Walker's War on Education - Vouchers ... more in Cap Times, NYTimes

Meanwhile at the NYTimes Level - 4/9

The Deadlocked Debate Over Education Reform
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In the CapTimes By Joel McNally, April 9th, 2011 - Click on Title to see article

Joel McNally: The school voucher scam

Further credits : Joel McNally of Milwaukee writes a regular column for The Capital Times. joelmcnally@att.net

From the source...

According to the researchers, only a minuscule 1.5 percent of voucher students have special needs, compared to nearly 20 percent of MPS students.

... And get this. They say even if voucher students don’t do any better, the program is still a tremendous success because it accomplishes the same poor result at half the cost.

... With taxpayers supporting two educational systems instead of one, funds for public schools where needs are the greatest are drastically reduced and, suddenly, a government program sold as a benefit to the poor becomes just another tax giveaway to the wealthy.

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We have all heard about cherry picking the results and picking the bad cherry in the results ... and picking your headline carefully!  When you read the above and then do some searching in Google, etc. you may be left wondering ... who do I believe?

Well this may not sort it out for you, but -


http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/29543004.html Feb. 26, 2008

As I examined the above article I can see where Joel McNally has drawn his conclusions - and I assume he used as much of more recent and original source material as possible - not as myself so far relying on these secondary interpretations.

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/local_schools/article_4f083f0e-59a7-11e0-8d74-001cc4c03286.html

As I read this "time capsule" of articles with their "selected facts" I have to express my skepticism that the Milwaukee Voucher program is any kind of roaring success.

... then there is this ... from the "American Federation for Children" in a post on their website ...

January 11, 2011 (Washington, D.C.) — Student participants in the Milwaukee school voucher program have graduation rates that are 18 percent higher than those of students in Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), according to a new report released by John Robert Warren, an education expert and professor at the University of Minnesota.
Data gathered since 2003 show clearly the benefits of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP)—which allows students from low-income families to attend participating private schools in Wisconsin’s largest city.  Had graduation rates for MPS matched those of the MPCP, nearly 4,000 additional students would have graduated from 2003 to 2009.  Job-related productivity from those additional graduates would have also resulted in approximately $4.2 million in additional tax revenue.

The only thing I would caution is that this group, of which I now nothing about, solicits donations ... I would like to know more ... there are a lot of names in their "About Us".  Second they are an invitation only group .. it appears ... is this another ALEC?

more from source on site ...

AFC's National Policy Summit 2011

Join us for our second invitation-only insider school choice briefing. What progress has been made and where are we headed in the coming year? School Choice Now: Empowering America's Children connects donors, policymakers, and opinion leaders to discuss how we can best provide educational opportunities to the children who need them most. Register at the link below!

Speaker Boehner, US House Vote to Restore and Extend D.C. Vouchers

The US House of Representatives has passed the bipartisan SOAR Act, which would restore and extend the voucher program for low-income children in the District of Columbia.

WI 1848 Forward: #Walker 's War on #Education - #Vouchers ... more in #CapTimes, #NYTimes #47% vs #1%