BRANDT DUNCAN, President of LYNN TEACHERS UNION stopped by my office this morning to discuss the impact of CHARTER SCHOOLS on PUBLIC EDUCATION. This appointment was made on the night of the debate. My friend LORI was invited to join the discussion but for whatever reason could not make it.
Trying to address some of her concerns about the fact of the money following the student and all, BRANDT agreed while that is true, there are some fiscal nuances and caveats that skew the picture and might not give an accurate reflection on first glance. While it is true that each student is allotted the same amount of money from the state but each one costs different amounts to actually educate. Much like in insurance, "GOOD" drivers help pay for "BAD" drivers. That helps keep the overall rate down It's a statistical thing and ACTUARIES actually become SUPERHEROES of sorts.
That only works though if all the student are taking a dip in the risk pool. That way there's money available if you need money for a select group of people to adhere to laws that regulate you. Like TRANSLATION SERVICES that LPS is supposed to provide for the 50 or so languages that are spoken. That's not a FREE service so someone has to pay.
To be truly fair, everyone has to participate and not succumb to the illusion of FREE CHOICE because OPTING-OUT of PUBLIC EDUCATION may seem fine at first will have disastrous long-term consequences. The most expensive students to educate will be the only ones left and with no money left their education will suffer and we will have to deal with a large segment of an undereducated population.
With limited supervision, charters will eventually cut corners to squeeze a profit. There is not necessarily anything wrong with that, I mean our country was formed on capitalism and private ownership. You will still have to pay the same taxes for dwindling returns. That's the actual result of the AMERICAN WAY and corporate consequences.
To eventually win the fight, PUBLIC EDUCATION has to rely on its namesake and learn from the successes of charters and not hunker down in combat mode. Because there is a JUGGERNAUT out there and they're winning the PR war. That's what corporations are good at.
In the end, everyone will lose if PUBLIC EDUCATION suffers a DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS,
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