I realize I am a bit late behind the times on this post… but I think it is so relatively unknown to most that it isn’t going to hurt things by commenting on this Story. It turns out that the new Ohio Governor, Ted Strickland, has decided to stop funding the Ohio school voucher program. Never mind the fact that hundreds of people spent countless hours getting this program up and running, and that the Ohio Supreme court affirmed the program as constitutional, and finally, that Strickland’s election hardly constituted a “mandate” to end the program — none of this matters. This wasn’t what is so shocking. Good O’l Ted said the program was “Inherently Undemocratic”.
To me, vouchers are inherently undemocratic because they allow public dollars to be used in ways and in settings where the public has little or no oversight…
Those who are paying those tax dollars have no ability to vote for a Board of Education or to make determinations regarding curriculum, or discipline or admission policies or a whole range of things
This typifies the sub-par intelligence of your average Democratic leader. Policies that let INDIVIDUALS make UNIQUE decisions about where to send their children to school are considered to be “undemocratic policies” according to Mr. Strickland. I suppose the huge beurocracy that controls our public schools — with huge interest groups like the teachers unions and Trustee boards carrying vast amounts of power, mandating across-the-board standards and cookie-cutter cirriclum are somehow more subject to the “democratic process” then individually controlled and operated private institutions.
He also said that the vouchers were ?¢‚ǨÀúwastefulness and giveaways?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ at a later point in the speech. Now, I’m a pretty reasonable person, but I can’t understand how giving money to “average private school” is a “wasteful giveaway” but giving that same money to “big city school” is somehow “well-spent and earned“. What is this guy smokin? Seriously, this kind of reasoning doesn’t stand up to even the slightest scrutiny.
If the public schools were failing students BEFORE money was diverted from them to go to private institutions… there is no reason to believe that putting that same money back into those schools will make the quality of education any better. This decision by Mr. Strictland has NOTHING to do with school performance or educational choice, it is yet another byproduct of a twisted mindset that thinks GOVERNMENT and government alone is the solution to every problem we face. This decision is a purely ideaological decision based on the belief that self-anointed liberal do-gooders can make better decisions about how children are educated then even the child’s parents. I hope I’m not the only one sickened by this decision.
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here is some more reading on the topic
People For the American Way – Governor Strickland Plans to Eliminate Voucher Program
?¢‚Ǩ?ìVoucher programs are a misuse of taxpayer dollars. Private schools simply aren?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t held to the same level of accountability as public schools. Vouchers send resources into a black hole: taxpayer money goes in, but accountability and increased student achievement never come out.
–ya, those private schools don’t care if half of the parents switch schools and stop paying tuition… they don’t need the money! Idot. accountability and student achievement “never come out”??? Why the HELL are the best schools in the country Privately-financed then!!! (#*&@!@ obscenities upon obscenities) I can hardly contain myself. What a ignorant fool.