Re: [Phys-L] Private schools

["LaMontagne, Bob" <RLAMONT@providence.edu>]

You have made this comment about lotteries twice now - and I found it puzzling both times. I suspect we have a different concept of the mechanics of the lottery. Two possible types:

1) All students assigned randomly to any and all schools in the district

2) Students apply for registration at a particular school to their liking and then there is a lottery for that specific school from the applicant pool.

There should, I assume, be different results. Perhaps you even have a different type of lottery in mind?

Bob at PC

________________________________________
From: phys-l-bounces@mail.phys-l.org [phys-l-bounces@mail.phys-l.org] on behalf of ron mcdermott [rmcder@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2012 4:12 PM
To: Phys-L@phys-l.org
Subject: Re: [Phys-L] Private schools

Bob, under this scenario, why have vouchers at all?  Why not just have the
lottery to begin with?  What you're describing is what my district has done
for forty years without needing 'vouchers'.  Again, vouchers may seem
like a good idea until you look closer, and excluding private schools from
consideration would eliminates 95% of the support for vouchers.  There IS
no quick fix that will make everything ok.  We need a change in the way our
society values knowedge, teachers, etc.  We need less poverty which often
results in all KINDS of negative behaviors, both in school and elsewhere.
We need stable families which support their kids' educational efforts.  We
need parents who themselves are educated, and so the cycle goes.

We need SO many things which have nothing to do with what is happening
directly in the schools that influences the 'performance' of them. Who
elects to go into teaching, what their training is, and whether or not they
are unionized is, for the most part irrelevant.  Schools simply can't
parent our kids for us.  They cannot raise them to be respectful,
hardworking, and productive.  They cannot make kids WANT to learn and value
learning.  The majority of that occurs (or not) in the home, community, and
culture.  Dismantling and/or privatizing the public schools isn't an
answer.  Having everyone of means (and influence) abandon them simply makes
it easier to ignore those who remain.

On Wed, Jul 11, 2012 at 2:54 PM, LaMontagne, Bob <RLAMONT@providence.edu>wrote:

> Well, let's take a baby step then. Exclude private schools from the
> voucher system. Give all those who register for public school in a district
> a voucher valued at the average cost of educating a pupil. Let them choose
> which public school in the district they wish to attend. Then reallocate
> resources (expansion, personnel, lab resources, etc.) based on the choices
> made in using the vouchers. Certainly you cannot fill a school beyond its
> capacity, but through use of a lottery in the short term and allocating
> funds in the future based on the way the vouchers were voted, a school
> system that better serves the public's needs and desired should evolve.
>
> Would that be more palatable?
>
> Bob at PC
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