Public Charter Schools and Accountability

Public Charter Schools and Accountability

Earlier this week, the Brookings Institution released the fifth annual Education Choice and Competition Index, which ranks school choice in the largest school districts in the U.S.

During her address, Secretary of Education Betsy Devos claimed that “parents are the primary point of accountability.” When asked about policies that ensure that schools of choice are actually improving student performance, she answered that “the policies around empowering parents and moving the decision-making to the hands of parents on behalf of children is really the direction we need to go.” She later repeated the idea that transparency and information, coupled with parental choice, equated to accountability.

While it is indeed important to communicate information on school choice, transparency and information are only part of the accountability puzzle. In addition to these components, states also use accountability to ensure that schools that fail to meet academic or financial standards are improved or closed.

This is of particular importance for public charter schools, who have been given the authority to operate independently of school districts and many state rules or regulations. Accountability rules assure that students are learning and that public funds are spent responsibly.

While the accountability measures used for charter schools to demonstrate quality performance vary from state to state, they do exist, and they include more than just reporting information to parents.

Forty-three states had charter school laws in place when we completed this analysis (not including Kentucky, which passed a bill in March 2017 to allow charter schools). We examined four points of accountability within the charter school policies as recorded by the Education Commission of the States: annual reporting, specifications for termination, performance-thresholds, and technical assistance.

Annual Reporting

Most states require charter schools to submit annual reports as a part of their accountability obligations. Some annual reporting requirements include annual report cards, education progress reports, curriculum development, attendance rates, graduation rates, and college admission test scores. Many states that do not require annual reports still require financial reports, which speaks to the other side of accountability, appropriate usage of funds.

  • Some states, such as Washington, require charter schools to provide the same annual school performance reports as non-charter schools.
  • In Ohio, each charter is required to disseminate the state Department of Education’s school report card report to all parents.
  • North Carolina requires its charter schools to publish their report performance ratings, awarded by the State Board of Education, on the internet. If the rating is D or F, the charter school must send written notice to parents. North Carolina also requires specific data reporting related to student reading.

State Specification for Termination

Forty-two states specify the grounds for terminating a charter school, fostering accountability by establishing standards and consequences of failure to adhere to those standards. Failure to demonstrate academic achievement and failure to increase overall school performance are among the terms cited as grounds of termination among some states.

These state specifications for termination do not only apply to performance levels; they can be applied to a violation of any part of the charter law or agreement, such as fraud, failure to meet audit requirements, or failure to meet standards set for basic operations.

State Threshold

In addition to state specifications for termination, some states have set a threshold marking the lowest point where a school can perform before it is closed. Some states without a clearly communicated low-performance threshold have set other standards which specifically mark the lowest point of acceptable performance.

Setting a minimum threshold for performance for the automatic closure of failing schools may increase charter school accountability, and encourage high performance.

State-Provided Technical Assistance

Technical assistance to charter schools included leadership training or mentoring charter school leaders, or assistance with grant and application writing and other paperwork related to charter school operation.

In addition to holding charter schools accountable for high performance, several states offer technical assistance to ensure that charter school administrators understand how requirements are measured, and can be directed to resources to assist them with achieving performance goals, especially if they are at risk of closure due to failing to meet previously established standards.

These are clear displays of school accountability policies that help to ensure that parents have truly good schools from which to schools. Accountability relies not only on information for parents, but also consequences for schools that fail to educate students or use taxpayer dollars responsibly.

Charter Accountability

[1] The following states also require annual financial audits with their annual performance reports: Arkansas, Arizona, DC, Georgia, Hawaii, Oregon, Michigan, Texas, Utah

[2] Utah requires the most comprehensive technical assistance offerings, provided by the state charter school board which includes: assistance with the application and approval process for charter school authorization, locating private funding and support sources, and understanding and implementing charter requirements.

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ESSA Experts Wary of Implementation

ESSA Experts Wary of Implementation

Black Press Partners to Bridge the Gap

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) authorities convened with black publishers from around the country to discuss how to hold states accountable in assuring equity to its most vulnerable students.

During the 190th anniversary of the Black Press, the National Newspapers Publishers Association (NNPA) with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation held a breakfast on Friday, March 24, at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Northwest to strategize against those who threaten to pigeonhole the federal education law.

“We have to continue to press our federal rights,” said Hilary O. Shelton, director of NAACP’s Washington bureau. “The new ESSA law does not have the same robust implementation that we’ve had before. What this means is that we still have to work hard to make sure the plan is right.

“But it’s not right if we’re not pushing the government to make sure they come up with the resources that we need,” he said. “They have more flexibility than ever before to undercut a lot of the gains that we have made even with the last three authorizations.”

Hilary O. Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington Bureau, speaks during a March 24 breakfast held by the National Newspapers Publishers Association (NNPA) at the Dupont Circle Hotel in northwest D.C. during the celebration of the 190th anniversary of the Black Press to discuss implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act. (Roy Lewis/The Washington Informer)

Hilary O. Shelton, director of the NAACP’s Washington Bureau, speaks during a March 24 breakfast held by the National Newspapers Publishers Association (NNPA) at the Dupont Circle Hotel in northwest D.C. during the celebration of the 190th anniversary of the Black Press to discuss implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act. (Roy Lewis/The Washington Informer)

Shelton said the NAACP is deeply worried about new Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and how “our children” will be affected. He challenged the black and Hispanic publishers in the room to do diligent reporting, bringing the facts to its communities.

“You have to find out what your schools are in putting in their implementation plans before they are submitted to the Department of Education,” Shelton said. “Being able to report what that looks like before the implementation deadline day on April 3 is key.

“See exactly what officials in your local area have in store for our students,” he said. “I’d like to encourage you to monitor all that goes on along those lines. We’ve seen the tricks that get played throughout the country. We would like your stories to show what’s going on, on the ground so we can know what fight we have here in Washington, D.C.”

Susie Saavedra, senior director for policy and legislative affairs for the National Urban League’s Washington bureau, stressed how important ESSA is to communities of color.

“Education for the Urban League is the key to economic power and self sufficiency,” she said. “During the past few years we’ve been very engaged in education advocacy work through the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

“You might wonder what role do civil rights organizations play in this space, but for the Urban League it’s the heart of our mission,” Saavedra said. “We serve communities that are underserved in today’s public school system. The demographics have shifted as we know — the majority is kids of color and kids that live in poverty.”

Kristen Amundson, president and CEO of the National State Board of Education, said that when President Lyndon B. Johnson first signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the goal had been to promote equity and equality.

“Now we have the passage of ESSA and a great deal of that power and authority is coming back to states,” Amundson said. “When I tell you that it is states that is going to have to be protectors of equity and equality I understand that is a big ask.

“The part about the legislation that is going to be so essential is the stakeholder engagement,” she said. “It spells out groups that needs to be involved in the implementation of states plans including State Boards of Education members and civil rights organizations.”

Amundson said that states are, more or less, doing that, though some of them have done better than others.

“Now next month states are going to file their plans,” she said. “The real question is going to become is the stakeholder engagement one and done, or is this going to become a set way states do business. My argument is [that] it has to become engrained in everything you do. If parents, teachers and civil rights organizations are at the table, they will hold schools accountable.”

Amundson said a simple way for anyone with a vested interest to engage lawmakers is to demand a seat at the table.

“This is not the prom — don’t wait to be asked,” she said.

Paraprofessionals Come Together to Fight the Stigma of Mental Illness

Paraprofessionals Come Together to Fight the Stigma of Mental Illness

Too often, students with mental health problems suffer alone. Their struggle with eating disorders, substance abuse, disruptive behavior, anxiety, or depression is in many cases cloaked in silence.

“Because of a stigma attached to mental illness, people are afraid to even discuss it much less ask for help,” says Shannon Fuller, president of the Keene Paraprofessionals Association (KPA) in New Hampshire. This was not something KPA members were willing to allow in their school district or community.

“Our students don’t choose to have mental health problems,” says Fuller, who has been a paraeducator for 18 years, the last four at Symonds Elementary School. “We had to do something.”

Last November, after only eight months since voting to unionize and begin contract negotiations with Keene School District, KPA members won an NEA grant to provide training for 20 members in mental health first aid.

“It’s our first big project as a union,” Fuller says. Union members settled their first contract March 14 with the support of not only the school board but also local voters. In New Hampshire, K-12 public education employee collective bargaining agreements must be approved by union members, board trustees, and citizens. Voters approved the KPA bargaining agreement 254 to 57.

“Paraprofessionals work one on one and in small groups with students,” says Fuller. “We are in a unique position to detect the warning signs and possibly intervene when students are experiencing mental health challenges.”

Fuller and 19 other KPA members recently graduated from the Mental Health First Aid USA public education program coordinated by the Office of Student Wellness Bureau of Special Education, New Hampshire Department of Education.

While participants do not provide therapy or diagnosis involving mental health issues, they learn to listen non-judgmentally, give reassurance and information, encourage professional help
 and self-help, and assess for the risk of suicide. The curriculum primarily focuses on support strategies that participants can use to help adolescents and transition youth, ages 12 to 18.

“By expanding the number of adults who are certified in mental health first aid, the district will be able to support students and in the long term improve academic outcomes,” says Kelly Untiet, communications coordinator of the wellness bureau. “By broadening knowledge beyond school counselors and nurses, we are able to use a common language amongst all adults who come into contact with students.”

Untiet says there are tremendous short- and long-term benefits to students, teachers, and parents when schools focus on students’ mental and behavioral health.

“We have seen consistent reductions in office discipline referrals, increased time in the classroom, improved school culture and climate, stronger relationships between families and schools … the list could go on and on,” she says. “By being deliberate and strategic in their approach, schools and their communities produce better results for students, and when that happens we all benefit.”

Connecting with Keene

KPA, which represents approximately 85 paraprofessionals, recently sponsored a community event for the benefit of all Keene residents. After months of planning and coordination with the Keene State Initiative American Democracy Project, KPA members in March sponsored a speech by Judge John Broderick at Keene State College. The judge addressed his personal and family experience with mental illness. Members also invited a dozen mental health care providers and other vendors to set up information booths at the college’s student center.

“We had a variety of Keene community members in attendance,” says KPA Secretary Tammy Judd, a paraprofessional at Fuller Elementary School. “They wanted to find out about services in our area and, I think, feel like they are not alone.”

Almost 150 students, parents, educators, business and government workers turned out for the event. It was billed as the first of several “family nights” that KPA members have planned for the year.

“We sent out flyers across town and talked it up on TV and Facebook,” says Judd. “Based on some of the conversations I had, there were people from support groups who have a child or loved one who’s coping with addiction problems. They learned where to find help.”

Symonds school tutor Tammy Kuraner said vendors were sensitive to the stigma of mental health problems and offered pamphlets, bookmarks, and other literature attendees could discreetly slide into their purses and pockets.

“Some of the handouts had a suicide line and address printed on them,” Kuraner says. “There is such a stigma to suicide and mental illness parents might not want anyone assuming their child suffers from it.”

The vendors, she says, “respected your privacy and made you feel safe. They weren’t judging you or pushing themselves on you. There’s never been an event like this in our community that I’m aware of.”

People “Get Who We Are” Now

Before Keene paraprofessionals voted to join NEA-New Hampshire and settled their three-year contract, Judd says she sometimes felt like a “glorified babysitter.” Not anymore.

“We now have a sense of unity and recognition for the job we do,” she says. “We are finally being acknowledged for our contributions to the overall education team.”

Judd says administrators now seem to listen more intently to paras and to support their need for professional development.

“There was money available for us for this purpose before the contract was signed, but nothing seemed to happen with it,” she says. “A line of communication and respect has been established.”

In addition to increased opportunities for training, the para contract stipulates that their 11 holidays are now considered flextime and can be spread out over the school year beyond the traditional Christmas and spring break periods. While members will now pay more in health care co-payments and medication costs, they retained the same overall percentage cost of 17 percent for care over the next three years.

“Our first contact shows how much the public support us,” says Fuller. “People now seem to get who we are and what we do.”

Alyssa Zalaski has a daughter and son in the third and first grades, respectively. She says she is relieved that the paras now have a contract that provides benefits and job security.

“They truly care about students and the work they do,” she says. “I take great comfort knowing that people like this are interacting with my children and others on a daily basis.”

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Survey: Plurality of Teachers Nationwide Say ESSA Is ‘Just Another Initiative’

Survey: Plurality of Teachers Nationwide Say ESSA Is ‘Just Another Initiative’

A national survey of teachers finds that a plurality believe that the Every Student Succeeds Act won’t ultimately help schools, while a majority don’t think state education agencies have sought enough input from teachers in developing their state ESSA plans.

The survey was commissioned by Educators for Higher Standards, a project of the Collaborative for Student Success (which has advocated on behalf of the Common Core State Standards and aligned assessments), and released on Wednesday. It also found that teachers have mixed views on whether states will ultimately make big changes thanks to ESSA, as well as whether ESSA’s increased flexibility for districts will create improved conditions for educators. And in general, teachers said they are pessimistic about the general direction of the nation’s public schools.

The Educators for Higher Standards polled 800 teachers, and broke out separate results for “teacher advocacy leaders” who are engaged in education advocacy work. The survey also asked the general public certain questions about education. On a few key questions, those educators involved in educators expressed more optimism about what could happen under ESSA…

Read the full article here. May require an Education Week subscription.

DeVos Compares School Choice Fight to Uber vs. Taxis; Decries State of Test Scores

DeVos Compares School Choice Fight to Uber vs. Taxis; Decries State of Test Scores

At a Tuesday event hosted by the Brookings Institution’s Center on Children and Families, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos in a speech compared the response of the education establishment to taxi services undercut by services like Uber and Lyft.

“Just like the traditional taxi service revolted against ride-sharing, so too does the education establishment feel threatened by the rise of school choice,” DeVos said. (It’s not the first time she’s raised Uber in the context of educational innovation, or the lack thereof.)

But in a subsequent discussion Brookings’ Grover J. “Russ” Whitehurst asked DeVos whether she was concerned that if school choice expansion is implemented badly it could actually hurt educational outcomes…

Read the full article here. May require an Education Week subscription.

Could Betsy DeVos Reject a State’s ESSA Plan for Not Embracing Choice? No.

Could Betsy DeVos Reject a State’s ESSA Plan for Not Embracing Choice? No.

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos told an audience at the Brookings Institution Wednesday that she wouldn’t necessarily approve every state’s plan for the Every Student Succeeds Act right off the bat. And at the same event, she continued to push her favorite policy: school choice.

DeVos didn’t say specifically that states would have to embrace choice in their plans in order to pass muster with the department. But the juxtaposition still had some folks nervous, including Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who told Politico that she hopes DeVos “clarifies her comments and makes it clear that she does not plan to threaten states or hold their proposals hostage unless they conform to her privatization agenda.”

So, could DeVos legally reject a state’s plan because it didn’t include choice, even if she wanted to?

Short answer: No. That would be a violation of ESSA.

Longer answer: Both Democrats and Republicans who worked on ESSA say doing that would violate the long, long list of prohibitions on the Education Department’s authority in the law, one of which says the secretary can’t tell states what kinds of interventions they can or can’t use with their lowest-performing schools.

To be sure, there are definitely parts of ESSA that choice lovin’ states and districts can get excited about. The law allows states to set aside Title I money for course choice, free tutoring, and public school choice. It permits states and districts to offer public school choice to students in struggling schools, or turn low-performing schools into charters or magnets. And it gives 50 districts the chance to try out a weighted student funding pilot. The pilot could smooth the way for choice programs in districts that are interested in creating them, but doesn’t have to be used for choice.

Importantly, though, all those things are totally and completely optional.

DeVos can use her megaphone as education secretary to draw attention to the parts of ESSA that states and districts that are gung-ho on choice can use to their advantage. But she can’t reject a state’s application if they say thanks-but-no-thanks to setting aside some Title I funds for course choice.

“She can cajole, plead, request, etc. but she cannot require,” said a Senate GOP aide who worked on ESSA.

And that interpretation is bipartisan. Anne Hyslop, a former Obama administration official who worked on ESSA and is now at Chiefs for Change, tweeted something pretty similar.

Hyslop also pointed out that the word “choice” doesn’t even appear in the ESSA application template the Trump administration released this month:

Photo: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos talks with Russ Whitehurst, senior fellow in the Center on Children and Families in the Economic Studies program at the Brookings Institution, on March 29 in Washington.

— Maria Danilova/AP


Source: Education Week Politics K-12

Trump Wants to Scrap After-School Funding. Here’s What That Would Mean.

Trump Wants to Scrap After-School Funding. Here’s What That Would Mean.

President Donald Trump’s proposed budget seeks to slash the biggest federal investment in after-school programs and summer learning€”-the $1.1 billion 21st Century Community Learning Center program. The Trump administration argues the program is not very effective, but some advocates and educators beg to differ.

So is the program working? What would happen if the money went away?

Here’s a look at the program and what it offers:

What is the 21st Century Community Learning Center Program?

The program, which has been around since the early 1990’s, distributes money by formula to states to cover the cost of after school…

Read the full article here. May require an Education Week subscription.

OPINION: Destroying public education

OPINION: Destroying public education

End of public schools and school breakfast and lunch.

The school voucher system proposed by Education secretary Betsy DeVos does not mean you can choose any school you want your kid to go to. It means the public education program will be dismantled.

If your child has an IEP (individual education plan for students with special needs), kiss it goodbye.

If you have a job in special-education, if you’re a special education teacher, physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech pathologist, a para, a teacher’s aid, or an ESL (English as a second language) teacher, you’ll go first.

House Bill 610 makes some large changes. Inform yourselves. This bill will effectively start the school voucher system to be used by children ages 5-17 and starts the defunding process of public schools. The bill will eliminate the Elementary and Education Act of 1965, which is the nation’s educational law that provides equal opportunity in education. ESSA is a big comprehensive program that covers programs for struggling learners, advanced and gifted kids in AP classes, ESL classes, classes for minorities such as Native Americans, Rural Education, Education for the Homeless, School Safety (Gun-Free schools), Monitoring and Compliance, and Federal Accountability Programs.

The Bill also abolishes the Nutritional Act of 2012 (No Hungry Kids Act) which provides nutritional standards in school breakfast and lunch.

The bill has no wording whatsoever protecting Special Needs kids, no mention of IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), and FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education). Some things ESSA does for Children with Disabilities:

  • Ensures access to the general education curriculum.
  • Ensures access to accommodations on assessments.
  • Ensures concepts of Universal Design for Learning.
  • Includes provisions that require local education agencies to provide evidence-based interventions in schools with consistently underperforming subgroups.
  • Requires states in Title I plans to address how they will improve conditions for learning including reducing incidents of bullying and harassment in schools, overuse of discipline practices and reduce the use of aversive behavioral interventions (such as restraints and seclusion).

Please call your representative and ask him/her to vote NO on House Bill 610 (HR 610) introduced by three Republican reps.

At-Risk Education Advocates Honored

At-Risk Education Advocates Honored

The Wisconsin Chapter of the National At-Risk Education Network hosted their 14th annual “Reclaiming the Dream Conference” on February 9-10, 2017. The conference focused on providing professional development, networking, and problem solving to ensure at-risk youth are college and career ready.

During the conference, the group honored the following educators and the role they play as advocates for all children:

  • Julie Rehfeldt, a social worker for the Fond du Lac School District. Ms. Rehfeld received the statewide award, which is given to a champion for children that has made a significant contribution to improving the lives of at-risk children through education.
  • Tina Goecks, the principal for Beloit School District’s Learning Academy and the Roy Chapman Andrews Academy received the south central regional award.
  • Anna Bergeron, a social worker at Dr. Rosa Minoka-Hill School in Green Bay received the northeast region award.
  • Linda Zimmer, a paraprofessional at Northland Pines’ Phoenix Center for over 12 years won the north central region award.
  • Kim Hoffman, an instructor and past president of the board of directors was awarded for her 12 years of service.

What is the Wisconsin Chapter of NAREN?

The Wisconsin Chapter of the National At-Risk Education Network (NAREN) is a non-profit educational agency dedicated to both promoting the success of at-risk youth in our schools and supporting the educators who work on their behalf. For more information about ways the organization is improving services for at-risk youth, visit http://narenwich.org/.

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School Vouchers’ Dismal Record of Failure Comes Into Focus

School Vouchers’ Dismal Record of Failure Comes Into Focus

How school vouchers fail studentsAny lingering questions over how aggressively the Trump administration was going to pursue school privatization were answered on March 16 with the release of its FY2018-19 budget proposal. If approved by Congress, federal education programs will be slashed across the board, all to pay for an initial down payment of $1.4 billion this fiscal year on a national expansion of private school voucher programs. The eventual price tag for the program will be $20 billion annually.

It doesn’t matter how their proponents try to disguise them – education savings accounts, tuition tax credits, opportunity scholarships – vouchers are destructive and misguided schemes that use taxpayer dollars to “experiment with our children’s education without any evidence of real, lasting positive results,” says NEA President Lily Eskelsen García,

That was also the consensus of a panel of experts who convened recently at the Center for American Progress (CAP), a progressive think tank based in Washington D.C, to explore the implications of the Trump-DeVos privatization agenda. The discussion focused on three ways school vouchers pose a danger to the nation’s most vulnerable students, which were identified by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) in a memo to her Senate colleagues and summarized in her keynote remarks.

Vouchers Help Private Schools Skirt Accountability and Transparency

Strong accountability measures help prevent students from falling through the cracks.  “We fly blind without the information we need to make sure our students are succeeding,” said Murray. “We strive to make accountability as effective as possible. ‘Unfortunately that system breaks down completely when it comes to public money going to private schools.”

Unlike public schools, private schools have almost complete autonomy with regard to how they operate: who they teach, what they teach, how they teach, how — if at all — they measure student achievement, how they manage their finances, and what they are required to disclose to parents and the public.

In addition to the financial fraud and abuse that some voucher programs have generated, students in these programs often end up doing worse academically. “We’ve seen real negative impacts on achievement,” said Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach of the Brookings Institution.  Recent evaluations of voucher programs in Indiana, Louisiana and Ohio found that students attending private schools on a voucher scored worse than their public school counterparts on reading and math assessments.

Vouchers Fund Discrimination

Anna Caudill, a parent of a special needs child in Tennessee, told the CAP audience that vouchers do give students a choice: “You can trade your child’s federally-protected civil rights under the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for a one-time monetary amount to pay for private school tuition.”

After her son fell too far behind academically in public school, Caudill looked for another option. Her family was offered an “Individualized Education Account,” the state’s version of a voucher. The Caudills would have received  $6,300 – as long as their son waived his rights under IDEA. They also would have had to re-enroll annually with no guarantees they would receive the same amount. And even with the voucher, Caudill’s family still wouldn’t have been able to afford full-time private school instruction.

The best solution is for Congress to fully fund IDEA. Caudill said.  “I believe in public schools. I believe that general and special education teachers with support from their districts and their states are the best equipped professionals to address the unique learning needs of students with disabilities.”

Neena Chaudhry, Director of Education and Senior Counsel at the National Women’s Law Center pointed out that vouchers use taxpayer dollars to discriminate against many other vulnerable groups. “We see this regarding LGBT students and students of color especially,” Chaudhry said.

Some voucher-funded, private religious schools in the South, for example, have explicitly anti-gay policies. And a recent study from the Century Foundation found that voucher programs actually increase racial segregation. Some states have expanded eligibility to include more higher-income families, who are more likely to be able to take advantage of the voucher. “Vouchers can be used as tools of white flight,” Chaudhry explained.

Accountability is critical because “allowing private schools to operate in the dark will only exacerbate these problems.” Even under a new national voucher program, states can find ways to skirt federal civil rights protections. In fact, Chaudhry warned, members of Congress may design the legislation to make that easier.

Vouchers Leave Communities and Students Behind

In many remote areas of the country, private schools are simply not an option. An expansion of vouchers nationwide, Senator Murray said, could “devastate rural schools.” She cited the example of the tiny community of Plevna, Montana, where the closest non-boarding private achool is 240 miles away. “If funding is diverted to private schools, not only would the school in Plevna sever, its students wouldn’t even be able to access the private school that are receiving public funds,” Murray explained.

A new CAP analysis on vouchers found that there 9,000 “sparse” school districts (five or fewer schools) that would be decimated by a national voucher program. The ability of an additional 2200 “average” districts (5-8 schools) to serve all its students would be seriously undermined. Together, “sparse” and “average” districts constitute roughly 85% of the nation’s regular school districts.

Cassia County School District in south central Idaho has 17 schools but is still located in a remote area. “Our biggest challenge is funding,” said Superintendent Gaylen Smyer, “We have a hard time finding qualified teachers. and bringing in new opportunities for students so they can compete after they graduate. Vouchers are not going to help. If anything, I think they would just undermine our public schools.”

Is there a demand for vouchers in Idaho? “I’m not seeing it,” Smyer said. “Geographic distances pose a challenge for private schools to be set up and parents aren’t willing to transport their children a long way to a private school. So there’s no demand for vouchers in south central Idaho. Our focus is on improving all schools for all our students.”

Senator Murray calls the Trump-DeVos privatization agenda a “false choice,” because it leaves out the best option for students: strong, well-funded public schools in their own neighborhood. “Public schools by definition are open and inclusionary and many students thrive in their neighborhood schools,” Murray said.

But the federal government must make the proper investments and “ensure that the states are creating strong accountability and improvement mechanisms so that groups of students previously denied access to an equitable education do not fall through the cracks once again.”

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Take Action: Oppose private school vouchers. Tell Congress to invest in strong and inclusive public schools that ensure all students have the opportunity to succeed, regardless of ZIP code.

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