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Gimmicks That Don't Work: VouchersThe debate over education funding can get confusing, but some issues are pretty clear. It's common sense that the best way to improve our children's education is to ensure that our public schools have the funding they need, and that they spend it wisely. That's why 71 percent of Americans say we need to focus on improving the current public education system, instead of testing risky alternatives. But still, the vocal minority for school privatization continues to push for risky plans such as vouchers, which would fund private school attendance at public expense. While vouchers might sound like an attractive idea, there's no proof that they improve achievement. However, there is clear proof that vouchers take money away from our public schools and make it even harder for disadvantaged students to get a quality education. A tale of two citiesTo examine at the effect of vouchers, we only need to take a look at what has happened in Cleveland and Milwaukee — two cities where voucher programs were implemented. From 1998-2000 in Milwaukee, vouchers cost taxpayers $61 million, while public schools had to cut funding by $45 million. In Cleveland, vouchers have cost taxpayers more than $40 million. The money diverted is not evenly distributed. Vouchers effectively take money from public schools and put it into private schools — which can discriminate in admissions by not accepting students with learning disabilities. Studies have shown that voucher programs have a smaller representation of special-needs children. In other words, vouchers use public money — but they don't allow all taxpayers' children to participate. No proof vouchers workPerhaps the biggest myth about vouchers is that they lead to improved academic achievement. However, research has yet to show that vouchers programs lead to higher test scores. A 2001 review by the non-partisan United States General Accounting Office (GAO) found little difference in Cleveland and Milwaukee between students enrolled in vouchers programs and public school students. It seems pretty clear: Vouchers have no proven track record of success, and the vast majority of Americans believe that better funding public schools is the answer. And the decisions that affect our children should be made at a community level — by local parents, teachers and principals. Right now, however, wealthy corporate interests like Wal-Mart, Amway and other mega-corporations are funneling millions of dollars into communities across the country in an effort to privatize education — all under the umbrella of a shadowy group, "All Children Matter." The All Children Matter (ACM) pro-privatization forces have poured money into state legislative elections to attack candidates they don't like. They have done this in many states and played fast and loose with state election laws. They've been accused of laundering and illegal electioneering in Wisconsin, libel and breaking election law in Florida, and failing to report to taxpayers about their activities in Texas. Election attacksIn October 2006, at the height of the political season, a blue flyer mysteriously showed up in mailboxes in Racine, Wisconsin. "There are $12 billion reasons to vote against John Lehman," the flier said, claiming a State Senator from Racine was going to raise taxes. Who paid for this? This Wisconsin arm of a so-called "education" group named All Children Matter. Not that the ad had anything to do with education. Nor did the money for the ad come from Wisconsin. In fact, the ad was paid for by money apparently laundered through All Children Matter's national office in Arlington, Virginia. The Wisconsin Elections Board has launched a probe to discover whether All Children Matter broke state laws that ban Wisconsin corporations from making campaign donations, and that require all political action committees active in Wisconsin to register with the State Elections Board. This sort of late attack with out-of-state money seems to be the strategy of choice for All Children Matter. Over the last few years, the national organization has tried to influence elections on behalf of pro-privatization candidates in Colorado, Florida, Wisconsin, Missouri, and a number of other states. In each state, they have set up a state-level political action committee that takes most of its money from out-of-state sources. But what are they trying to accomplish? ACM's education "agenda"What are these out-of-state millionaires trying to do? They have poured tens of millions of dollars into funding candidates who would take away the resources from local public schools and give it to school privatization plans. But research shows this isn't the best way to improve education for our kids. As the Milwaukee and Cleveland cases show, vouchers take away money from public schools without any real evidence of improved achievement. At Real Education Solutions, we truly want to help parents, teachers and education supporters advocate for the solutions that research already shows work for schools. There are a lot of ideas out there, but most experts agree that having local parents and neighbors involved is one of the best ways to improve our schools. Where does all this money come from?All Children Matter has set up a national network of "state-based" chapters, trying to make it look like there's a local call for its school privatization plans. But the facts undercut this carefully crafted appearance. Follow the money trail: All Children Matter spent more than $10 million to influence elections in 2004 — with almost all of the money coming from a few multi-millionaires. For example, All Children Matter Florida spent $1.6 million in 2004, but $1.3 million of that money came from out-of-state. Even more egregious, just $3,200 of the $426,250 raised by All Children Matter Missouri in 2004 actually came from Missouri residents. Most of the organization's money comes from a few very wealthy sources:
Read more about All Children Matter and its campaign to deceive American parents and taxpayers. |
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