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Layla_Z · 05-25-08, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryandre

We need to give choice back to the parents, right now teachers unions want no competition and you paying taxes for it which allows them to teach at sub par levels, create school vouchers giving parents the choice of school which equal more competition for public schools. Also get rid of the department of education no where in the constitution does it the word "education" come up, bring it back to the state and local level, the more money we put into education the worse it gets,In 2000 the DoE budget was $33 billion, currently it is $64 billion, has it improved at all? Not in my eyes. It's our responsibility to determine what is best for our kids, not the federal government.

Vouchers are not the answer. Vouchers would not help all students. Some families are so poor that they couldn't afford a private school even with a voucher. Also, private schools have the luxury to reject students(this is why their scores can be higher). So if there were a voucher program you would have a failing public school with only the poorest and most troubled students left. This school now gets less money because schools get money according to how many students they have. We need to fix the public school. The answer is not always more money, but when you have kids attending in a building that should be condemned and using textbooks that still talk about the USSR money would help. When one teacher is trying to teach 30 kids and 5 of those have behavior disorders, 5 have learninging disabilities, and the rest don't care, smaller class sizes would help - and that means money. When the school has to chose between a metal detector or a new teacher - money would help.

I'm also really tired of hearing how everything is the union's fault. I'm not in a teacher's union and I don't know any teacher who is. The NEA doesn't speak for all teachers.