That's right. Portland's own Cascade Policy Institute commissioned a poll --a "scientific", poll, no less-- showing that "87% of Oregonians" want to send their kids to any school --private, charter, home school-- other than a public school.
So, if nearly one in nine citizens don't want to send their kids to the local public school, yet nine of ten do end up opting for public schools, isn't there something wrong, seriously wrong, with our system of universal, tax-supported public education? Well?
Well, that's what the Cascade Policy Institute would have us believe. On the other hand, maybe there's something wrong, seriously wrong, with the poll the folks at Cascade Policy, avowed opponents of the "government school monopoly", have come up with, scientific or not. That's what one comment on the op-ed piece suggested:
Another added:
We have no way of knowing how valid Cascade's "scientific" poll is, since no link to the poll is provided in the op-ed piece. We do know this, however. The results of the poll fly in the face of other poll findings on the attitude of parents toward public schools, the last two Kappan polls, for example.
In those polls, most --nearly 7 0f 10 surveyed-- give their local public schools an A or a B grade. Only 5% give the schools a failing grade. That doesn't sound like a populace eager to flee the public neighborhood school.
We also know that the Cascade Policy Institute has long been trying to convince state legislators to divert money from public schools to families who want to send their kids to private schools, but can't afford the tuition. First, it was the School Choice Project, headed up by Matt Wingard (who is now a state legislator himself.)
Now it's ORED, the Oregon Education Tax Credit Coalition, which would allow Oregonians a tax credit of $1000 for any educational expenses --private school tuition or any other out-of-pocket expense incurred by sending kids to school. Those would include school supplies and, presumably, participation fees for school related activities which nowadays are all too common in public schools (thanks to Measure 5.)
Simply put, ORED would drain state coffers of a substantial portion of its total tax revenue, half of which is used to fund public education.
Call the tax credit proposal a stealth voucher program. At a $1000 a pop, it would do little to get poor kids into private schools, but it would do a great deal of damage to the state's ability to adequately fund public schools.
Isn't that the goal of the libertarian Cascade Policy Institute? To 'gut' public education?
One last note. There are only a handful of private schools in Oregon that may be academically superior to the typical comprehensive public school. In fact we know little about most of them since they aren't subject to the same test-based accountability as public schools. Furthermore, charter schools, based on the most recent research, do no better in raising "achievement" than traditional public schools.
So why are charters considered a legitimate alternative?
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