Vouchers looking better and better....
NRO:
On Tuesday, April 29th, Manhattan Institute senior fellows Jay P. Greene and Marcus A. Winters released a new study, “The Effect of Special Education Vouchers on Public School Achievement: Evidence from Florida’s McKay Scholarship Program.” Contrary to those who argue that school choice harms public schools, Greene and Winters find that disabled students who remain in public schools made substantial test score improvements when their school faced greater exposure to the McKay program.
Highlights of the study include:
- Public school students with relatively mild disabilities made substantial and statistically significant test score improvements in both math and reading as more nearby private schools began to participate in the McKay program.
- The largest benefit was found for students diagnosed as having a Specific Learning Disability, a categorization that includes 61% of disabled students and 8.5% of all students in the state of Florida.
- The academic proficiency of students diagnosed with relatively severe disabilities were neither helped nor harmed by increased exposure to the McKay program.
The authors conclude that the McKay program has had a positive effect on the quality of education that public schools provide to disabled students.
Assumption - we all want our kids to be well educated.
Question - Do we owe our kids a public education? Or a publicly funded education?
The two are not the same.
And I also saw this:
The Center for College Affordability and Productivity has a new study showing that North Carolina's higher-education system is costing taxpayers a bundle. At the same time, among other negative findings, the report shows that many campuses are spending only 20 to 40 percent of their revenue on instruction.
Author Richard Vedder concludes that North Carolina's colleges are neglecting their core mission, "actually teaching students," and questions the nature of the vast spending having that does not reach the classroom.
Similar reports on higher education spending in all states are needed, as well as analyses of campuses' spending priorities.
I asked a similar question this past budget season of the School Board - what is the ratio of indirect to direct labor (e.g., those not involved in student teaching to those who are).
Never did get a straight answer. Position and salary burden.
It will be asked...again.
