[Note: I believe that this is the same article linked to in Education Week in Karen’s blog below. I wrote this then realized that Karen may have already referenced the article.]
The Associated Press has an article today on new legislation in Milwaukee regulating private schools that accept vouchers. Unfortunately I do not have a link. New accountability rules are being pushed by voucher supporters, the teachers union, the Governor, and some of the private schools. With regards to the latter, I am sure that this is about keeping competition out of the market. For example, schools that are already hiring “certified teachers” would love to have a law forcing all “voucher schools” to have to do the same. It is a way of driving up your competitor?s costs and making new entry by potential competitors more difficult. Anyway, here are some telling quotes from the AP article.
Referring to voucher advocate Howard Fuller, the AP states that he “worked with legislators to develop the recently approved accountability bill [and] believes taxpayers have a right to know how their money is spent and the voucher students are doing.”
Continuing the article states:
“Barbara Fisher, principal of Urban Day School, a K-8 private school with 525 voucher students, said her school already administers state standardized tests and requires teacher certification.
“All of us that are principals and administrators of the good schools want what’s right. We want to be accountable and do what’s right,” said Fisher, who acknowledged that greater accountability would give the schools more legitimacy.”
The article notes that Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” act
“has heightened the debate over accountability for voucher programs, most of which started before the law.”
I t goes on to quote Todd Ziebarth, a policy analyst with the nonpartisan Education Commission of the States in Washington, D.C., saying that “Now people are saying, geez, if the public schools have to meet this level of accountability, why shouldn’t the private schools also,” he said.
