I am part of a progressive rural Iowa group who has just completed a round of LTE and column submissions on how Iowa policies are bad for rural education and bad for rural Iowa. Two have been published so far.
We argued that Iowa communities of any size dry up without healthy public schools. Like other states, our Gov and legislature are investing in private schools with a voucher plan.--Gov. Reynolds’ School Choice law. Public schools are the only schools in 43 of Iowa’s 99 counties. We argue that instead of helping students in our rural public schools, and sustaining our rural communities, our tax dollars are being sent to more populated areas (where private schools are located) .
We conclude by saying that a value of Iowa and a free country is access to public education, comparable across geographic and demographic lines.
What about the talking points that public schools fail the people in most need and that the only way for their to be any recourse for those people is if public schools compete for their students? That’s probably the most apt argument school choice advocates make when talking about universal vouchers.
UGH. The "competition" argument presumes that the only reason public schools aren't perfect is that they are not "trying hard enough." As though threatening to take away the resources they actually need is going to help "motivate" them. I have never met anyone in public education who isn't doing the very best they can under enormously difficult circumstances. The solution isn't to make the circumstances more difficult.
The presumption that private schools could do it any better is ludicrous. Why would lowering standards, reducing teacher qualifications, and skimming money off the top for investors allow a school to do a better job?
It's all part of the Republican "Life is about competition" frame. These are the same people that would think that if a student is struggling in a class, the thing to do is threaten to punish them, when what they really need is some some help developing their learning skills.
The truth is that we have an obligation to provide a top quality education to EVERY child, so if our schools need improving, we have to work together as a community to provide our schools with the resources and support they need to succeed, especially to recruit the very best teachers.
We need to incentivize our best people to go into teaching by making it a really great job, and that means having union rights too. So none of that anti-union BS either!
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’ve shared this with my school board candidates. I hope others will do the same thing. Pro-empathy freedom voters are the solution.
I am part of a progressive rural Iowa group who has just completed a round of LTE and column submissions on how Iowa policies are bad for rural education and bad for rural Iowa. Two have been published so far.
We argued that Iowa communities of any size dry up without healthy public schools. Like other states, our Gov and legislature are investing in private schools with a voucher plan.--Gov. Reynolds’ School Choice law. Public schools are the only schools in 43 of Iowa’s 99 counties. We argue that instead of helping students in our rural public schools, and sustaining our rural communities, our tax dollars are being sent to more populated areas (where private schools are located) .
We conclude by saying that a value of Iowa and a free country is access to public education, comparable across geographic and demographic lines.
://www.amestrib.com/story/opinion/columns/guest/2023/10/20/public-education-rural-iowa-slipping-away/71253707007/
What about the talking points that public schools fail the people in most need and that the only way for their to be any recourse for those people is if public schools compete for their students? That’s probably the most apt argument school choice advocates make when talking about universal vouchers.
UGH. The "competition" argument presumes that the only reason public schools aren't perfect is that they are not "trying hard enough." As though threatening to take away the resources they actually need is going to help "motivate" them. I have never met anyone in public education who isn't doing the very best they can under enormously difficult circumstances. The solution isn't to make the circumstances more difficult.
The presumption that private schools could do it any better is ludicrous. Why would lowering standards, reducing teacher qualifications, and skimming money off the top for investors allow a school to do a better job?
It's all part of the Republican "Life is about competition" frame. These are the same people that would think that if a student is struggling in a class, the thing to do is threaten to punish them, when what they really need is some some help developing their learning skills.
The truth is that we have an obligation to provide a top quality education to EVERY child, so if our schools need improving, we have to work together as a community to provide our schools with the resources and support they need to succeed, especially to recruit the very best teachers.
We need to incentivize our best people to go into teaching by making it a really great job, and that means having union rights too. So none of that anti-union BS either!
Sorry, not concise, but this topic infuriates me!
If I wanted my children molested, I would have sent them to a Catholic school.
Will there be handouts and resources offered in the online training?
Yes, there will be a slide deck, and there will be future talking points newsletters and webinars too. Do
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’ve shared this with my school board candidates. I hope others will do the same thing. Pro-empathy freedom voters are the solution.