Re: Re:Florida has vouchers too...

[Guest guest]

Why tiresome???? I am getting tired just by looking at the list every day

and reading the same subject over and over again, with the same arguments.

There is NO dialogue.

I wholeheartedly agree with Liz about " going around in cirlces " .

Before this topic of school choice/voucher was brought up on this list, I

have not looked into it nor formed an opinion about it, but now, it is very

simple to me.

If the public school is not working for some, why not have another choice???

Not everyone can be an advocate, spending countless hours, huge amount of

money, or better yet all their energy " fighting " their schools in the hope

of maybe getting something that may or may not be the best fit for their

child.

For some families, the answer is already in a private school. Why deprive

them from that option??????

In my case, the public school was a joke. I don't know about any of you,

but I have PLENTY to do on my plate caring for my son and barely for the

rest of my family to take ON the public school system and their annoying

beauracracy. If somebody wants to do that then be my guest. I have other

" causes " that are enough to keep me occupied.: the insurance, the main steam

doctors, finding the right therapists, the right supplements, keeping my son

safe, cleaning carpet after a poop-smear, continuously looking for respite

care, educating my family and the public, and yes " homeschooling " my son.

Believe it or not, I have yet to find a " public " or " private " school that

is a good fit for my son, with or without a voucher system. Yet, I don't

think just because my son can not benefit from a " school choice " option at

this time, that other children shouldn't.

Re:Florida has vouchers too...

>

> And again, round in circles... This is exactly what happened during the

> Senate hearing on

> school choice. Folks would bring their data and then someone else would

> come back with

> their data - " I don't believe your data, my data is better, your data is

> flawed, I can't trust

> your data, who funded your data... " so we end up moving neither forwards

> or

> backwards... It is absolutely tiresome.

>

> Liz

>

>

>>

>> Excellent points Nagla and I could not agree with you more--- Here is

> an alternative

> view to the Manhattan Institute....It is from the Disablities Rights and

> Education Defense

> Fund...

>>

>>

>> For Immediate Release:

>> Thursday, March 6, 2003

>> Contact: Duckett/ Richter (PFAWF)

>> Epstein (DREDF) , ext. 241

>> Florida's Disability Voucher Program Fails to Protect Interests of

> Students, Parents and

> Taxpayers Cited as Model for IDEA Reform, Florida's McKay Program Rife

> With Stories of

> Financial Abuse, Compromised Services

>> WASHINGTON -As Congress prepares to reauthorize the Individuals with

> Disabilities

> Education Act (IDEA), supporters of private-school vouchers are touting

> a little-known

> Florida program as a model for improving special education. Pro-voucher

> forces are also

> backing bills in at least four states - Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii

> and Oklahoma - that

> would create programs patterned after Florida's 1999 McKay voucher law.

> One of the

> McKay law's most enthusiastic promoters has dubbed the program the

> " Florida Miracle, "

> but a report released today debunks this myth, raising serious concerns

> about financial

> abuse and the law's impact on parents' rights and special education

> services.

>> The new report, Jeopardizing a Legacy: A Closer Look at IDEA and

> Florida's Disability

> Voucher Program, is co-authored by People For the American Way

> Foundation (PFAWF) and

> the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF). The report

> examines the three-

> year experience of the McKay vouchers and concludes that the Florida

> program " is an

> Educational Edsel - a cynical 'model' that would only lead the nation's

> parents, students

> and teachers down a dangerous path. "

>> Jeopardizing a Legacy notes that the program sacrifices key legal

> rights that parents

> would otherwise have under IDEA, lacks financial or academic

> accountability to parents

> and taxpayers, and drains critical funds from public schools.

> Jeopardizing a Legacy is

> available at: DREDF.ORG

>> IDEA guarantees a " free appropriate public education " to every student

> with a

> disability. But the future of this commitment, covering 6.5 million

> children, will be shaped

> directly by the course of reform. Last summer, the President's

> Commission on Excellence

> in Special Education recommended that IDEA be reauthorized with a

> private-school

> voucher provision. Last month, Education Secretary Rod Paige embraced

> this

> recommendation. Many voucher supporters have cited Florida's McKay

> program as a model

> for IDEA. As Jeopardizing a Legacy explains, however, McKay vouchers

> have drained

> millions of tax dollars from public schools, undermined the rights of

> parents and failed to

> hold private schools accountable. Leaders of the two organizations that

> co-authored the

> report echoed many of the concerns raised by Jeopardizing a Legacy.

>> " Florida officials have taken an out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach to

> the McKay

> vouchers, and we're seeing the serious consequences that this lack of

> oversight is having

> on children with disabilities, " said PFAWF President Ralph G. Neas.

>> " Voucher programs offer just one more way for public schools to

> exclude and fail to

> serve students with disabilities, " said Arlene B. Mayerson, Directing

> Attorney for DREDF.

> " Rather than being empowered with choices, parents will once again find

> themselves with

> no place to turn to get an appropriate education for their children. "

>> Among the key findings from Jeopardizing a Legacy are:

>> The McKay program contains flimsy standards for participating private

> schools. While

> Florida grades its public schools based on a strict set of standards and

> ties funding to

> these grades, private schools receiving tax dollars through McKay are

> not graded, not

> obligated to hire certified staff, and not required to test all special

> education students.

> For-profit schools that accept voucher dollars may well be encouraged to

> hire the least

> costly staff.

>> Even though they receive public tax dollars, McKay private schools are

> not being held

> accountable to parents and taxpayers. A number of McKay schools have

> been accused of

> falsifying state applications, failing to provide needed therapy and

> other student services,

> or other misdeeds. One McKay school, for example, changed its address at

> least four

> times during the school year and was cited for safety and health code

> violations.

>> Parents who accept McKay vouchers effectively sacrifice critical

> rights and services that

> are guaranteed by IDEA. While parents can take legal action against a

> public school to

> uphold these rights and services, participating McKay private schools

> are not required to

> abide by IDEA rules ensuring parents' due process rights, appropriate

> evaluations of

> students, and other rights. Incredibly, even though a student must have

> an Individualized

> Education Plan (IEP) to be eligible for McKay vouchers, the private

> school that accepts such

> a student is not required to follow the terms of the student's IEP -

> even though the U.S.

> Department of Education has called an IEP " the cornerstone of a quality

> education for each

> child with a disability. "

>> The parental " choice " touted by McKay supporters is significantly

> limited by a variety of

> factors. Under McKay, participating private schools are free to

> discriminate on the basis of

> religion, gender, or type of disability. Private school options also

> depend largely on where

> a family happens to reside. One out of three Florida counties have no

> more than a single,

> approved participating private school. Finally, tuition and other fees

> can limit choice. Last

> school year, more than eight out of 10 McKay parents had to pay some

> out-of-pocket

> amount to private schools that wasn't covered by their vouchers.

>> McKay vouchers drain critical funds from public schools. The program's

> costs have

> escalated rapidly and have financially punished Florida public schools.

> McKay's costs are

> expected to reach an estimated $56 million this year, more than the

> program cost during

> its first three years combined. About 9,000 students with disabilities

> are participating in

> the McKay program this school year.

>> Parents of Florida's 350,000 students with disabilities who currently

> attend public

> schools are eligible to apply for a McKay voucher. The size of this

> market has spawned a

> number of new private schools that have been created virtually overnight

> to gain access to

> state tax dollars through McKay. The state knows very little about the

> nearly 550 private

> schools that are eligible to receive voucher payments.

>> According to Jeopardizing a Legacy, some groups advocating special

> education

> vouchers for IDEA or other states may be driven by other goals. These

> organizations have

> attacked the cost of special education or cited vouchers as a way to cut

> or limit costs. One

> pro-voucher group has even urged states to refuse IDEA funding as a way

> to get around

> the law's mandates. While backers of disability vouchers have pointed to

> the need for more

> parental " choice, " a nonpartisan Public Agenda survey found last year

> that nearly seven out

> of 10 parents reported that public school teachers and other staff

> offered " real choices and

> options for my child. "

>>

>>

>>