Morning Shots

With the application deadline fast approaching, 561 students, 1.2% of those eligible, have signed up for the new statewide EdChoice school voucher program.

Despite this slow start, there is good reason to believe that this voucher program can fulfill its promise of offering true education choice to those who need it most. When these early participation numbers are placed in the context of other successful voucher programs around the country it becomes clear that EdChoice is setting off on a path that is remarkably similar.

The first year participation rates for some of the largest and best-known voucher programs around the country provide some context.

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the first year of their voucher program had 341 participants, which was 0.7% of all eligible students. Now, there are 15,035 participants, 20.5% of all eligible students.

In Florida, the McKay voucher program for special education students, currently the largest voucher program in the country, had 977 participants in its first year of existence, a utilization rate of 0.3% of all eligible students. Today, the program serves 15,910 students, 4.3% of all eligible students.

The new voucher program in our nation’s capital, which just finished its first year, had 1,015 participants, which amounted to 1.7% of those eligible to participate in the program.

With state education officials expecting a rush of last minute applications, it appears likely that the Ohio EdChoice program will have a larger percentage of eligible students participating in its first year than any of these programs. And the experience from other voucher programs tells us that these numbers will likely grow in the coming years.

But there are several barriers to participation that have come to light in the course of implementing EdChoice that need to be addressed before the next application season if such growth is going to be realized.

The Cleveland voucher

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In the battle over possible mayoral control of the failed LA school system, the LA Times has once again rushed to cover the south end of the north-facing teachers’ unions. 

Presenting not one pixel of the picture of the disaster that is LAUSD, the Times article wants us to believe that ALL PARENTS oppose mayoral control – nay, ANY change – of LAUSD operations.  Let’s look at some highlights:

…disgruntled parents in Los Angeles warned the school board about the shortcomings of mayoral control.

Really? L.A. parents are so happy with LAUSD’s 50% high school dropout rate, and the graduation of high school kids who can’t compete in the real world because they read and compute at a 4th grade level that they want the people who did this to their kids to stay in charge? Is that believable to anybody?

Look at the failing – no, FAILED – LAUSD middle schools. What percentage of 7th graders are proficient in math? Well, in the HIGHEST scoring middle school, the answer is… 62%.  That was the best.  In the middle school my family is faced with, only 23% of 7th graders can do 7th grade math. And the numbers range down to… 3%.

Could the Times have printed that? Sure.  So we know what they’re agenda is.  After all, would it not show how insane the arguments are for minor tinkering–or as the status quo-ers call it, “working in partnership with us”? 

Mary Bergan, president of the California Federation of Teachers, which adopted a resolution earlier this year opposing mayoral control of schools, (said) “I don’t know what kind of upheaval it would bring.”

Any change to the status quo will be vilified by the teachers unions as “upheaval”. The fact is that upheaval is exactly what LAUSD needs.

Let’s be clear: The

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A few years ago, I landed a very good job in Washington, DC.  After a few months, I dropped to my knee, and asked a lovely woman to marry me and join me in DC.  She agreed.  Lucky me.

After living in New York City, we both had hoped to maintain a critical part of what we considered urban living— the ability to walk to work and shops.  After a bracing search, we managed to land an old row house on Capitol Hill.  There is a convenience store 500 feet from our front door, there are a few restaurants within five blocks, and we both can hoof it to our jobs.  Lucky us.

Then we got pregnant.  Among the things that we began pondering – equipping the nursery, acquiring books on babies, etc. – was the question of public schools.  Sure, the kid needn’t enroll for over four years.  However, if our current school options proved inadequate, then we may need to move to another part of town or to another city.  Which means figuring out where to move, which is a lengthy process and a pain.  Since my wife is busy carrying the baby and working full-time, I volunteered to assume the task of beginning the research.

My examination of the data available on DC’s schools confirmed what I had read elsewhere.  Generally, the government-run schools in DC are not doing well.  The elementary school just two blocks from our home was typical.  Among fourth-graders, only 30 percent were scoring proficiently or better in mathematics.  The reading scores were abysmal— just 14 percent of pupils performed at the proficient or advanced level. 

The District of Columbia does have an open enrollment plan, whereby parents can apply to place their child in a school other than the one in their neighborhood.  However,

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