Tuesday, March 07, 2006
John Tierney 2 Days In A Row
Today Mr. Tierney reports on the success of Milwaukee's school voucher program. He makes some interesting claims. For example, Mr. Tierney says that the use of vouchers has forced traditional public schools to improve due to the threat of competition. He also says that new private schools have opened to take advantage of the vouchers. I have read both of these observations about school choice in Milwaukee in the past.
But after studying Washington D.C.'s Opportunity Scholarships program and even making strong attempts to open a private high school to serve its students I don't understand how a voucher amount of $6,400 in Milwaukee can drive such dramatic changes. For instance, we now have about 25% of all public school children in the nation's capital going to charter schools and yet the reaction from the traditional school system has been a collective yawn. So something about description of the educational landscape in Milwaukee does not make sense to me.
PermaLink | 5:14 AM |
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But after studying Washington D.C.'s Opportunity Scholarships program and even making strong attempts to open a private high school to serve its students I don't understand how a voucher amount of $6,400 in Milwaukee can drive such dramatic changes. For instance, we now have about 25% of all public school children in the nation's capital going to charter schools and yet the reaction from the traditional school system has been a collective yawn. So something about description of the educational landscape in Milwaukee does not make sense to me.
PermaLink | 5:14 AM |
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