Who is actually working for black communities?

[Syne]

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/AaTB_nf5XrI

[confused2]

If I were an American I'd want to know more about a system that pays private school tuition for parents who apply.. freedom of choice?

Private School Vouchers Drain Rural Georgia

This year, the Qualified Education Expense Tax Credit (QEETC)—a voucher that the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts found lacks transparency and oversight—will divert $120 million from the state’s budget. This program provides a tax credit to those donating to pass-through organizations that pay private school tuition for parents who apply. Georgians have no assurances of how students perform once they enter this program, as these schools are not held to state standards or tested to measure performance.

https://gbpi.org/georgia-education-budge...year-2024/

Same source..

[Image: Voucher-Map@2x-768x753.png]

A review of the county-by-county QEETC usage shows that a few wealthier counties are benefiting from a program that the entire state subsidizes. Thirty-one percent of the voucher dollars last year were funneled to just two counties: Fulton and DeKalb.

[Syne]

If you cite an overtly leftist website/organization, you really shouldn't be surprised to find it's against anything non-leftist.

Fulton and DeKalb counties include/surround Atlanta. High population cities tend to have the worst public school outcomes, so it's no surprise that their residents would be most likely to seek (and have available) alternative schools for their children. $120 million really isn't much compared with the $11.9 billion education budget, which is also be used in many, much less populated counties. If you look at a Georgia population map by county, it's virtually identical, which means that the education funding is being fairly distributed by population. Rural counties are just far less populous. And it's always more expensive, thus wealthier, to live in big cities because of the housing demand. And the only transparency and performance standards needed are those the parents deem worthy.

But if you're a moron leftist who believes the propaganda from people trying to protect their failing government-funded jobs, none of the actual facts will matter to you. Nor do you likely believe that parents have any right to seek out better education for their children, even if they are inner city minorities.

[confused2]

I don't understand most of this.
Mainor says she is in favour of 'school choice'. Georgia seems to allocate $120 million to that .. enabling kids from poor homes to go to fee paying schools if the parents ask for help - is that not the case? A fair proportion of that money goes to the area she seems to be claiming doesn't allow school choice.
Is her point that the $120 million isn't enough? It goes to the wrong people? Is there a threat to cut it altogether? I thought one of the principles of Republicanism was that you had to earn whatever it is that you wanted .. yet here we apparently have a Republican wanting to hand out money to poor families .. either that or the 'school choice' headline is flying false colours or there is some other point I can't see from the information I've looked at so far.

[C C]

[...video...] School choice would mean that public schools and their teachers would have to compete for students. And we know that they do not want to have to do that. The parents who actually give a dern about their kids' education...

The handful of struggling families that think like Meisha Mainor herself might utilize whatever falls out of the bill (below). But the rest will be crouched in the yet well-watered and gardened crab mentality social structure and disdain for personal enterprise and higher skills descended from archaic Scotch-Irish culture. Which still influentially embraces both destitute whites and poor Blacks (Thomas Sowell ... also: How the Scot-Irish Transformed America).

But Mainor seems to acknowledge that it is for the few parents that would be receptive to grabbing the rope and pulling their kids upward: "the bill would help at least some people". The majority still following the pied piper's tune of tradition and Party, anyway.

And as a result, the public schools with low standards wouldn't really find themselves having to compete that much. The politically valued and cherished crab-culture base would still be there.

Meisha Mainor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesha_Mainor

School voucher
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_voucher

(March 14, 2024) Georgia school voucher bill narrowly clears longtime obstacle with state House passage
https://apnews.com/article/georgia-educa...6f14da13be

EXCERPTS: Georgia Republicans powered a voucher plan funding private school tuition and home schooling through the state House on Thursday, nearing a goal that has long eluded the state’s school choice advocates as GOP leaders overcame longstanding skepticism from some rural members of their party

[...] The bill would provide $6,500 education savings accounts to students attending public schools that rank in Georgia’s bottom 25% for academic achievement. That money could be spent on private school tuition, home schooling supplies, therapy, tutoring or even early college courses for high school students.

It differs from last year’s failed measure, having been combined with a number of other education initiatives. But opponents argue it would subtract resources from public schools, with school districts losing state aid as children depart, even as other students will remain behind.

[...] The new program would be limited to spending 1% of the $14.1 billion that Georgia spends on its school funding formula, or $141 million. Lawmakers would appropriate money for the voucher separately, and not take it directly out of the formula. That could provide more than 21,000 scholarships. Students who could accept them are supposed to have attended an eligible public school for at least two consecutive semesters, or be about to enter kindergarten at an eligible public school.

Students from households with incomes of less than four times the federal poverty level would prioritized for the scholarships. Four times the federal poverty level is about $100,000 for a family of three.

Parents would have to provide proof of allowed expenditures to a new Georgia Education Savings Authority to claim the money. All of a family’s eligible children could qualify for the program

Democrats argue the money isn’t enough to pay tuition at most private schools, and that private schools aren’t available in some rural areas. They also say private schools don’t have to accept all applicants and could discriminate against people with differing social and religious views. Rep. Karlton Howard, an Augusta Democrat, said the plan increases inequality, favoring people with the resources to make up the difference.

“It is leaving the least and the less behind to fend for themselves,” Howard said.

Republicans see it differently, though. Mesha Mainor, an Atlanta Republican, switched from the Democratic Party in part because of her support for vouchers. She said the bill would help at least some people, claiming members of her former party don’t want to help any students in poorly performing schools.

“They are growing up in a cycle of poverty and a cycle of desperation,” Mainor said “Today, you can make a change for them.”

The Georgia effort is part of a nationwide GOP wave favoring education savings accounts following the pandemic and fights over what children should learn in public schools.

[Syne]

Being forced to use failing public schools that your taxes fund is theft and coercion. Nothing Republican about that. Republicans would rather allow families to keep more of their own money, so they could afford whatever schooling they like, but Democrats won't allow that. So the compromise is a voucher system.

[confused2]

On average, the cost of private school tuition [in 2019] is $12,350 per child, according to EducationData.org. On top of that, parents can expect to pay an average of $3,700 for other costs, such as technology, books, supplies, field trips, sports, and school uniforms. That brings the total to $16,050 per year.

That’s a significant burden for a middle-class family. In 2019, the national median household income in the U.S. was $68,703, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That means that a family making the median income would have to spend about 23% of its take-home pay to send just one child to private school and 46% for two children.

See https://www.moneycrashers.com/private-vs...omparison/

So Mainor's "School choice" [Synes interpretation] actually intends parents to pay the entire cost of educating their children - ideally the public schools would wither on the branch - with vouchers as a compromise. In reality "school choice" would leave people on a low ($30,000) income without the ability to send their children any school.

[Syne]

"On average" is not in Georgia. Even if it rivals that cost, $6,500 (not the parents paying the entire cost) is available for each child in the bottom performing 25% of public schools. That can also be used for homeschooling, which is much cheaper. Why would anyone want to keep dumping money into the most failing schools? Just to keep the minorities poor and uneducated? How noble.

[confused2]

Some background info about private schools in the US (from Pi AI which may be wrong or biassed).

The enrollment rate for children from high-income families in private schools has increased significantly, while the enrollment rate for children from middle-class and low-income families has declined.

Looking at the thread CC posted "Good schools: Is it the school, or actually the students?" https://www.scivillage.com/thread-15663-...l#pid63107 suggests the middle classes can get a good public school by clustering round it (DIY neighbourhood) .. and, best of all, they don't have to pay for it. It also suggests you can take a child out of the 'hood but you can't take the 'hood out of the child. Regardless - I won't attempt to claim a good school can't help a child more than a bad one - though the effect might not always be what you expect.

Most private schools in the US have a religious orientation or purpose.

Possibly a very important point for some parents and many Republicans.

Private school enrollment rates are highest among children from families at the 90th income percentile and have been decreasing for families at the 20th and 50th income percentiles.

In 2019, the 90th percentile household income in the US was approximately $185,000 per year.

Teachers in private schools generally earn less than their counterparts in public schools, which could impact the quality of education provided.

Surprise?

When adjusted for family income level, public school students often perform better on standardized tests compared to private school students.

We are (by implication) looking at poor neighbourhoods .. if a child gets stabbed on his way to school his results don't really matter.

Based on this information, it seems that private schools in the US primarily serve affluent families, and enrollment rates are declining among lower-income families.

A trend which Republicans would like to reverse for reasons that may have little or nothing to do with education.

[Syne]

Yes, without vouchers low income families cannot afford better schools. Duh.