a school is integrated or segregated, if it is effective, why run somewhere else?"
Curtis Brantley, ladies and gentlemen.
7 comments:
Here's a school that proves Rep. Brantley's point: Most students are black. They are poor. And they are scholars
Most black students from poor families would be much better off in a school like this than the school they are in today, regardless of who is sitting next to them in class.
Swamp Fox,
I agree that the taxpayer-funded charter school you mentioned, where teachers are paid 30% more than their nearby peers, is a success story.
If you are contending that "mostly black" = "segregated" or that this has something to do with vouchers, I'm not seeing it.
Swamp Rat's example proves nothing, and you're not going to convince him with logic and common sense.
He's already gone to the Dark Side with the voucher scam.
The way to fix schools for all children is to address the funding problems (all of them), poverty, latent racism and last but certainly not least the shameful standard set by our Legislature for public education: "minimally adequate."
Vouchers do nothing to address the real problems, but they will bring back "separate but equal." We already tried that.
And, they will only leave those who need help the most even further and further behind.
It's hard to understand how voucher scam snake oil salesmen can sleep at night. They probably snore.
Gervais, you’re a great American.
Keep up the good work!
Interesting line in The State article:
Brantley’s support of vouchers helped sweep him into office in November on a flood of out-of-state money, making up as much as 84 percent of his campaign contributions, according to some reports.
"..according to some reports."
Translated, that means that the author did not do his own research, nor did he validate the assertion. The obvious parallel to the columns here last week would lead one to believe that all the author is doing is passing on what he read on a blog.
So much for the "professional journalism" that the anti-blog culture so often acclaims.
"mostly black" does = "segregated" How could it be anything else?
These students only have a high quality option because educational entrepreneurs provided it to them, not because the local school district made high quality education available. Empower students with vouchers, and you will empower more education entrepreneurs to provide more high quality education options.
These entrepreneurs are paying more for teachers because, "the school leaders are convinced that the quality of teachers -- not buildings -- dictates success." They are not spending more money per student to educate them.
How much does it cost to run a KIPP school?
The level of per-pupil funding for KIPP schools varies greatly across the country, due to widely divergent funding allocations at the state and local level.
As primarily public charter schools, KIPP schools typically receive 60 to 90 percent of the operational revenue and none of the capital expenditure revenue of district schools.
It costs additional money than is allocated to operate a KIPP school in order to pay for the extended day, week, and year. KIPP estimates this additional cost at roughly $1,100 to $1,500 per student. This additional money pays for the extended schedule, staff salaries, and annual field trips. For example, KIPP teachers typically earn 15 to 20 percent more in salary than traditional public school teachers for this extra time.
In addition, as primarily charter schools, a majority of KIPP schools incur additional costs in non-core education areas such as facilities and busing, which district schools traditionally do not incur. This also increases the level of per-pupil spending at KIPP.
Since charter schools receive less public dollars than a traditional public school, KIPP spends the same or less per student than most (if not all) urban districts spend on average even with additional fundraising. For example, the KIPP schools in New York City spend less per-pupil educating their students than the average New York City middle school per-pupil expenditures. One of the ways that KIPP schools do this is by being relatively lean on administrative costs.
http://www.kipp.org/01/kippfaq.cfm#07
Swamp Rat, Your zipper's down. You dnever address the real issues facing education. "You people" never do.
All kids should have a "high quality option," and they will if the Legislature ever decides to fix the shameful "minimally adequate" standard, the funding problems and if S.C. ever gets serious about addressing poverty and racism.
As we keep pointing out, the voucher scam will only leave those who need help the most even further behind.
You avoid the problems of fixing the real problems and hold out the candy of vouchers.
Remember, candy rots your teeth.
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