First off, welcome back Dave.I'd prefer not to be ...

2008-05-02T01:17:00.000-04:00

First off, welcome back Dave.

I'd prefer not to be labeled as a conservative. Maybe 'free-market liberal' works better. I think I'll just stick with 'American.'

The way folks use the terms 'vouchers' and 'charter schools' interchangably is making the conversation difficult. Perhaps it's time to toss these labels at go at it another way.

My concern is the resegregation of our cities and the simultaneous resegregation of our schools. I'm not talking racial segregation, but rather economic segregation.

While it is true that here in central Ohio, the racial/cultural group with the highest fraction of its members living in poverty is the African-American group (which I think may include African immigrants as well), the group with the highest number of people in poverty are Whites. Appalachian Whites in particular.

Ohio's system of community school districts has allowed barriers to be put up around the wealthy suburbs which are just as effective as a fence with "Po Folks Keep Out" posted on it. Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren has done some compelling research that shows that we have made the ability to buy expensive real estate the price of admission into 'good school systems.'

Getting Around Brown by Gregory Jacobs tells the story of how central Ohio has resegregated as a result of court-ordered desegregation programs in the 1970s.

The solution to this so far in Ohio is to throw money at the urban core districts and expect that to make a difference. It won't.

You're right that the problem isn't just with the schools, it's lots of things including the absence of nuclear families, peer group pressure to not 'act smart' (or often 'act White'). The schools can't fix all that.

But we can use the schools as a instrument of change. Not every kid will escape from the cycle of poverty this generation. But some could if we let them change which school they attend. Maybe their families can't move to the rich neighborhoods, but maybe the kids so movitated could go to school there.

If the 'Fund the Child' concept were expanded to allow a kid to attend public school in another district and have the funding follow, that would be a great start.

Maybe consolidating school districts at a county or SMSA level - with an open enrollment policy - could be the following step.

We just can't perpetuate the current system, and we can't fix it by just throwing more money over the fence.

Comments on Into My Own: The Voucher Fallacy

First off, welcome back Dave.I'd prefer not to be ...