by NYC Private Schools on March 16, 2010
The Voucher programs and credits for Private School tuition money are important topics all around the country’s education industry discussion groups. Some areas of the U.S. provide student vouchers for children who are at a disadvantage in their current school district. Those children who have not been able to receive an appropriate education in their public school are given the choice of using certain funds to change to a better school, private or public. Public money, however, quickly brings up the subject of public oversight, which is something that the Private School Sector has worked tirelessly to detach themselves from.
For those children who have needed to take advantage of the Voucher program, the larger themes of government interference, government oversight and financial concerns are usually far off the radar as they work towards achieving more at the new school. It is the very funding of these programs, however, that is taking over the bulk of the discussions right now.
The Washington Post discussed the new Educational Plan unveiled by President Obama and the potential changes it would have on Private School Vouchers.
Unless Congress acts soon or the D.C. government decides to assume responsibility, the voucher program, which has benefited so many students since its inception in 2004, is in grave danger. The Obama administration closed the program to new students; children currently enrolled, while supposedly assured of getting vouchers until they graduate from high school, face uncertainty as the program’s administrator pulls out.
With the unveiling of Obama’s new Educational Plan there are sure to be changes coming for all sectors of the Educational System in our country. The best we can do as parents and concerned individuals is to work and support the schools that are shaping our children for the future.
by NYC Private Schools on March 11, 2010
In times where the amount of money spent on educating each individual student is spent under the strictest of scrutiny, there are millions who decry that the simple lack of funds is what is crushing so many schools. More money would equal better schools, better educated children who could move on to compete in colleges and universities and less need to rely on alternative educational facilities.
At least one very large school district is, of late, being held up as a cautionary tale about the potential results of spending vast amounts of money on a failing school system.
In 1985, The state of Kansas was ordered to spend about $2 billion in order improve and integrate their school systems. It was the type of windfall that most school districts dream of. Students, teachers and schools in that area felt like they had won the lottery and the possibilities ahead of them were endless.
According to an article on Closing Schools in NewsTimes.com, the results of this windfall have not improved the school system in any way in which people were hoping.
The district went on a buying spree that included a six-lane indoor track and a mock court complete with a judge’s chamber and jury deliberation room. But student achievement remained low, and the anticipated flood of students from the suburbs turned out to be more like a trickle. Court supervision of the desegregation case ended in 2003.
[The City] tried to integrate its schools by making them better than the suburban districts where many kids were moving. The result was one school with an Olympic-sized swimming pool and another with recording studios.
Money can purchase facilities, advanced technology and equipment that can all serve as vital tools working in conjunction with a well planned curriculum. Organization and thoughtful planning, in accordance with a system wide educational philosophy with measurable data, must be used in conjunction with well-funded programs in order to produce real results.
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