Re: [Phys-L] Private schools

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

Why would you not extend it to "anyone"? The idea of a voucher system is that every stakeholder has the ability to vote with their feet. I would assume that every school (public, private, charter, magnet, etc.) would have certain minimum state mandated standards relating to content, number of meeting days, number of contact hours, etc. - but after that I would hope that it is up to the parents to determine where their child is to attempt to attend. Many assume that if vouchers are used then the public schools will empty out and people will send their kids to schools run by cults and the like - sucking up all the money. In reality, most people want to send their kid to a neighborhood school, even if it is not the best school in the system. There are only so many teachers available, and only so many people willing to invest private money in schools that are going to lose money.

I have never understood the argument that all the disciplinary problems and academically untalented will end up back in the public schools. These same kids are in the public schools right now. What happens to them? They either never graduate because they drop out, or they get an "attendance prize" diploma. How would that be different with vouchers? There might be a small redistribution of where these problem kids end up, but it won't be dramatically different. One would need an infinite number of alternative schools for that to happen. Others on the list have described what happens in their own systems when problem students are encountered - I won't rehash that here.

BTW, Deborah Gist, who is superintendent of Providence Schools proposed a three tiered diploma system a few years ago. The lowest tier would have "attended" stamped on the diploma, while the upper would have "distinguished" written on it. That concept was roundly squashed by the teacher union and others who did not want students to graduate with the stigma of a lower tiered diploma. So now they just drop out as they have done in the past.

Bob at PC

> -----Original Message-----
> From: phys-l-bounces@mail.phys-l.org [mailto:phys-l-bounces@mail.phys-
> l.org] On Behalf Of ron mcdermott
> Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2012 2:55 PM
> To: Phys-L@phys-l.org
> Subject: Re: [Phys-L] Private schools
>
> What kind of voucher system would you envision, and how would you run it
> without negatively impacting the public schools financially?  I'm willing to be
> enlightened, but I've been discussing this issue with others for years, and I
> think I've seen ONE system that MIGHT work - IF it remained as limited as it
> was initially.  The main problem with any voucher system is that the goal of
> most supporters is to extend it to ANYONE who wants it, including people
> whose kids are currently in private schools.  Even UNextended, virtually all of
> them will hurt public schools financially.
>
> On Tue, Jul 10, 2012 at 2:03 PM, LaMontagne, Bob
> <RLAMONT@providence.edu>wrote:
>
> > What I am a strong advocate of, however, is the use of vouchers.
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