Friday, February 18, 2011

Sen. Leach: "saving five starving people by taking the food from the other 50"/ SB 1 Testimony of PSBA/ Daily News: On school vouchers, the data isn't encouraging/ PA Catholic Conference on Vouchers


Here are a couple quotes from Wednesday’s Senate Ed Committee hearing:

Sen. Daylin Leach (D., Delaware) was among those who argued vouchers would hurt the public schools by draining away funding. Even though some public schools would have fewer children to educate, fixed costs would remain the same.
"This is not a neutral bill," Leach said. "This is a bill which takes the money from the kids left behind. Rather than saying this is a saving five starving people, this is saving five starving people by taking the food from the other 50. This is a bill that helps a few people, possibly, but hurts everyone else."

"There are no requirements in the bill for private or religious schools to be successful, no standards or measures to make sure they are successful before or after the get the vouchers," said Baruch Kintisch, director of policy advocacy for the Education Law Center, which advocates for families with the neediest children in public schools. "Those schools could be worse than the neighborhood schools that they're coming from."

 

SB 1 Testimony of PSBA Executive Director Tom Gentzel

Opinion - Philadelphia Daily News, Feb. 17, 2011
On school vouchers, the data isn't encouraging
By KATE SHAW
ONCE again, Pennsylvania has a governor who promises to make education a central focus of his administration.
“….For 20 years, we have conducted independent, reputable research that focuses on finding ways to improve education policy and practice. We looked at the track record of voucher programs that already exist in school districts and states throughout the country, making sure to examine only the most robust research from nonpartisan and reputable researchers.
What we found will come as an inconvenient truth to many: Vouchers produce few, if any, statistically significant effects on student achievement.”

PA Catholic Conference Voucher Coverage


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