NYT Article on Fiscal Cliff Faced by School Districts Nationwide

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/no-accountability-vouchers-wreak-havoc-states

People with common sense know this but the people on this forum want to "punish" MCPS by essentially defunding public education for those who will not have the money, means or transportation to access private schools regardless of the vouchers they receive. The privileged will be able to however, so if they feel the teachers have been punished enough for wanting fair working conditions and wages, they'll feel like they've "won".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing surprising there. Many school districts used a temporary revenue stream to fund permanent/ongoing services/staff, rather than funding short-term, pandemic-related expenses as intended.

Adding to that, telling working families that it is unreasonable to expect public schools to stay open caused some to permanently switch to private school.

But that should actually make things easier for places like MCPS. Those parents still pay the same property taxes but it's a few less kids for the school to spend $ on. We don't have vouchers etc here.

We probably should have vouchers, though. MCPS needs to feel consequences from putting MCEA requests above student needs. If doing that would lead to more students going private, and thus MCPs losing funding, then the BoE would have to think twice about that.

Omg no vouchers what do you not understand how bad they are

And no way are my tax dollars going to garbage religious privates you want your kid in Catholic school you pay for it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing surprising there. Many school districts used a temporary revenue stream to fund permanent/ongoing services/staff, rather than funding short-term, pandemic-related expenses as intended.

Adding to that, telling working families that it is unreasonable to expect public schools to stay open caused some to permanently switch to private school.

But that should actually make things easier for places like MCPS. Those parents still pay the same property taxes but it's a few less kids for the school to spend $ on. We don't have vouchers etc here.

We probably should have vouchers, though. MCPS needs to feel consequences from putting MCEA requests above student needs. If doing that would lead to more students going private, and thus MCPs losing funding, then the BoE would have to think twice about that.

Omg no vouchers what do you not understand how bad they are

And no way are my tax dollars going to garbage religious privates you want your kid in Catholic school you pay for it

Why is it worse than having them go to garbage public schools?

Regardless, the point of the vouchers would be to make the public schools better. For example, MCPS would be able to close for 18 months without a mass exodus to privates. And they wouldn't be able to keep adding more half-days to the calendar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/no-accountability-vouchers-wreak-havoc-states

NEA? You don't see the *huge* conflict of interest there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing surprising there. Many school districts used a temporary revenue stream to fund permanent/ongoing services/staff, rather than funding short-term, pandemic-related expenses as intended.

Adding to that, telling working families that it is unreasonable to expect public schools to stay open caused some to permanently switch to private school.

But that should actually make things easier for places like MCPS. Those parents still pay the same property taxes but it's a few less kids for the school to spend $ on. We don't have vouchers etc here.

We probably should have vouchers, though. MCPS needs to feel consequences from putting MCEA requests above student needs. If doing that would lead to more students going private, and thus MCPs losing funding, then the BoE would have to think twice about that.

Vouchers to where? There are not enough private schools and privates are far more than what one would get in a voucher so it really only helps those already in private or those who can afford it regardless of the voucher.

The point isn't to try to accommodate every child in private school. It would be to create a system of incentives where school districts would need to prioritize student needs in order to hang on to their per-pupil funding. Right now public schools have a captive market. They don't need to put students first because those students, and their associated funding,
are stuck there. Vouchers could change that dynamic.

That's not an incentive for public. They will not care. If a family wants private, they will do it. There aren't enough privates. Instead, they should be sanctioned financially for their failures. And, have 100% accountability and full public audit of every dollar spent.

If public schools can't afford to pay teachers because too many students are moving to private schools, then they're going to have to start caring. You can't "sanction" your way out of bad incentives. The incentives currently push in favor of teachers and administrators, not students.

No they don’t because the people impacted will be the tax payers, who agreed to the voucher system. The public school system will be able to tell everyone good luck with their private schools search and admissions. You’re trying to punish(sorry incentivize) the part of the system that already has the most burden and responsibility at a time when the folks in that system are telling everyone they’ve had enough.

Folks ask are privates that accept vouchers going to be mandated to the same standards of accountability measure and reporting as public’s currently and no one wants to say Yes because they know most privates won’t accept vouchers then.

Also heavily impacted would be the school teachers and administrators that would start being let go if/when enrollment drops. Vouchers would force those groups into prioritizing student needs instead if just their own.

You seem to be under some misguided belief that private schools prioritize student need more than public school. I can assure you they don’t. They just have less student needs to worry about. Also, if at any point a student’s needs exceed what they currently provide or want to provide, said student will be counseled out.

No, that's not the assumption. The point is *not* to drive students to private schools. That isn't practical. The point is to force *public* schools to prioritize students. If putting student needs on the back-burner would cause public schools to lose funding, and ultimately lead to layoffs, then school boards and administrators would need to reprioritize.

The key that you don’t seem to be getting in this is that public schools are a public good. If they lose money guess who is impacted the most? The public. They are never really competing with privates.

It’s like saying the U.S. Military is in competition with private contractors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing surprising there. Many school districts used a temporary revenue stream to fund permanent/ongoing services/staff, rather than funding short-term, pandemic-related expenses as intended.

Adding to that, telling working families that it is unreasonable to expect public schools to stay open caused some to permanently switch to private school.

But that should actually make things easier for places like MCPS. Those parents still pay the same property taxes but it's a few less kids for the school to spend $ on. We don't have vouchers etc here.

We probably should have vouchers, though. MCPS needs to feel consequences from putting MCEA requests above student needs. If doing that would lead to more students going private, and thus MCPs losing funding, then the BoE would have to think twice about that.

Vouchers to where? There are not enough private schools and privates are far more than what one would get in a voucher so it really only helps those already in private or those who can afford it regardless of the voucher.

The point isn't to try to accommodate every child in private school. It would be to create a system of incentives where school districts would need to prioritize student needs in order to hang on to their per-pupil funding. Right now public schools have a captive market. They don't need to put students first because those students, and their associated funding,
are stuck there. Vouchers could change that dynamic.

That's not an incentive for public. They will not care. If a family wants private, they will do it. There aren't enough privates. Instead, they should be sanctioned financially for their failures. And, have 100% accountability and full public audit of every dollar spent.

If public schools can't afford to pay teachers because too many students are moving to private schools, then they're going to have to start caring. You can't "sanction" your way out of bad incentives. The incentives currently push in favor of teachers and administrators, not students.

No they don’t because the people impacted will be the tax payers, who agreed to the voucher system. The public school system will be able to tell everyone good luck with their private schools search and admissions. You’re trying to punish(sorry incentivize) the part of the system that already has the most burden and responsibility at a time when the folks in that system are telling everyone they’ve had enough.

Folks ask are privates that accept vouchers going to be mandated to the same standards of accountability measure and reporting as public’s currently and no one wants to say Yes because they know most privates won’t accept vouchers then.

Also heavily impacted would be the school teachers and administrators that would start being let go if/when enrollment drops. Vouchers would force those groups into prioritizing student needs instead if just their own.

You seem to be under some misguided belief that private schools prioritize student need more than public school. I can assure you they don’t. They just have less student needs to worry about. Also, if at any point a student’s needs exceed what they currently provide or want to provide, said student will be counseled out.

No, that's not the assumption. The point is *not* to drive students to private schools. That isn't practical. The point is to force *public* schools to prioritize students. If putting student needs on the back-burner would cause public schools to lose funding, and ultimately lead to layoffs, then school boards and administrators would need to reprioritize.

The key that you don’t seem to be getting in this is that public schools are a public good. If they lose money guess who is impacted the most? The public. They are never really competing with privates.

It’s like saying the U.S. Military is in competition with private contractors.

Publics aren't competing at all right now because they have a captive market. The vast majority of students and families don't have a choice. So given a choice between policies that would benefit students or policies that would benefit teachers and special interest groups, the incentives are for school boards and administrators to go with the latter.

You see that's been happening, right? That only works for the teachers and special interest groups because the schools still get the same amount of money either way. If enacting those policies would ultimately lead to less money for their own causes, then everyone would have to adjust and reprioritize.

If school boards, and other groups act rationally, then the result would be public schools getting better for students.