Education: Public education vs. privatization |
Use of accountability standards and educational vouchers to strengthen private at expense of public schools; levels of public support for schools.
1/3/09 IS FURTHER PRIVATIZATION AND MILITARIZATION OF U.S. SCHOOLS, ALONG WITH ACCELERATED EDUCATIONAL APARTHEID, A CHANGE IN EDUCATIONAL POLICY THAT AMERICAN EDUCATORS CAN BELEVE IN? Believe it or not, it may the future of that policy if Obama's selection of Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education is an indication. While No Child Left Behind advocates like Margaret Spellings praise the choice, many Chicago teachers are less sure. This includes an activist in the teachers' union, who campaigned for Obama, who describes for Black Agenda Report a contentious and mostly unreported meeting of teachers with the Chicago Board of Education as the nomination of the city's school chief to the Education post was being considered. http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=944&Itemid=1
INTERNATIONAL
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Analysis & views: 1/16/08 British Charity Commission is requiring "independent" (private) schools to be more open to admission of children from poor families. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/16/nindie116.xml
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NATIONAL
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NEA site on school voucher programs: Rethinking Schools: Large database of articles and views on school vouchers: http://www.rethinkingschools.org/special_reports/voucher_report/index.shtml
Analysis & views: 1/3/09 IS FURTHER PRIVATIZATION AND MILITARIZATION OF U.S. SCHOOLS, ALONG WITH ACCELERATED EDUCATIONAL APARTHEID, A CHANGE IN EDUCATIONAL POLICY THAT AMERICAN EDUCATORS CAN BELEVE IN? Believe it or not, it may the future of that policy if Obama's selection of Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education is an indication. While No Child Left Behind advocates like Margaret Spellings praise the choice, many Chicago teachers are less sure. This includes an activist in the teachers' union, who campaigned for Obama, who describes for Black Agenda Report a contentious and mostly unreported meeting of teachers with the Chicago Board of Education as the nomination of the city's school chief to the Education post was being considered. http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=944&Itemid=1 11/25/08 Superintendent of Miami-Dade school system in Florida says nation's public schools need bailing out by federal treasury. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/786338.html 8/14/08 Economic slump is producing decline in private school enrollments across the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. 5/4/07 Utah's plan to institute a voucher program in support of private education faces obstacles from a court challenge and popular referendum. http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5815558 12/23/06 "If we can't put together a summer school system, then why are we here?" asks a school board member in Missouri as renewal of a contract with a private company providing 70 summer schools in the state is being considered. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/jeffersoncounty/story?OpenDocument 9/22/06 Financial viability of Detroit public schools is threatened by fall-out from a 16-day teachers' strike in which 25,000 students left the system and the schools stand to lose $190 million in public support payments. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060922/SCHOOLS/609220386 4/24/06 Alleged inadequacies of a "voucher school" in Milwaukee highlights doubts about a much-touted privatization plan in Wisconsin: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=418193 3/31/06 Moves in several states to require 65% of educational funding to be spent "in the classroom" is described as right-wing ploy to encourage vouchers and school privitization: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0330-21.htm 3/1/06 Private online colleges get huge boost from Congress: colleges won't have to require that half their credits for graduation be accomplished on-campus: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/01/national/01educ.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 2/11/06 For profit schools under fire in New York state: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FOR_PROFIT_SCHOOLS?SITE= FLTAL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
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FLORIDA:
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Analysis & views: 9/4/08 In Florida, the most important result of the November election may have occurred before the November election: The state's Supreme Court takes out its little ax and cuts down three contentious constitutional amendments referred to the November election by the state's taxation and budget commission. Amendment 5, the "swap" of lowered property taxes for raised sales ones, was knocked down because the Court felt the wording of the amendment obscured for voters exactly the nature of that for which they would be voting. School-related amendments (7 and 9) mandating increased vouchers for private schooling and a percentage of school funding to be used directly in classrooms were rejected on grounds that the commission was using its "taxation and budget" mandate to legislate what they thought were desirable changes in school policy. http://www.gainesville.com/article/20080903/NEWS/809040247/1034&title=Fla__high_court 8/29/08 Many parents whose children attend private schools in south Florida are now finding the tuitions of these school unaffordable in the current economic recession and are sending their children to public schools, creating a crash in the school uniforms business. (They may get some "relief" in the form of continuing efforts for the state to provide tuition vouchers for attendance at private schools. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/schools/sfl-flbpricingout0829sbaug29,0,1902012.story 7/13/08 Puzzle for state educators: FCAT science scores improve even in "failing" schools which are sanctioned on the basis of their students' poor performances on math and reading parts of the test. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2008/07/10/0710scienceed.html 5/28/08 Florida state teacher's union is trying by a lawsuit to stop a November referendum measure to provide voucher funding for private schools. http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/may/28/me-school-voucher-plan-faces-challenge-from-teache/ 5/26/07 Private colleges and universities in Florida are heavily subsidized by state funds and were largely spared the vetoes that Crist exercised against public ones. http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBDIJTJ52F.html 4/14/07 Rallies continue in Tallahassee for public funding of scholarships for students in private schools, a demand now being framed in "civil rights" terms. http://www.floridacapitalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/CAPITOLNEWS/704130351 4/13/07 Advocates for public support of private schooling are lobbying vigorously in Tallahassee. http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/041307/met_9218118.shtml 4/19/06 If at first you don't succeed: State Senate panel clears plan for a constitutional amendment to void State Supreme Court's ruling against Governor Bush's school voucher program: : http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060419/LOCAL/204190333/1078/news 3/30/06 Senate committee passes Governor Bush's plan to expand greatly the use of vouchers for private schooling: http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060330/LOCAL/203300358/1078 3/11/06 Legislators looking for ways to circumvent Florida Supreme Court's decision that vouchers for private school students are un-constitutional: http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060311/CAPITOLNEWS/603110320/1011 2/16/06 GOP lawmakers expecting to propose another constitutional amendment for private school vouchers like one declared unconstitutional by Florida Supreme Court: http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060215/APN/602151014&cachetime=5
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FLORIDA LOCALITIES
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Analysis and views: Lauderhill: 8/16/06 City of Lauderhill FL shuts down a Christian military academy after one of its students dies on a camping trip and investigation shows the school had been operating without proper licensing with suspicion of having received grants for services to disabled students that were never rendered.
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