We at Rethinking Schools are planning extensive coverage of this
development in the fall, but decided to comment on the issue prior to our
next issue. For that reason we are sharing with you an opinion piece
that our managing editor recently wrote. We encourage you to forward this
opinion piece to others on the Internet or to print it in your local
publication. We are also encouraging colleagues to purchase in bulk and
distribute our publication Selling Out Our Schools: Vouchers, Markets,
and the Future of Public Education. Information on that publication is
at
the end of the opinion piece. We would appreciate having forwarded
to our office any articles that you find particularly good on this issue.
This
is truly a struggle for the very soul of our nation.
Sincerely,
Bob Peterson
for the editors of Rethinking Schools
Vouchers: Where's the Public Accountability?
or: Public Dollars and Private Schools: A Bad Mix
By Barbara Miner
The principal was being fired, teachers were leaving, the school was
in upheaval. At the time, I was a reporter for The Milwaukee Journal
covering a parents meeting discussing the controversy.
I never made it to the meeting. Lawyers stood in my way and said it was a private school and reporters were not welcome. End of discussion.
I was enraged -- but found out the lawyers were right. Shutting a reporter
out of a parents meeting is against the law in Milwaukee public
schools. But private schools get to operate by different rules.
I was reminded of this incident recently when the Wisconsin's Supreme
Court upheld the constitutionality of Milwaukee's voucher program. For
now, at least, low-income students in Milwaukee will be able to use
public vouchers to attend private and religious schools in the city. The
decision has national implications; publicly funded vouchers for private
schools are at the top of the Republican education agenda. If vouchers
are not yet an issue in your state, wait a month or two.
In the controversy over whether vouchers for religious schools violate
the constitutional separation of church and state, an equally important
issue is often obscured. Just because something is legal doesn't mean
it is good public policy. It is legal, for example, to sell off public
parks
and close public playgrounds and swimming pools. But it is a stupid
idea.
It's not mere coincidence that the term "private" is so often followed
by the phrase, "Keep Out!" Private schools, like private roads, private
beaches and private country clubs, don't have to be accountable to
the public. They also get to keep out those they don't want. That's why
they
are called "private."
What does it mean when private schools get public dollars yet don't
have to be accountable to the public? Under the recently upheld legislation,
for instance, private schools in Milwaukee's voucher program:
o Do not have to obey the state's open meetings and records laws.
o Do not have to hire certified teachers or even require a college degree.
o Do not have to release information on employee wages or benefits.
o Do not have to provide data such as test scores, attendance figures,
or
suspension and drop-out rates. In fact, the legislation expanding vouchers
to include religious schools specifically eliminated the
requirement that the State Superintendent of Schools conduct annual
performance evaluations of voucher schools.
Regulations governing private schools are so weak that it is harder
to get a liquor license or set up a corner gas station in Milwaukee than
it
is to start a private school.
The private schools can also weed out "undesirable" students and families.
For example, they can set admission requirements and expel or
suspend students with no due process. Most important, they do not have
to accept students with special educational needs -- which accounts for
nearly 15% of Milwaukee public school students, and the most expensive,
most difficult to educate. Further, some private schools require parents
to pay hundreds of dollars in "fees," above and beyond the voucher-supported
tuition.
There are also unanswered legal questions. Religious schools can legally
fire teachers who violate religious principles -- such as gay teachers,
divorced teachers, or teachers who support the right to abortion --
and expel students who support them. Will religious schools who receive
vouchers also be able to teach that the non-baptized will go to hell,
that the Jews killed Christ, or that there is no God but Allah?
What about desegregation? One of Milwaukee's dirty little secrets
is that white parents often use private schools to get around desegregation
efforts. In Milwaukee, for example, the public schools are 60% African-American.
At Divine Savior/Holy Angels and at Pius XI, two
prominent Catholic high schools in the city, only 3% of the students
are African American. Nor are those figures atypical.
One of the greatest ironies is that at a time when the state is requiring
more accountability from public schools, the private voucher schools can
ignore the call for standards. In Wisconsin, as in most states, private
schools are exempt from statewide standardized tests. After all, the
argument goes, they are "private" schools.
Up to 15,000 children in Milwaukee will be able to use public money
to attend private and religious schools next fall. With the voucher worth
almost $5,000 per pupil, that means that as much as $75 million in taxpayers'
money will be taken from the Milwaukee public schools and
given to schools that do not have to meet minimum requirements of public
accountability.
It may be legal. But is it a good idea?
Think about it. Vouchers are coming your way.
Barbara Miner is managing editor of Rethinking Schools, a grass-roots
education reform newspaper based in Milwaukee, and co-editor of Selling
Out Our Schools: Vouchers, Markets, and the Future of Public Education,
an anthology of articles on vouchers. Available for $5 + $3.50 S&H.
Contact: Rethinking Schools, 1001 E. Keefe Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53212.
1-800-669-4192. www.rethinkingschools.org.