Public dollars flow to private schools

[Guest post by Patrick McGuigan]

Frosty Troy, the crusty former publisher of the Oklahoma Observer, takes an absolutist position on the use of public dollars in education: “Public schools, public dollars; private schools, private dollars; and never the twain shall meet.”

But as Mr. Troy probably knows, the twain meet all the time. Examples are numerous.

News stories about Oklahoma’s pre-kindergarten (four-year-old) education program casually incorporate by reference sites where “free” (i.e., tax-financed) pre-K schools are being offered. Many stories include information about church-affiliated or other private providers receiving public support for providing pre-K care of one sort of another.

As for elementary education, consider the ubiquitous federal Title I program, which has for decades provided remedial services to children who live in high-poverty areas and who are failing (or are at risk) to meet core achievements. Under Title I, public school district officials are directed to consult with private schools on delivery of services.

Private schools in Oklahoma utilize Title I services in varied areas. Funding is driven by the “proportion of private school children from low-income families residing in participating public school attendance areas.” The law requires equitable services, not lesser services, for private school students.

In recent years, the Bush Administration's No Child Left Behind Act established provisions for “supplemental services” that go directly to children, whether provided by a public or a private entity. Students enrolled at failing public schools can receive extra academic help – tutoring, computer-assisted education and similar things – outside the normal school day.

Parents can pick the service from a state-approved list, and school districts pay providers directly. So far, most services have been provided by for-profit vendors rather than private schools, per se.

In Oklahoma City and many other public school districts, taxpayer funds are used to pay private vendors who provide online courses, often for students who are failing in traditional classrooms. Privately run online course work has become common for public school high-school age children who need alternative instructional approaches.

As public school populations fluctuate or decline, sites no longer needed for schools are often leased (and occasionally sold) to private businesses or institutes. In Oklahoma City, groups like the Eagle Ridge Institute, which provides special services for troubled youth, have received bargain rates because of the recognized value of the work they do with young people.

At the higher education level, Pell Grants are the best-known federal program supporting students, based on economic status. As the name implies, this is an outright grant disbursed through participating institutions (public or private). College students can get $4,000 or more a year and never have to pay it back. It is usually limited to undergraduate studies, but exceptions exist.

Some students use Pell Grants at a public institution and later at private schools, and vice versa. The program has empowered millions of lower-income Americans to pursue their dreams of education.

Federal loan programs – Stafford Loans are probably the most widely utilized – allow qualifying lower- or middle-income students to access below-market interest rates, with no loan repayment until education is completed. The Stafford program also works directly with private loan alternatives, the feds' involvement reducing risk for lenders.

In our state, the Oklahoma Tuition Equalization Grant (OTEG) Program, coordinated by the state regents but with decision-making centered in educational institutions, provides grants of up to $2,000 a year to qualifying residents who choose to attend private not-for-profit colleges. These institutions are usually but not always church-affiliated.

The Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program (OHLAP) got a funding boost in late March, when state legislative leaders announced they would channel an additional $5.5 million into the scholarship program assisting students who complete core curriculum requirements. Also known as “Oklahoma's Promise,” OHLAP is available for students attending either public or private universities and at career tech centers working with public two-year institutions.

In short, taxpayer resources fund educational services in varied ways, and every day millions of public education dollars flow to private vendors or entities. That is a fact, not an opinion. And I've merely scratched the surface of government programs that assist parents and students in making educational choices.

Other examples of public dollars financing private delivery of services across all age levels are far too numerous to belabor here, including but not limited to: Head Start and early Head Start, child care assistance, and public-school food services, custodial, maintenance, transportation, and security personnel.

Whether or not federal, state, and local lawmakers want to allow further experimentation with privatization of educational services is a public policy question, not an outcome dictated in advance by any one faction.

But let’s make no mistake about this: Whether it’s educating toddlers or twenty-somethings, public dollars flow to private schools all the time.

Why should creeping socialism surprise us ...

... when we long ago socialized the most important industry of all?

Disrupting class

"Disruption, in the form of online learning, is beginning to sweep through U.S. education," write Clayton M. Christensen and Michael B. Horn, coauthors of Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns. "At a growth rate of over 30 percent per year, online learning has the potential to bring true choice to millions of students and their families by delivering individualized learning opportunities not bounded by school or geography."

'A new middle-class benefit that shortchanges the poor'

Douglas Besharov, writing in the Fall 2008 issue of Education Next:

I read the research literature to say that early education programs can probably make a marked improvement in the lives of disadvantaged children, but that we have only a partial idea of how they should be organized and managed, that is, brought to scale. As of now, there is no actual model of early education or preschool services that has been proven successful in closing the achievement gap, and any additional funding should be used to create a flexible system that can change, and improve, as more knowledge is accumulated.

It is possible that the children from middle-income families might also benefit from preschool programs. The danger is that preschool will become a new middle-class entitlement, displacing the more intensive (and extensive) efforts needed to shrink the achievement gap among severely disadvantaged children. We need separate policies for each purpose, and bundling them together is a sure recipe for a new middle-class benefit that shortchanges the poor.

Obama and Duncan cannot be happy ...

... that the hypocrisy meme continues to linger.

Obama puts politics over children's lives

Juan Williams is outraged ...

... at President Obama's sin against schoolchildren.

These kids want choices

And they made videos explaining why.

'The Well-Trained Mind'

People who are considering homeschooling often ask me if there are any books on the subject I can recommend. There is one book I always mention first: The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. I reviewed the book favorably eight years ago in The Oklahoman.

Over the weekend the mailman brought me a copy of the 10th anniversary edition. Susie and I have used the book as our road map from day one, and today I recommend it more strongly than ever.

‘Get real about achievement’

That's the message from the state's largest newspaper in a house editorial today.

Arguing for internationally benchmarked standards, [Education Secretary Arne] Duncan points out the gap in many states between scores on state-mandated and national tests that imply state expectations may be too weak. Oklahoma’s in that number. ... Duncan and the president have accused schools of lying about academic achievement. So the first step to improvement regardless of the federal investment is the simple truth about whether students are being prepared for a 21st-century global economy. (Hint: The answer is no.)

Those fighting to get that truth out in Oklahoma mustn’t stop, in spite of the governor’s veto of a measure to bring more transparency to the student achievement issue. As difficult as it may be to hear, it’s no more difficult than the reality students must confront when it becomes clear they’re prepared for neither college nor a decent job.

Quote of the day

From media consultant Alex Castellanos:

School choice is Excedrin. "Equal opportunity in education" is the Excedrin headache. The latter compels the former. "Equal opportunity in education" is an idea whose time has come.

Horace Mann prophecy watch

Horace Mann, generally regarded as the father of America's current public school system, once prophesied: "Let the Common School ... be worked with the efficiency of which it is susceptible, and nine tenths of the crimes in the penal code would become obsolete; the long catalogue of human ills would be abridged." Mann would probably be surprised to learn that crimes are now occurring with such frequency in the schools themselves that two federal agencies see fit to issue an annual report on the matter.

This year's report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and National Center for Education Statistics, Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2008, indicates that a higher percentage of students in public schools than in private schools reported victimization, theft, gang activity, hate speech, hate-related graffiti, and fear of being attacked or harmed at school.

Consolidate school districts

Zero would be a good number, Clint Bolick suggests.