Nevada enacts school choice

[Axulus]

On Tuesday night, Nevada governor Brian Sandoval signed into law the nation’s first universal school-choice program. That in and of itself is groundbreaking: The state has created an option open to every single public-school student. Even better, this option improves upon the traditional voucher model, coming in the form of an education savings account (ESA) that parents control and can use to fully customize their children’s education.

As of next year, parents in Nevada can have 90 percent (100 percent for children with special needs and children from low-income families) of the funds that would have been spent on their child in their public school deposited into a restricted-use spending account. That amounts to between $5,100 and $5,700 annually, according to the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. Those funds are deposited quarterly onto a debit card, which parents can use to pay for a variety of education-related services and products — things such as private-school tuition, online learning, special-education services and therapies, books, tutors, and dual-enrollment college courses. It’s an à la carte education, and the menu of options will be as hearty as the supply-side response — which, as it is whenever markets replace monopolies, is likely to be robust.

Notably, families can roll over unused funds from year to year, a feature that makes this approach particularly attractive. It is the only choice model to date that puts downward pressure on prices. Parents consider not only the quality of education service they receive, but the cost, since they can save unused funds for future education expenses.

Accountability is infused throughout the ESA option. Funding is distributed into the accounts quarterly, and parents provide receipts for expenditures to the state. In the event there is a misuse of funds, the subsequent quarter’s distribution can be withheld and used to rectify it. Students must also take a national norm-referenced test in math and reading, a light touch that doesn’t dictate students take a uniform state test.

So imagine now what the future of education could look like in Nevada. Instead of being assigned to brick-and-mortar schools based on their parents’ ZIP codes, students can instead have their state funds deposited into an ESA. Parents can then craft a learning plan that matches best to the unique learning styles and needs of their children.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/419438/nevada-enacts-universal-school-choice-lindsey-m-burke

 

[Ford]

So imagine now what the future of education could look like in Nevada. Instead of being assigned to brick-and-mortar schools based on their parents’ ZIP codes, students can instead have their state funds deposited into an ESA. Parents can then craft a learning plan that matches best to the unique learning styles and needs of their children.

Well that's the sales pitch, to be sure.

Yet make no mistake...this is not about parents crafting learning plans or the needs of children. This is about redirecting money away from public schools and into the pockets of folks who run for-profit outfits.

This is not the "future of education" at all. It is a business opportunity similar to the for-profit colleges that have latched onto the GI Bill money train. Providing a nearly useless degree in exchange for tax dollars. The people behind these "school choice" programs are not in it for the children. They're in it for the money.

 

[Axulus]

So imagine now what the future of education could look like in Nevada. Instead of being assigned to brick-and-mortar schools based on their parents’ ZIP codes, students can instead have their state funds deposited into an ESA. Parents can then craft a learning plan that matches best to the unique learning styles and needs of their children.

Well that's the sales pitch, to be sure.

Yet make no mistake...this is not about parents crafting learning plans or the needs of children. This is about redirecting money away from public schools and into the pockets of folks who run for-profit outfits.

This is not the "future of education" at all. It is a business opportunity similar to the for-profit colleges that have latched onto the GI Bill money train. Providing a nearly useless degree in exchange for tax dollars.

How is it the case that the non-tax funded private schools have managed to avoid this classification? How do fresh high school graduates manage to avoid useless colleges?

The people behind these "school choice" programs are not in it for the children. They're in it for the money.

Including the current selection of private schools?

 

[bilby]

Allowing people to choose how and where their children are educated is stupid.

Parents are rarely qualified to make such a choice; and even if they were, the information they need to make such a choice is lacking.

 

[Axulus]

Allowing people to choose how and where their children are educated is stupid.

Parents are rarely qualified to make such a choice; and even if they were, the information they need to make such a choice is lacking.

They already make the choice by choosing where to live. At least the ones not in poverty do. The rest are stuck with whatever living arrangements they happen to find.

Whether you think it is stupid or not, it already happens. You are asking for a bizarre fantasy world that doesn't exist anywhere because you think people are too stupid.

Also, where are you getting the strange idea that the information is lacking? Any parent worth their salt considers it a very important consideration when choosing which neighborhood to move into. There is a wealth of rating info available on the quality of the schools for each neighborhood.

Here, for example: http://www.greatschools.org/

What this does is disentangle the school from the house they happen to live in.

 

[Ford]

Axulus,


Are you actually making the case that for-profit schools are setting aside profits in order to provide education? That they're ignoring their primary purpose (making money) in favor of educating students?

 

[bilby]

Allowing people to choose how and where their children are educated is stupid.

Parents are rarely qualified to make such a choice; and even if they were, the information they need to make such a choice is lacking.

They already make the choice by choosing where to live.

How that makes the choice less stupid I do not know

At least the ones not in poverty do.

So you need to be stupid AND rich. Meh.

The rest are stuck with whatever living arrangements they happen to find.

Whether you think it is stupid or not, it already happens.

I know. That doesn't make it not stupid.

You are asking for a bizarre fantasy world that doesn't exist anywhere because you think people are too stupid.

Pretty much. Although it seems that parental choice is a lot more recent a phenomenon than universal primary education. So it existed once - before people decided to be stupid.

Also, where are you getting the strange idea that the information is lacking? Any parent worth their salt considers it a very important consideration when choosing which neighborhood to move into. There is a wealth of rating info available on the quality of the schools for each neighborhood.

Here, for example: http://www.greatschools.org/

What makes you think that this information is helpful in determining which school a given child should attend, in order to get the best result for that child?

All this does is provide an exercise in positive feedback - 'good' schools are in high demand; so they can pick and choose applicants; so they pick applicants who are most likely to do well on the tests, and exclude or expel troublemakers; so they look good on the ratings sites; so they are in high demand. Nothing about this process indicates that going to a good school improves outcomes for individual students. As I said, it is all based in stupidity.

What this does is disentangle the school from the house they happen to live in.

Which is ALL it does. And that is BAD for society. In a number of ways. Doing something that is bad for society, in pursuit of a goal that is not actually measurable, and almost certainly is not being achieved, is stupid.

 

[arkirk]

Well that's the sales pitch, to be sure.

Yet make no mistake...this is not about parents crafting learning plans or the needs of children. This is about redirecting money away from public schools and into the pockets of folks who run for-profit outfits.

This is not the "future of education" at all. It is a business opportunity similar to the for-profit colleges that have latched onto the GI Bill money train. Providing a nearly useless degree in exchange for tax dollars.

How is it the case that the non-tax funded private schools have managed to avoid this classification? How do fresh high school graduates manage to avoid useless colleges?

The people behind these "school choice" programs are not in it for the children. They're in it for the money.

Including the current selection of private schools?

My my! You do have a strong pathological attachment to private don't you. It is as if you disdain all that is public. Oh well, it takes all types and your type is just one of those types.

 

[Harry Bosch]

Allowing people to choose how and where their children are educated is stupid. Parents are rarely qualified to make such a choice; and even if they were, the information they need to make such a choice is lacking.

Unbelievable. Clearly you aren't a parent.

 

[bilby]

Allowing people to choose how and where their children are educated is stupid. Parents are rarely qualified to make such a choice; and even if they were, the information they need to make such a choice is lacking.

Unbelievable. Clearly you aren't a parent.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Well, $5,000 should help pay for that $12,000 a year private school tuition.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The people behind these "school choice" programs are not in it for the children. They're in it for the money.

Including the current selection of private schools?

The right-wing dream are Charter Schools. The Utopian Vision of the conservatives. This is a step in that direction.

He gave his two weeks notice, and a month later, an attorney for Summit Academy Management filed a lawsuit against Kovitch for breach of contract. He would be the first of 19 teachers to be sued, collectively in the past two years, for $28,900 — the amount the company alleges it cost to replace them.

The private company, headquartered in Akron, operates 26 publicly funded charter schools in Ohio, more than any other operator in Ohio’s heavily privatized charter school sector.

The private company, its governing board and the attorney are not commenting.

However, the governing boards of the individual charter schools and the sponsor, which monitors the performance of the schools, are more open.

“It was explained to us — and you’ll find that in many businesses in industry — there is a non-compete clause in contracts,” said Gayle Betterly, a board president for two of the three Akron area charter schools where Kovitch worked. “It’s not at all unusual in industry to have that type of thing.”

Conservative Utopia!

 

[untermensche]

It would be nice to see a State adopt the Finnish model. A small State should be able to duplicate what Finland does. It would be an experiment to try it in large States.

What would prevent it?

 

[Togo]

Well that's the sales pitch, to be sure.

Yet make no mistake...this is not about parents crafting learning plans or the needs of children. This is about redirecting money away from public schools and into the pockets of folks who run for-profit outfits.

This is not the "future of education" at all. It is a business opportunity similar to the for-profit colleges that have latched onto the GI Bill money train. Providing a nearly useless degree in exchange for tax dollars.

How is it the case that the non-tax funded private schools have managed to avoid this classification?

Generally by operating as charities, aiming to break even or spend any surplus on equipment and development, rather than producing a cash stream for investors or owners.

Unless you can give me an example of an excellent private school that does produce such a cash stream?

How do fresh high school graduates manage to avoid useless colleges?

Generally by comparing reviews from present and recent students, by visiting the colleges themselves, and by gathering as much information as possible from actual students - none of which is as freely available at high school level. Even then, there are, as I understand it, quite a few useless colleges in the US.

The people behind these "school choice" programs are not in it for the children. They're in it for the money.

Claiming they are all in it for the money is a little disingenuous. Some schools are set up for the express purpose of spreading their own ideology to children, and thus don't need to make a profit.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

Allowing people to choose how and where their children are educated is stupid.

Parents are rarely qualified to make such a choice; and even if they were, the information they need to make such a choice is lacking.

^This. I deal with parents making educational choices for their adult children. If I had a nickel for every time I hear about their intelligence and great potential as well as their excuses for being kicked/failed dropped out of their former college that "just didn't understand" the potential of their wonderful adult child.

"So Billy, you mother wants you to be a biologist, but you are not interested in science and you are here to have me convince you to go into biology?"

Parents make the worst career counselors. I wouldn't trust them with designing an education. (http://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-drops-smitten-kitten-citation/306570001/ The scrutiny of Smitten Kitten came after a teacher from Gaia Democratic School brought about a dozen sex education students, some as young as 11, to the store for a field trip. Several of the parents were outraged and are calling for the leader of the small private school, Starri Hedges, to be fired. Hedges led the field trip and has defended the outing even as criticism intensified.)

And what else would you expect from a school named Gaia Democratic School?

Damn Hippies. Get. Off. My. Lawn.

 

[braces_for_impact]

OK, I don't see this going so well in the current context of dismantling the welfare state. Many parents, given the choice between food, rent, etc. and education are going to choose the former set of priorities. The consequence? There will be even less money next year - which means the kids will slide further down the educational success ladder. I don't see the appeal of this system, except as a credit to those that already pay tuition.

 

[ksen]

On Tuesday night, Nevada governor Brian Sandoval signed into law the nation’s first universal school-choice program. That in and of itself is groundbreaking: The state has created an option open to every single public-school student. Even better, this option improves upon the traditional voucher model, coming in the form of an education savings account (ESA) that parents control and can use to fully customize their children’s education.

As of next year, parents in Nevada can have 90 percent (100 percent for children with special needs and children from low-income families) of the funds that would have been spent on their child in their public school deposited into a restricted-use spending account. That amounts to between $5,100 and $5,700 annually, according to the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. Those funds are deposited quarterly onto a debit card, which parents can use to pay for a variety of education-related services and products — things such as private-school tuition, online learning, special-education services and therapies, books, tutors, and dual-enrollment college courses. It’s an à la carte education, and the menu of options will be as hearty as the supply-side response — which, as it is whenever markets replace monopolies, is likely to be robust.

Notably, families can roll over unused funds from year to year, a feature that makes this approach particularly attractive. It is the only choice model to date that puts downward pressure on prices. Parents consider not only the quality of education service they receive, but the cost, since they can save unused funds for future education expenses.

Accountability is infused throughout the ESA option. Funding is distributed into the accounts quarterly, and parents provide receipts for expenditures to the state. In the event there is a misuse of funds, the subsequent quarter’s distribution can be withheld and used to rectify it. Students must also take a national norm-referenced test in math and reading, a light touch that doesn’t dictate students take a uniform state test.

So imagine now what the future of education could look like in Nevada. Instead of being assigned to brick-and-mortar schools based on their parents’ ZIP codes, students can instead have their state funds deposited into an ESA. Parents can then craft a learning plan that matches best to the unique learning styles and needs of their children.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/419438/nevada-enacts-universal-school-choice-lindsey-m-burke

Well, now the select private schools know how much to jack up their tuition in order to continue to keep the riff-raff out.

 

[Tigers!]

Unbelievable. Clearly you aren't a parent.

Are you a parent or not? The emoticon is not a clear answer.

 

[scombrid]

They already make the choice by choosing where to live. At least the ones not in poverty do. The rest are stuck with whatever living arrangements they happen to find.

The ones that are stuck are still going to be stuck under these voucher programs since the vouchers aren't enough to get to the good uptown private school.

The vouchers just throw some more money to the people that already can afford a choice and pull money away from the schools where the poor people are stuck.

 

[ksen]

Are you a parent or not? The emoticon is not a clear answer.

I'm a parent of three (now) grown children. Parents are too emotionally invested to make objective decisions about their child's education. I was also pretty fundamentalist back when the kids were younger and looking back now I'm pretty embarassed to see that I made a bunch of decisions based more on getting a school that wouldn't make my kids question our faith instead of giving them the best education possible.