A child’s educational opportunity should be determined by her intellect and work ethic, not by her zip code.

Bob McDonnell - Gov. of Virginia, during last night’s Republican response.

Get rid of the current tax and education system in Illinois.

First Read this article

The Big Question: What is the Swedish schools model, and can UK education learn from it?

How does the Swedish System work?

Under the policy, which was first introduced in the 1990s, parents are given a sum of money (around the equivalent of £6,000 per pupil) that they can then use to send their child to the school of their choice. They can, if they want to, set up their own schools which are outside the state system but for which parents can use what is effectively a voucher to enrol their children at the school. Since the policy was adopted (it had been languishing in policy wonks’ in-trays for some 20 years before receiving the go-ahead) around 900 new schools have been established – with freedom from government control to run their own affairs.

How widespread would the scheme be if the Conservatives adopted it?

Mr Gove has indicated that – if it was as successful here as it has been in Sweden – it could lead to the setting up of as many as 3,000 new schools. In his speech to the Conservative party conference, he said: “We would allow education specialists – charities, philanthropists, existing federations and groups of parents – to set up new schools as an alternative to failing schools.” His assertion is based on the belief that it would be parents in under-performing schools who would go for this new option. “We are confident this will raise standards – in Sweden 15 per cent of children are educated in free, independent state schools,” he added. “Standards have risen in those new schools and in other state schools.”

Next read this.

When some Bozo tells you reform isn’t possible, ask them why Sweden is become a conservative “Third Way” nation while the US is traveling rapidly into a moronic Socialist past.

“Saving” our schools is NOT the function of one person, and it never will be. America is seems to be caught in the grip of the absurd notion that a “Czar” or an “Education President” can “fix” our schools.

Can She Save Our Schools?

The U.S. spends more per pupil on elementary and high school education than most developed nations. Yet it is behind most of them in the math and science abilities of its children. Young Americans today are less likely than their parents were to finish high school. This is an issue that is warping the nation’s economy and security, and the causes are not as mysterious as they seem. The biggest problem with U.S. public schools is ineffective teaching, according to decades of research. And Washington, which spends more money per pupil than the vast majority of large districts, is the problem writ extreme, a laboratory that failure made. (See pictures of a diverse group of American teens.)

…

Rhee took over Anacostia High and the district’s 143 other schools in June 2007, when Mayor Adrian Fenty named her chancellor. Her appointment stunned the city. Rhee, then 37, had no experience running a school, let alone a district with 46,000 students that ranks last in math among 11 urban school systems. When Fenty called her, she was running a nonprofit called the New Teacher Project, which helps schools recruit good teachers. Most problematic of all, Rhee is not from Washington. She is from Ohio, and she is Korean American in a majority-African-American city. “I was,” she says now, “the worst pick on the face of the earth.”

But Rhee came highly recommended by another prominent school reformer: Joel Klein, chancellor of New York City’s schools. And Rhee was once a teacher–in a Baltimore elementary school with Teach for America–and the experience convinced her that good teachers could alter the lives of kids like Rhodes.

…

Each week, Rhee gets e-mails from superintendents in other cities. They understand that if she succeeds, Rhee could do something no one has done before: she could prove that low-income urban kids can catch up with kids in the suburbs. The radicalism of this idea cannot be overstated. Now, without proof that cities can revolutionize their worst schools, there is always a fine excuse. Superintendents, parents and teachers in urban school districts lament systemic problems they cannot control: poverty, hunger, violence and negligent parents. They bicker over small improvements such as class size and curriculum, like diplomats touring a refugee camp and talking about the need for nicer curtains. To the extent they intervene at all, politicians respond by either throwing more money at the problem (if they’re on the left) or making it easier for some parents to send their kids to private schools (if they’re on the right).

If there is one sign of hope regarding education, it is that the drones in the media are starting to understand just how useless and corrupt the education bureaucracy has become. If they are starting to write sentences like the one bolded above, they may start to realize that the entire bloated ediface of education bureaucracy is worthless - EVEN in the SUBURBS.

Those of you reading this post need to know that no one person can “fix” education. YOU can fix education by telling all your friends the following four words.

Fund Children, NOT Bureaucracy.

As many of you know, I’ve been promoting a Fundamental Reform of Illinois Tax and Education Systems for about 2 years now.

The Executive Summary is here. There is an audio podcast as well as the PDF link on the upper right side of the page.

Now, through the wonders of Google Video (Youtube limits the time to 10 minutes) and the internet Al Gore invented, I’ve added my first video.

This was a presentation I gave to some Lake County citizens last night. It’s about 18 minutes, with a brief outline of the plan, as well as some Q & A after words.

Enjoy the credits at the end.

Interestingly, the headline above may be unfair on my part. The article should be used to excoriate the idiots who defend the current education system, not the illiterate teacher in question. In fact, the story below details just how absurd our “bureaucracy-based” education system is (and has been for years) by pointing out;

a) just how ineffective their checks, balances, and accountability systems are, and
b) just how good an education system could be if it was run by formerly illiterate teachers instead of being run by the oily, intellectually dishonest Administrative Class (and their jack-booted masters, the Teacher Unions).

Retired Teacher Reveals He Was Illiterate Until Age 48

“When I was a child I was just sort of just moved along when I got to high school I wanted to participate in athletics. At that time in high school I went underground. I decided to behave myself and do what it took. I started cheating by turning in other peoples’ paper, dated the valedictorian, and ran around with college prep kids,” said Corcoran.

“I couldn’t read words but I could read the system and I could read people,” adds Corcoran.

He stole tests and persuaded friends to complete his assignments. Corcoran earned an athletic scholarship to Texas Western College. He said his cheating intensified, claiming he cheated in every class.

Mr. Corcoran, the illiterate teacher in question, does us all a great service, by showing just how absurd the education system is. He faked his way through 18 years of school, just like they fake their way through running an education system. Unlike the powerful monopolists who defend the current waste, fraud and abuse, at least he felt bad about his deceit.

“As a teacher it really made me sick to think that I was a teacher who couldn’t read. It is embarrassing for me, and it’s embarrassing for this nation and it’s embarrassing for schools that we’re failing to teach our children how to read, write and spell!”

The last part of the article provides the coup de grace. His own work in his new foundation shows just how good schools could be if they were cut loose from the vile bureaucracy-based monopoly.

He has written two books, “The Teacher Who Couldn’t Read” and “Bridge to Literacy.” He is also the founder of the John Corcoran Foundation. The foundation is state-approved as a supplemental service provider for literacy in Colorado and California – providing tutoring programs for over 600 students in small group settings, and individually in homes through an online program.

Any one who defends today’s education system is defending the indefensible. Get in their face. Tell them so! Give them a rational alternative.

Comparing fake and real Reform

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TAGS: Property Tax, Education

With Illinois Budget Negotiations down to the wire, the pols & press are luring us into a false sense of security on the tax increase issue. The Education Front groups like A+ Illinois and CTBA are still pushing hard for their fake tax swap, and my bet is that they figure out a way to get it. One trick they have pulled out of their hat is promising “reform” - which, of course, requires more money. Don’t buy it.

The tax and spend lobby is calling their basket of ideas “The Burnham Plan” Here is the link.

Their plan advocates a few decent reforms, the most notable being the creation of an “Independent Charter Authorization Board” and charter expansion. But even here, they expose themselves as liars by placing all “reforms” in the future. The massive tax increase of course, will be immediate.

Despite one or two good ideas, (which will never be implemented) A+Illinois’ “Burnham Plan” is really a warmed-over hodge-podge of sops to even more unnecessary bureaucracy. They argue they need more money. But true reform shouldn’t cost a dime. That is why my plan is better for Illinois. It is better for the state’s children, parents, and business climate.

Compare theirs with a REAL reform plan!

I’ve finished & tweaked the Executive Summary of what I now call “The Fundamental Reform of Illinois Tax and Education Systems. When I first posted this, I received many good (and challenging) questions. These were addressed in the re-write. Read it, debate it with me, leave a comment, or not. Enjoy.

Executive Summary - A Fundamental Reform of Illinois’ Tax and Education Systems (PDF)

A brief synopsis…

It talks about Tax reform.

1. Zero out the local property tax for schools
2. Pass HB750 increases at the state level

These result in a $2-3 billion dollar tax cut for Illinois. It constitutes a REAL, not FAKE, tax swap for Illinois.

It talks about Education Reform.

1. Phase out the School District - it is an essentially useless entity designed to spend money
2. Convert EVERY Illinois public school to an independent charter school
3. Provide Every Child in Illinois with a $7,000 scholarship (indexed to inflation) to be used a ANY participating school
4. Replaces ALL state mandates with an annual, uniform testing regime that covers a broad and sequenced set of rich content standards.

These result in REAL local control (by the parent) of every education dollar. It creates a dynamic for creation of 100s of different education institutions by creating a “Child Based” education over today’s “Bureaucracy-Based” system. For more details, click the audio link on the upper left of this page.

Those of you familiar with IllinoisReview are probably aware of many of the debates I’ve have with a certain NW Burbs - the local “progressive” troll. (That’s a term of endearment, BTW)

Furthermore, those of you familiar with my views (or my web site) are probably aware that I’m promoting a workable — but admittedly aggressive — tax and education reform for Illinois. The first version is here, and the second version will be shorter on heated rhetoric and longer on the features, benefits, and numerous details - like transition issues.

Regardless, in a recent comment on one of the posts on Illinois Review, NW asked some substantive questions that deserve answers. Rather than post an extensive comment, I thought it was simply be better to answer in a separate post. This is a re-posting of that post.

Let’s start with a review of the general outline of The Extreme Wisdom Plan. (Incidentally, I’d love it if the plan was the “Republican Plan,” The Fritchey Plan, or even the Topinka Plan, but even the best people in the legislature suffer from a failure of imagination. They are all too afraid to question the absurd notion that we need to increase `education spending.’

Any one familiar with the 153% increase in spending - with only a 13% increase in enrollment - over the last 20 or so years knows that schools have money out the wazoo. It just getting to any kids.

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1. Zero out property taxes for education.

2. Pass HB 750 tax increases (broaden sales tax services, income tax goes to from 3% to 5%).

Both of these together represent a $2.5 to $3.5 billion tax cut for Illinois individuals and businesses.

3. Abolish all school districts as entities. (892 Bureaucracies disappear)

4. Convert every IL public school to a charter school managed by the parents who choose it.

5. Combine increased state revenues with existing education spending to fund every Illinois child equally with a “fully funded” scholarship redeemable at any Illinois school.

6. Repeal all mandates (and the entire existing school code) and replace them with a rational testing regime that features sequenced, objective content standards. Testing should take place at the end of every student year, and it should be administered by an entity 100% independent of the school. Simply require that any participating school has a 90-95% “pass rate”, along with a “remediation plan” for those who fail.

The education reform portion creates 100% “local control” (not the current illusory local control) while abolishing the horrific education apartheid created by this awful property tax system.

As I’ve discussed this with numerous people, including some legislators, I’ve been forced (thankfully so) to think about some of the more difficult issues involved in such a dramatic reform. I remain convinced that this plan is workable. (Yes, I’m ignoring the political realities at the moment - abolishing slavery was once thought impossible too.)

The hard work will be in the transition from the current system to the new one. With that in mind, let’s get to NW’s questions (in bold).
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Any parties in Illinois interested in fighting tax referenda should contact me. I have access to voter data, phone numbers, and autodialing services, which are powerful tools in defeating tax referenda at the local level.

I (and other organizations) would be more than willing to come to your district and give a presentation on the manipulations and misrepresentations districts use to extract money from local tax payers.

The fact is that the 886 district model is a formula for corruption and abuse, and the education establishment executes that formula with ease.

It is in your interest, and your child’s interest, to defeat these referenda and keep your money. If you are interested in an alternative education system that actually educates, see below.
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1. Zero out local property taxes for education and Abolish the ‘School District’.

2. Hike State Income and Sales taxes so as to fund education 100% from Springfield.

[Steps one and two equate to an approximate $2-3 billion TAX CUT for Illinois individuals and businesses.]

3. Fund EVERY Illinois Child equally through a $6500/7000 scholarship sent directly to PARENTS/FAMILIES (indexed for inflation). Allow parents to save for college by creating Education Savings Accounts for any portion of the scholarship not used in any given year.

4. Make every IL school that takes or receives transfered credits an independent Charter School (public or private)

5. Each school must meet broad “NCLB Style” testing requirements. Repeal all other mandates.

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The current education system in the US (and Illinois in particular) is a legalized (yet totally immoral) money laundering scheme that “privatizes” tax payer dollars by enriching a protected class. Educating the populace is a pretense for this scheme, not a goal.

You can’t be for “educating children” and funding this system. The two are mutually exclusive.

One of the main points in my proposal to overhaul Illinois’ tax and education policies is to abolish the worthless “School District” and convert every Illinois Public School to an independent charter school. This post indicates that Tony Blair gets it.

Now, even Deep Blue California see it as an idea whose time is coming. Here is what is happening in CA, according to John Fund of the Wall Street Journal.
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Onward, Charter Soldiers

Despite Big Labor’s success in defeating California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s reform initiatives last month, a few brave officials are still willing to challenge the public employee unions at the local level. Take the burgeoning charter school movement, which now has 570 schools in the state serving about 3% of the state’s public school enrollment. They are about to be joined by one of the state’s largest high school districts, fast-growing Grossmont in San Diego, which wants to convert all 10 of the high schools serving its 25,000 students into self-governing charter schools.

Charter schools are a halfway house between traditional public schools and the use of vouchers. Schools remain public, but can ditch the state’s massive rulebooks and have control over their own hiring and firing. In exchange, they must show gains in student achievement or risk the loss of their charter. It’s performance-based education, and most parents love it.

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The “massive rule books”, like the absurd “districts”, simply have to go. They do nothing to educate children. They only drive unneeded payroll.

The Wall Street Journal ran a editorial on the recent Texas Supreme Court case that ruled the Property Tax unconstitutional.

The article is subcription only, but an excerpt is below.
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Texas School Lesson

The Texas Supreme Court did the expected last week and struck down the statewide property tax for funding public schools. But what was surprising and welcome was the Court’s unanimous ruling that the Texas school system, which spends nearly $10,000 per student, satisfies the funding “adequacy” requirements of the state constitution. Most remarkable of all was the court’s declaration that “more money does not guarantee better schools or more educated students.”

Think about that one for a second. To our knowledge, this is the first time anywhere in the country that the judiciary has flatly rejected the core doctrine of the education establishment that more dollars equal better classroom performance. And it is potentially very good news for students, especially those from the poorest neighborhoods, because it shifts the policy emphasis from money to achievement. Better send the paramedics to check for heart failure at National Education Association headquarters.

Even more encouraging, the court endorsed more choices for parents and the state’s 4.3 million school kids. It said flatly: “Public education could benefit from more competition.” The Texas Public Policy Foundation, which provided much of the academic research for the court, looked at the Edgewood school district in San Antonio, where donors started a privately financed voucher program. The results indicate that not only have the kids with the vouchers benefited, but so have kids in the public schools that are now forced to compete for students.

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I have long chided my friends in the school reform movement on their inability (or unwillingness) to use the Education Establishment’s (Big Ed) own arguments against them.

With all the suits arguing that the State/Local Tax mechanism is “unfair”, you’d think the school choice movement would make the obvious argument.

The only way to equalize funding is to give each child a scholarship of equal value.
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The most efficient way to accomplish that goal is to;

1. Abolish the property tax for schools
2. Make sure the state has enough money equally fund every child with the same amount (around $6500 indexed for inflation).
3. Abolish useless and expensive fictions like “school disticts” and send the bureaucrats to the unemployment line.
4. Make every public school a charter school responsible for their own results and free enough to make their own decisions.
5. Empower the parents to choose the school that suits their needs.
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It’s that simple. There is no intellectually defensible argument against the system described above.