When Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) promoted school vouchers for D.C. I called her sorry rich DINO ass on it. Her reply? It was a pilot program, not a precedent. Bullshit Dianne, may you rot in….
It would be so interesting to put together a meeting of people from all over the state: residents from rural, urban, suburban areas, transportation and land use planners, economic development, regional gov’t, local electeds & candidates, teachers and superintendents, & others to really focus on the long-term impacts of closing schools. Not just on kids*, but to the local economy, roads, community cohesion (as you write), what will happen to empty massive rural campuses or historic urban buildings, I could go on and on. Will small towns empty out chasing a good education for their kids? Will urban cores have worse crime with zero possibility of coming back to life?
I don’t think the clowns in Jeff City are able to get past their own personal short-term benefits ($), but perhaps helping voters understand that it isn’t just underfunded schools, but how entire neighborhoods are communities will change, and not for the better.
*but absolutely including the impacts to kids who have their educational opportunities almost completely ruined, and how it will change society. TBH I’m thinking of urban kids turning to crime and rural kids having nothing to do and the astonishing ignorance that will result. What will it mean to have pockets of wealth where families will have access to quality education, while the rest of the state wallows in poverty and ignorance? Gah - it’s so complicated and ultimately so cruel.
North Carolina must be ahead of Missouri in the educational race to the bottom. My rural home community has had a consolidated high school since 1962. It was when the county consolidated the elementary schools that things really went to hell. The little towns my husband and I grew up in are shells of their former selves. Most of the businesses are boarded up. Even the local grocery store and drugstore closed. The expense of doing business was too great. Walmart coming to our county didn’t help. People were so hot to trot for “low prices.” Of course, there are additional reasons for the demise of our little rural communities, but the last 50 years have been very unkind to rural communities. Greedy politicians and morbidly rich robber barons have done little to help a difficult situation.
How’s that voucher bullshit working for Ohio? It’s not. And charter schools receiving vouchers in California are teaching (gaming) to standardized test success instead of actual learning/ systems thinking…
The schools aren't being defunded, people are just trying to escape these shithole systems, and now they have an avenue. If you want people to care about your system, why'd you make them so shit?
When I was teaching in Tuba City, AZ (on the Navajo Nation), I was at a public school but since there was no real estate tax base, the admins had to go to DC to lobby for additional federal funds. AZ is also a state with very little support of public schools and lots of vouchers. The issue on the rez was that there were public schools, BIE schools, and tribal schools. If a kid started being challenging in one, then they could either be asked to leave or the family would pull them out and enroll in one of the others. Some kids often didn’t spend a full school year in one school, they would bounce from one form of school to another all in the course of one school year.
You are so correct, Jess. Well-said. In my suburban but low-income town the charters are doing the same damage. Plus, they are allowed to expel kids with behavioral problems. Those kids then go back to public schools that have reduced funding for special-needs students.
Sounds like the Governors of Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri are all cut from the same cloth. Stitt and Abbot both shoved that voucher scheme down their constituents throats even though it wasn’t wanted. Now the people of Oklahoma have elected Ryan Walters to finish the job Stitt started of doing away with public schools.
When Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) promoted school vouchers for D.C. I called her sorry rich DINO ass on it. Her reply? It was a pilot program, not a precedent. Bullshit Dianne, may you rot in….
It would be so interesting to put together a meeting of people from all over the state: residents from rural, urban, suburban areas, transportation and land use planners, economic development, regional gov’t, local electeds & candidates, teachers and superintendents, & others to really focus on the long-term impacts of closing schools. Not just on kids*, but to the local economy, roads, community cohesion (as you write), what will happen to empty massive rural campuses or historic urban buildings, I could go on and on. Will small towns empty out chasing a good education for their kids? Will urban cores have worse crime with zero possibility of coming back to life?
I don’t think the clowns in Jeff City are able to get past their own personal short-term benefits ($), but perhaps helping voters understand that it isn’t just underfunded schools, but how entire neighborhoods are communities will change, and not for the better.
*but absolutely including the impacts to kids who have their educational opportunities almost completely ruined, and how it will change society. TBH I’m thinking of urban kids turning to crime and rural kids having nothing to do and the astonishing ignorance that will result. What will it mean to have pockets of wealth where families will have access to quality education, while the rest of the state wallows in poverty and ignorance? Gah - it’s so complicated and ultimately so cruel.
Another great article Jess, really appreciate the thoughtful analysis.
Thank you for continuously making SCHOOLS a priority! We will never move forward without education. 💙
Public money stays with public schools.
North Carolina must be ahead of Missouri in the educational race to the bottom. My rural home community has had a consolidated high school since 1962. It was when the county consolidated the elementary schools that things really went to hell. The little towns my husband and I grew up in are shells of their former selves. Most of the businesses are boarded up. Even the local grocery store and drugstore closed. The expense of doing business was too great. Walmart coming to our county didn’t help. People were so hot to trot for “low prices.” Of course, there are additional reasons for the demise of our little rural communities, but the last 50 years have been very unkind to rural communities. Greedy politicians and morbidly rich robber barons have done little to help a difficult situation.
How’s that voucher bullshit working for Ohio? It’s not. And charter schools receiving vouchers in California are teaching (gaming) to standardized test success instead of actual learning/ systems thinking…
https://www.statenews.org/section/the-ohio-newsroom/2024-06-17/school-voucher-use-has-surged-in-ohio-but-private-school-enrollment-isnt-rising-with-it
The schools aren't being defunded, people are just trying to escape these shithole systems, and now they have an avenue. If you want people to care about your system, why'd you make them so shit?
When I was teaching in Tuba City, AZ (on the Navajo Nation), I was at a public school but since there was no real estate tax base, the admins had to go to DC to lobby for additional federal funds. AZ is also a state with very little support of public schools and lots of vouchers. The issue on the rez was that there were public schools, BIE schools, and tribal schools. If a kid started being challenging in one, then they could either be asked to leave or the family would pull them out and enroll in one of the others. Some kids often didn’t spend a full school year in one school, they would bounce from one form of school to another all in the course of one school year.
You are so correct, Jess. Well-said. In my suburban but low-income town the charters are doing the same damage. Plus, they are allowed to expel kids with behavioral problems. Those kids then go back to public schools that have reduced funding for special-needs students.
Sounds like the Governors of Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri are all cut from the same cloth. Stitt and Abbot both shoved that voucher scheme down their constituents throats even though it wasn’t wanted. Now the people of Oklahoma have elected Ryan Walters to finish the job Stitt started of doing away with public schools.
By the way, NC has been under court order to fund equitable education for all students, but the legislature has not done it.