In the 30th episode of “Travels With Charlie — Vermont Politics in Real Life,” host Charlie Papillo discusses Act 46’s failings with former Newbury School Board Chair Paul Jewett and education insider Marvin Harrison.
Image courtesy of TNR
In the 30th episode of “Travels With Charlie — Vermont Politics in Real Life,” host Charlie Papillo discusses Act 46’s failings with former Newbury School Board Chair Paul Jewett and education insider Marvin Harrison.
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What’s fair? Does one size fit all?
Education costs increase and student outcomes decline precisely because of the continued consolidation of public education management. And that Mr. Jewett and Mr. Harrison expected ‘more of an outcry’ in their local meetings should disclose the reason for the underlying dysfunction of that system, including the presumption that so-called ‘local control’ is preferable.
Keep in mind that the dysfunction of the public education system began with ‘local control’, by duly elected school boards and the direct democracy (i.e. mob rule) inherent in the traditional New England town meeting form of governance (a subject worthy of future discussion).
That the Newbury School is the town’s largest employer should raise eyebrows. Town meetings are critically influenced (if not controlled), by school staff, their families and other education associates. Just as the Newbury school board folks feel unfairly represented in the Act 46 process, so too do some individual families feel that they are unfairly represented by the local school board. As it is, we have a clash for control of ever-increasing school funding between local boards and the State Board of Education (SBOE). Neither represents the will of all the people, or the capability to decrease costs and improve outcomes.
Why, for example, does Mr. Jewett’s and Mr. Harrison’s ‘magic wand’ not provide school choice vouchers? Not only has school choice demonstrated lower costs and better student outcomes in the many Vermont districts in which it’s available, clearly, school choice is the only governance model that allows a vibrant free education market to thrive, allowing parents to choose the school they believe best meets the needs of their children.
If the Newbury School is as desirable as Mr. Jewett and Mr. Harrison believe it to be, prove it. Close the public school governance, provide school choice vouchers to parents, and let them vote with their pocketbook. If the Newbury School is as desirable as Mr. Jewett and Mr. Harrison believe it to be, it will thrive, no matter what the VT AOE, its SBOE, or the Legislature does.