The State of Texas has just taken control of the Houston Independent School District. The justification is that the school district just isn’t very good at its job, educating students.
What is interesting is the arguments being deployed against it, such as in a recent piece from Vice.
On the one hand, we have the argument that this removes power over the school district from elected officials to those appointed by the State. We can’t say this worries us too much — it’s still the public schools being run by the political process, something that’s bound to happen when it’s tax money that pays for the schools. But then the next complaint is that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott really wants to bring in Educations Savings Accounts – school vouchers in all but name. This is also bad because it removes control of the schools from the political process.
It’s not hard to see the effect of the dual complaint. It’s not that they don’t want the state to control schools, or that they do want it to and so are against vouchers. It’s that at the level of the school board, they want to continue to control the schools. It’s a complaint against any change, not against any specific one.
Then we get to the gross misinformation being aligned with this argument:
“So you’ve given out these vouchers,” Anderson said. “The voucher has gone to these private schools. Then you don’t have the money as a parent to pay for the next semester, and your child has to come back because you don’t have the money to pay for the second semester.
That’s to claim that a school voucher, or an ESA, is a one-time thing. Which is not how either system works at all. The money that would have gone to the school district for the public school now follows the student. This happens this semester, next semester, and this year and next year. That’s just how such systems work. The idea that you get one semester at the new school and then run out of money is simply nonsense – disinformation of the worst kind.
Then we get to an argument that we really object to.
They note that state takeovers disproportionately impact districts made up of a majority of students of color ….
We think this is an excellent idea. Even the most superficial look at the U.S. education system will note that the inner city schools – which disproportionately serve students of color – are the worst part of that U.S. school system. Therefore, that’s exactly where any system or action of reform needs to be concentrated. We need to raise the performance of the worst parts of the system to at least the average, no? So, whatever action we do take is going to be concentrated on those worst parts.
Not because we’re racists or power hungry but because who are the people who really, really, need a good education system? Those born at the bottom of the power structure, those poor inner-city children. That good education is their route out of a generational repeat which is exactly why we owe it to them to get those school systems sorted out.
This specific takeover of this specific school district, well, views may differ. But given the logic being offered against it we should all probably conclude that it’s a darn good idea. We shall know the enemies of logic and good sense by their arguments after all.
This article originally appeared in Accuracy in Media. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News. Republished with permission.
Judging by their historical record of nearly always taking the Leftwing (thus doomed to fail) position on just about every social, economic and political issue since their inception, Vice is or is close to being the very last published opinion to regard seriously when discussing substantive solutions for curing any of our numerous national problems.
It could be argued that if a source has a 100% perfect record of being wrong, they should be consulted early to find out what NOT to do.
Keep those n…. Voting democrat for the next hundred years. LBJ.
well, golly, it’s not right to actually want to educate Sheeple. They might not line up for a killer vax next time! (and gates and fauXi are probably scheming on creating that “next time” right now since not enough died and though many have the blood-clot-causing Spiked Protein in them, they’re still living to long for the satanists)
Leftists have literally had control of the public schools for decades now…and they have failed miserably. They have had the ability to make whatever changes they want and the outcome is worse test scores, poorer preparation for college, immorality, and ‘graduates’ who are poorly prepared for life and citizenship.
Times up!
Actually they have accomplished what they want. They want stupid people!
I can’t see this as a left vs right issue. A students needs to see both sides of an issue to become a broadly educated individual.
It is a left/right issue because one side doesn’t agree with your final sentence.
On the other hand, HISD had more than sufficient opportunities to make meaningful improvements. Unfortunately, the voters kept changing the makeup of the board which of course destroyed any continuity of change. The result was staff complacency, not to mention students.
Voters kept changing the board because the board was not interested in the necessary changes. The complacency you refer to was the CAUSE, not the result, of voters choosing to replace the board members.