When my son was in 7th grade he was on a class trip to DC and the class met with then Senator Corzine. He asked why Democrats were against vouchers as the vouchers would take less money from the public schools than was budgeted for each student. Corzine explained that it was hard math to explain why he was against it. This from a former Goldman executive. I always wondered was the math to hard for him or my son because my son understood the math.
It is all about power. Union power to mulct the taxpayers. Power to support politicians (Democrats) who will negotiate in favor of their supporters rather than the public interest.
I think it's more about union control than ideology. This fight had been going on for years when my daughter graduated from high school in 2004. She has a high IQ (130) and ADHD. Public school had no idea how to handle her so we switched her to a private school from 3rd grade through 8th grade. Vouchers were just being proposed. I remember thinking that it would help us a lot if the money we paid for schooling in general could be applied to educating our daughter rather than going to a system that failed her.
The private school only went through middle-school so we gave public schools a chance again. Our daughter entered a lottery and was accepted into the top-rated high school in the system.
It was a disaster. The school refused to make any allowances for ADHD students (even though required to by law). One of her teachers questioned if ADHD even exists. She failed three classes in 10th grade and had to take summer school. Two of those classes were taught by the teacher who didn't believe in ADHD. The summer school teachers wondered why she was there since she already knew the material.
By that point Ohio had established Charter Schools. They are state-funded with a more limited budget than the public schools get. My daughter did well at one of these and graduated on time.
When we first talked with the charter school about enrolling her we asked about ADHD. They laughed and said, "We understand that. The computer teacher is ADHD." Later he told us that our daughter was the first student he'd had who actually "got" what he was teaching.
Anyway, the schools were making the same arguments against vouchers and charter schools in the 1990s that they make today. There was some indoctrination going on but nothing like what we see today. And every now and then they'd let it slip that it was all about unions. Charter schools and most private schools that accept vouchers are not unionized and the NEA is a major force in the Democratic Party. They control US education policy. It was the NEA that decided to keep US schools closed for COVID a year after everyone country in the world had opened its schools.
It's also about the teacher- certification racket. I believe charter schools can elect not to require certification. Teacher certification programs area big part of the problem.
I like to do a little math. In a lot of systems, they spend upwards of $20k per student and have 20 students per class (back in my day, we had 30). 20$ x 20 students = $400,000 per classroom.
1 full time teacher at $100k/year + 50% other compensation = $150k
1 assistant at $65k + 50% = $98k
That leaves over $150k for everything else: library, gym, science, music, building maintenance, books and pencils, etc. If money made for great education, our schools should be amazing exemplars of learning and studied around the world for their efficacy. Instead, we have created a population that have diplomas, but can't read above the 6th grade level.
When my son was in 7th grade he was on a class trip to DC and the class met with then Senator Corzine. He asked why Democrats were against vouchers as the vouchers would take less money from the public schools than was budgeted for each student. Corzine explained that it was hard math to explain why he was against it. This from a former Goldman executive. I always wondered was the math to hard for him or my son because my son understood the math.
The math is the amount of money that the NEA contributes to the Democrats.
It is all about power. Union power to mulct the taxpayers. Power to support politicians (Democrats) who will negotiate in favor of their supporters rather than the public interest.
I think it's more about union control than ideology. This fight had been going on for years when my daughter graduated from high school in 2004. She has a high IQ (130) and ADHD. Public school had no idea how to handle her so we switched her to a private school from 3rd grade through 8th grade. Vouchers were just being proposed. I remember thinking that it would help us a lot if the money we paid for schooling in general could be applied to educating our daughter rather than going to a system that failed her.
The private school only went through middle-school so we gave public schools a chance again. Our daughter entered a lottery and was accepted into the top-rated high school in the system.
It was a disaster. The school refused to make any allowances for ADHD students (even though required to by law). One of her teachers questioned if ADHD even exists. She failed three classes in 10th grade and had to take summer school. Two of those classes were taught by the teacher who didn't believe in ADHD. The summer school teachers wondered why she was there since she already knew the material.
By that point Ohio had established Charter Schools. They are state-funded with a more limited budget than the public schools get. My daughter did well at one of these and graduated on time.
When we first talked with the charter school about enrolling her we asked about ADHD. They laughed and said, "We understand that. The computer teacher is ADHD." Later he told us that our daughter was the first student he'd had who actually "got" what he was teaching.
Anyway, the schools were making the same arguments against vouchers and charter schools in the 1990s that they make today. There was some indoctrination going on but nothing like what we see today. And every now and then they'd let it slip that it was all about unions. Charter schools and most private schools that accept vouchers are not unionized and the NEA is a major force in the Democratic Party. They control US education policy. It was the NEA that decided to keep US schools closed for COVID a year after everyone country in the world had opened its schools.
It's also about the teacher- certification racket. I believe charter schools can elect not to require certification. Teacher certification programs area big part of the problem.
I like to do a little math. In a lot of systems, they spend upwards of $20k per student and have 20 students per class (back in my day, we had 30). 20$ x 20 students = $400,000 per classroom.
1 full time teacher at $100k/year + 50% other compensation = $150k
1 assistant at $65k + 50% = $98k
That leaves over $150k for everything else: library, gym, science, music, building maintenance, books and pencils, etc. If money made for great education, our schools should be amazing exemplars of learning and studied around the world for their efficacy. Instead, we have created a population that have diplomas, but can't read above the 6th grade level.