NC Policy WatchRob Schofield, blogging over at NC Policy Watch’s “Progressive Pulse,” tars the charter school sector with words like “profit,” “greed,” “unregulated,” and “scam artists” in a piece about a single failing charter school run by someone who may, in fact, be a crook. But that isn’t where his post falls to pieces. No, that happens in the conclusion:
Sure, that system [traditional public schools] is imperfect, frequently bureaucratic and always in need of improvement. But as our ancestors learned many decades ago, it is, like democracy itself, far better than anything anyone has yet come up with for assuring that all children in our society have at least an opportunity to succeed.
So the current system is the best we can do? Maybe NC Policy Watch should get credit for at least acknowledging flaws. But making sweeping, negative generalizations about promising reforms like charter schools without offering meaningful solutions of its own sure doesn’t elevate the debate.
The Alabama teachers union is suing to stop the Alabama Accountability Act, the law that created the state’s tax credit scholarship program. In a recent report on the lawsuit, the Associated Press in Alabama never calls the program a voucher. In fact, it notes that tax credit scholarships are a different animal:
Unlike a voucher, in which parents get a check from the state, the program gives income tax credits -- a dollar-for-dollar reduction on your tax bill -- that people and corporations can claim when filing their state income taxes. Parents with children in a school designated as failing can get a tax credit to help move their child to a private school. Individuals and corporations can get tax credits, collectively capped at $25 million, for donations to scholarships to help low-income families pay for private school.
The distinction may seem small to some, but it has huge legal implications. So much, in fact, that the teachers union in Florida is resting its case on public confusion between the terms. I can’t help but wonder how much less confusion there’d be if the Florida press took a page from its Alabama counterparts.
School choice, even if it is limited to only public schools, is supposed to alleviate some of the inequality that comes with zoning kids to schools based on their zip codes. To that end, Wisconsin created a limited open enrollment policy that at least allows parents to choose public schools outside of their own school district. More than 30,000 children took advantage of the program last year, but all is not well. That same year, more than 1,000 students with special needs were denied transfer requests.
Why? According to the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, state law allows districts to deny transfer requests if the student is disabled. Let’s repeat that so it sinks in: public schools in Wisconsin are allegedly denying admissions to students BECAUSE they have a disability. No wonder the institute is suing.
