is be delegitimizing it, and then by defunding it.
We have seen the first tactic for years. This goes back to that atrocities of "A Nation at Risk" in the Reagan administration, and the unattainable Lake Wobegon expectations of NCLB [all groups amking annual yearly progress, and reaching 100% proficiency within a decade) acontinue this process of tearing down confidence in public schools.
The defunding is continuing on several fronts. Clearly the move towards vouchers has been one prong of this attack. But now there is new one. See below the fold.
I am a subscriber to the Public Education Network email list. In the message I received this morning was the followiung blurb:
SHOULD PUBLIC MONEY BE USED FOR PRIVATE SCHOOLS?
Under a plan proposed by South Carolina's governor, families who send their child to a private or religious school would get a dollar-for-dollar reduction in taxes for tuition money spent. The credit could be applied against state income tax or against local property taxes, up to $3,200 for a kindergartner, $4,000 for a pupil in first through eighth grade and $4,600 for a student in ninth through 12th grade. Conservative groups have spent at least $250,000 to lobby and run TV ads to get the plan passed,
reports Henry Eichel. Public school advocates are fighting back. The S.C. Education Association, a public school teachers' association, has spent at least $100,000 to fight the tax-credit plan.
The story comes from the Charlotte paper and anyone who is interested in the future of public education should read it.
Please note -- most of the people who would avail themselves of this tax break are already sending their children to non-public schools. Thus this is a removing of funding indirectly from those public schools with no change in enrollment. Whher it is deducted from the local property taxes, which go primarily to education, or from state income taxes, which help fund the state portion of school costs, it is nevrtheless a removal of funds from public schools.
If this is allowed to go through, the next logical step will be that those people who do not ahve children should not be paying school taxes. In other words, this particular approach is the first (or next) step towards effectively charging tuition for public schools. It is clearly a move towards destroying the public schools. And it totally ignores the important role our public schools have played in making us (a) the most productive economy, and (b) the world's oldest functioning (if we still are) democracy.
We have already seen in California what happens when education is defunded -tthe Golden state has gone from one of the best public education systems to the bottom quarter among the states. If you live in SC, you really need to lobby your state legislator against this proposal.