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In a year riddled with exposes of under reported crimes and violence and poor performance in public schools, many have come to appreciate the option of school choice.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/041906ThirdLowest.html
The ugly unspoken secret of school choice however is that those who pay their school taxes to fund the public schools and the tuition to send their children and/or grandchildren to private schools, do not want their tax dollars to pay for school choice options that involve giving some of the worst of the public schools the means to attend and destroy the private schools where they pay to send their heirs. And these people have the influence to have their way.
Charter schools are public funded alternative schools that do not threaten the children of the privileged, unless they are unionized public school teachers. New York Post Online - Exams Boost Charter Schools
Speaker Silver and facilitators have sided with the unionized teachers against the 22,000 New York children on waiting lists to get into better and safer schools, while Governor George Pataki, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Kline and other advocates push for opening new schools to fill the eight open slots for the 100 charter schools allowed in NY.
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/455386p-383136c.html
Given the performance of charter schools, with 22,000 children on waiting lists, why are there only 100 schools allowed, and only 92 open? With almost the worst minority graduation rates in the nation (47 out of 49 states reporting) why are we limited by law to 100 charter schools? We lack enough lawmakers, policy makers and leaders with the courage and toughness of a Rudy Giuliani to turn around our cities and schools as Mayor Giuliani did New York City.
As long as the majority of our policy and lawmakers, administrators and opinion shapers are timid or politically correct we will not get the kind of tough policies that drove so many gangsters out of New York City, we will not have the policies AND resolve to get the worst trouble makers out of the general school population and into special schools. Not until then will people with influence facilitate and do not block school vouchers because they fear for their heirs. Frankly at such a point vouchers will probably not be so necessary.
Six weeks away from elections those who have fought for years, and lead the fight against those who have blocked such options as charter schools and school choices need to get their story told, if they really serious about improving our state, at least moving back towards where we were when we had strong policy and law makers who would not have allowed the foolishness that has us where we are today.
Rudy Giuliani, Jeanine Pirro and John Spencer are the best polling Republican politicians in New York because they are known for taking the tougher, return to what has worked stand on fixing social problems.
Our law makers pander to the special interests behind the degeneration of our state because a largely uninformed public votes for feel good sound good legislation, the failures of which are generally down played around election time. Aside from the NY Post, Daily News, North Country Gazette, The NY Sun, a few talk radio and Fox News shows, how much do you hear about NY Assembly obstructionism on these issues anywhere else, or any other time?
This can not all be blamed on a complacent lap dog media however, far too many legislators who claim to advocate tougher laws have yet to stand on their record and draw attention to these issues and force their opposition to defend and accept responsibility for their actions.
We can not fault Elliot Spitzer for his relatively weak support of tougher sexual predator legislation with out noting Assembly minority leader James Tedisco's low profile on drawing voter attention to this opportunity to pressure passage of legislation most would support. And is that not what elections are supposed to be about, an informed public using their vote to get their representatives to secure the public policies they need? 9-26-06
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© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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OpEd - Speaker Silver And Facilitators Obstruct Charter Schools
