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DEL.ICIO.USSpecial-needs scholarship idea terrific
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The most important education reform bill proposed here in decades, one that would give scholarships to special-needs children, has been introduced by state Sen. Eric Johnson of Savannah, the Senate’s President Pro Tem — a position second in power to the lieutenant governor.
Watch for the defenders of the status quo, the more-money it’s-not-our-fault crowd that resists anything that doesn’t boil down to more revenues and less accountability, to rise up in an effort to smite down this reform-minded heretic and his mold-shattering legislation.
Truth is, in the world of education reform, Johnson’s Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Act is not revolutionary. It is, in fact, downright mainstream. Florida does it, and has for six years. The number of students with disabilities whose parents opt for the scholarship that allows them to buy education services from any private school has grown from 970 to 17,300.
As Johnson offers the bill here, it’s a reformers dream — and precisely what conservatives should be doing with the government Republicans now control. If you wait 134 years to come to power, for goodness sakes do something with it that makes a constructive difference.
As it exists in Florida, the John M. McKay scholarship program offers parents of children with a disability who are enrolled in public schools the opportunity to transfer to another public school, or to get scholarship aid to enroll in a private school. The scholarships range from $4,800 to $20,700. Parents love it.
Qualifying students in Georgia, according to the legislation, are those who suffer one or more defined disabilities, who spent the prior year in one of the state’s public schools, and who are required by state and federal law to have had an Individualized Education Program (IEP) written for them. That’s 186,272 students.
As proposed by Johnson, the maximum scholarship would be a sum equal to the state and federal money spent on them in public school. That sum — and not any locally generated revenues — would be granted to parents to buy from the private sector the education services they wanted for their child. The sum could be less, since parents could get no more than an eligible school’s tuition and fees.
Johnson has built in some important principles. The money goes to parents, not private schools. Parents designate where they want the money sent. Another important consideration is that no private school is required to admit anybody. And the program “shall not be construed to expand the regulatory authority of the state, its officers, or any public school system to impose any additional regulation of nonpublic schools beyond those reasonably necessary to enforcement of the requirements of this article.”
The early indication is that opposition will come from the education workplace unions and from the organizations that represent superintendents and school boards, as well as traditional voucher opponents, Johnson said last week. Supporters will be free-market conservatives and parents of special-needs children, who in Florida have overwhelmingly expressed their satisfaction with the McKay scholarships.
Some school officials are likely to object because most of the money being spent on a special-needs child will move with him to the private school. The local system should come out ahead, however, because it’s being freed of the obligation to serve a child with special needs, and class sizes should drop as a result. The systems keep their local money, plus the funds that would be spent to transport the children with disabilities.
Johnson’s hope, and a reasonable expectation, is that with a reliable funding source new schools will be created in the private sector built around serving like-needs children.
Some groups, like the education workplace unions, are just flat-out opposed to anything that smacks of vouchers. But “the dirty little secret is that we already have vouchers,” said Johnson. The HOPE scholarship is a voucher program. So too is the pre-k program, which sends public money to private pre-kindergarten programs.
Johnson said his bill “does not attempt to blame teachers, administrators or parents. It simply says that parents of special-needs children can choose the school that their children will attend. If they believe their needs are being fulfilled in public school, they are free to stay.” But if not they would have the option to go. Who could possibly object to giving parents that choice?
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By Mid-South Philosopher
December 17, 2006 08:27 AM | Link to this
Good morning, Jim,
To quote one of my red-neck buddies from north Georgia…”You ain’t-a-gonna believe this”… I agree with the proposal!!!
Does that not knock your “politically conservative socks off?”
Now only one thing…since we are going to provide “Special Needs” scholarships, let’s go all the way and {at the risk of aggravating RW –(the original), who doesn’t approve of my use of capitalization) TOTALLY REFORM schools and let ONLY those schools that WANT to provide the “Special Needs” services compete for the scholarships. Then the parents and/or related adult care givers will have a REAL choice of those facilities that “TRULY” want to be a part of the process as exemplified by their desire to participate in the competition.
It is an excellent idea…true choice…and I am all for it.
Let’s see if we can get enough of the members of the Georgia General Assembly sober long enough to enact it.
No…wait…they have to enact legislation enabling them to buy booze on Sunday, first!
With the losers we send to Atlanta, it will NEVER fly.
By Political Foreskin
December 17, 2006 08:29 AM | Link to this
Wooten, this legislation is heresy to the status quo. None of this is educators fault, and yet they need more money. If school officials could worry less about accountability they could focus on more revenue. Then school boards could keep the instruction methods they’ve already formed with traditional molds.
The unions feel that educational reform using vouchers wouldn’t even be necessary if some of the needs of teachers, yes, very special needs of teachers, are met.
SO to sum up, it’s the teachers with special needs, not the special-needs-students that we must concern ourselves with. Otherwise, we may as well just student-exchange all the special needs students to france and forget the whole thing.
By Mid-South Philosopher
December 17, 2006 08:58 AM | Link to this
And another thing…
I continue to be amazed at the notion that there are “teacher unions” in Georgia.
Have you ever read a “teacher contract” used in the preponderance of the 180+ school systems in our state?
It is about as one-sided and teacher neutering as any document in existence. Teachers have the right to be paid a salary according to the state salary schedule, coupled with local supplements (if the local system chooses to add those in), IF THE MONEY IS AVAILABLE. However, if the money isn’t available, the teacher, under the contract, is compelled to CONTINUE to teach for the life of the contract for whatever pittance is decided upon by the state or the system.
Teachers may be hired to teach at one school or for one grade level or subject area, but can be transferred with a moment’s notice.
In most systems teachers have an eight hour day…not all of it teaching. Of course, night meetings, ballgame duty for non-coaching staff (without pay in many cases), bus duty, etc., etc., etc. are not covered in the contract at all. It is just expected.
Now, those are really powerful UNION negotiated contract provisions aren’t they?!?
Oh…wait…isn’t collective bargaining with teachers prohibited by Georgia State Law or have I missed something.
GAE and PAGE have made a lot of legislative progress over the years and things are much better for teachers than in the days when the likes of George Busbee found the shortfall in his budget in teacher raises and told the schoolmarms to like or else, but to equate either group in Georgia with their truly union counterparts in the more unionized states is a joke.
By Political Foreskin
December 17, 2006 09:16 AM | Link to this
The difference that even one good teacher can make in a student’s life is amazing. I had a 9th grade english teacher that changed my life and made me the blog-simple dunce I am today. (Thank you Mr. Maypo)
I saw a production of Christmas Carol. Tiny Tim overacted and mugged through the whole thing, stole every scene, and generally tore up the stage. It was an updated version so they showed the sickly Tiny Tim being treated with Aspirin. The poor sod contracted ham-on-reye’s syndrome. Real tear jerker. I like the original better, but this worked too.
By WFC
December 17, 2006 09:17 AM | Link to this
One problem with this is the sheer arbitrary process of designating a child as a “special needs” student. As a recently retired veteran (30 years) teacher and administrator, I’ve seen a lot of this.
By Jim Wooten
December 17, 2006 09:20 AM | Link to this
Morning Philosopher, PF and others to come. Who says agreement is not possible in today’s political environment? I buy your condition on the special needs scholarships. Call in the bill-drafter.
By Political Foreskin
December 17, 2006 09:38 AM | Link to this
Look, WFC, I checked out your teaching record. Poor Tiny Tim was a special needs child, yet you wouldn’t allow him to bring his crutches to school.
You and your zero tolerance policy for bludgeons and billy clubs.
Specious, sir, specious.
By TW
December 17, 2006 09:43 AM | Link to this
While I agree with ‘reform’, paying people to leave will have the same effect on the public schools that ‘white flight’ had on the cities.
Reform? First off, the teachers aren’t the problem - quit spending all the money chasing that foolishness. Sure, you can parade out an exception to make an argument. However, the schools in East Cobb are very good and the teachers there are of the same quality as the ones on the other side of the county. The difference is in the readiness of the student that shows up. This can be best addressed by increasing teacher - student ratio, which means more money. Hire more teachers and build more schools - anything else is just using eduction fot the political football it has become. To borrow a phrase from my GOP buddy - You get what you pay for.
By Redneck Convert
December 17, 2006 09:53 AM | Link to this
I guess Wooten has finally joined the librul crowd. Wanting to spend our tax money on kids that are cripples and all. No wonder our taxes is so high. Why not just give parents the choice as to sending their kids to school? I for one believe getting to the 5th grade is all the learning anyone needs. Anything more than that is a waste. I dropped out in the 5th grade and it never hurt me none. I think exactly the same way jbmlaw and tftt and Markus do, and they wasted all kind of money on schooling. While I didn’t.
Forcing parents to send their kids to school is wrong. This is America. The state shouldn’t be holding a jail sentence over the head of a parent that doesn’t school his kid. Some kids just don’t take to school. They should be allowed to go out and get a job and buy a pickup truck and a trailer. Instead of learning multiplying tables and such.
I been thinking this way ever since I become a Libraritarian. Like jbmlaw. If the state wants to give parents real freedom about the schooling of their kids, they should have a choice about whether to do it at all. Why did we elect rednecks like Sonny and Casey if all they are going to do is find new ways to waste our money?
Well, I know you all have been worrying about my Christmas shopping. I found a real nice frying pan for the missus. And I picked me up a new miter saw. If it wasn’t for having to get to Billy Bob’s on time, I would have went downtown and bought my boy something at a street corner. Don’t worry. I’ll get her done.
Merry Christmas, everybody. And if anybody wants to take up a little collection to get Wooten treated for the librul flu, I’ll chip in.
By specialedteacher
December 17, 2006 11:34 AM | Link to this
Actually, this is the one voucher system that could work. With the ridiculous mandates of NCLB, I would think that many schools would welcome being able to convince some special ed kids to go elsewhere so they will quit bringing down CRCT scores and causing the schools to fail AYP.
I also think parents with a lick of common sense would understand that NCLB is extremely damaging to their special needs kids and would jump at the chance to get them out from under that ridiculous law and into a private setting where their needs will actually be met. Prepping special ed kids for bubble tests is a complete waste of everyone’s time.
Then we can also reduce the horrible situation that we are seeing in “inclusion” classrooms now with a teacher trying to prevent chaos in a class of 30 kids … 10 of whom are special ed and 10 of whom are high achievers. … and then 10 who are just regular students. No one learns a darn thing in this situation -I’ve seen it in action - It is a CRUEL JOKE!
Yep, never thought I’d like vouchers - but I LOVE this!
By Diogenes
December 17, 2006 11:49 AM | Link to this
Jim,
Your editorial today is a delightful example of conservative double-think. You describe those opposed to Senator Eric Johnson ‘s bill as “… defenders of the status quo, the more-money it’s-not-our-fault crowd that resists anything that doesn’t boil down to more revenues and less accountability.”
Jim, that’s a perfect description of the conservative position you’ve been defending, conservative doublethink at its finest. The conservative position, as you so poetically define it, is simply “I want choice where I want choice; and I don’t want to extend to my opponents the right of choice in areas where I don’t want them to have choice.” It’s like the blog Harpy who on Friday condemned the government for restricting her choice to purchase alcoholic beverages on Sundays, but rabidly opposes a woman’s right to choose to have an aboration.
Jim, your doublethink is just as extreme. You contend that it’s okay to have choice for special needs students but the sexual information made available to students must be rigidly controlled.
Jim, moderates such as Diogenes always approve of improving individual freedoms and always strongly support “the reform-minded heretic and his mold-shattering legistlation,” such as Senator Robert Brown (D-Macon) who proposes to raise the minimum wage in the state to $7.50/hr.
By RW-(the original)
December 17, 2006 12:05 PM | Link to this
Good morning and congratulations to all my fellow Time ragazine Person of the Year award winners.
Diogenes,
You’re about as much a moderate as I am a raging liberal. Here’s an idea for you, give ALL parents school choice for their kids and then you can teach all the deviancy you want to the few that remain in your precious government schools.
You can teach them about your “beautiful monster” theory or your Darwiniac fairy tales, but until they have a choice of other schools you’re going to have to deal with the complaints from parents concerned with the crap you want to fill our children’s heads with.
By getalife
December 17, 2006 12:16 PM | Link to this
Bush: “Don’t Worry, It’s Not As Bad As It Seems”
They should check this guy to see if he is insane.
Bush will leave:
Thousands of Americans dead.
10’s of thousands injured.
2 unresolved wars in total chaos.
The perpetrators of 9-11 unpunished.
US reputation in tatters.
$30,000 debt per person.
Thank god its not as bad as it seems.
For the country, w and cheney should man up and resign in disgrace.
By RW-(the original)
December 17, 2006 12:27 PM | Link to this
psst getalife,
The mastermind of 9/11 is cooling his heels at Gitmo and the perpetrators are pictured here. I’m not sure if any ashes or bone fragments were found, but if so how would you like to punish them?
By getalife
December 17, 2006 12:33 PM | Link to this
No, they are not RW.
They are probably in Pakistan.
You in denial too?
By RW-(the original)
December 17, 2006 12:39 PM | Link to this
getalife,
Are you saying that the hijackers managed to get out of the planes? Maybe you’re saying we did it, but then why would we hide in Pakistan. Let’s ask Danny Bonaduce about your theory.
If Khalid Sheikh Mohammad is hiding in Pakistan why were you griping about out interrogation tactics with him?
By Political Foreskin
December 17, 2006 12:44 PM | Link to this
The supreme court reversed Time magazine’s choice for Person of the Year, and appointed the cop hiding behind the one way mirror on the cover.
Mirror, mirror on the rag…..
By getalife
December 17, 2006 12:46 PM | Link to this
I am talking about their leadership.
At some point in time, it would help your sanity to admit w and cheney’s destruction of our country.
Until then, I will feel pity for you and the 20% mental patients.
In other words, get real RW.
By LuckoDull
December 17, 2006 12:59 PM | Link to this
gotnolife: While we all appreciate your efforts in driving everyone away from the Luckovich blog and turning it into a vast, empty wasteland, we expect you to be a little more polite and a lot less hysterical when you are commenting at Wooten’s.
The new leader of al Qaeda in Iraq said in an audiotape posted on the Internet Thursday that more than 4,000 foreign insurgent fighters have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. “The blood has been spilled in Iraq of more than 4,000 foreigners who came to fight,” said the man, who identified himself as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir - also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri - the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, though the voice could not be independently identified.
And a little bit more informed wouldn’t hurt either.
Your shrieking gets old quick.
By RW-(the original)
December 17, 2006 01:00 PM | Link to this
getalife,
Ask the Zarqman what happens when one of the Al Qaeda leaders gets in a position to cause trouble. When Osama and his video partner are anywhere near a position to cause us trouble they will be dead minutes later.
President Bush won’t watch them on video for a weekend twiddling his thumbs and refusing to make a decision, like his predecessor.
Now get back on topic! Do you think public schools should be forced to endure a stand up routine from Polly Prepuce?
By getalife
December 17, 2006 01:09 PM | Link to this
Andy, is that you?
What kind of idiot would post his full name on a blog after threatening every poster?
A complete idiot indeed. It was like you were begging for trouble with the AJC.
By getalife
December 17, 2006 01:12 PM | Link to this
President Bush won’t watch them on video for a weekend twiddling his thumbs and refusing to make a decision, like his predecessor
No, he will not a decision until next year.
Once again, get real.
As for the topic, I am pro choice.
By Political Foreskin
December 17, 2006 01:17 PM | Link to this
Wait a minute. What if OJ looks at the Time Cover? What if Osama Bin Laden gets a copy? That’s not right.
By Political Foreskin
December 17, 2006 01:21 PM | Link to this
I tried to fry some ants with the mirror on the time cover and blinded my cat, man.
By Political Foreskin
December 17, 2006 01:22 PM | Link to this
My barber used the Time Cover to show me the back of my head. The person of the year is a bald spot.
By Political Foreskin
December 17, 2006 01:26 PM | Link to this
The copy I saw had a fun house mirror. The person of the year looked like a scrambled porn star. Luckily I had on black socks.
By Political Foreskin
December 17, 2006 01:30 PM | Link to this
It’s a one-way mirror and the person of the year is big brother spying on us people!!
By Political Foreskin
December 17, 2006 01:33 PM | Link to this
What’s next? A mirror in the Playboy Centerfold? Have you seen my wife? Believe me, you dont want to. This could ruin the sexual revolution and warp the playboy philosophy. That’s not right.
By Political Foreskin
December 17, 2006 01:36 PM | Link to this
What’s next? A mirror in the Playboy Centerfold? Have you seen Ugly Betty?
By Buy Danish
December 17, 2006 01:36 PM | Link to this
By Diogenes December 17, 2006 11:49 AM
Jim,
BLAH BLAH BLAH It’s like the blog Harpy who on Friday condemned the government for restricting her choice to purchase alcoholic beverages on Sundays, but rabidly opposes a woman’s right to choose to have an aboration.
Hey Diogenes,
Is aboration a new word that you’ve invented? Maybe abortion evolved into abomination and then finally ending up as an aboration?
See, I can be a Darwiniac too.
BTW, You are hallucinating (a kind word for “lying”) again.
Other than my “rabid” opposition to Partial Birth Abortion, I have never expressed an opinion on any other aspect of abortion, except to say that the issue of “liberty” is not applicable when another human life is involved.
While we’re on the subject of “rights”, why do you oppose my right to choose to buy wine on Sunday so that I may drink it in the privacy of my own home, or the private residences of friends or family?
By RW-(the original)
December 17, 2006 01:38 PM | Link to this
Is there a scholarship for special needs blog “comedians?”
By getalife
December 17, 2006 01:44 PM | Link to this
And now for something that is actually funny
By getalife
December 17, 2006 01:52 PM | Link to this
Subject: Do we side with the Sunni or Shiite Muslims?
Now that Iraq has degenerated into a civil war, we have to figure out which group to side with. Most Iraqis are Shiite, the the elected president of Iraq is Shiite. Saddam and Osama are both Sunnis. So I guess we side with the Shiites. But - our friends in Saudi Arabia, the guys Bush has been kissing, they’re Sunnis. The vast majority of Muslims are Sunnis. And our friends in Saudi Arabia made it clear to Cheney the there were going to have to side with the Sunnis if we sided with the Shiites.
Iran is part of the Axis of Evil, but they are Shiites, just like Hezbollah, just like the Syrians, as well as the leaders of the militias that we are trying to get rid of. So we’re going to help the Iranians, Syrians, and Hezbollah conquer Iraq. What would Reagan have done? When Reagan was president we are supporting the other side. Saddam and Osama bin Laden were our best buddies. Wow - this is really confusing. Maybe that’s our problem. Maybe the reason we’re not winning this war is because we haven’t figured out who the enemy is yet?
Fortunately we have a president who has the solution to the problem. Let’s double down. Send in more troops. The one thing that brings Sunni and Shiites together is killing Americans.
Marc Perkel San Bruno, CA.
By LuckoDull
December 17, 2006 01:55 PM | Link to this
gotnolife: I’ll be who ever you want me to be.
I don’t mind playing with gotnolife and his demons, really.
Should we hide from the big bad AJC police now?
It sure would help, though, if I knew what the hell you were talking about.
First, we should probably figure out if you know what you’re talking about.
I have my doubts.
By RW-(the original)
December 17, 2006 01:55 PM | Link to this
getalife,
This one’s pretty funny and I bet he wouldn’t want Dio’s Indoctrination Camp handling his kids either.
By getalife
December 17, 2006 02:07 PM | Link to this
Dull,
Nevermind.
RW,
Why do you wingnuts think people going off are funny?
Sorry, I could not make it through the screaming.
Geez.
By RW-(the original)
December 17, 2006 02:08 PM | Link to this
LuckoDull,
One thing you can count on is gitmolife’s consistency in never knowing what he’s talking about. He will try to send you out into the fever swamps as often as possible though.
By Diogenes
December 17, 2006 02:12 PM | Link to this
Jim,
It’s comical how quickly you conservatives can turn abusive when someone points out your penchant for doublethink. The blog demagogue tried to present this rebuttal to my pointing out your doublethink: “until they have a choice of other schools you’re going to have to deal with the complaints from parents concerned with the crap you want to fill our children’s heads with.”
The way the system works, having a variety of opinions is called a democracy, even when those opinions are as wrong-headed as rejecting evolution or rejecting proper sex education. The blog demagogue never seems to comprehend the nature of democratic debate.
By getalife
December 17, 2006 02:20 PM | Link to this
Try this one RW
By Curious Observer
December 17, 2006 02:57 PM | Link to this
Ah, yes, the old backdoor route. We give special needs students the equivalent of vouchers for either public or private schools, and in a couple of years someone asks, “Hey, if it works for special needs students, how about for all students?”
The inexorable backward march toward the days of separate-but-equal continues, along with a retreat toward one class of education for the well-to-do—first class—and a considerably lower class for everybody else.
If conservatives were really interested in meeting the educational needs of special needs students, they would be advocating separate public schools for them, instead of pushing for fund-carrying for these students. As they exist, schools are ill-equipped to integrate these students in schools designed for students without special needs. No special needs student is well served under such a system. Building separate schools staffed by specialists in special needs education would address the problem.
But no, it appears we are to hand a bundle of money to the parents of special needs students and leave them to determine which existing schools meet their children’s needs. It is a recipe for more failure and a prelude to a universal voucher system, with public schools and the students who attend them the big losers.
By Buy Danish
December 17, 2006 02:57 PM | Link to this
RW,
Is it just me, or is Diogenes a habitual user of “doublethink” and “doubletalk”.
It’s hard to understand what her point exactly because it is so muddled, but I gather that “complaining” about certain aspects of school curricula makes one a “demagogue”, and pointing out the error of her thinking is “abusive”.
On the other hand, calling people “Satan” is just part of acceptable “debate” in a “Democracy”.
Diogenes,
Since you have defined the terms of “proper” according to your own agenda, here is a question that you are ethically obligated to answer -
Do you think that teaching fisting is “proper” sex-education?
Time to put up or shut up.
By Political Foreskin
December 17, 2006 03:27 PM | Link to this
This Time Magazine Person of the Year thing….in my day, we didn’t have no fancy hi tech magazines to make us somebody just by looking in a mirror, no, if we wanted to get recognition we had to accomplish something. I remember this one time somebody pasted a looking glass on the rear end of old man Carter’s mule. Now that got people to face themselves!! That’s the way it was and we liked it!!!
By Political Foreskin
December 17, 2006 03:34 PM | Link to this
This whole idea of a mirror on a Time Magazine Cover is ridiculous. I mean, what’s next, toilet cams?
By Markus
December 17, 2006 03:43 PM | Link to this
Well well well. Another week off the blog and the same sewer RATs are still poisoning this blog as expected. Actually I am involved with developing a new Conservative blog, so I won’t be here much in the near future. I know that hurts everyone’s feelings, especially our friends the neomarxist liberals. But, there are opportunities to express a voice out there that others wnat to hear. I am salivating when I will be able to toss off and IP ban any demoncat that happens to come across it.
Anyway, I see that the Baker-Hamilton Iraq study is no longer on front page news. Well let me be the first to admit that it doesn’t take a midtown liberal to understand that Iraq is a dynamic place and changes in tactics are always needed, as every war America has been involved with for the past, say, oh, 235 years or so.
Speaking of the Iraq study group, one of the members, William Perry, went on RAT radio’s weekly address to speak his mind about the way things are going. This is the same man who sat by and watched Afghanistan be taken over by the Taliban and Saddam give the big middle finger to Khofi the Khorrupt on UN resolutions. Oh, and allowed muslofanatics to learn how to fly airplanes in our land unchecked so as to not “offend” them. But I got off topic. So if the Baker-Hamilton commission was so “bi-partisan” and all, I surmise that if a Republican who was on that commission goes on Rush, Hannity, or the weekly Republican radio address, that no media outlet will raise holy hell about it. Mmmm-huh.
And down in Florida, a “botched” execution happened and all the pansyassed liberals, especially in the media, are wetting themselves over the matter. Not one comment on how the killer killed his victim and what kind of suffering that person went through or the family. Ok, to hell with Old Sparky, the gas chamber, and lethal injection. Let’s just bring back the firing squad and the guillotine.
And there was nothing new on the Sunday talk shows. George Steponanoctopus & friends as well as Chris “softballs” Matthews had multiple smile orgasms talking about Obamania. BFD. The genuine smiles these people had on was not insipid… it was the way they feel. And to think there are holocaust deniars and liberal media bias deniars out there.
By getalife
December 17, 2006 03:56 PM | Link to this
Call it macaca’s.
Good riddance loser.
By Markus
December 17, 2006 04:21 PM | Link to this
Michael Kinsley, the old flaming CNN Crossfire liberal and former Slate editor at large, tells it like it is on Mr. 21% interest rates Carter and apartheid. It just goes to show you that even a jackass can wake up to reality and leave the other jackass to carry the BS. Oh yeah, and I wonder how many comments in Mr. 12% inflation’s book mention Israelis treating Palestinian terrorists for their wounds who attacked Israel? Mmmm-huh.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/11/AR2006121101225.html
By StillbornDittos
December 17, 2006 04:22 PM | Link to this
zzzzz
By CJ
December 17, 2006 04:27 PM | Link to this
Jim Wooten: “As proposed by Johnson, the maximum scholarship would be a sum equal to the state and federal money spent on them in public school. That sum — and not any locally generated revenues — would be granted to parents to buy from the private sector the education services they wanted for their child.”
First, I want to address the comment that this idea “smacks” of vouchers. This idea doesn’t smack of vouchers – it is vouchers. Changing the buzzword from “vouchers” to “scholarships” is just marketing.
As Curious Observer indicated, such “scholarships” wouldn’t actually be available to all families with special needs students. The amount provided by each voucher, in most cases, wouldn’t be enough to cover private school tuitions. So, in effect, such special needs vouchers are only useful for upper income families.
Jim stated that this program is successful in Florida, but it would be helpful to know how many in Florida families would like to move their special needs children to a better private program but are unable to – even with the special needs voucher system. This concern doesn’t actually kill my support for such a program, but there needs to be some thought about how to improve educational opportunities for all special needs students, not just those from upper-income families. CO’s suggestion above advocating public special needs specialty schools sounds good to me.
My second concern has to do with the arithmetic. Jim writes that the “scholarship would be a sum equal to the state and federal money spent on them in public schools”. In State Senator Johnson’s proposal, do the “per student” calculations include both fixed (e.g. overhead) and variable costs (e.g. textbooks), or is the definition limited to variable costs only? If this proposal is referring to variable costs only – then this proposal would be more palatable. On the other hand, if a special needs student leaving a public school reduces the amount available to that school for expenses that would continue after the student leaves (e.g. building maintenance costs, utilities, school administrators’ salaries, salaries for teachers that remain in the classrooms from which the student left), then this idea is simply another con designed to rob federal and state taxpayer money from public schools for the exclusive benefit of upper income families. I hope that’s not the case.
What about it Jim? How does the per student calculation include fixed and variable expenses or variable expenses only?
By RW-(the original)
December 17, 2006 04:29 PM | Link to this
Diogenes,
People of means have a choice of putting their children in a good school even though they still have to pay for the horrific public school system. Those with lesser means are hopelessly trapped in a failed education system and the only reason you want them trapped there is to indoctrinate them with your leftist agenda.
You and Karl Marx are birds of a feather in that regard. Probably a lot more, I guess Marx was a moderate in your world too.
Buy Danish,
She also seems to have some bizarre fixation on her imaginary conversations with Jim, even to the point of routing her conversation with us through him.
By Markus
December 17, 2006 04:36 PM | Link to this
Thought of the week:
If all those liberals and Demoncats who screamed bloody murder over Republicans like Rick Santorum interfering in the Schiavo case were so upset on the matter, I wonder how loud they’d be if the same entities that supported keeping Schiavo alive on life support would be saying the same for Senator Johnson if he had slipped into a coma? Oh yeah, and I’m glad for him and his family he’s going to be ok. So wipe up your pretty pink panties, liberals. Double oh yeah, and like our liberal friends, I don’t believe in government meddling into private medical affairs… especially my healthcare options, unlike our liberal friends who want to fluck up a system that works perfectly well for 84% of Americans just to benefit those 16% with no healthcare (many by choice, not ability). But who’s counting here. We all know liberals will gladly fluck up anything that works for the majority just to cater to the minority and use the ineptitude of government to do it, just like Hitllary wants. FEMA, meet hospital. Patient, meet government.
By Buy Danish
December 17, 2006 04:55 PM | Link to this
Curious Observer,
Your so-called solution as to what to do with Special Needs kids would be so incalculably expensive and grossly ineffective that it defies logic:
You would ask the taxpayer to buy more land, build more buildings, hire more teachers and bus drivers (specialists in a wide range of “special needs”) exclusively for these kids and….then what?
I can’t even figure out where these Utopian facilities would be located to serve these students effectively, never mind all the other details, such as what specialties each teacher would specialize in.
It is telling that you have so little faith in the ability of a child’s parents to decide what sort of learning environment is be best for them. Why is a gatekeeper necessary to make these decisions for them?
RW,
Yes, Diogenes is doing that, and she is also too cowardly to actually name us, and prefers to use vague terms like the “harpy” or “demagogue” to identify us.
Perhaps she realizes that she will lose if she enters the arena of debate without having Jim as her personal shield. It’s like a new kind of affirmative action policy, for Dio only.
By getalife
December 17, 2006 04:57 PM | Link to this
macaca,
What a whiny wingnut you are.
Give it a rest will ya, you look like a wussy whiner.
Geez.
By CJ
December 17, 2006 05:02 PM | Link to this
After making my earlier post, I did a little research and learned that Johnson’s “Special Needs Scholarship” includes “emotional and behavior disorders”, “intellectual disabilities” and “other health impairments”. No definition of these terms is provided. If a teenager has acne, he or she qualifies.
In addition, the bill doesn’t require parents to provide a doctor’s note testifying to the disability that is being claimed. In other words, parents and private education beneficiaries can fudge the facts with impunity to get access to this program.
So, in fact, this proposal is a back-door voucher system. It turns out to be another demonstration that Republicans don’t actually believe in the merits of their ideas, so they have to use marketing techniques like “scholarships” and “special needs” to con us into accepting a voucher program that they couldn’t otherwise sell.
Also, I want to be wrong about this, but I looked at the calculation (impossible to interpret without using up a two-week vacation) and it does appear to take fixed expenses away from the public school system. If so, again, this proposal is reverse Robin Hood.
Here’s a link to the bill for anybody who is interested: http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2007_08/fulltext/sb10.htm
By TW
December 17, 2006 05:07 PM | Link to this
RW - the public schools in Alpharetta and East Cobb are are horrific?
By RW-(the original)
December 17, 2006 05:08 PM | Link to this
CJ,
That sounds like the same exception liberals want to use for reasons to let a woman get a partial birth abortion at the last minute before giving birth.
Maybe we can find some common ground for defining exceptions.
By catlady
December 17, 2006 05:09 PM | Link to this
Few teachers would object to this idea as long as 1) WE get to choose who is offered the scholarship and 2) the parents could NOT change their minds and bring their child back to public school. Sound like a win-win to me!
By RW-(the original)
December 17, 2006 05:12 PM | Link to this
TW,
I don’t know if they “are are” or “aren’t aren’t” but the system of government schools is a tremendous failure and outrageously expensive.
By Buy Danish
December 17, 2006 05:18 PM | Link to this
RW,
You are a faster typist than I. I was about to post a similar response for CJ:
Hmmmmmm. It sounds like some of the same excuses that are used to justify Partial Birth Abortion can be used to qualify for Special Ed vouchers.
Why is one a sacrosanct “private decision between a woman and her physician” while the other is just a way to gain an unfair advantage in getting an education?
By Markus
December 17, 2006 05:21 PM | Link to this
RW-
Oh sure. The left is all about choice. Except when it comes to your retirement (socialist security), where to send your child to school (vouchers and homeschooling), your choice to private healthcare (HitllaryCare), your choice to work at a minimum wage job for dollar X, your choice to drive a big honking gass-guzzling SUV without being demonized, your choice to invest money overseas as a tax shelter from the neocommunist RATs in Congress without being demonized, and on and on and on…
Actually the only “choice” things I see demoncat liberals being for are gay marriage and abortion. Everything else is Gestapo socialist liberalism.
By TW
December 17, 2006 05:23 PM | Link to this
RW- They are simply a reflection of the community in which they are based. Want to fix the schools? Work on that. Scapegoating the schools for the failures of the community might be a little more ignorant than a typo, don’t ya think?
By Markus
December 17, 2006 05:25 PM | Link to this
Accoring to the party of the jackass, Bush jacked up oil prices and then let them fall to help win congress. Well little girlie men libs, why isn’t the Bushmeister jacking up the oil prices again now that the Republicans lost Congress?
Next on the liberal agenda: Why global warming caused no land-hitting hurricanes to happen in 2006.
By RW-(the original)
December 17, 2006 05:30 PM | Link to this
TW,
Private schools outperform public schools no matter what neighborhood they’re in. That “reflection of the community” BS is straight out of the teachers union handbook and is used as an excuse to dismiss their awful performance.
There is no good reason for public education so why on earth would I want to “fix” it?
By CJ
December 17, 2006 05:31 PM | Link to this
BD @5:18,
You answered your own question when you included the word “physician”. You won’t find that word in Johnson’s voucher bill.
By Buy Danish
December 17, 2006 05:31 PM | Link to this
CJ,
Thanks for the link to the details of the proposed Bill, which (ahem) J.W. didn’t include.
A quick read of it leads me to conclude that the process to qualify is so freaking complicated that only the most sincerely motivated parents and private schools will be willing to go the effort.
I also wonder how many more bureaucrats will be needed to handle the application process.
That being said, I think its a great idea - and the prospect of Georgia’s schools being able to function with fewer impediments is fine with me.
By RW-(the original)
December 17, 2006 05:33 PM | Link to this
Buy Danish,
I must have seen the post long before you did, because it wouldn’t be possible for you to be a slower typist.
By Buy Danish
December 17, 2006 05:37 PM | Link to this
TW,
As far as I know, it was me and not RW who made hay with a typo today. I do that with certain posters like Dio who inadvertently make up new words.
I agree that schools are often a reflection of their communities, but how are we to “fix” them???? Surely every attempt that Liberalism has made has been an abject failure and only made it worse.
By Buy Danish
December 17, 2006 05:43 PM | Link to this
CJ,
The “Physician” can say anything the prospective abortion-services client wants her to say.
“Depression” is an acceptable excuse when it comes to PBA. Although I doubt that “acne” has been used (mostly because pregnancy can temporarily improve acne) I wouldn’t be surprised if “stretch marks” have been used.
RW,
I couldn’t pass the most rudimentary typing test. I know - I’ve tried.
By RW-(the original)
December 17, 2006 05:44 PM | Link to this
Buy Danish,
I had some fun with TW’s use of “are are” although I thought it was funny.
Apparently when they are trying to tell the blog they’re smarter than anyone else, they don’t like the fact they can’t string a sentence together pointed out.
By LuckoDull
December 17, 2006 05:47 PM | Link to this
Markus: Excellent point, if Terri Schaivo would have been a democrat senator she would have lived to be a hundred.
TW: A fact that you will never hear from the lying media is that the bigger the religious base in a neighborhood the better the test scores are for that school.
By RW-(the original)
December 17, 2006 05:49 PM | Link to this
CJ,
The exceptions that are posed for a woman getting a last minute partial birth abortion don’t have anything to do with a physician either. If the woman tells the abortion doctor she’s depressed that is good enough and the abortionist goes ahead and sucks the babies brains out.
By Buy Danish
December 17, 2006 05:52 PM | Link to this
RW,
AHA! I am a faster typist than you! :-)
Oh, and great minds and all that.
By Markus
December 17, 2006 05:53 PM | Link to this
Barney “Fife” Frank, soon to be RAT chair of the House Financial Services Committe, is more concerned about how much people make than what they learn in school. Accoring to him, “How do you do a better job of sharing overall economic growth with the average worker?… that’s the number one issue today”
Perhaps Barney should look at where is colleagues stand in wealth with respect to the 50 wealthiest members of congress: 13 of the top 20 are RATs, with John effin’ sKerry at the top thanks to his alleged wife. Oh yeah, and you never heard much about his name being “Forbes” for the “F” there, huh? These asspirate wallet thiefs are for the little guy MY A*.
http://vikingphoenix.com/public/docs/50rich.txt
By RW-(the original)
December 17, 2006 05:54 PM | Link to this
Ok BD, it’s on!
We’ll meet at noon tomorrow, keyboards moving at the speed of glaciers, and settle this once and for all.
By Buy Danish
December 17, 2006 05:54 PM | Link to this
RW,
Didn’t Bill Clinton go on and on about “is is” once a very long time ago?
By Buy Danish
December 17, 2006 05:57 PM | Link to this
RW,
Actually, I’ll call it a typing draw. The inconsistent delay on these blogs makes it impossible to declare a winner.
By Buy Danish
December 17, 2006 05:58 PM | Link to this
Why is it that the closer one gets to closing time, the longer it takes for a comment to post?
By TW
December 17, 2006 05:58 PM | Link to this
LuckoDull- I can believe that about the religious base having the higher scores - solid community.
RW - Sorry if I hurt your feelings.
By Buy Danish
December 17, 2006 05:59 PM | Link to this
Test. It is now 5:59. When will this post??
By Buy Danish
December 17, 2006 06:10 PM | Link to this
RW,
I’d be happy to meet you at noon tomorrow to have that bottle of wine I couldn’t purchase today.
By StillbornDittos
December 17, 2006 06:14 PM | Link to this
I’ve read some very interesting Iraq War analysis on this blog today. Every one was geo-politically astute, even visionary…….if they had been written three years ago.
Here’s the danger now: We are trapped and the way forward is going to see us through a military revolt… Imagine an army trapped in a war zone with no mission, and no reason to be there other than they’re trapped, and it dawing on that army that there’s no justification for their sacrifice if they buy a bullet. We could see erosion of our institutions, and a collapse of respect for any patriotic tradition. Our military could simply revolt. That’s if we stay.
David Brooks thinks that the GOP will give Bush an ultimatum to pull out to preserve the party in ‘08. That’s hogwash. There’s no way out. Even if Bush wanted to leave, we couldn’t.
We will try one more big slaughter. We’re going to have to slaughter those people. But then, they got it comin’. It wont do any good. You really cant kill everyone.
Why cant we just pull out? We are the bottom card in a house of cards now. We cant leave without jeapordizing every aspect of order and civilization all over the middle east….. Imagine the collapse of Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Pakistan, etc. and then: global revolution! The billions of poor finally rising up. The idea of monumental change is catching fire. People are finally seeing a way out of the western imposed tyranny they’ve accepted for generations and generations. Yes, it’s all Islam’s fault. Islam has the enemy’s hearts and minds by the gonads. Imagine Mutually Assured Destruction being the motivation to attack, not negotiate. Well, that’s what we are facing now.
It was easy to predict this: The cradle of civilization. The ancient rivalries. Hell, they got 10K year old outhouses in mesopotamia, man.
We’ll never fathom all the liasons, or rivalries, or cross border tribal ties.
When the ancient tribes were split by a cartographer’s whim in 1920s, that meant that any reunion of the tribes would be a defacto invasion of one country into another. How long will the tribes stay apart? There are Tribal links in mesopotamia that go all the way to china, man.
I dont see any way out of this catastrophe, except to stay there and try to wait this out. If we are there in force, then we can squash any regional spread….no we cant. We’re fooked. we are fooked.
Enjoy these last days. How to best describe Bush’s foreign policy: Imagine a snafu wrapped in a Catch 22 inside of a Fubar.
I still want to know why W went in. He’s not dumb enough to believe the phony intel about WMD. Was it really just to get Hussein? How Shakespearean. Perfect for an end of the world scenario.
By RW-(the original)
December 17, 2006 06:34 PM | Link to this
Buy Danish,
Do we have to have the bottle we couldn’t buy today? We could always buy something tomorrow or make a selection from Honu’s well stocked wine cellar and have it couriered over.
The thing about your test that doesn’t work is that the blog keeps the time stamp of when you typed the post no matter how long it takes to publish it. That’s how the parrot always gets caught when she responds to one of her name jack posts before she could have seen it.
TW,
Don’t flatter yourself, my feelings are completely under my own control. Haven’t you noticed I’m not a liberal yet?
By Randall Williams
December 18, 2006 09:00 AM | Link to this
Morning Jim,
Sorry to disagree but the special-needs scholarship is crap. If services to special-needs students are lacking under our current system, we need to fix the system and not throw it away. True conservatives, like my parents and their parents, fixed things endlessly until they were used slap up and could be fixed no more. Pseudo-conservatives, like the radical religionists, always want to throw the baby out with the bath water if the baby doesn’t act “right”!
But let’s be honest, this call for “special” scholarships is just another transparent effort by religious radicals to shore up their efforts to have taxpayers foot the bill for their choice of parochial education for their children. The idea seems much more palatable after being applied to special-needs students first. Parents should absolutely have the right to choose parochial education for their children if they wish but they should never have the right to require other taxpayers to fund said choice. This would open a Pandora’s Box of calls for “special” treatment.
As a fundamentalist Mormon, I wouldn’t think that I should have to pay taxes that would support a government which criminalizes my religious belief in pleural marriage. As a Christian Scientist, I wouldn’t think that my tax dollars should fund Medicare, Medicaid, medical research or other activity which infringes on my religious belief in healing by faith alone. As a Jehovah’s Witness, I wouldn’t think that any of my tax burden should be used to fund any hospital or medical institution that administers the infusion of any blood or blood products in defiance of my religious belief. The list goes on and on.
Government should continue with the time proven notion given to us by the founding fathers of separation of church and state. Public education should be inclusive of all citizens, regardless of their special needs. It should provide secular education only and leave the parochial education needs of students to churches and parents. This insures that religious beliefs and doctrines that parents wish to force their children to assimilate would not be misinterpreted or mischaracterized by public teachers who may or may not share those beliefs. It, also, insures that children of parents who do not want them subject to religious indoctrination in faiths foreign to their own would not be forced to give lip service to religions that they or their parents might believe to be false.
Today’s religious radicals are more akin to the social welfare junkies of the 60’s than to members of today’s conservative movement! Wake up, Jim; what you’re calling for here is not thinking “right”. This is simply “radical” thinking disguised as “right” thinking. The majority of the American public simply isn’t buying into this sort of tripe any longer!
By Truth Filter
December 18, 2006 01:29 PM | Link to this
One thing to consider:
Private schools generally have inadequate facilities and training to handle special needs students, at least those on the most severe spectrum. (There are some private schools popping up that specifically cater to specific special needs populations and IDEA requires that states and systems pay for a student to go such schools if the local schools can’t serve the child).
Also, private schools are not required to follow IDEA, although if public money is headed their way, they may have to.
Not pro or con the idea: Just some facts from the Truth Filter!
By G-Dog
December 18, 2006 06:11 PM | Link to this
Man, y’all a bunch of wack mofos. Yackity, smackity and it’s all a bunch of …