The concept behind Voucher Funding is being stated simply as “Money Follows the Student.” But that is a phrase — like “No Child Left Behind” — that carries with it an instant emotional appeal and creates a barrier to debate.

Think about it. Who will openly object to not leaving children behind? Why would anyone disagree with the idea that funding should focus on students? It should, but it should do so without causing harm.

Using Language to Produce Political Conformity

Across the nation funding formulas are being called “out dated” or “antiquated.” Lawmakers and taxpayers are being sold on “new” and “innovative” ideas. Sound familiar?

One reason the NAACP called for a Moratorium on Charter School Expansion.

“School Choice” has appeal. …

“People like the idea of choice,” says Reverend Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

But …

Americans hold firm against allowing public tax dollars to fund private schools. Source: Vouchers, School Privatization, and the Threat to Public Education

Americans do want to increase funding for public schools. But public tax dollars are inadvertently being used for privatization purposes through new modernized funding formulas.

“Money Follows the Student” masks the fact that enrollment based student centered funding formulas are a Voucher Funding scheme.

This is what U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has to say about the public system she openly defames while traveling the country to promote her Federal School Choice Agenda.

And now, the language of political conformity is being used to promote Voucher Funding by coupling the words “funding follows the child” with the concept of education as a “public good.” Linked together, those truisms are used to justify public funds being used to pay for personal choices in a “school choice” system dominated by private service providers — the education marketplace — both private schools and privately run charter schools.

“Secretary DeVos has always said education is an investment in students, not in schools or school systems,… and public education is any education that serves the public.” Elizabeth Hill, Secretary, DeVos’ spokeswoman

But is the idea of all education serving the public mean that the taxpaying public should pay for all personal choices when it comes to providing a free “public” education?

“School Choice” Vouchers: Arguments For and Against

The foundation for the charter and voucher “school choice” theory of improving education is competition. Charter schools and voucher programs were to spur competition that would lead to all schools improving themselves —thus it would be best for all students.

… when parents can choose where to send their child to school, they will choose the highest performing options. And flexibility, supporters argue, fosters the best environment for market competition and cost efficiency.

Those arguing against charter expansion and voucher programs point to what they see happen to existing schools and the effects on the broader population of students that those schools serve.

… shifting a handful of students from a public school into private schools will not decrease what the public school must pay for teachers and facilities — but funding for those costs will decrease as students leave.

With Wisconsin beginning their voucher experiment in 1989, we now have 30 years of data collected. If proponents of a Voucher Funding System are seeing great success, why aren’t they spreading their cost/benefit findings as far and wide as they seem to be doing with their slogans — “funding follows the child” — “money follows the student”?

Officially 30 years since passage of the law. This response is from 2017 and I was giving her the benefit of the doubt on the first couple of years of implementation.

The Need to Follow the Money

A weighted-student formula based on enrollment is another way of saying “money follows the student.” It is a voucher funding system that is fracturing the public school’s system. Simply (?) following the money in a publicly funded, privately controlled charter/voucher system is difficult to impossible for the average citizen.
Truly accounting for taxpayer funds? … Well, good luck!

Researchers have increasingly explored the subconscious link between money and corruption — called behavioral ethicality — to find out why even morally conscious people are able to cause harm to others.

We know that money has corrupted our politics but to think money has the power to corrupt anyone’s decision-making is hard to fathom. So for that reason, we need education policies that do not provide perverse incentives to game the system. Determining the monetary value of each student, putting that student into a marketplace and subjecting them to advertising pressures is creating exactly the wrong incentives.

Funding Matters

“We have a problem where public money is siphoned off from the public schools and given to children who are going to charter and private schools.” —Oklahoma Teacher of the Year Jon Hazell

Hazell said he told DeVos how funding for charter schools and private school vouchers had further strained his state’s education budget — which has seen some of the nation’s most dramatic cuts over the last decade.

He said he has watched those budgets shrink from year to year, and though his community has been shielded from the cuts thanks to a wealthy local tax base, his colleagues in virtually every other part of the state face incredible challenges.

The nation’s top teachers met with Betsy DeVos, and were not thrilled with what she had to say. – (Sec. Betsy DeVos waits to testify to a House Committee on Appropriation on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 20, 2018. Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP)

At Risk

Looking to the future, are we willing to continue on this path knowing that following the money in a “Money Follows the Student” funding system will only get harder?

While it’s widely known that private schools convert to charter status to take advantage of public dollars, more schools are now heading in the opposite direction. As voucher programs across the country proliferate, shuttered charter schools, like the [failed] Orange Park Performing Arts Academy, have begun to privatize in order to stay open with state assistance [vouchers].

It’s also widely known that as for-profit charters became widely criticized, for-profit organizations changed to non-profit status.

At risk are public education funds lost to private providers.

By Gordon Lafer, Ph.D, In the Public Interest

Once “Money Follows the Student” funding formulas are put in place, the money is spent faster than the corruption is discovered.

Reclaim Our Schools

The children left behind still need to be educated.

SunSentinel

“When a charter school closes, it is often difficult to get taxpayer funds back,” Wilcox said. “A closure can cause severe problems for a school district which must absorb the displaced students.”

The sooner leaders and the public admit we set education reform on the wrong course 35 years ago, the sooner we can right what is wrong.

In a world where very little has made sense recently, a charter school moratorium makes sense. That is, it makes sense if you base the decision on facts.

Facts? That’s the problem. Charter schools have been in existence in this country for 26 years. But when I did a Goggle search on “chart school facts” —as I was writing this—on the first page of results there was only one organization that I didn’t recognize as a pro-charter group. So that is where I went, to Niche. (You’ll see their graphs at the bottom.)

Even without all the facts, most people have heard the accusations. Privatization. Segregation. Fraud. Corruption. Accountability? Quality?

Why wouldn’t we call for a charter school moratorium— stop their expansion — to fully evaluate their worth before continuing to fund them as a public service?

It makes total sense to stop expanding a duplication of public services especially when there has been no reliable accounting of funds, no certainty of the quality of service, and documented discriminatory practices. It’s not right to fund expanding unproven (potentially detrimental) educational practices for our school children — in the name of reform!

There are plenty of reasons to question moving forward with multiplying these schools.

The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) called for a moratorium on charter expansion. Here is what people told The Nation about the NAACP resolution:

It began as “a bottom-up revolt against years of corporatization of public education.”
The criticism that “public institutions managed by corporations with minimal regulation—[are] both unethical and socially damaging.”
We are being “warned that further expanding the charter sector would fuel institutionalized segregation, particularly under Trump’s shadow.”
“The question of who controls schools, and for whose benefit, is at the core of the debate.”
“Charters perform no better and in many cases do worse compared with traditional neighborhood schools, and often at great public cost.”
There have been “a barrage of scandals involving fraud and incompetent management.”

“At the NAACP’s hearings on charter schools…. a rare consensus on the issue: Ideology aside, privatization cannot be seen as a solution in itself, and ensuring every child gets the schooling they deserve requires comprehensive public investment.”

STOP RIGHT THERE! Go back. Ignore the photo and click-baited words. There is some “consensus”? Yes! That’s right.

We know we need “comprehensive public investment” in quality public education. We need fair and equitable funding…We are working with limited resources!!!!!! Every penny counts!

As the states are still trying to figure out how to judge the quality of their schools, how is the federal government defining “high-quality” charters? Is it the Secretary’s decision?…..You are looking at ESSA.

So with the new federal education law (ESSA) being given “appropriations” by Congress (H.R. 3358) to fund more charter schools (and less to magnet schools) PLUS the fact that the Secretary is given the authority to “support” charter start-ups, now is the opportune time to call for a charter school moratorium. Please support this effort. The NAACP and their supporters on this issue have waited long enough. Let’s stop and examine the facts.

As was stated in this October 15, 2016 Press Release, the NAACP clarified the long-standing problem…

“Additionally, in 1998 the Association adopted a resolution which unequivocally opposed the establishment and granting of charter schools which are not subject to the same accountability and standardization of qualifications/certification of teachers as public schools and divert already-limited funds from public schools.”

(Read the full resolution and official press release for more information.)

How long are we going to allow corporate rulers to trump reasonable requests by reasonable people? Please, make the charter school moratorium a reality. Call your representative and voice your support. It’s that easy.

What harm is there in actually taking the time to fully vet and address the problems that have been brought to light in the charter school system?

The education system is not going to fall apart tomorrow if we put a hold on any new federal charter school spending in this upcoming budget (currently called H.R. 3358 but that could be changed).

This country should not only support a moratorium on federal charter school expansion, but must clearly demand a HALT TO ALL NEW SPENDING on the Federal Charter School Program AND the NEW CHARTER SCHOOL SPENDING grants in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

We need to be clear; no more games.

ESSA is slated to fund not only start-ups but also new charters’ first year transportation costs, online charters with their related overhead technology costs, new pre-school (early childhood) charters, consulting and planning of new schools and the newest scheme — Pay for Success grants that are further fueling the unrestricted flow of public funds into private pockets.

Privatizing public education is not a solution. There is a better way.

Before more money is forever lost in failed attempts to start new schools, demand your federal representatives call for a charter expansion moratorium immediately. It will not affect already existing charters and the children in them. This is a reasonable request. This is a “do no harm” demand.

What each state does is their right but as a nation we need transparency, an accounting of funds and programs, and clarification on the role of the federal government in pre-K –12 education. We can’t afford to keep doing what we are doing. A moratorium makes sense.

No children will be harmed by this action. And given that expanding charter schools will “divert already-limited funds from public schools,” inaction will harm the public system.

“Historically the NAACP has been in strong support of public education and has denounced movements toward privatization that divert public funds to support non-public school choices.”

Help the NAACP to help all our public school children. Contact your representatives NOW!

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P.S. In pursuit of truth….remember that facts vary depending on where you live….but, at a glance, there is reason enough to question Congress: why did they cut funding for magnet schools, upped funding for charters (repeatedly over the years), and why is the federal government making these decisions to begin with?

The Crucial Voice of the People

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Tag Archives: NAACP

“Money Follows the Student” is Voucher Funding

Charter School Moratorium Makes Sense

In a world where very little has made sense recently, a charter school moratorium makes sense. That is, it makes sense if you base the decision on facts.

Why wouldn’t we call for a charter school moratorium— stop their expansion — to fully evaluate their worth before continuing to fund them as a public service?

STOP RIGHT THERE! Go back. Ignore the photo and click-baited words. There is some “consensus”? Yes! That’s right.

How long are we going to allow corporate rulers to trump reasonable requests by reasonable people? Please, make the charter school moratorium a reality. Call your representative and voice your support. It’s that easy.

This country should not only support a moratorium on federal charter school expansion, but must clearly demand a HALT TO ALL NEW SPENDING on the Federal Charter School Program AND the NEW CHARTER SCHOOL SPENDING grants in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).