Academia, Politics, Uncategorized

Stateside Louisiana: School Vouchers and the Privatization of Public Education

Submitted by Elaine Magliaro Guest Blogger

In May, David Sirota penned an article for Salon titled Selling out Public Schools. In it, he said that Mitt Romney, President Obama, and both of our major political parties were “assaulting public education.”

Sirota wrote:

On the Republican side, the Washington Post reports Mitt Romney just unveiled “a pro-choice, pro-voucher, pro-states-rights education program that seems certain to hasten the privatization of the public education system” completely. On the other side, Wall Street titans in the Democratic Party with zero experience in education policy are marshaling tens of millions of dollars to do much of what Romney aims to do as president – and they often have a willing partner in President Barack “Race to the Top” Obama and various Democratic governors.

Funded by corporate interests who naturally despise organized labor, both sides have demonized teachers’ unions as the primary problem in education — somehow ignoring the fact that most of the best-performing public school systems in America and in the rest of the world are, in fact, unionized. (Are we never supposed to ask how, if unions are the primary problem, so many unionized schools in America and abroad do so well?) Not surprisingly, these politicians and activists insist they are driven solely by their regard for the nation’s children — and they expect us to ignore the massive amount of money their benefactors (and even the activists personally) stand to make by transforming public education into yet another private profit center. Worse, they ask us also to forget that in the last few years of aggressive “reform” (read: evisceration) of public education, the education gap has actually gotten far worse, with the most highly touted policies put in place now turning the schoolhouse into yet another catalyst of crushing inequality.

Sirota says that charter schools and vouchers are one of the five most “prominent” of these policies. I would agree. There has been an education movement afoot for a many years whose aim is less about reforming public schools and more about the privatization of public education. One of the first steps in the “reform” process is funneling public money away from traditional public schools to “privately administered” charter schools and to private schools via tuition vouchers.

A Look at the New Student Voucher Program in Louisiana

Stephanie Simon (Reuters) has reported that Louisiana is “embarking on the nation’s boldest experiment in privatizing public education.” She wrote, “Starting this fall, thousands of poor and middle-class kids will get vouchers covering the full cost of tuition at more than 120 private schools across Louisiana, including small, Bible-based church schools.” Louisiana’s voucher program, which is said to be the most sweeping in the country, will “shift tens of millions of dollars from public schools to pay not only private schools but also private businesses and private tutors to educate children across the state.”

Governor Bobby Jindal and State Superintendent of Education John White, both of whom pushed for the voucher program, “promised to hold the private schools accountable for student achievement.” Yet, it has been reported that “money will continue to flow to scores of private and religious schools participating in Louisiana’s new voucher program even if their students fail basic reading and math tests…”

Casey Michel (TPMMuckraker) reported in July that students in every public school in Louisiana are subjected to standardized testing, but “voucher students — who will bring an average of $8,000 in tuition from ‘failing’ public schools to many that are affiliated with religious denominations — will only need to face testing if their new school has taken an average of 10 students per grade, or if the schools have accepted at least 40 voucher students into the grades testing.”

Simon said that according to new rules, “schools will not be penalized for poor scores on state standardized tests if they have fewer than 40 voucher students enrolled in the upper elementary or secondary grades.” Even if their voucher students fail to “demonstrate basic competency in math, reading, science and social studies,” the private schools will continue to receive state funds. Superintendent White estimated that 75 percent of the 120 private schools participating in the voucher program would “fall into this protected category.”

Participating schools that have more than 40 voucher students will be given a “numerical grade from the state based on their voucher students’ test scores.” Schools that score less than 50 on a 150-point scale will not be allowed to enroll more voucher students. Those schools will, however, still “continue to receive public money indefinitely to serve students already enrolled.”

Opponents of the voucher program say that their biggest concern is “the fact that the students may be transferring, on the taxpayers’ dime, to a school that will score worse than the one from which they left. That is, a student can leave a public school if it scores a ‘C’ or below on state standardized testing — but if the new private school scores the minimum of 50, the equivalent of a D-minus, it could still recruit new voucher students.”

Some of those who are critical of the new voucher program have voiced concerns about accountability procedures. Donald Songy, a representative of the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents, questioned the provision “that a private school wouldn’t be in trouble unless it scored less than 50, whereas a public school is labeled a failure if it scores less than 65.”

Now millions of tax dollars originally earmarked for Louisiana’s public schools will go to pay for private school tuitions—even if the voucher students in those schools are not achieving academically. Does this voucher program look like it could be the solution to the problem of failing schools in Louisiana?

Regarding Education in Private and Religious Schools Participating in Louisiana’s Voucher Program

It has been reported that most of the 120 educational facilities that will participate in the voucher program are Christian schools. Should citizens of Louisiana be concerned about what is being taught in private and religious schools that their tax dollars are helping to subsidize?

In her article Louisiana’s Bold Bid to Privatize Schools, Simon told of New Living Word—a school in Ruston that is willing to accept the most voucher students—more than 300. The school has a top-ranked basketball team—but no library. Simon explained how the students spend most of their school days “watching TVs in bare-bones classrooms.” She said, “Each lesson consists of an instructional DVD that intersperses Biblical verses with subjects such chemistry or composition.”

Simon also wrote of another school that is planning to make room for potential voucher students: “At Eternity Christian Academy in Westlake, pastor-turned-principal Marie Carrier hopes to secure extra space to enroll 135 voucher students, though she now has room for just a few dozen. Her first- through eighth-grade students sit in cubicles for much of the day and move at their own pace through Christian workbooks, such as a beginning science text that explains ‘what God made’ on each of the six days of creation. They are not exposed to the theory of evolution.”

According to Simon, there are private schools in Louisiana that have been approved to receive state funds that “use social studies texts warning that liberals threaten global prosperity; Bible-based math books that don’t cover modern concepts such as set theory; and biology texts built around refuting evolution.” Many of the schools “rely on Pensacola-based A Beka Book curriculum or Bob Jones University Press textbooks to teach their pupils Bible-based ‘facts,’ such as the existence of Nessie the Loch Ness Monster and all sorts of pseudoscience…” (14 Wacky “Facts” Kids Will Learn in Louisiana’s Voucher Schools)

Here are some examples of the “historical facts” that children may learn in these religious schools in Louisiana–courtesy of The Society Pages:

• Humans and dinosaurs co-existed.
• God designed “checks and balances” to prevent environmental crises, so chill! After all, “Roses are red, violets are blue; they both grow better with more CO2.”
• “Rumors” of foreclosures, high unemployment, homelessness, and general misery during the Great Depression are just socialist propaganda.
• Unions just want to destroy the accomplishments of “hardworking Americans.”
• Mormons, Unitarians, and Catholics = bad.
• And then there’s the history of racial/ethnic relations: “God used the ‘Trail of Tears’ to bring many Indians to Christ” and “Through the Negro spiritual, slaves developed patience to wait on the Lord and discovered that the truest freedom is freedom from the bondage of sin.” No, seriously — I didn’t make those up.

Opinions on the School Voucher Program

Education expert Diane Ravitch wrote the following about the school voucher program in Louisiana:

Bear in mind that public education is level-funded, so all these millions for vouchers and charters and online schooling and tutoring will come right out of the public school budget, making classes more overcrowded, closing libraries, shutting down services for students that need them.

Ravitch also wrote about the American Legislative Exchange Council’s links to the movement to privatize public schools in the The Washington Post:

A recent article in the Newark Star-Ledger showed how closely New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s “reform” legislation is modeled on ALEC’s work in education. Wherever you see states expanding vouchers, charters, and other forms of privatization, wherever you see states lowering standards for entry into the teaching profession, wherever you see states opening up new opportunities for profit-making entities, wherever you see the expansion of for-profit online charter schools, you are likely to find legislation that echoes the ALEC model.

ALEC has been leading the privatization movement for nearly 40 years, but the only thing new is the attention it is getting, and the fact that many of its ideas are now being enacted…

Charles P. Pierce wrote the following on his Esquire blog in July:

One wave of education “reform” demands almost continual high-stakes testing. Another wave of education “reform” demands that public money go to private for-profit “schools.” Now, the new wave of education “reform” demands that the high-stakes testing not count in the new for-profit “schools.” But this never has been about education. It’s been about destroying the public schools and protecting the right of people to marinate in superstition and nonsense.

*****
What is your opinion about the movement to privatize public education? What is your opinion about public money being spent to pay student tuitions at religious schools? Do you think that some school “reformers” are out to destroy public schools in this country?

SOURCES

Both Obama and Romney are assaulting public education. Five threats, in particular, stand out (Salon)

Louisiana’s bold bid to privatize schools (Reuters)

Louisiana sets rules for landmark school voucher program (MSNBC/Reuters)

Vouching for Failure in Louisiana Schools (Esquire)

Louisiana sets rules for landmark school voucher program (Chicago Tribune)

Louisiana’s Voucher Standards Called Into Question (TPMMuckraker)

Louisiana vouchers going mainly to church-affiliated schools (The Town Talk)

Despite criticism, Louisiana OKs accountability plan for school vouchers (The Town Talk)

Vouchers and the future of public education (Washington Post)

Ravitch: A primer on the group driving school reform (Washington Post)

14 Wacky “Facts” Kids Will Learn in Louisiana’s Voucher Schools (Mother Jones)

Some of Christie’s biggest bills match model legislation from D.C. group called ALEC (New Jersey On-Line)

A Close Look at Some Evangelical Textbooks (The Society Pages)

195 thoughts on “Stateside Louisiana: School Vouchers and the Privatization of Public Education”

  4. Paul Ryan on education policy: vouchers, for-profit colleges, local control
    By Valerie Strauss
    8/11/12
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/paul-ryan-on-education-policy-vouchers-for-profit-colleges-local-control/2012/08/11/4eb74a7c-e3b2-11e1-98e7-89d659f9c106_blog.html

    Excerpt:
    Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)talks a lot about scaling back the reach of the federal government, but back in 2001, he voted in favor of No Child Left Behind, the signature education program of the George W. Bush administration that gave unprecedented power to the U.S. Education Department to tell states and districts what they had to do to get federal funds.

    Ryan, who presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney just tapped to be his vice presidential running mate, has obviously changed his mind. Today his Web site says: Rather than relying on the federal government to ensure that students are given the capability to fulfill their potential, education ought to be governed by state and local boards more ably qualified to determine student need.

    Ryan, as chairman of the House Budget Committee, has authored a budget proposal that calls for deep cuts in federal spending, including in public education.

    The Wisconsin representative has also cast votes during his seven terms in the House that show, among other things, support for school vouchers and for-profit colleges, positions that his critics say are part of an overall campaign to privatize public education. Romney has called for a more expansive policy of school vouchers, which give public money to families to attend private and religious schools.

  5. Curious,

    I think you should ask Nick to explain the “Tennessee model” and to provide information that shows how effective it has been in improving education in that state.

  6. Malisha, right, a related but tangential post below. I had occasion last night to look up a book I was interested in buying. It’s a lovely book and is a textbook- Jung’s Redbook. New $127,00 and to ‘lease’ as an e-book something like $69.00. A leased e-book book is one you don’t get to keep. It expires.

    There’s money to be made in them there for-profit schools if you throw in vertical integration and reciprocal arrangements.

    (linked from BoingNoing)
    “Animation Teacher Faces Termination For Refusing To Sell His Students Unnecessary Books”

    http://www.cartoonbrew.com/ideas-commentary/animation-teacher-faces-termination-for-refusing-to-sell-his-students-unnecessary-books.html

  7. This is another way of making everyone an employee of the big corporates. One way or another, directly or indirectly.

  8. nick,
    Merit pay is just another version of NCLB because the teachers will only teach for the test or to whatever benchmark is utilized in order to get their bonuses.

  9. Nick,

    Funny you mentioned Bill Veeck. I knew Bill Veeck and was bounced on his wooden leg (whoa people! there was nothing funny going on. He was a great guy.) We never discussed merit pay. I was about seven years old.

    But, dear god! Tennessee model?!? I have no idea of what that is but they are the ones who just passed some damn fool law about some damn fool social issue. Was it about the loch ness monster and Noah’s Ark? Was it about shriah law? Help me out people. Nick has caused me to completely flip out with his Tennessee model!

  10. bettykath,

    “A well-educated populace expects more than to work as serfs for barely sustainable wages. The next generations are being prepared to be the serfs.”

    I think you got something there!

  11. Apart from moving to privatize the schools for those wanting to make a profit, I see us moving more and more to a feudal society. A few super rich will endow a slightly larger beholden group who will serve them in order to keep their position and a dumbed down populace that will end up working as serfs for barely sustainable wages, if they can get a job. If not, they can starve. A well-educated populace expects more than to work as serfs for barely sustainable wages. The next generations are being prepared to be the serfs.

  12. Ms Rhee and merit pay? I saw what that kind of system in the hands of a high-functioning sociopath like Ms. Rhee did to a government agency I worked for. It was a terrible thing that completely remade the agency to conform to a template that was imported from the government’s security agencies which sounds like what Ms. Rhee and her ilk are pushing. It was an enlightening experience for me, so much so that I retired early. Ms. Rhee and her ilk are not friends to education.

  14. I’ve been thinking about this matter for some time. This is a great posting Elaine and you add an enormous amount of information to my inner dialog but it’s info on the ‘how’ with the ‘why’ being presumed to be profit. I just keep coming back to ‘why’? What generally applicable reason is there to destroy the school system?

    There may be regional or special interest reasons; ARE touched on one that is relevant. (I too knew some very conservative, religious folks with no TVs, just a radio that was always tuned to radio preachers.) [An interesting take on that below]

    http://www.salon.com/2012/08/12/should_the_south_secede/

    I’m tending toward the knowledge in our national circles that education is becoming superfluous to our country. Education is most useful if a new generation needs to be prepared to enter the world as a minimally qualified citizen and make their way to an adulthood that reflects their culture’s ideal. It used to be a good job, a home, a family, some material comfort, stability and security (in their jobs and expectations), and enough influence as an aggregate population to pass on greater aspirations to their children/next generation.

    I don’t see that model as valid anymore and I don’t think that that the men behind the forces that run the country or world see that as a valid model. This dismantling of the schools is part and parcel of a managed national decline and that decline isn’t specific to only the US. The austerity movement in Europe will, IMO, accomplish the same things we see happening here in the US.

    Maybe today is just a ‘cynical Monday’ for me but I do occasionally wonder what those folks talk about in those “quiet rooms” (TM Mitt Romney) at the Bilderberg Group (and similar) meetings. 🙂

  15. Nick,

    How is one to determine merit pay? By student test scores?

    I have never been in favor of merit pay for teachers. I saw some excellent teachers who were treated as pariahs because they were outspoken. I saw other teachers who got preferential treatment because they “cozied up” to administrators. Most importantly, I think it best for teachers to work in a collaborative rather than a competitive environment.

  16. Curious, You equate unions w/ “fairly compensated” because @ this point, it’s parochial, public and higher end private schools. The union teachers and higher end private school teachers are fairly compensated. What about a new paradigm in public schools, merit pay. Taxpayers are willing to pay more than they already pay if there is a merit system, not a seniority system in place. When the great Bill Veeck was asked about rising baseball salaries due to the reserve clause in baseball being invalidated and free agency becoming the the new norm. The wise, down to earth, man of the people owner of the Chisox said, “It’s not the high price of talent that kills a ballclub, great players are worth every penny. It’s the high cost for mediocrity that’s the killer.”

  17. Curious,

    “I was expecting that your best teachers were religious men and women. I suppose that would be the response of many here that also went to Catholic schools.”

    I attended Catholic Schools for twelve years. I can’t say that it was an uplifting educational experience for me. It was something that I endured. Since I attended parochial schools from first through 12th grade, I can’t compare my grammar and high school education to those of my friends who attended public schools. I know those friends had much smaller classes than I did. My elementary and high school classes averaged between forty and fifty students. I can tell you that I got an excellent education at the public college that I attended.

  18. Nick,

    Thanks for your response. I was expecting that your best teachers were religious men and women. I suppose that would be the response of many here that also went to Catholic schools.

    Last I heard, most skilled and talented people, in whatever field, want to be fairly compensated so they can support their families and send their kids to college. You were dedicated. You did not stay. Neither will they.

    You don’t like corporations and you don’t like unions and the nuns are all gone. So who is going to teach our kids? The man or woman who isn’t paid well, doesn’t have a pension, doesn’t have healthcare but who must have at least a college degree and the debt that goes along with it? Sounds like a great plan to recuit some really wonderful teachers to teach a roomful of maniac 15 year olds AND to deal with their parents who don’t want their children exposed to evolution or “librul” (sic) books.

    Yep. The answer is obvious. Let’s hire the very “dedicated” and pay them as little as possible – it’s our taxes, after all – and I’m sure we’ll be turning out lots of wonderful critical thinkers ready to lead the next generation of Exceptional Americans.

  19. A Smart ALEC Threatens Public Education
    Coordinated efforts to introduce model legislation aimed at defunding and dismantling public schools is the signature work of this conservative organization.
    By Julie Underwood and Julie F. Mead, Phi Delta Kappan
    February 29,2012
    http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/03/01/kappan_underwood.html

    Excerpt:
    A legislative contagion seemed to sweep across the Midwest during the early months of 2011. First, Wisconsin legislators wanted to strip public employees of the right to bargain. Then, Indiana legislators got into the act. Then, it was Ohio. In each case, Republican governors and Republican-controlled state legislatures had introduced substantially similar bills that sought sweeping changes to each state’s collective bargaining statutes and various school funding provisions.

    What was going on? How could elected officials in multiple states suddenly introduce essentially the same legislation?

    The answer: The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Its self-described legislative approach to education reads:

    Across the country for the past two decades, education reform efforts have popped up in legislatures at different times in different places. As a result, teachers’ unions have been playing something akin to “whack-a-mole”—you know the game—striking down as many education reform efforts as possible. Many times, the unions successfully “whack” the “mole,” i.e., the reform legislation. Sometimes, however, they miss. If all the moles pop up at once, there is no way the person with the mallet can get them all. Introduce comprehensive reform packages. (Ladner, LeFevre, & Lips, 2010, p. 108)

    ALEC’s own “whack-a-mole” strategy also reveals the group’s ultimate goal. Every gardener who has ever had to deal with a mole knows that the animals undermine and ultimately destroy a garden. ALEC’s positions on various education issues make it clear that the organization seeks to undermine public education by systematically defunding and ultimately destroying public education as we know it.

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