With all this talk of vouchers, I thought I would post a column I wrote some 13 years ago...

This was published in a magazine called the Downtown Tab. It focused on Cleveland back in the 90's. I was associate editor and had a column called the public purse which was targeted at that sweet point where politics and financial matters meet...

The editor and publisher is starting to put some of my pieces on line now at a new EZine called The Cleveland Current....


Will Vouchers Create Wal-Mart Schools?


Are Ohio students ready to let market forces dictate what type of education they will receive? Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell must think so. The latest in a continuing series of school finance reforms emanating from Ohio's foremost publicity seeker would convert the state funding of schools to vouchers, injecting a heavy dose of free market capitalism into an otherwise competition-free public school system. On the surface, school competition promises accountability and choice. Vouchers do have a certain inbred American appeal. But alas, as with most modern GOP (Gimmicks on Parade) "solutions," the rest of the story is never revealed until the damage is done.

The voucher system pits the mythical superiority of a private education against the perceived inferior product of the public school system. Throw in the inherent cost advantages of an enterprise that can pick and choose whom to serve and you have a public relations bonanza. According to the conservative mantra, big government, this time in the form of public schools, is the enemy of the free market.

http://www.clevelandcurrent.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=158&Itemid=58

They just want to be rich and powerful, and if that means sacrificing other people's children, well then, so be it.

They love vouchers...

Privatization is their mantra.

unfortunately it's also the DLC's mantra, and seems to be coming up in just about everything the Obama administration touches. Health care, education (Duncan loves vouchers) and apparently public housing and even Social Security are on the chopping block. Some things simply do not ever belong in the hands of private corporations, or religious wackjobs, as is usually the case with private schools.

Some people say at least.

They have been trying hard to ruin public education here in Ohio.

They turned every School boards in this state into fund raising committees by freezing the millage voted on at whatever valuation level for property was in place when the vote was taken...

It basically started to erode the financial foundations of middle and lower income school systems...

I firmly believe that vouchers will destroy public education in this country by removing yet another avenue of social and economic mobility.

"Oh, I'm sorry Mr. and Mrs. Parent, it's just not profitable for us to educate your child, so we are letting him go. The nearest prison is 3 miles ahead, just in case you need to know for the future."

As I see it, (in general) Wal-Mart schools failed, small boutique schools succeeded, but did not become Wal-Mart.

The reason for this is simple: Wal-Mart goods are crap, because scaling up based on cost reduces quality and creativity. That applies to large public school systems just as truly as it applies to large businesses.

People pushed back...

they are still pushing for them though...