Kick-off of Nat'l School Choice Week openly says choice is mostly for kids of color.

[madfloridian]

I do not think it is a good idea to present choice that way. Many believe the charter schools and voucher programs are working toward resegregation of schools. I have never heard anyone say it so openly. It's about 1:35 into the video.

This also featured the use of the two of the most obvious talking points of the education "reformers":

1. We can no longer have the "status quo". That means no more traditional public schools.

2. No child should be discriminated against on the basis of zip code.

I really do resent statements like that. They imply that public school teachers neglect kids of color. That is simply not true at all.

Jeb Bush did the same thing back when he was governor. His rallies were with minorities, and the stage set made it clear.



This paragraph from that article in 2005 from the Lakeland Ledger was a stand-out.

It was a striking scene Wednesday as a predominantly black crowd outside of the Capitol cheered as white, millionaire politicians promoted the voucher plan as an antidote to class and racial inequalities.

James Carville and Bobby Jindal are featured in the video.

On edit:

There is an article I found at the Florida Independent.

http://floridaindependent.com/65620/video-national-school-choice-week-moves-forward-with-endorsements-from-conservative-groups

The video is from Reason TV. Yes, I realize that is a Libertarian site. There is a lot there about the guy who was on local TVs pushing school choice last week.

Vice president of public affairs for National School Choice Week spokesman Andrew Campanella is the CEO of Campanella Media & Public Affairs and worked for the American Federation for Children, which promotes “school choice” “with a specific focus on advocating for school vouchers and scholarship tax credit programs.” Campanella has earned praise for his work from Florida Secretary of Education Gerard Robinson, former GOP Govs. Jeb Bush and Haley Barbour and current Govs. Butch Otter and Bobby Jindal.

The American Federation for Children is “affiliated with the American Federation for Children PAC, a political committee that supports and opposes state-level candidates for elected office,” and works “to promote the benefits of—and the need for—school choice.”

A November 2011 report published by the National Institute on Money in State Politics shows that American Federation for Children spent $6.3 million on the 2006, 2008 and 2010 Florida elections. The report adds that Federation President Betsy DeVos and her family have “also made significant campaign contributions in Florida, giving $682,750 over the last three cycles, with two-thirds of that given to the Republican Party of Florida.” The DeVos family owns Amway and the NBA’s Orlando Magic.

Our local news ran an interview with Campanella, it did not look like the advertisement that it really was. He got to spout his nonsense unopposed.

[bluestateguy]

1. I would just prefer politicians keep their mitts out of education all together

and let the professionals do their jobs.

[madfloridian]

2. Me, too.

[pam4water]

3. Whether is interrogation or education, when a conservative says 'enhanced' run the other way!

[madfloridian]

6. Now that is the truth.

[Honeycombe8]

4. I'm not intimately familiar with the system...but my understanding

is that some kids (I guess, according to the video in your post, mainly minority children) can choose to go to a private school outside of their geographic area. Since the money goes with the kid, that takes money from the public school that is left behind, and thereby affects the education of the children left in the public school that now has less money to fund the school.

This is good in the short term for the select few children who get to "choose," seems to me, but sounds unfair to the kids left behind. So the long term effect is to harm the education of the many in order to help the education of the few.

Sounds to me like the minority children are emphasized at this stage, in order to get the program accepted. But I don't believe that the state of Louisiana really has the best interests of minority kids in mind. I think in the long run this will hurt all low income kids, so that the middle class kids (mainly white) can eventually start choosing their schools. And the companies that own those schools no doubt are paying someone somewhere for this push.

This plan does not mean that black kids are not treated well in the public school system. But the way it used to be in La., and I assume it still is, is that a school is in a certain geographic area, and the school taxes for that area fund that school. So a poor area will have a less funded school than a wealthy area. The voucher system lets the poor kids opt to go to a wealthy school across town. The problem is...it's for a select few, and takes money from the already financially troubled school, and its students, left behind.

More practical, it seems to me, would be to stop the local funding of schools, and make all the public schools equally funded. That's called the Robin Hood plan, and wealthy people don't like it, of course. Because part of their money will go into a pool to fund all schools, rather than just their local school.

That's my understanding, anyway. On the face of things, the voucher system is a blatant payoff to a select few, in order to get low income people to want it, for the CHANCE that their kid might be lucky enough to draw the straw to get a voucher. And on the face of things, the voucher system so harms the public system and its kids, that I can't believe anyone would be in favor of it, even if THEIR kid would get a voucher.

[madfloridian]

5. Yes, sending taxpayer money to private entities does deprive public schools.

Since those "choice" schools are often not regulated or overseen by districts or feds, it's easy for fraud to creep in.

[tooeyeten]

8. Not only fraud

but the opportunity to force teachers to remain at slave wages, based on some ethereal means testing where the student will be the ultimate loser.

[tooeyeten]

7. Anything Jindal adds his name to

is not good for America, but good for some moneyed interest instead.

[drynberg]

9. LET'S SEE, YOU RUN A SCHOOL FOR PROFIT, SO ARE THE

Kids what it's about really?...and those in the public system have much less to complete their objectives. What has the history of these Charter Schools told us? And if you do like Charter Schools, do you have a minute to hear about a great bridge I'm selling at a reduced price right now?