Monday, February 18, 2013

Anyone Else notice the “Con” in “Con”-servative Voucher Laws?

I've always warned of the deep dark secret pushed by voucher advocates; the plan is to tout how much cheaper voucher schools are compared to public schools, while behind the scenes, they're lobbying Republicans to give them the same per student fee the public schools are getting right now.

Nothing says "I told you so" better than this new scheme by Scott Walker:
AP: Walker's plan would also give a big boost to the reimbursement the state provides to private schools accepting voucher students. Currently, the schools receive $6,442 per student. That would rise to $7,050 for K-8 students - and 8.6% increase - and $7,856 for high school students - a 21.9% increase.
What's the percentage increase for voucher schools?

Gov. Scott Walker is proposing increasing by at least 9% the taxpayer funding provided to private and religious voucher schools - an increase many times larger in percentage terms than the 1 % increase in state tax money he's seeking for public schools. 

For all the hoopla connected with vouchers, the 20 year old program in Milwaukee hasn't done anything but put three parallel school systems in place, created uncertainty around stability, and then greatly increase teacher turnover. Schools even closed without notice leaving parents to fend for themselves and their kids displaced. That’s privatization. As a parent, I don’t need the simple act of going to school to be just another thing to worry about.

But it’s all part of the Republican plan to keep citizens a little off kilter, back-on-their-heels so to speak, distracted from the GOP's larger agenda. But that’s another topic, for another day.

Republican Political Failures get New Jobs selling Vouchers: Second, you may have noticed how many failed Republican politicians took jobs selling our kids to the private sector, to pillage and profit from. One guy, Scott Jensen, had been convicted of 3 felony’s, until he appealed, judge shopped in conservative activist Waukesha courts, and got the felony charges dropped. Now he wants you to believe him when he tells you how great vouchers are for kids.

When you think about it, it's not just scary, but surreal:
The school voucher movement is a powerful force in Wisconsin. School Choice Wisconsin has two former Republican speakers of the state Assembly — John Gard and Jeff Fitzgerald — working to advance its cause. And a third Republican speaker, Scott Jensen, works as a lobbyist for the American Federation for Children, another group that supports expanding vouchers.
That's right, AP didn't even bother to mention Jensen's corrupt past.

To add insult to injury, about 80 percent of taxpayer money goes to religious schools, who do poorly
and quit frankly, could use the influx of our money to survive. Check out how prepared they were to teach our kids:
WSJ: Michael Lancaster, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Madison diocese, said while the diocese supports vouchers philosophically, it has not been advocating specifically to bring them to Madison. “If vouchers come, we support them, but even our principals weren't educated about what they were and how they work (before late last year).”
Instills confidence, doesn't it? This is all about money, and profiting off children. When it comes to our kids, devoted parents are easy targets. There's nothing they wouldn't do, even spend lots and lots of money.

The Walker Authority hit a sour note ignoring a majority of senate Republicans who didn't want vouchers tied in with the budget:
Senate President Mike Ellis (R-Neenah). "The governor didn't respect the thoughts of about eight or 10 Republican senators who didn't want it in the budget."

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