Douglas County School Board (Denver: private school tuition, university, vouchers)

[Gorges]

Students have to pay to ride a school bus??? I've never heard of such a thing.

[Kibbiekat]

Originally Posted by eaton place

Confirmed: $200,000+ in Union Funds Back Dougco School Board Candidates

The figures earlier didn't seem to capture this...

That's not a news source. The name of the page is "political commentary." Do you think it is ok for local school board candidates to be funded by Americans for Prosperity and Jeb Bush, but not the teachers union? At least the teacher's union has a local connection.

Originally Posted by Gorges

Students have to pay to ride a school bus??? I've never heard of such a thing.

Yes, they do. They have since about 2009 and no reversal of this cost saving measure in sight, even as the district spend millions on PR and legal battles.

[Kibbiekat]

Country’s biggest school board race to be decided Tuesday in Douglas County | FOX31 Denver

[eaton place]

Originally Posted by Kibbiekat

That's not a news source. The name of the page is "political commentary."

How is that different than the sources you posted?

And more importantly, is the report accurate with respect to the funding and sources thereof, which has been repeatably denied in local reports, and yet shows up in a late (as in after the election) finance report filing


In other news, pot - meet kettle

[eaton place]

Originally Posted by Gorges

Students have to pay to ride a school bus??? I've never heard of such a thing.

Yeah, it's pretty common now... same thing for fees related to sports, supplies, etc.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by eaton place

How is that different than the sources you posted?

And more importantly, is the report accurate with respect to the funding and sources thereof, which has been repeatably denied in local reports, and yet shows up in a late (as in after the election) finance report filing


In other news, pot - meet kettle

Instead of getting bogged down in funding sources, why not focus on the message?

What the current board is attempting to do is allow people to pull money out of the district and spend it on religious private schools. The State Supreme Court just declared this unconstitutional.

In addition to it being unconstitutional, many district parents, armed with supporting data, are saying that allowing funds to be pulled out of the district will have a negative impact on the district. Quality teachers are leaving because they are having their voices silenced when it comes to curriculim choices.

Now you may think all of the above is a good idea. You may like the idea of having less value on science and more on religion. You may think that teachers in public schools are lazy and unaccountable. The fact is many parents in the district disagree and rightfully so.

[eaton place]

Because the folks involved keep denying ties, is why


From a mechanics standpoint, do you not like healthy competition?
Do not more choices make for better offerings, in general, due to competition for a customer base?


I think the case will progress further, to be candid

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by eaton place

Because the folks involved keep denying ties, is why


From a mechanics standpoint, do you not like healthy competition?
Do not more choices make for better offerings, in general, due to competition for a customer base?


I think the case will progress further, to be candid

"Healthy competition" I wish it were that simple.

Conservative/Libertarian Fantasy World: There is a private operator who will come along and provide a better product for the same price per student (voucher amount) and make a profit while doing so. Parents will all move their kids to such schools and the public education system will close down because the market is better at providing all goods to all people, including education. The evil government will be vanquished from our lives.

Real world: Families with money use the vouchers to partially subsidize sending their kids to a more expensive private school. There is not much market incentive to try to provide a low cost school option for lower income families because it is very difficult to make money at or below the per student voucher rate and provide a decent product. As a result, families without money are stuck in a district that is losing funding from wealthy families pulling their kids out and using the voucher money elsewhere and therefore has fewer resources.

This is not a good solution. It basically looks to leave the poor behind in a resource depleted, under performing district while the better off families spend their money in private schools.

There is this strange view among the Conservative/Libertarian base that the free market will solve all problems. I have news for you: The free market can be brutal for those without money. There are certain things, like education, that do not perform better for all in a market based system. It is well known that the free market charges more for quality. Is your goal really to penalize people without money?

Rich families are free to send their kids to private school if they want, but should not receive a penny of government subsidy to do so. Doing otherwise is simply a creative tax cut for the upper income brackets.

I do think you are right that the case is going to progress. As I said earlier, when it's all said and done, I hope Scalia is once again left with nothing but frustrated funny language in his opinion.

[Kibbiekat]

Originally Posted by eaton place

How is that different than the sources you posted?

And more importantly, is the report accurate with respect to the funding and sources thereof, which has been repeatably denied in local reports, and yet shows up in a late (as in after the election) finance report filing


In other news, pot - meet kettle

Please see the ch 7 link I posted.

Originally Posted by eaton place

Yeah, it's pretty common now... same thing for fees related to sports, supplies, etc.

Is it?

Originally Posted by eaton place

Because the folks involved keep denying ties, is why


From a mechanics standpoint, do you not like healthy competition?
Do not more choices make for better offerings, in general, due to competition for a customer base?


I think the case will progress further, to be candid

I don't have any ties to the union.

It is much, much deeper than "healthy competition." I'm at work and can't go into it now, but I've found this simplistic view of choice being good to be very common among reform supporters. There is much more to it than that, starting with the simple fact that not everyone would get their first choice.

[Gorges]

Originally Posted by Gorges
Students have to pay to ride a school bus??? I've never heard of such a thing.

Originally Posted by eaton place

Yeah, it's pretty common now... same thing for fees related to sports, supplies, etc.

This is common all over Colorado? I'm new to the state but I was very active in school board affairs back east and never heard this mentioned as a possibility. Sporting fees, yes, but not school transportation.