WASHINGTON - Mitt Romney proposed a significant restructuring of the American education system on Wednesday, one that would revamp funding formulas, encourage more charter schools, and revive the debate over how poor and disabled students choose the schools they attend.
Saying the country is “in the midst of a national education emergency,’’ Romney lamented that the current education system does not live up to the country’s standards.
Comments
Why is the GOP so enamored with vouchers? It's their solution to healthcare and education. The GOP likes to claim they don't want to ration healthcare and education, but aren't vouchers similar to the rationing coupons common during World War II? And if vouchers are so great, why doesn't the GOP propose vouchers for the biggest spending item of the US federal budget: the War Department. I'd love to see the Air Force have to use vouchers to pay for their latest toy, the F-22 (you know, the overpriced plane that causes its pilots to blackout and crash).
Just how certain are people when a equity firm owner proposes opening public schools to private schools. This is usually a formula to leave the most needy students in the public system and short changing those with more talent in terms of the breadth of education offered. Once a profit approach is substituted for a profit based approach hold onto your wallet. Although not moving in the right direction lately public universities with public financing are able to educate their students at a fraction of the cost as private institutions of higher learning. There is little actual models where such educational structures give a superior outcome to public universities.
I'd guess that you are a product of the superior models that you speak of based upon your writing skills.
As far as solutions go - Romney doesn't add much to the conversation. Vouchers always limit funding. So he's not talking about providing any more money for education. That's for sure. He wants to divert money from experienced educators to younger inexperienced educators. Mixed results for that. Charters are not a panacea and the private sector school initiatives will always promote teaching to a test. Not bad for some lower economic kids necessarily, but the Special Education piece is always a concern. Telling a parent that they can take their special education student and now give the option of a charter doesn't change current policy. Parents of students with special needs are free to attend public charter schools now. The schools don't even know which kids are special needs prior to admission. It would be illegal to discriminate. With respect to taking a special needs student with a voucher and putting them in a private school - so many of them are religious schools. That sounds like George Bush. If that's where Romney wants to go?? It's 2002 all over again. Yay!
Romney has no education plan, at present, just some sound bites. The voucher plan has already been ruled unconstitutional. I believe he has co-opted that line about regarding equal access to quality education as the "civil rights issue of the century. Again, the states with unionized teachers have the best national testing results. I support Ms. Wiengarten's remarks.