Morning Shots

This country is great. We’ve just elected the first African-American president, who has brought tremendous pride to many communities, but especially to African-Americans. I’ve seen it myself across the color and political spectrums.

It reminds us that you can have anything you want in America – unless you’re poor, that is.

Nowhere is this more clear than when it comes to schooling your child. Much has been written about where the Obamas might send their babies to school. As they are looking at private schools, their new hometown paper, The Washington Post, is reminding them that there are other people who want such a choice, but the President-elect doesn’t support the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program that allows such a choice with taxpayer dollars.

There are others who want him to go to a charter school. One of his biggest fans, Democrats for Education Reform, a group which really believes he will carry their agenda, is pleading for him to choose a charter school in D.C., one of the 62 or so high quality schools currently serving almost 30 percent of the D.C. public school population.

While my organization is the nation’s leading advocate for charter school choices, I’m not so sure I want to see the Obamas choose a charter school. Though I disagree with our president-elect on many issues and fear that obsessive government solutions and spending will push us further into a government dependency, I want the best for him and his family when they come to Washington. I want him to have no distractions other than those that impact us all.

And frankly, if Sasha and Malia were to attend a charter school, here are just a few of the problems they’d encounter

Read More …

Waiting In Line to Attend a Texas Charter School 

If public charter schools are really so bad, then why are tens of thousands of Texas students standing in line for admission?

The State of Texas, which prides itself on everything being bigger and better, does not have enough room for every student who wants to attend the public school of their choice. Last year, at least 16,810 Texas students were on a waiting list to attend a public charter school. Imagine the entire Pearland school district on a waiting list.  

This large waiting list demonstrates a tremendous parental and student demand for educational options besides their government-assigned public school. For every five students enrolled in a charter school in Texas, another student is on a waiting list.

Houston’s regional waiting list was the largest, with 7,415 students waiting to get into a charter school last year. The Dallas/Fort Worth region had the second largest regional waiting list with 5,896 students. Approximately 24,500 students attended a charter school in Houston and more than 30,000 students attended a charter school in the Dallas/Fort Worth area during the 2007-2008 school year, so their large waiting lists were not entirely surprising.

What was surprising was the disproportionally large waiting list in the Rio Grande Valley’. Last year, only 6,126 students attended a charter school in the Valley and yet the Valley’s waiting list was 2,110 students.

Most Americans are unfamiliar with charter schools. In fact, only 20 percent of Americans can correctly identify a charter school as a public school, according to a Center for Education Reform national poll.

Charter schools, while subject to less government regulation, are public schools funded with public funds. Charter schools cannot charge tuition, teach religion, discriminate, or

Read More …

Dear Mr. Weaver,

I checked out the transcript of your speech, ‘as prepared for delivery,’ given at the DNC on Monday.  Is this the actual speech you gave?  If so, I am quite simply appalled. 

Your first words are, “I am here today on behalf of 3.2 million NEA members to tell you why we support Barack Obama for President of the United States.”  Wait a minute. It sounds as if all 3.2 million members of the NEA are supporting Obama.  Then in the last sentence, you leave no doubt.  “That, my friends, is why the 3.2 million members of the National Education Association are organized, energized and mobilized to help elect Barack Obama as the next president of the United States of America.”  This last statement is an outrage.

You have been quoted on more than one occasion stating that “the NEA is one-third Republican,” which means that there are over one million Republican NEA members.  It is audacity of the highest order to state unequivocally that these people will be “organized, energized and mobilized” to vote for a Democrat. 

I have been a classroom teacher for over 27 years and for many of those an NEA member, before resigning from the “Association” several years ago.  I would strongly urge you to issue an apology to those Republicans still in the NEA and the American public in general for what really is a ludicrous statement.

Larry Sand

Editor’s Note: Larry’s keeping his eye out for “an apology and a gift basket from Mr. Weaver within a few days.” We’ll keep you posted.