Comments on: Did that Democrat say he is for school vouchers?

By: Will Bridgeport Elect a Voucher Advocate? « Diane Ravitch's blog

Will Bridgeport Elect a Voucher Advocate? « Diane Ravitch's blog — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 13:49:09 +0000

[...] Now as the election approaches, one of the members of the illegal board is running for the elected. Although he is a Democrat, he declares that he favors vouchers, which is a historic Republican plank. He favors vouchers even though the money to fund them will decrease the funding of the public schools he want to oversee. [...]

By: Thomas J. Mertz

Thomas J. Mertz — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 17:20:00 +0000

Milwaukee just dumped the pro-voucher, so-called-Democrat legislators and candidates in the August primary! More here: http://millermps.wordpress.com/2012/08/15/august-14-primary-election-is-major-win-for-public-education/

By: msavage

msavage — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 11:01:00 +0000

Check out this bio on the upstanding Mr. Moales. Nothing infuriates me more than a “good Christian” who is not adverse to wielding his power to fill his pockets–or the pockets of his friends and family:
http://www.cohspirit.com/home/index.php/our-pastor/kenneth-h-moales-jr
Especially after I just spent most of yesterday helping my parents, retired with health problems, pick up and deliver furniture for the non-profit furniture bank that they run for the poor. They use their own, beat-up truck and my dad, who has had double hernia surgery and is 70 years old, does most of the lifting. We picked up a pair of beds and a dresser from a couple’s summer home on the water. Woman pulls up in a Volvo station wagon with her lovely, blonde children. Home has airy rooms with a view of comorants sunning themselves in the marina. Solid wood, gleaming canoe hanging in the garage. And this is their SUMMER home!
Contrast this with the apartment where we dropped the furniture off. Music blaring from apartments nearby. Dark inside, smelling of smoke. I am advised not to help carry the furniture inside, as bedbugs are a problem in complexes like this one. Woman is extremely grateful for the furniture, as her two small children have no beds to sleep on, no dresser for their clothing.
My point? First of all, my parents are Christians. While I don’t always agree with their viewpoints related to their Christianity, I admire them for ACTING like Christians. Kenneth Moales wears a nice suit and serves on the BOE. Does he spend his free time and use his own resources to try to better the lives of those who are less fortunate? Does he get down and dirty, in the trenches–visiting the homes of lepers and prostitutes like Jesus did? Or is he too busy finding ways to line his pockets and those of his family and friends?
Second–what the Hell is wrong with our society? Why do some people need TWO houses when others have none? Why do some children have enough furniture and clothing to furnish TWO homes while other children don’t even have a dresser for their clothing? Why does Bill Gates need a 66,000 square foot home and an elevator for his cars when he professes to care about the environment and children starving in India and Africa? Why so much hypocrisy? Why so much inequality?

By: msavage

msavage — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 10:36:00 +0000

The quote below is from an earlier post from Jon’s blog. His family is in the business. So yes, I’m sure the voucher system would benefit them in some way.
“The article continues that “Kingdom’s Little Ones Christian Academy, an East End daycare and after-school program run by Moales’ mother, Peggy Moales, and his sister, Kenya Moales-Byrd, is getting 60 of the 130 new slots awarded to the district and some $500,000 that goes with it”

By: Rich White

Rich White — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 06:29:00 +0000

Milwaukee has the best established voucher program. Parents like them. They use them. They want more of them. The evidence says the voucher schools perform at least as well as public schools and do so for a fraction of the cost (55%). These savings can then be used to expand services or as in the case if Indiana be issued as a rebate check to school districts.
Vouchers have the added advantage of increasing competition among schools and creating a less monopolistic environment. The abuses of union political action are well documented. Vouchers offer a counterweight to entrenched union monopolies/
It’s a win/win. If parents don’t like them they don’t use them. Control shifts from the state to the parent and taxpayers where it belongs.
Preferred Charter Schools as in the Malloy system have no preferential place in a voucher system: all qualified Charter schools would be submitting applications including local, regional, and national charter schools. In Milwaukee Parochial schools make up 83% of the Charters.
The free market and competition is good!

By: Sue

Sue — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 21:09:00 +0000

Many years ago my first year teaching was spent in a parochial school in lower Fairfield County. The pastor was Polish and the principal was Hispanic. One wanted Polish students enrolled, the other wanted the more brown skinned minorities to be given precedence.

I was only there for one year – the pastor got so sick of the bickering he closed the school. Why spend state money on something like that?

By: Linda174

Linda174 — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 20:57:00 +0000

There must be a way for him and his family to make money and that must be why he favors them. He seems a bit self serving.

By: buygoldandprosper

buygoldandprosper — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 18:10:00 +0000

I am conflicted,as I said before. NO,I do not want public money going to religious schools or private schools. I just know that $$$ talks and can sometimes help facilitate change in a positive manner. Not a RushLImbaugh kind of way but a positive,progressive kind of way. Sometimes when people can control spending,rather than administrators,the money gets spent more effectively.
And NO! It wont happen in our nation. I’m just saying that it might,in a perfect world.

By: guest

guest — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 14:50:00 +0000

No, vouchers would not work in a perfect world. They would work in a flat world, in which teachers do not have to be certified and where faith-based initiatives–the earth is the center of the universe, created by a deity who made women capable of getting pregnant only when they really wanted “it”, and where men rule family and state–prevail. I will never forget a recent horrific murder trial, where we learned that the family of the accused and convicted murderer had been allowed to opt out of medical, psychological, and educational interventions that did not accord with their “beliefs” in favor of organizations sanctioned under the Faith-based initiative legislation. An extreme example, yes, but I see no reason for the state to pay for things it cannot regulate. Certification and accountability exist in public education, being rather important checks and balances not required of religious schools–the primary beneficiaries of vouchers.

By: Tommy Burns

Tommy Burns — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 14:25:00 +0000

Vouchers are anti-kid