http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Artic le_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035776353170&call_pageid=968256290204&col=9683501167 95
Jan. 7, 2003. 01:00 AM Klein's bad idea for school vouchers Alberta Premier Ralph Klein ended 2002 with another of his famous idea balloons: This time, he has turned his thoughts to the public clamour for education credit vouchers. If you haven't heard the outcry yourself, don't worry, the premier has. He says his backbenchers talked about it regularly. And it's even possible that such is the case. The method by which Klein would have heard this outpouring of demand works like this: Parents and administrators from private schools organize a campaign to talk with the backbenchers. The message to be sent is that parents should be issued vouchers good for one year's provincial funding at the school the parent chooses. A free market in teaching children will thus weed out all those bad schools. The backbenchers, eager to show they listen to local concerns, promise to take the comments clear up to the premier's office. They mention these contacts with the voters when they attend caucus meetings. Two, three, four members mention the item, and others agree that, yes, people in their ridings have brought up the topic as well. There you are; widespread public demand for education vouchers has been verified. Even if most people have never given it a moment's thought. Since the end of the last teachers' strike, the need for maintaining a top-flight education system has dawned on the government. The Learning Department is currently working on a major report on the future of education. Among the topics contained in the report is a suggestion that funding follow the child through school, via U.S.-style credit vouchers to parents. To assist the process, the premier entertains a reporter with one of his idea balloons. The story makes the wires and before you know it, this week's policy hot button has been pressed. Klein plays this game better than anyone. He waits for the inevitable reactions, and plays it from there. Sometimes, it's a method of softening the voters to a radical idea. Often, though, a reasoned, cogent response from people who disagree with whatever's being floated at the time can convince the premier to just let the idea float away. That's participatory democracy, Alberta-style. In many cases, it's actually a reasonable substitute for leadership. There are a lot of reasons most people wouldn't want a school voucher system. The first is that for most parents, this kind of choice is illusory, they shouldn't have to pay for another layer of administration to cover it. The second reason is vouchers are a program to reduce the public system. Maybe the politicians haven't heard, but beyond complaints about costs and fees, most parents are actually quite satisfied with our education system. We can't all have our favourite teacher in every class, every year, but by and large Albertans are well-served. The issue of choice? For a whole lot of parents, it's either not needed or it's not possible, because there is only one public or separate school for kilometres around. In a lot of small towns the worry is not how to select the best school, it's how to preserve the only school they've got. Even in large centres like Edmonton, choice only exists for people with the resources to shuttle children through long commutes to an alternate school. Even then, choice exists only if there's room for an out-of-area student. The only significant group that wants education vouchers are supporters of private schools or home school parents. And even they won't like the premier's comments that private school vouchers would only be worth 60 per cent of a public school voucher. Thanks to the premier for floating the issue, but this is one balloon that's best deflated quickly. This is an edited excerpt from an editorial that appeared in the Red Deer Advocate. _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
