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Re: [Phys-L] Private schools



A lottery seems like a fine substitute. The intent is to prevent any school from cherry picking.

John Mallinckrodt
Cal Poly Pomona

On Jul 10, 2012, at 4:23 PM, LaMontagne, Bob wrote:

This is pretty close to what those (of us) who favor vouchers think that it should work.

The only thing I might have a minor quibble about is the "first come - first served" idea. That is too easy to manipulate by letting certain people get information before hand and fill up the spots before the general public is informed. I have seen this with our neighborhood schools. You arrive at the registration area at the published time only to find that registration was opened an hour earlier "to make it easier for people to get to work" - and of course only a select few knew that would happen. I would favor a lottery instead.

Bob at PC

I have long toyed with a voucher system that works SOMETHING like this:

Give EVERY parent a voucher worth what we decide as a people we are willing to pay for one year of education at each level. Those vouchers could be accepted ONLY by schools that agree to live by a number of rules including

1) The voucher must be accepted as payment in full.

2) The school must take students on a first come, first served basis and the school must accept a set of strict rules governing expulsion.

3) The school must comply with all federal and state guidelines applicable to public schools (e.g., regarding handicapped students, Title IX, testing, etc.)

In this model, there would be no real distinction between "public" and "voucher-accepting private" schools. All such schools would be in competition, but the intent is to insure that that competition would be carried out on a level playing field.

There are clearly flaws in this model and I would be interested in hearing criticisms and/or suggestions for improvement. (I'm equally sure that there will be criticism based on the whole idea of creating a level playing field, but I'm unlikely to be moved by them!)

John Mallinckrodt
Cal Poly Pomona