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Alert #1
Dear Members of Congress:
The National PTA, comprising millions of parents, teachers, students, and other child advocates, is firmly opposed to President Bush's proposal for "Pell Grants for Kids", a national voucher program that deprives public schools of critically needed taxpayer funds by diverting those funds to private schools with no taxpayer or educational accountability. Public funding for education needs to support and improve our nation?s public schools.
In one breath, Mr. Bush called for the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), saying that we must "work together to increase accountability, add flexibility for states and districts, reduce the number of dropouts, provide extra help for struggling schools." In the next breath, Mr. Bush called for the diversion of $300 million dollars in taxpayer funds to support schools that are not accountable to the public, have no requirements for teacher quality, and show no evidence of improving student achievement. This seems contradictory, at best.
Vouchers benefit few students while taking scarce resources away from those who need it the most. Vouchers take money away from public schools, where 90 percent of all school-age children are enrolled, and give it to private schools. Public schools must meet federal state and local standards in a broad variety of areas including teacher qualifications, core curriculum and student achievement, and report their status to elected school boards and the taxpaying public. Private schools have no public accountability for the expenditure of public funds. Public schools must demonstrate student achievement and progress. Private schools are not required to demonstrate anything. Students receiving vouchers are not required to take core subjects such as reading, math, history, and science much less demonstrate proficiency in these core subjects. Private schools are not required to have "highly qualified" teachers or even meet minimal state teacher qualifications. Private schools are not required to make Adequate Yearly Progress.
The "choice" in "choice programs" lies with private school administrators, not with parents. Supporters of vouchers claim that they give choice to parents; that is not the case. Vouchers will not ensure parental "choice." Private and religious schools may deny applications for enrollment for any reason. Furthermore, private schools are not required to follow the parental involvement provisions of NCLB, a provision that Congress embraced heartily just a few short years ago.
There is no strong evidence that voucher programs "whether funded directly, or indirectly through education tax subsidies" improve student achievement. In fact, a recent study by the Department of Education shows that public school students do as well or better than their private school counterparts in 4th grade math and reading and in 8th grade math on the National Assessment of Education Progress.
Americans have consistently rejected vouchers, both in surveys and in referendums. What's more, Congress has consistently rejected voucher proposals just like the President's most recent proposal.
If we are serious about keeping America competitive, we must be equally serious about our support of education. If we want student achievement to continue to rise, high-school graduation and college enrollment to increase, and the student drop-out rate to decrease, there is no better investment than public education. Children succeed when families, schools and communities work together. Together, we can make every child's potential a reality.
If National PTA can provide you with any further information or assistance, please contact Todd Haiken, Acting Manager of Public Policy, at 202-289-6790 or thaiken@pta.org.
Sincerely,
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PTA Wisconsin is asking its members to contact their legislators to exhort them to reform the school funding system. At the Wisconsin PTA Legislative Day on January 25, several legislators actually scolded PTA for its members NOT contacting them about this issue. School funding reform is a very difficult and potentially expensive issue, so elected officials may not want to get involved unless the pressure from parents is great enough to make them feel like they have no choice but to address the issue.
ALERT
The Wisconsin school funding formula is hurting children. Under the present system, districts are forced to choose between educational programming and paying for heat, transportation, and infrastructure. This situation exists because of revenue caps which limit the amount of money districts may spend without regard for increased costs and changing needs. Until the school funding system is changed, districts will continue to face these awful choices.
Please contact your state assemblyperson and state senator. To find their contact information, google Who are My Legislators? It will lead you to the Wisconsin site. Once you enter your home address, it will immediately connect you to not only pictures of your state representatives but also their email and regular addresses and phone numbers. Regular mail may be best, but even a quick email will "count" as one person asking for action on school funding.
When writing or calling, identify yourself as the parent of ____ and be sure to include your home address. Be brief and to the point. Simply say that you are aware that school districts are being forced to cut programs because of the present school funding system and you want them to support AJR35 to reform the school funding system. Most importantly: tell your story. Tell them what programs or services are being cut in your district and how those cuts are hurting your children.
If you do not know any specific cuts that have been made, contact your superintendent, tell him or her that you are writing to your representatives to ask for school funding reform, and that you need to know what cuts have been made.
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