So I’m driving home today and I hear excerpts from Mr. Obama’s speech on Education. I hear he is going to institute “merit pay” and eliminate limits on charter schools.
Bravo!
There are, of course, passages of what I heard that disturb me.
…it will be the goal of this Administration to ensure that every child has access to a complete and competitive education – from the day they are born to the day they begin a career.
But, that aside, perhaps those in education and those expert in reform can explain more about accountability and the expansion of charter schools. Help us all make sure its something we can support?
Orange County High School of the Arts is a charter school operating within the Santa Ana Unified S.D., and a superb school for which SAUSD cannot take any credit. But careful … careful … regarding charters. Education is the largest item on the California state budget, a massive river of public money, which attracts con men, scammers, entrepreneurs, all trying to get a diversion of funds going their way. Charter schools are great tactics to accomplish this, with a history of scams. A grand vision, laudable goals, and a golden-tongued presenter to pitch it past a school board, is what it takes to start a charter school designed primarily to enrich its trustees and managers. Aim your school towards students with uninvolved parents, massage your data reports, and you can keep the thing going for some time. Here’s one of these scam charters we had in SAUSD a few years ago … read and enjoy.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/school-audit-charter-1886191-state-santa
Thanks Teacher!
Hey Terry,
You’re OK, but the heat on the president is really cranking up all over the political blogosphere, and I began to wonder where the limits might be. So I asked my son who’s about to graduate from USC law school, and he sent me this, which he said about sums it up:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1747661