Sunday, May 23, 2010

“Q&A: Education superintendent candidates on vouchers and public schools” plus 1 more

“Q&A: Education superintendent candidates on vouchers and public schools” plus 1 more

Q&A: Education superintendent candidates on vouchers and public schools

Posted: 22 May 2010 11:43 PM PDT

FRANK HOLLEMAN

Greenville attorney

ANSWER: I oppose vouchers and tax credits because they undercut our public schools. Almost all of the candidates for the other parties support tax credits or vouchers or both.

A candidate cannot contend that he or she wants to direct resources toward the classroom while working to take funds away from the public schools through vouchers or tax credits.

These proposals create political conflict and distract us from the hard work of reform. They undercut public schools by taking away substantial funds. They are bad education policy; there is no reason to think that they would raise education achievement, and no reason to think that they would be more effective than early childhood education, teacher quality initiatives, or high school reform.

TOM THOMPSON

S.C. State University dean

ANSWER: Vouchers and tax credits for private schools hurt public schools by eroding support and resources.

REPUBLICANS

GARY BURGESS

Former Anderson 4 superintendent

ANSWER: A well-educated child benefits the public. Currently, we use public money in the S.C. First Steps program to privately educate students; we use public money to educate mentally and physically challenged students in private settings. I support any effort that will produce well-educated high school graduates. I support the use of public money in private settings if those private settings are held to the same accountability standards as public schools; however, I believe the current accountability standards hurt public school's ability to educate children.

ELIZABETH MOFFLY

Mount Pleasant business owner

ANSWER: Competition is healthy, incentivizing and inspirational in virtually every marketplace, even education. The S.C. Code of Laws has already been legislated to allow for public grants to fund private schools. It's not that we have bad education; it is that we have bad policies. Over 90 percent of S.C.'s children are in public education and, if S.C.'s public schools had child-friendly policies, there wouldn't be a need for this debate.

Public education policies offer limited choices, are not always student-friendly, nor have they proven to deliver a taxpayer return on investment in graduation rates. I believe in individual choice, free-market competition and limited government.

BRENT NELSEN

Furman University professor

ANSWER: Wrong question. The right question is what is the best thing for our children? When a parent has a child in a failing school, that family needs immediate relief. That family needs an option, a choice. We need empowered and engaged parents with real choices: magnate schools, charter schools, virtual schools, single-gender schools – innovation that creates individualized, customized education for each child and that has been shown to improve all schools. At times, this may include allowing private scholarships to be raised for students in failing schools. But we have not begun to fill out the public school choice options.

KELLY PAYNE

Dutch Fork High School teacher

ANSWER: A voucher is just one of a number of financial instruments that can be used to pay for specific required and publicly funded services to a public school student. For example, if a student has a learning disability that the student's assigned school can't accommodate, the funds allocated to assist the student to overcome the disability should not stay with that school. Payment for those services should go to the provider of those services at the level approved by the source of those funds. The real issue is fixing the broken system.

GLENN PRICE

White Knoll High School instructor

ANSWER: I do not support vouchers or tax credits for private education that would divert tax dollars from the public school system, especially at a time when school districts are already coping with budget cuts and funding problems. The problem with funding for public education today is not totally about the amount of dollars available, but rather the instability of the funding source. Allowing people to remove their tax dollars at this time would only add another unknown to the budget process.

MICK ZAIS

Newberry College president

ANSWER: I believe parents should be able to choose the best educational environment for their child. In some areas of South Carolina, parents have access to a whole menu of educational options: traditional public schools; public charter schools; public magnet schools; homeschooling; online/virtual schools; single-gender schools; Montessori-style schools; year-round schools; alternative schools for students with discipline problems; and privately-operated schools. But in my opinion, too many parents are left with only a single option, a traditional public school, and their child may not thrive in that setting. In some of the worst cases, that single option is a chronically failing school that hasn't improved in years. These children assigned to persistently failing or unsafe schools should have the opportunity to attend a school where they receive a solid foundation for their futures and they feel safe.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

3 students suspended after beating

Posted: 22 May 2010 10:39 PM PDT

" Sue Happy--do you really think that those parents have anything worth suing for? Kind of like getting blood from a turnip, isn't it? You can sue till the cows come home, if there is no assets you are wasting your time.

It seems that once a child is targeted for bullying, it just continues and continues. Holding the bullies back won't fix the problem. Put them through Juvie. Maybe alternative school? Kids that bully are unhappy kids. Maybe they and their families all need mandatory family counseling.

I am sorry for the victim. I was bullied by a boy in grade school, too. It's not much fun. "

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
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