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Pa. school privatization battle on national stage today
Right-wing supporters of the privatization of public education have already spent generously on campaigns in Pennsylvania, now it's beginning to look like Romney and President Obama want to make privatization a central issue in the Pennsylvania battleground.
Pa. school privatization battle on national stage today
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was visiting a Philly school today -- not a public school, (probably a wise choice given that he's been skewering the teachers' unions) -- but a charter, the Universal Bluford Charter School in West Philly to be exact. Right-wing, national-level supporters of the privatization of public education have already spent generously on campaigns in Pennsylvania this year, as CP's Daniel Denvir has reported; now it's beginning to look like Romney and President Obama want to make privatization and charterization a central issue in the Pennsylvania battleground -- if there is such a thing.
Romney yesterday outlined a plan for a federal-level voucher-type system, promising to "expand parental choice in an unprecedented way. Too many of our kids are trapped in schools that are failing or simply don’t meet their needs. And for too long, we’ve merely talked about the virtues of school choice. As President, I will give the parents of every low-income and special needs student the chance to choose where their child goes to school." Students would be able to take their federal funding with them, he said, though Romney did not speak about increasing overall spending on education.
If Romney wins, it looks like he would attempt to do at a federal level what Gov. Corbett has tried but so far failed to do at the state level: siphon even more money away from traditional public education.
The Obama campaign, meanwhile, is decrying Romney for ridiculing the idea that small class size is helpful, and attacking his slash-and-burn approach to public education in Massachusetts. Here's their litany of complaints.
UNDER ROMNEY EDUCATION SPENDING WAS DEEPLY REDUCED AND MUNICIPALITIES FACED HUGE BURDENS TO FIND FUNDING FOR SCHOOLS WHEN ROMNEY SLASHED LOCAL AID Massachusetts’ Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Appropriated Funds For Chapter 70 Funding Were Worth “$491 Million Less Than The Amount Appropriated In Fiscal Year 2002.” “The amount appropriated for Chapter 70 education funding in the FY 2007 budget, though higher than the level in FY 2006, remains well below the amount appropriated in FY 2002, after accounting for inflation using the measure identified in Chapter 70. Specifically, Chapter 70 identifies a particular measure of inflation – the implicit price deflator for state and local government – as the best estimate of the changes in the cost of providing public education. Using that measure of inflation, the FY 2007 appropriation of $3.506 billion is worth $491 million less than the amount appropriated in FY 2002.” [Massachusetts Budget And Policy Center, Public School Funding In Massachusetts, November 2006] From FY03 To FY04, Massachusetts Saw The Second Largest Percentage Reduction In Real Per Pupil State Aid in The Nation: A Reduction of 9.1% Compared To The National Average Of 2.1%. [University Of Wisconsin, The Impact Of State Government Fiscal Crises On Local Governments And Schools, Accessed 4/13/12] Massachusetts Budget And Policy Center: The Fiscal Year 2004 Budget Would Cut “Spending On K-12 Education” By $248.7 Million “Or 6.6 Percent.” “Spending on K-12 education (excluding ongoing School Building Assistance payments, which are a form of debt service that the state is obligated to pay) is cut by $248.7 million, or 6.6 percent. Cuts affect both of the two main categories of K-12 spending: Chapter 70 local education aid that goes directly to cities and towns and other funding for an array of targeted education programs (most of which is delivered in the form of grants to school districts).” [Massachusetts Budget And Policy Center, FY2004 Conference Budget, 6/26/03]Factcheck.org: Romney Closed A $1.2 Billion Budget Shortfall Partly By Cutting State Aid For Education, “Moves That Shifted At Least Part Of The Tax Burden Onto Towns And Counties.” From a fact check of Restore Our Future Super PAC’s first TV ad and Romney claims: “Romney closed that $1.2 billion gap and passed a balanced budget. But as we noted in 2007, his oft-touted cuts in wasteful programs and duplicate agencies made only a small dent, saving about $10.5 million dollars, according to an estimate by the independent, nonpartisan Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. More significant was the $277 million that Romney cut from the state’s local education aid budget and the $130 million cut from higher education, moves that shifted at least part of the tax burden onto towns and counties.” [Factcheck.org, 12/9/11]
Romney’s Fiscal Year 2004 Budget Also Cut Unrestricted Local Aid Spending By “Almost $185 Million” Of Which A “Sizable Portion” “Goes To Support Education” So A Reduction Would Lead To “An Increased Burden On Cities And Towns To Fund Their Schools.” “The decline in Chapter 70 Aid to local communities has been accompanied by a dramatic cut in unrestricted local aid, the primary source of state funding to cities and towns. Local municipalities use this revenue to fund services like police and fire, garbage collection, transportation and public health agencies. Unrestricted local aid consists chiefly of lottery distributions and additional assistance. Since a sizable proportion of unrestricted aid also goes to support education, reductions in these items lead to an increased burden on cities and towns to fund their schools. FY04 Cuts • Between FY03 and FY04, unrestricted local aid spending fell by almost $185 million, a decrease of 15 percent.” [Massachusetts Budget and Policy, “Cuts That Hurt, 1/27/04]
These conservatives keep advocating for privatization of schools, but they NEVER advocate to FUND public schools at private school levels...
The price that private schools charge today are THE REAL FREE MARKET at work!!! These "free-marketeers" sure are quick to change their tune!
By funding public schools with private school revenue, then and only then, will you get the same outcomes that you demand from private schools today from public schools tomorrow!
These profiteer advocates of privatizing public schools want to place private school administrative costs (20% or more of PRIVATE SCHOOL revenue) on public school funding equivalent to half the amount of private schools... So free-market identified administrative costs of 20% become a charge of at least 40% of public school per-child revenue...
20% of a $20,000 private school tuition is used for administration = $4,000, leaving $16,000 available to pay for all the resources required to educate a child...
40% of a $10,000 public school tuition = $4,000, leaving $6,000 available to pay for only 37.5% of the resources that the free market has identified that is required to educate a child!
It doesn't matter if administration is at a central building or at each school, public or private - the free market cost of administration NEVER CHANGES!— MisterOh- I'm pretty sure that school he went to is on notice from PA for sucking. So, awesome choice.— thegreengrass
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