Weighing in on the Utah Voucher Program

Weighing in on the Utah Voucher Program

Posted by Connor on September 28th, 2007Perhaps the most divisive political topic in Utah over the past few months has been the issue of state-sponsored educational vouchers. Lawmakers, organizations, reporters, and bloggers have all been sounding off in an attempt to sway voters to their side. In the commotion, facts have been glossed over, propaganda has been hyped up, money has been thrown at advertising both sides, and people on both sides have dug in their heels for the upcoming battle at the ballot in November.But which side is right? Should Utahns pass the voucher bill this fall or not?The basic facts of the voucher program are as follows:

Read Full Story: http://vouchernews.blogspot.com/2007/10/weighing-in-on-utah-voucher-program.html

Mark Towner's Spyglass Spots: EIA on Covering Teachers Unions: Close But Not a Full Cigar

A Very interesting article and was released by the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media. Titled From Contracts to Classrooms: Covering Teachers Unions, the 40-page study is a primer for education journalists on the ins and outs of reporting about teachers' unions. Well, not exactly, but we'll get to that in a minute.

Largely written by Joe Williams of The Chalkboard, with enlightening contributions from others in the field, the report is filled with excellent tips, quotes, anecdotes and shortcuts – just the right kind of approach to interest a new journalist a bit overwhelmed by the prospect of digging through collective bargaining agreements and contract negotiations. But there are tidbits for the rest of us, too:

Read the full story: http://vouchernews.blogspot.com/2007/09/eia-on-covering-teachers-unions-close.html

Hot Tip on Voucher Spending

Mike Antonucci tipped me off that the Utah state government web page with the list of campaign financial disclosure reports had been updated.

You can thumb through them yourself, but Communities for Quality Education does have one, and the NEA front group spent $133,400 - mostly on consultants and staff.

Two of the three $500,000 grants from NEA to the Utah Education Association were immediately passed along to Utahns for Public Schools, which then immediately sent the cash to Media Strategies and Research - a Democratic media-buying firm based in Denver, Colorado, that is an NEA favorite for this task.

MS&R undoubtedly is using the money to buy up air time in the Utah media.

The next set of financial disclosure reports aren't due until seven days before the election so we won't see updated numbers until October 30.

Former West High counselor accused of having sex with girl ordered to stand trial on rape charges

Former West High counselor accused of having sex with girl ordered to stand trial on rape charges

Another reason for School Vouchers?

By Stephen HuntThe Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 09/13/2007 02:54:58 PM MDT

Posted: 2:56 PM- A former West High School guidance counselor was ordered Thursday to stand trial for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old student, who still professes love for the man. Marco R. Herrera, 52, is charged in 3rd District Court with 10 sex-related crimes: three counts of first-degree felony rape, two counts of first-degree felony forcible sodomy and five counts of second-degree forcible sexual abuse. Between April and June, Herrera had sexual intercourse with the girl at least three times and other sexual relations several other times, according to charging documents. The crimes would be less severe except that Herrera, as a school counselor, occupied a position of special trust in relation to the girl, according to prosecutors. Defense attorney Edward Brass claimed the evidence was sketchy as to whether Herrera was counseling the girl at the time of the alleged offenses. Prosecutor Bradley Knell countered that the girl met Herrera last November in his capacity as a counselor, and that some of the alleged crimes occurred at school. Judge Tyrone Medley noted that Herrera would "pink-slip" the girl to take her out of school, and that at least one episode of touching occurred at Herrera's school office. Brass unsuccessfully requested a reduction in Herrera's bail from $250,000 to $10,000. Brass claimed Herrera was neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community, if released from the Salt Lake County jail. He noted Herrera has a wife and two children, and this is the first time he has been charged with a crime. Before he was fired over the sex allegations, Herrera was a counselor at West High for 24 years. Brass asked the judge to consider that the girl initiated the sexual relationship and consented to "virtually everything that happened . . . There was no coercion." Brass also pointed to "conflicts" between the girl's testimony and what she told a police detective, including that some of her own allegations were untrue. But Medley said the girl was reluctant to testify because "of her desire not to see the defendant go to prison and the fact that she loves the defendant." The judge added that calling the girl a willing participant "borders on being ridiculous," in part because she was not legally able to consent because of her age. As for Herrera, the judge said he exercised "deceit, stealth, emotional and psychological domination and control" over the girl. For example, the judge said, Herrera had the girl fool her father as to her whereabouts by calling her father from the library. Herrera also had the girl forge her father's signature on school release forms, and he gave the girl a gift and talked about problems in his marriage, the judge said. The judge said Herrera's "totally inappropriate" conduct was evidence that he presents a danger to "young females in this community, be they students or not students." Herrera is to be arraigned Oct. 5 before Judge Deno Himonas. shunt@sltrib.com

Nasty things are going on in America's public Schools

Wednesday, September 12, 2007
"Stupid in America" is a nasty title for a program about public education, but some nasty things are going on in America's public schools
By JOHN STOSSELJan. 13, 2006"Stupid in America" is a nasty title for a program about public education, but some nasty things are going on in America's public schools and it's about time we face up to it.Kids at New York's Abraham Lincoln High School told me their teachers are so dull students fall asleep in class. One student said, "You see kids all the time walking in the school smoking weed, you know. It's a normal thing here."We tried to bring "20/20" cameras into New York City schools to see for ourselves and show you what's going on in the schools, but officials wouldn't allow it.Washington, D.C., officials steered us to the best classrooms in their district.We wanted to tape typical classrooms but were turned down in state after state.

Read Full Story: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=1500338

Best Post I Have Read on the real Voucher Issue

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

We have a failing public school system
We have a failing public school system which continues to suck down more and more money while delivering less in terms of well educated graduates.We continue to fall behind the rest of the world in both the quality of our educational output and the quantity.

Read Full Post: http://vouchernews.blogspot.com/2007/09/we-have-failing-public-school-system.html

Who is the real Accountability Blogsite?

This is just too funny?

http://vouchernews.blogspot.com/2007/09/who-is-real-accountability-blogsite.html

LOL
LOL
LOL

Lifelong K-12 Education

Lifelong K-12 Education
Why do we want students to pass high school exit exams?

So we don't have to teach high school in college.

Posted by Mike Antonucci on Friday, August 24, 2007 at 08:19

Mark Towner's Spyglass Spots: Response to Anti Voucher Supporters in the Salt Lake Tribune

Actuary321: 8/20/2007 1:26:00 PM

I am sorry but this one simply had to be responded to. >>> You want to know why teacher unions are against vouchers? It has nothing to do with protecting ourselves. Here are some reasons:

1. Utah has the most overcrowded classrooms in the country and the state ranks last in the nation in spending per student. Instead of diverting school funding to vouchers, Utahns should increase our investment in public schools. >>> For each student removed less than ½ of the funding for that student will be removed. The average amount spent per public school pupil will increase with vouchers. >>>

2. The flawed voucher law contains too many loopholes and unanswered questions, and provides little accountability for private voucher schools. >>> Private schools are much more accountable to parents than public schools. >>>

3. Unaccountable private voucher schools may hire teachers without a college degree or a state license. These unaccountable voucher schools don’t have to be accredited like public schools and don’t have to meet the same coursework or attendance standards that public schools must meet. >>> The law says the teachers must either “hold baccalaureate or higher degrees or have special skills, knowledge, or expertise that qualifies them to provide instruction in the subjects taught.” And schools must “provide to parents the teaching credentials of the school's teachers and provide, upon request to any person, a statement indicating which, if any, organizations have accredited the private school.” Public schools have not requirement to provide that information to parents. And I think it is fairly naïve for anyone to think that parents will not hold the schools accountable based on the amount of tuition money, in addition to the vouchers, that they will be paying to the school. >>>

4. The lack of accountability or oversight of private schools opens the door to waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars. >>> Hard to see how much more accountability public schools have. And since I would expect, because of the tuition costs in excess of the vouchers and the requirement virtually every private school I have ever seen of parental involvement, parents will hold private schools more accountable than they are able to hold public schools. >>>

5. Even though private schools are subject to very little accountability now, the new flawed legislation prohibits any further accountability of private schools in the future. There is no way to hold private voucher schools accountable to taxpayers. >>> Covered in 3 & 4 above. >>>

6. The state projects vouchers will cost the state $429 million over the next thirteen years. That is money that will not be available to assist the 96% of Utah’s children – 9 in 10 – who attend public school. >>> 96% is more than 9 in 10 but lets get back to the $$. What savings will be accrued by not having to pay the full amount for the students who get those $429 Million? Estimates I have seen are about $1.5 BILLION. I am usually willing to spend $1 to save $3. >>>

7. Vouchers won’t help the majority of Utah families anyway because more than half of Utah counties have NO private schools at all. >>> But the majority of Utah families don’t live in the half of Utah counties that have NO private schools. Remember there are lies, damn lies, and statistics. >>>

8. Even if an eligible student is chosen by a private voucher school, there is no guarantee that there will be a voucher available for that student now or in the future. Vouchers run out when the funds do. >>> Wait are you claiming that vouchers will be wildly popular now, after claiming pretty much the opposite in 6 & 7? Which is it? The more students that apply for vouchers the greater the savings. You think that if the money runs out this year, the legislature won’t look to increase it next year, thereby allowing more students to take advantage of it thereby generating even bigger savings (See 6 above). >>>

9. Even with a voucher, most Utah families will not be able to afford expensive private school tuition, which averages $8,000 per child per year. >>> Where did you get the $8,000? Have you looked at http://www.childrenfirstutah.org/annualreport2004.html. They give a figure of $3,316 for recipients of their scholarships. And again, I can’t tell if you are arguing that lots of people will take advantage, or few? >>>

10. Utah lawmakers provided $9.3 million in funding for vouchers in 2008. With a projected enrollment of 553,428 students that means less than 1% of students would receive an average voucher. >>> At the moment, I think there are probably not 5,534 private school seats open. But even if there are, you already argued that most Utah families will not be able to afford it anyway, even with the vouchers.

Your circular arguments are making me dizzy. But thanks for the opportunity to comment. I am not a voucher supporter, my kids are in public schools and I don’t intend on moving them. I am more inclined to vote against vouchers at the moment so please come up with better arguments so that I can back up my vote with well reasoned facts. Thanks.

Mark Towner's Spyglass Spots: 'Collegiality vs. Excellence, Or 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

August 21, 2007
Collegiality vs. Excellence, Or 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
I was going to blog about the Sunday debates between the Democratic presidential candidates, but it turns out the statement that the National Education Association (and its president Reg Weaver) put out afterward proved to be far more interesting than any of the carefully scripted/guarded comments that came out of the candidates' mouths.
(And in case you spent the weekend maniacally scrubbing your Wikipedia entry edits and missed the debate itself, you can watch the pertinent parts here. But trust me, there is nothing really there. Some words coming from candidates' mouths, but it's pretty much all bells and whistles baby. Even EdIn08's good cop only had nice things to say about the questioners, and not as much to say about the answers, displaying how low the bar has been set - even in Romerville.)
My take on the significance of the "so-called performance pay" discussion (and the NEA's subsequent public statement) is closer to the strand that David Hoff is following over at Education Week's NCLB: Act II blog. David noted that three of the candidates sit on a Senate committee that may be taking up the "so-called performance pay" issue as part of an eventual reauthorization of NCLB.
With that in mind, you can understand why the candidates are under so much pressure to be as boring as they are on education issues - even as a couple hundred thousand high school students prepare to become dropouts between now and the 2008 general election. The NEA's statement following the debates tells you a lot about what is happening behind the scenes, who really dominates the education discussion in this country, and why concepts like teacher "collegiality" almost always trump concepts like excellence, performance, etc. (And I'm probably reading too much into this, but it almost reads like a "Don't get too big for your reform-sounding britches" message to Barack Obama, who has called for merit pay, but only in cases where the teachers design the pay schemes.)

The NEA's audience here isn't the presidential candidates or the public at large. It is aimed squarely at members of Congress who dare cross the union by offering plans in NCLB to reward successful teachers for the hard work they do.

Congratulations Reg Weaver, for making it onto today's "DFER Quote of the Day."

http://www.dfer.org/2007/08/collegiality_vs.php#more

UEA To Get $3 Million to Defeat Vouchers

You should link over to the EIA site and watch the video of the NEA. This should really tell everyone that this issue is really over protecting Union Jobs, and not about teaching children.


UEA To Get $3 Million?
A website called the Education Intelligence Agency says the National Education Association is likely to send $3 million to Utah for the Utah Education Association to use in its campaign against education vouchers in Utah. See the second item in the EIA Communique and more information about EIA.

From Todays Utah Policy Daily

Columnist Dan Lips says that Utah's new school voucher system "will provide other states and communities with a model of widespread parental choice in education. If history is any guide, Utah's program will inspire lawmakers across the country to develop and implement similar plans, as Dr. [Milton] Friedman envisioned" (Human Events) (see also related Mobile Press-Register editorial).