Thursday, October 16, 2008

Bipartisanship on schools?

Kentucky teachers unions' stranglehold on schools has resulted in the commonwealth being one of the very worst places in the nation for those who value the competition of school choice. That may change regardless of who is elected POTUS on November 4:

"Apparently, both candidates realize the value of competition in schools:
Here are Obama’s exact words: “Charter schools, I doubled the number of charter schools in Illinois despite some reservations from teachers unions. I think it’s important to foster competition inside the public schools.”"

"Of course, Obama wants to limit choice and competition to public schools (which include charters), while McCain wants to include private schools in the mix. But they agree on the big idea: public schools are improved when they have to compete to earn students and the revenue theose students generate."

"Just think. Only twenty years ago school choice and competition was hardly a glimmer in Ronald Reagan’s eye. Now the idea is so widely accepted as reasonable that the leaders of both parties differ only on the mechanism for producing choice and competition. We’ve come a long way, baby."

There's more here. Efforts to utilize vouchers or charter schools routinely die a painful death in Kentucky's House Education Committee.

Looking forward to some change there.

No comments: