Dear friends,
As you know the Wisconsin Supreme Court recently ruled that it is constitutional for the state of Wisconsin to use public tax dollars to fund vouchers for private religious schools. The conservatives in town are having a heyday -- calling it the new "Brown v. Board" decision, the
"second Emancipation Proclamation," and a "good day in human history."

 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.
 

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