When researcher Josh Cowen is talking about the negative effects of school vouchers on education, he often points at "subprime" private schools-- schools opened in strip malls or church basements or some other piece of cheap real estate and operated by people who are either fraudsters or incompetents or both.
Has anyone studied "choice school" locations. I have argued for years that if you live in a rural area there is no choice because there is only one school for each age group, and there aren't resources to create "competitive" schools. It seems that the siting of schools is based upon where there are profits to be made, not where there is need.
Bull’s eye. When I was desperate for a (teaching) job in 1989 in San Diego, I visited every “school” listed in the phone book (yup, that long ago). I discovered all the strip-mall schools as well as the church-of-what’s-happening-now schools. Gawd, what an eye opener then, and now it is, staggeringly, even worse. At least the Supreme Court case for diverting $$$ to religious schools is on the back burner for now. More creative shenanigans and corruption ahead. FYI: I will forward yesterday’s lead article in the SDUnion Tribune about this area’s charter “pseudo” schools. You need to know the author, Kristen Taketa and her expertise for reporting on this topic. To be continued… Sandra Forrest sldforrest@yahoo.com
Yep - the elite private schools in TN (many of them, anyway) have already indicated they will not participate in or accept the state's school vouchers - this leaves other players (and some unsavory newcomers) to fill in the space - 20,000 vouchers will be provided in the 2025-26 academic year - some to families with kids already in subprime private schools, some who will send kids to privates not knowing the quality of the offering. $150 million will be spent in year one on this scheme - and it is expected to take up more than $1 billion a year within 5 years. The losers? The state's public schools - and particularly the rural communities that depend so heavily on state school funding.
I’m so tired of hearing people say that schools should be run like businesses. The opposite is true.
Caveat emptor is no way to run an education system but here we are.
Has anyone studied "choice school" locations. I have argued for years that if you live in a rural area there is no choice because there is only one school for each age group, and there aren't resources to create "competitive" schools. It seems that the siting of schools is based upon where there are profits to be made, not where there is need.
Bull’s eye. When I was desperate for a (teaching) job in 1989 in San Diego, I visited every “school” listed in the phone book (yup, that long ago). I discovered all the strip-mall schools as well as the church-of-what’s-happening-now schools. Gawd, what an eye opener then, and now it is, staggeringly, even worse. At least the Supreme Court case for diverting $$$ to religious schools is on the back burner for now. More creative shenanigans and corruption ahead. FYI: I will forward yesterday’s lead article in the SDUnion Tribune about this area’s charter “pseudo” schools. You need to know the author, Kristen Taketa and her expertise for reporting on this topic. To be continued… Sandra Forrest sldforrest@yahoo.com
Yep - the elite private schools in TN (many of them, anyway) have already indicated they will not participate in or accept the state's school vouchers - this leaves other players (and some unsavory newcomers) to fill in the space - 20,000 vouchers will be provided in the 2025-26 academic year - some to families with kids already in subprime private schools, some who will send kids to privates not knowing the quality of the offering. $150 million will be spent in year one on this scheme - and it is expected to take up more than $1 billion a year within 5 years. The losers? The state's public schools - and particularly the rural communities that depend so heavily on state school funding.