The other day I was reading an article through Slashdot, and found the following sentence in its introduction, referring to the article's author, a scientist who has proposed some reforms to science education:

"Can someone who went through 20 years of science education as a student, lived his life in academia since then and even got a Nobel prize get a fair shake from bureaucrats who like education the way it is - - flawed and therefore always needing more money?"

As a longtime public school teacher in California, I take exception to this comment, which betrays the writer's ignorance of what really obstructs progress in public education.

...both needs and deserves your help here.  I regret feeding a troll diary, but while  the majority of us already know we agree about public education (and so have nothing to debate),
the minority against converged , so they're winning now.
This  take is from ManhattanMan (he must be from the Institute):

Large means-tested vouchers are certainly politically possible.  All current voucher systems are already means-tested. We only need to increase their size.

Also, when I say "all schools must take all kids", I mean that schools can't cherry-pick the smart kids.  We can require that they select from all applicants by lottery until their places have filled.  This is how many charters already do it.

The political opposition comes not from the Left nor the Right.  It comes from those who have a vested financial interest in seeing no change whatsoever in our school systems.  And, no matter what they say, these people care as much about kids as McDonald's cares about cows.

If you care, please visit the diary and rebalance some mojo appropriately.

Solving the crisis in education is completely possible, and we can't afford to ignore the state of our schools any longer.

We all have our ideal public servants; the Liberal Lion who will leap in the path of the majority's Mack Truck agenda to stand up for the little guy.  The Conservative Deficit Hawk who will hold up a popular bill to ensure that the pork is trimmed from the amendments.  The former jurist who wrote an extraordinary dissent decades ahead of its time.  Ideals are important.  They provide a moral compass and guiding principle to our lives and our leaders and in my mind there is no higher compliment one can be paid than to be tagged with the label of being an idealist.

That said ...

A so-called voucher plan to achieve universal health coverage that was previously  outlined in a New Republic article in January 2007, is now a book "Healthcare, Guaranteed: A Simple, Secure Solution for America" by Ezekiel Emanuel & Victor Fuchs.

Based on the original article (free full text at the above link), this is a valiant attempt by smart qualified people to try and have our cake and eat it too, and is certainly worth discussing.

What on earth is Obama thinking??

Obama "Open" to Privatizing Public Education

Senator Obama said this week that he is open to supporting private school vouchers if research shows they work.
"I will not allow my predispositions to stand in the way of making sure that our kids can learn," Mr. Obama, who has previously said he opposes vouchers, said in a meeting with the editorial board of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "We're losing several generations of kids, and something has to be done."

Education analysts said Mr. Obama's statement is the closest they have ever seen a Democratic presidential candidate come to embracing the idea of vouchers.

I'm a former Edwards supporter and before that in 2004 was a Howard Dean supporter.  I will have problems working for a candidate that plays issues down the middle.  In this case, Obama is playing it down the right.  

I know candidates can't be everything to everybody but this really does concern me.

From the online Sports Illustrated today, in a story titled Kansas HS refuses female official:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Kansas activities officials are investigating a religious school's refusal to let a female referee call a boys' high school basketball game.

The Kansas State High School Activities Association said referees reported that Michelle Campbell was preparing to officiate at St. Mary's Academy near Topeka on Feb. 2 when a school official insisted that Campbell could not call the game.

The reason given, according to the referees: Campbell, as a woman, could not be put in a position of authority over boys because of the academy's beliefs.

I've said before that I'm definitely leaning toward Obama in my state's primary tomorrow, and I went so far as to attend an Obama GOTV rally yesterday, so don't think for a minute this is an anti-Obama diary.  The participation and enthusiasm was impressive, and encouraged me to take a closer look at the guy. I've heard a lot of the speeches and watched the YouTube videos; but for the real meat of his positions, I went right to his website at barackobama.com.  

Cross Posted over at Utah's Accountability Blog

On Election Day earlier this month, Patrick Byrne, the CEO of Overstock.com, and an ardent supporter of private school vouchers, claimed Utah’s vouchers referendum was an IQ test for Utahns – a test we presumably failed when voters rejected the plan by a 24-point margin that Tuesday.

In South Carolina last week, White House hopeful Mitt Romney up the ante in the Republican war against public education.  No doubt playing to the Palmetto State's crucial evangelical primary voters, Romney announced he favored tax breaks for parents who home school their children.  For Romney, American parents should not only be encouraged to abandon the public schools; they should be rewarded for it.

This is just to ensure that everyone knows that NCLB will not be reauthorized before Congress breaks for the year.   That became clear last week when Senators Kennedy (Chair) and Enzi (Ranking Member) agreed that they would not attempt to get a bill to the floor.  Now, despite having circulated a draft proposal and solicited feedback, George Miller (chair on the House side) has similarly decided that there is no possibility of moving a bill this calendar year.  

Below the fold I want to quote the entirety of the statement Miller released.  The original can be found at the House Committee on Education and the Workforce website here It is an official press release by a government officialposted on an official website so no copyright attains.   I will also offer a very few (because I am buried with school work) comments of my own.

Now to the statement:

Twice in the past month I've gotten inquiries -- one from a correspondent in Utah and one from apparently outside Utah -- asking whether or not I thought it's possible that Howie Rich of New York City was channeling rivers of filthy lucre into that state. My first reaction to these inquiries has been surprise, as I would have thought that Howie had absorbed enough of the lessons of 2006 that he'd go back to investing in rental properties and plumbing. Losing upwards of $15 million on unpopular, failed ballot initiatives might do that to a man.

Crossposted from Show Me Progress

The motto of school voucher advocates in Missouri must be, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again, because big money donors to state legislators who favor vouchers have already given more campaign contributions--fourteen months before the elections!--than they did in 2004 and 2006. 

In 2004, $385,340 was donated.  Last year, even though it was an off year election, contributions went up; pro-voucher candidates received $403,840.  So far in this election cycle, $483,850 has already been given.  Of course, a major reason the contributions are so high this cycle is that between January and June there were no caps on contributions. 

You can slice the numbers different ways, but Education Week magazine rates South Carolina dead last in its graduation rate for high school seniors

Magazine: S.C. has nation's worst graduation rate
Associated Press

South Carolina has the nation's worst graduation rate, according to a report from a leading national education publication.

Education Week reported 53.8 percent of the state's students graduate high school. Utah had the nation's best graduation rate at 83.8 percent, with the national average at70 percent for the 2003-2004 school year, according to the publication's "Diplomas Count" report.

But some folks are just tickled pink

Supporters of school choice and voucher programs said the study is the latest proof that South Carolina's education system needs a major overhaul instead of more money.

As noted below, Utah's Republican Attorney-General, Mark Shurtleff, has demoted two State Office of Education lawyers because they did not follow lock-step with his support for vouchers no matter what the people  of Utah want.

It's the beginning of summer in the south.  Throughout the state of South Carolina, schools are letting out for the year, high school seniors are walking across auditorium floors and stadiums to receive their diploma's.  Children are anxious to sleep in and swim, and parents are groaning.  And on Wednesday, May 30th and Thursday, May 31st, the South Carolina State Senate came together to discuss the failing public education system in South Carolina, and despite their good-hearted attempts, once again left behind the children of South Carolina.

Large numbers of families are ill-served by our current public school system. Republicans are attempting to use that resentment to de-fund public education.  We need to hit back with a proposal of our own that addresses the policy issues and also provides immediate relief to working-class families stuck in badly-performing school districts.

New York City is spending about $10,000 per student on education. The results aren’t good enough. The dropout rates are too high, the test scores are too low, and there are too many discipline problems in the schools.  

I’m a parent of a pre-school age child.  When my child becomes old enough to go to school, I don’t want her to go to the public schools.  I want the government to give me the $10,000 and I will use it home-school or to pay private-school tuition.