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July 27, 2006
Florida Today needs a spellchecker
Florida Today ran a typical hatchet job editorial going after the Bush Administration on school choice. Much of it recycles old arguments I've addressed elsewhere, but there are a couple of new gripes:
After ETS -- a private, nonprofit that develops and administers millions of achievement tests such as the SAT -- delivered its ideology-free analysis to education officials, they stamped it with a caution downplaying its usefulness.
We smell a skunk.
If the report is of such "limited utility," why waste taxpayer dollars on it?
Well, who is the skunk, USDOE or ETS? The report's disclaimers were put there by ETS. So are said disclaimers legitimate, or is ETS just a tool of USDOE? Skipping along...
We've argued before that vouchers are the wrong approach to improving education for American children. They divert taxpayer money from struggling public schools.
In the case of Florida voucher programs, that money has been handed to private schools that aren't held accountable or required to meet standards imposed on public schools, including taking the FCAT.
Once again, anti-school-choice language is employed. Much of Florida media has succeeded in making the dreaded V-word toxic by positioning vouchers as handouts to private schools. But as I've said previously, when people are told what the word actually means--letting parents decide where they want to send their kids to school--opposition to school choice experiences something of a meltdown. (The unions sidestep this argument by merely dismissing parents as "inconsequential conduits".) Of course, outfits like Florida Today aren't letting up--note the question for the online poll that accompanies this story: "Should federal or state goverments give taxpayer funds to private schools through vouchers?"
However, it's possible the editorial staff was pressed for time and rushed this out the door. That might help explain the headline: "Voucher Boondoogle".
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Comments
I know you don't like to let the truth stand in the way of a point you want to make, but the study was conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, an arm of the (voucher-friendly) Department of Education.
If you are going to nit-pick little things like the spelling of boondogle you might want to get your facts straight first.
Of course, engaging in substantive debate is an option too.
Posted by: Kevin Franck | July 28, 2006 09:48 AM
