A crippling education
This morning's City Paper wastes ink and trees and tells us the MNPS School Board opposes vouchers. That's not news. It's more of the same protectionism that is expected from a school board that is all too unwilling to hold 'the professionals' accountable.
According to the story Stacy Campfield's (R-Knoxville) legislation (HB2687) will 'cripple' the system.
What has seriously crippled the public school system is its monopoly status. What has crippled the system is its inability to meet the diverse needs of the students. What has crippled the system is its inability to actually empower parents and aid them in finding the right educational services for their child's needs.
Lisa Hunt, a school board member, said the nine-member body opposes vouchers that allow public school monies to go to private schools.
“Right now, Tennessee is one of the states with the lowest funding for public education, and allowing vouchers would seriously cripple our system,” Hunt said.
This legislation doesn't kick in until the public school system fails. If they'd get their act together they wouldn't need to be concerned about losing students and funding.
and here's an interesting 'coincidence':
The board’s effort comes on the heels of the Tennessee Education Association (TEA) and the Metro Nashville Education Association (MNEA) denouncing the proposed legislation.The MNPS got their marching orders and complied.
I wouldn't have thought that the 'crippled' quote could be topped but School Board Member Marsha Warden managed to do it.
“Our school system provides ample choices for our families to find schools in our district that meet their academic and philosophical needs,” she said. “And there is really no need to move unless your inherent belief is that private schools are just better.”If the system provided 'ample' choice we wouldn't have the abundance of private schools in this area that we do. As it is those private schools are flourishing, expanding and have long waiting lists.
Interestingly, both of these women are NOT up for election this year. I suppose that's why they were willing to be quoted.
Rep. Campfield--This school board does not speak for me. Please, continue in your efforts to ensure that children and their parents have ample choice regarding the education of their children.
4 comments:
You will notice that Rev. Hunt mentions that TENNESSEE has low expenditure per student. I thought she was on the NASHVILLE School Board. I think the reason Nashville is so afraid of vouchers is because Nashville's Spending Per Student is actually HIGHER than some private school's tuitions in Nashville. How could they keep the boat afloat if parents realized that they could send their children to a private school [with voucher] for no cost. They know what would happen if MNPS had to compete in that environment!
Great point!
It's very informative to read through the annual Private School supplement of Nashville Parent Magazine every spring and see just what those private schools are charging for tuition. If they can do it for so much less--something is really wrong.
One of the reasons the private schools can do it for so much less is that the school board's cost accounting makes Enron's look like a paragon of virtue by comparison. The cost per pupil is a meaningless average of "mainstreaming" costs, ESL, propagandistic "diversity" training, etc., and what the public views as reasonable costs for what should be taught in the public school systems. There is still one week left to file for the 4 open seats-2(South Davidson/Nolensville Rd.), 4(Hermitage/Old Hickory), 6(Antioch), and 8(Hillsboro),
Thanks for pointing out the deadlines, George.
I was trying to find info at both the MNPS site and the Nashville Election Commission site on those but couldn't find a thing. I know MNPS used to have a web page with all that qualifying info and how to run, but it's not there anymore.
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