Trust public, and release school info

Champions of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s new voucher program, which uses public tax dollars to send students to private and parochial schools, say that it will empower parents with more choices for their children’s education.

Advocates of the school choice movement often say parents are better able than large bureaucracies to make good educational choices for their sons and daughters.

All that’s needed, as the theory goes, is a wider marketplace of educational options from which to choose.

At the heart of this argument lies the assumption that the average citizen is smart enough to think for himself.

If school choice is grounded in this healthy respect for the intelligence of the general public, then we must wonder why the state Department of Education doesn’t trust people enough to let them view public documents dealing with how the voucher program was implemented.

John White, the state superintendent of education and a key Jindal ally, has refused to provide records from deliberations over how schools were chosen to participate in the voucher program. The Louisiana Public Records Law, with few exceptions, requires quick public access to documents generated by state and local government.

White’s department, in refusing to release the requested documents to The Associated Press, claimed a “deliberative process privilege” cited in two court rulings that have nothing to do with education issues.

This is a specious legal argument, we believe. White’s department has extensive legal resources, funded by taxpayer dollars, to argue for the shielding of government documents from public view.

And so, thanks to the power of government bureaucracy — an institution that our conservative governor professes to dislike — the Department of Education will likely have its way on this issue.

The documents White’s department is shielding from public view could throw light on how state officials decided which schools could participate in the program.

Department of Education spokesman Barry Landry told The Associated Press the documents in question would be released in September, after voucher enrollment is set in a Sept. 1 student count.

Asked why the documents will be shielded from public view until then, Landry said, “Our concern is providing outdated information that may cause confusion to parents who are trying to make decisions around their participation in the program.”

This isn’t the first time that public officials have argued for hiding information from people for fear that it might confuse them. Here’s state Sen. Jodi Amedee, D-Gonzales, arguing in 2009 for keeping documents related to the governor’s deliberative process — the process he uses to make decisions — off-limits to the public:

“It protects the public from being confused. If you get exposed to a lot of premature ideas and thoughts, you know, they’re going to be confused.”

This kind of government-knows-best paternalism, which assumes that public officials are smarter and wiser than the taxpayer, is the very attitude that supporters of the school choice movement have promised to remedy.

If state officials want to inspire public confidence in education reform, they should treat citizens as partners, not subordinates.

Comments

1) Comment by Scrooge - 21/08/2012

Of course, if one never had children or actually taught in a classroom, the naivete is quite whimsical but also dangerous.

2) Comment by Scrooge - 21/08/2012

Dawson, Children are not "products" if raising them were as easy as manufacturing widgets, it would be easy, wouldn't it? Another salient flaw in the market place theory of education is that the lowest common denominator tends to dominate, see cable tv. BTW, no lebertarian social experiments have ever worked, the human inherently flawed nature tends to intervene even in the face of the most painstakingly devised mathematically precise market principles. Even if humans were perfect, life is inherently uncertain as well. A blind faith in libertarianism is as flawed as the philosophy itself.

3) Comment by Dawson - 21/08/2012

Two major liberal talking points in this one that take any possible credibility away from the author(s). 1) It's a "theory" that "wide marketplace" business works. Any fool knows that the more competition their is in the marketplace the better the product and the lower the price. 2) The typical liberal insinuation that government is somehow smarter and knows better than the citizen. Now, in the name of transparency, the AP should investigate all of the documents that the White House is hiding.

4) Comment by civitasiveritas - 20/08/2012

We, the public, just need to be patient. Imagine the scenario up in the rarified air at the Department of Education's top offices. "The media is asking for details of our process for approving the d--- vouchers schools!" "What are we going to do?" asks John White! "We can't admit that we just looked at the applications, and where the seats or schools weren't needed we just cut back the slots or canceled the seats!" "Don't tell 'em anything! Just put 'em off, John!" And finally, "By the way John, that was great the way we got everyone to believe that the courts have ruled that the vouchers were ruled constitutional by the courts!" "Sure is nice having a complacent media!"

5) Comment by civitasiveritas - 20/08/2012

The latest example of the hypocrisy of this administration and of John White should surprise no one. Perhaps it is just like the "approvals" of the voucher schools in the first place. Only after the stories of the ridiculous school situations made national and even international news did the administration suddenly claim that the letters of approval that went out were just "initial letters" to be followed with more "investigations" of "some" of the schools. When emails from John White to the Governor's people accidentally were brought to light, and John White was caught with his pants down, figuratively speaking, his only response was not to admit the truth, but to complain that somehow those emails should not have gotten out. When the Recovery School District was forced to close a local school because the last charter operator had trashed the place, again there was every attempt to keep it out of the news! The Department of Education is treating every bit of data about student achievement as though it were state secrets, preventing even university researchers from accessing formation to prove or to disprove the veracity of John White's many claims. It truth is a stone, then perhaps rgeraldwallace is correct. I do not believe that truth and transparency should be compromised on the altar of ideology, though. Does anyone wonder why the private and parochial schools shy away from any formal accountability, or heaven forbid, letter grades? The truth hurts. Does anyone else find it interesting that John White and the Governor and most BESE members seem to claim that parents are more that capable of judging whether a school is right for their children without the frills of "letter grades" or school performance scores or even test scores out there for the world to see--- but they somehow must turn stupid when they are judging public schools. Remember the Governor, Chas (Charter) Roemer and Pastorek claiming that parents would not understand the "star ratings" and absolutely needed something simple, like Letter Grades! White lies.

6) Comment by redstickhornet - 20/08/2012

One of the leaders of a teacher's union made an ill-advised and paternalistic remark in Feb. indicating that many parents in poverty in LA might not have the resources at their disposal to make the best educational decisions for their children. It was published in this newspaper: http://theadvocate.com/home/1965637-125/story.html Gov. Jindal put this guy on full blast and called repeatedly for his resignation. Jindal (quoted in this paper) called the remarks “arrogant” and said the remark "represents an “elitist mentality” that has damaged education nationally." I do not agree with the union leader's comment or defend him. I just wonder how many others here can also see the hypocrisy?

7) Comment by tradewinns - 20/08/2012

i am a die hard republican. however we (that's anyone who cares) need to fix public education, and you do not do this by ignoring the problem. like a business, you define the problem, suggest solutions, and fix the problem! our current education is like a cancer and the current solution is to put a band aid on it and say that problem is solved, and just like cancer, it isn't solved and will continue to fester and then kill you. i know to correct the current problem will cost politicians votes in the short run, but in the long run society will win and prosper. and the problem isn't money, nor is it the teachers union, the problem is society allows the parents to NOT do their duty as parents. their children arrive (if you can believe the properganda) unfeed, unprepared, sleepy andthinking it's play time. to correct this problem we have to correct the parental problem. and we don't need to set up a new bureaucratic system, we already have the one necessary, law enforcement! punishment for shirkers of their parental duties is paramount. quick, SURE , harsh punishment will get the proper reaction from most currently unresponsive parents. the rest will need more corrective action including the loss of their children. the child IS more important than the parent and they still have a future.

8) Comment by Being_Stupid - 20/08/2012

Transparency is for the birds, after they hit a window.

9) Comment by [e-mail] - 20/08/2012

Funny that "Our Views" would make this argument only in support of those who oppose the voucher program. Is it to inform the public as you say, or is it to enable obfuscation of the process in order to demonize it? I'm not much of a fan of Mr. White, but only a fool would give rocks to those who want to stone him.

10) Comment by phil - 20/08/2012

What's all of this about Obama? Everyone knows he is probably from another planet, so what's the big deal. I bet there are at least 3 people on Mars who saw him when he was born and can verify it.

11) Comment by phil - 20/08/2012

I graduated from LSU and I do not claim to be all that intelligent, but I will say that it takes a little to confuse me. Perhaps the word "confused" in this article needs to be replaced with the word "educated". Perhaps our government needs to rethink the idea that all citizens are ignorant and are easily confused when they read information about state projects. Actually I bet there are a lot of people around who are actually a lot more intelligent than our public officials. I do know when I am being played though. College did not teach me that. Dealing with the government for decades did.

12) Comment by Whatnow - 20/08/2012

It's okay for Obama to pay big bucks to hide his records because he's a Democrat.

13) Comment by lovemykids - 20/08/2012

Still on the birth certificate? Maybe Romney can produce some fake tax documents. Maybe Jindal and his accessories can produce, oh never mind, they don't produce anything.

14) Comment by gary - 20/08/2012

6pointby8 - I figured you would be a birther - tks for the confirmation. By the way, this opinion is spot on.

15) Comment by 8point6 - 20/08/2012

Same drivel from "our views". Anyone see hussein's college records and/or his passport? We all saw the fake birth certificate.

16) Comment by Terd Handler - 20/08/2012

One cannot help but wonder why the Associated Press requested the douments instead of thee Advocate. I guess the Advocate doesn't do that kind of reporting. It is much easier for them just ride someone else's coattails and run these sappy editorials.