There were 1,000 in Tallahassee, Fla., 2,000 in Columbus, Ohio, 2,400 in Greensboro, N.C. and 10,000 in Buffalo, N.Y. And that’s just in the past few weeks.
From coast to coast, swarms of parents are showing up at school choice rallies for charter schools, vouchers, tax credit scholarships or all of the above. They’re not angry like the Tea Party or Occupy. They don’t have defiant flags or frayed tents (yellow scarves maybe :)). But they’re just as passionate and far more diverse.
“I want to be able to have a choice for where my daughter can go to schools,” one New York City mom said at a rally last summer. “I don’t want that choice made for me.”
That rally drew 5,000.
In the past year, one in Chicago drew thousands, as did one in Indianapolis. One in Atlanta drew 1,500. One in Boise drew nearly 1,000. One in Los Angeles drew 1,000. Another in Los Angeles drew 5,000.
In Pembroke Pines, Fla., nearly 1,000 showed up earlier this year to demand equal funding for charter schools.
Critics say Astroturf. Perhaps saying it enough has tamped down press coverage.
But people don’t take time out for these kinds of things if they’re lukewarm. There’s something happening here, and all those blips on the radar aren’t about to fade.
I am quite conservative. As a resident of Wisconsin I have been bombarded with this school stuff for a number of years. We have a number of charter schools. Two cities Milwaukee and Racine, Wisconsin have a large and sophisticated program.
Here is a simple conclusion I have come to and it HAS NOT been addressed.
As long as they take the same percentage of special ed kids it will be a fair comparison. The voucher and charter schools will also have to take the same percentage of disabilities. In example; same percentage of HS kids with autism, same percentage of grade school kids with autism, same percentage of kids diagnosed with bipolar, same percentage with severe cognitive disabilities, same percentages of wheel chair bound kids, same percentage of kids that need special transportation. I could go on if you would like. Remember these special kids need OT’s, PT’s, Psych’s, Speech, Special Ed teachers, and in the interest of now being sued a special ed director that is familiar with the law. A real simple question – who will evaluate the goals of the IEP’s for these kids. Obviously the cost to voucher and charter schools will go through the ceiling, but if you want to compare apples to apples this is what must be done. If not the test score comparisons will not be valid. If you throw all the problems at the public schools the learning environment will deteriorate. Basically the public schools will become a dumping ground. In addition, if state tax dollars are based on total district population the ammortized cost of total students will be unfairly skewed if special ed kids are not taken out of the public system. NOT TO WORRY UNINFORMED TAXPAYERS, MORE THAN 95% OF THE PARENTS OF SPECIAL ED KIDS WILL DEMAND TO STAY IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. THE SERVICES ARE TOO GOOD.
One other comment. Special Ed kids can attend public school until the age of 21. Sure there are medicaid dollars, but it doesn’t get close to covering the cost. The local governments and the states take on a huge financial responsibility.