Onorato supports school vouchers for low-income families

[Freddie Stubbs]

By Jeff Shields

Inquirer Staff Writer

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato on Wednesday adopted a controversial plank of a rival's platform, openly supporting a form of school vouchers for the first time.

Onorato, in a news conference at City Hall, embraced "grants that would give low-income families in academically distressed communities direct choices about which schools their children should attend."

His stance earned him the public support of State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams (D., Phila.), who pushed for school choice as a candidate in the May Democratic primary. Williams can offer political and, perhaps, powerful financial support for his former opponent.

"Throughout the primary, I had great respect for how Tony Williams kept the focus on Pennsylvania's children, and the importance of improving education for their sake," Onorato said.

more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20100812_Onorato_supports_school_vouchers_for_low-income_families.html

[femmocrat]

1. Vouchers are so last-decade.

Charter schools are the way to go now, baby! And don't forget merit pay while you're at it, Dan!

(P.S. This is :sarcasm: )

[Freddie Stubbs]

2. He supports charter schools too:

He said, "It's a proposal that fits in well with the rest of my educational agenda," which includes funding early-childhood education and the state's public-school funding formula. He supports charter schools and the Educational Improvement Tax Credit, which also provides private-school scholarships for low-income families.

more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20100812_Onorato_supports_school_vouchers_for_low-income_families.html

[howaboutme]

4. Any suggestions?

If only the status quo of public education resulted in higher graduation rates and better results for students, I could support it 300%, but it hasn't.

What we need is a requirement that each school figure a way to graduate more with better test scores and without a need to pour in more non-existent money. Consolidation might help. School taxes are going up exponentially and all I see are the same excuses of don't blame us, we just work here. We need less excuses, and more actual results.

One answer could be the use of various ideas from different countries and different states and rewarding those who actually succeed. Continuing with the status quo doesn't cut it with me anymore. Use of the internet with a standardized curriculum for some classes after hours could help. We need to spend more time educating and less on sports and less on excuses.

[happyslug]

5. Lets Adopt the Japanese quality production policy to education

In the early 1950s, two proposals were given to the Japanese, first was to adopt what the US was adopting, "The Best and the Brightest". The alternative policy, the Deming proposal, was to accept the reality that your best output can be no better then your worse input. Thus to improve quality you do NOT go for the "beast and Brightest" but try to improve your worse input.

The Japanese embraced the Deming approach, while the US embraced the "Best and Brightest". As you remember, the US quality declined during afterward, while Japanese Quality slowly improved. In the last 10-20 years more and more American Companies have embraced the Deeming policy at addressing your worse input.

To improve Education we have to address our worse inputs, but these are also the Students who need the most support and thus cost the most money. Vouchers and tuition assistance does NOT address these issues. Such hard to educate students need a while area of support, better housing and home environment are on top of list. Vouchers and Tuition assistance do NOT address these problems, but are cheap compared to the cost such assistance most of these difficult students really need.

What needs to be done is such difficult students (difficult in educating not otherwise) is first provide them a stable home environment (even if that means sending in Social Workers to help the family AND provide money to pay rent and utilities if needed).

To provide educational assistance AFTER class, including learning to read and other services. Again this is expensive. These are all expensive, Tuition assistance and Vouchers are a lot cheaper. Vouches and Tuition Assistance does not address the problem of high drop out rates or the other problems of education of these difficult to educate students

[old mark]

3. If he gets Williams organization behind him he has a much better chance of winning -

Tony Williams carries a lot of Philly area votes which Onorato really needs.
And we all know how sometimes things said on the campaign are forgotten after the election is won...

Onorato has my vote and support.

mark