ADK Speech Flashcards
Jenni Santilli Story
9th Grader Speech Class Jenni was different Speech and Debate Team - State Champion Theater - Pres. of Thespians Taught speech Teacher WVDE Community Organizer THANK YOU Jenni
Edwina Howard-Jack
Born and raised in Buckhannon-Upshur Katsup Sandwiches BUMS BUHS Wesleyan Married and family Teaching Career - Nice to be with fellow teachers Master's NBCT WVDE Wesleyan Community Organizing Writing a Book- writing Doctoral Program - History - 20th Century US History, Civil Rights, Women's Studies, and Community Organizing
Vouchers and Charter Schools
What is School Choice?
Wrote an Op Ed for our local paper - Jenni asked me to speak
Definition: Taxes go toward funding public schools, while private money - from tuition and donations- funds private schools.
Traditional vouchers are basically state-funded “scholarships” that pay for students to go to private school instead of public school.
Legislation sets entitlement to assistance, like low-income, low performing schools, disabilities, being in foster care, etc.
Public school choice also includes charter schools, which serve a similar purpose to private schools, but private schools have more flexibility in personnel, budget, curriculum and instruction, standards and accountability.
Agree or Disagree - shifting students from public school into private schools will change what it costs to run a public school.
No. Public schools still have to pay their teachers and administration, maintain their facilities and provide classroom resources; however, public schools will not have the money for these expenses because their funding will decrease as students leave to go to private schools.
Agree or Disagree - Almost half a century ago, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown vs. Board of Education.
True. “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
Every student in America is legally entitled to a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).
True. EVERY Student
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) protects students with disabilities.
True.
We are all guarded by the protections of separation of church and state.
True.
How is re-segregation of schools possible with vouchers?
Pair - share
Dangers? License to Discriminate
Private schools can set stipulations on admission, since they are not held to the same rules as public schools. Private schools can refuse to accept students with disabilities.
A private school may not provide transportation, so only affluent parents with transportation and scheduling flexibility can transport their student. Schools can refuse to allow LGBTQ and non-Christians based on “religious principles.”
Schools can even set standards for achievement and discipline requirements to weed out low-achieving students with poor grades or test scores or those with poor attendance or discipline records.
What happens to public schools?
Separating vulnerable and marginalized students from wealthy, white, Christian ones is a real problem, especially if these schools do not get equally good educators and resources.
Some public schools in areas of privatization report not having adequate funding for cleaning supplies, textbooks, school supplies, sports, tutoring, and even toilet paper.
They talk about peeling paint, water stains, and having to serve expired lunches.
Funding Dangers
“After Brown v. Board of Education…, many Southern states established voucher schemes to allow white students to leave the education system and take taxpayer dollars with them, destroying the budgets of the public school districts,”
Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote in a scathing letter to Betsy DeVos citing the research of M. A. Gooden in the Peabody Journal of Education.
She continues, “Today’s voucher schemes can be just as harmful to public school district budgets, because they often leave school districts with less funding to teach the most disadvantaged students, while funneling private dollars to unaccountable private schools that are not held to the same academic or civil rights standards as public schools.”
School Choice Discrimination Dangers
The choice to use a civil rights context to justify a free market approach to improving schools does not match the reality vouchers’ effect on students of color today, according to Erica Frankenberg, associate professor in the Department of Education Policy Studies, College of Education at Pennsylvania State University.
Supporters of vouchers during the civil rights movement claimed that a voucher system would not endanger the rights of black students to a quality education, just as voucher supporter’s today claim that vouchers will not endanger students with disabilities, minority students, LGBTQ students, non-Christian students, female students or poor students.
School Choice Discrimination Dangers
The North Carolina NAACP states that the voucher plan deprives both private and public school students of a racially diverse student body.
Studies show that white families are more likely to leave the traditional public school system or zones that have higher proportions of students of color.
Agree or Disagree - Will privileged whites seek a homogeneous school environment?
If given the choice, would privileged whites choose to place students in a school without students with disabilities, the poor, LBGTQ kids, and non-Christian students?
Pair-share
