New York Unions
Unions uniting for school choice? You might think you woke up in an alternate dimension but no, this news comes from New York.
Earlier this week, leaders from several unions, including the New York City police and fire unions, called for the state legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo to pass a school choice program which will help fund $150 million worth of private education for students of need.
The proposed bill isn’t devoted exclusively to private school choice, and perhaps that sweetened the pot. It will allow tax credits to be issued for teacher reimbursements; classroom projects; art, music and sports instruction; as well as scholarships for private schools. Half of the $300 million in available credits will be reserved for public schools, leaving $150 million for private school scholarships.
The teacher unions still oppose school choice, and the bill. But this represents a monumental shift in thinking among union members on education policy.
Grade: Satisfactory
Nikolai Vitti, superintendent of Duval County Public Schools
Nikolai Vitti wants to win students back to Duval County public schools. His plan would allow parents open enrollment access to any public school in the district. According to the Florida Times-Union, this would be the “first blanket, open enrollment policy of its kind” of any major urban district in Florida.
Vitti told the newspaper: “For me the conversation begins with empowering parents. I believe the parents are best situated to make the right decisions for their child. They’re likely to invest more in their child’s education and to own the process more if they have a choice.”
That all sounds good to me, but we will still need to read the fine print when it emerges later. How long will the open enrollment window last? How long before transportation is provided to choice schools? Will parents get to change their mind during the middle of the school year? District open enrollment policies are often fairly limited. At the same time, more choice is better than no choice.
Grade: Satisfactory
Update: The story about new voucher regulations was based on erroneous information reported in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The bill will require new private schools (operating for less than one year) to begin the application process by August 1 of the year prior to accepting students. The bill does not appear to require new private schools to educate low-income students for a year without support from the voucher programs.
