----- Original Message ----- From: Diane Wiley To: Mpls Forum Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2002 1:11 AM Subject: [Mpls] Failing Schools -- Vouchers
Mark Anderson said: You talk about private schools serving the disabled and disruptive. We seem to be talking about vouchers for private school education, so I will make it plain that I do support them. And I will agree, along with all those other conservatives, that you can't force a private school to take any kid against their will. It's not private anymore if the State makes decisions on their enrollment. What I've always figured you could do with this issue is to increase the amount of the voucher for disabled kids. If you paid more for a kid that's disabled than for one that isn't, I'm sure there would be private schools willing to take these kids. Diane Wiley replies: This is the point, isn't it? If there was more money for the public schools to pay for services for these kids, they wouldn't need to go to private schools to get out of public schools that aren't serving them. This is why the whole voucher discussion is absurd. Diane Wiley, Powderhorn, kid at Seward who needs services he ain't gettin Mark Anderson again: This is the old theory of solving problems by throwing money at them. The amount of money one spends on education is most definitely not the point. It is my firm belief that a private school can do a lot more with the same amount of money a public school gets. I'm not bashing the people that work in public schools - it's just the nature of the beast of public vs private. Public schools have to be accountable to the State, the school board, the teachers' union, and any other interest groups that will affect the politicians in charge of the schools. And they have to take every kid assigned to them. What the parents want is way down on the list. A private school can be focused on achievement, with the parents being the major interest group they must satisfy. Mark Anderson Bancroft Neighborhood _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
