Letters: Funding belongs to the students

I had the opportunity to participate in Baker’s recent education forum. In this event as quoted in this paper, it was stated that Baker lost $500,000 of state Minimum Foundation Program money this year. After doing some research, I discovered $467,623 in MFP funding actually followed children to their new schools as it should.

Students who formerly attended schools in Baker are attending Madison Prep, the Louisiana Virtual Academy, Louisiana Connections, the Louisiana School for the Deaf and Visually Impaired, and are participating in the Louisiana Scholarship Program. What disappointed is that this $500,000 figure was presented as if the state took this money from the district.

This figure represents only 54 students, and every dollar is attributed to funding these young people’s education. It is time for leaders to realize, as many of their constituents have stated, that tax dollars for educating children should follow the children.

I would hope that in the face of the cries of frustration coming from parents in Baker, that community leaders and elected officials representing these parents will agree that there should never be a price tag on the hopes and dreams of our children.

Eric Lewis, state director

Black Alliance for Educational Options

Baton Rouge

Comments

1) Comment by Attila - 26/12/2012

I do not agree with many of Mr. Hammatt's views, but in this case I agree with him concerning the use of MFP funds for vouchers to private schools. The Louisiana Constitution does not provide for MFP funds to private schools. That being said, the people who send their children to private or parochial schools pay the same taxes to the schools as those who send their children to public schools. Perhaps MFP funds need to be distributed to private and parochial schools as well. A Constitutional amendment would be in order. Until that happens any child who opts to leave a public for a private school should not be allowed to take MFP funds with them. A better alternative would be to improve the quality of education so that all children have an opportunity for the same quality of schooling...that being said, equal opportunity does not mean equal results...regardless of what the liberals and the NAACP say.

2) Comment by Anointed428 - 26/12/2012

Since its our tax money= WE SHOULD HAVE THE CHOICE OF WHERE I KIDS GO!! All these negative comments about this program, you know I would like to know. Are you or anyone you know benefiting from this program and when I get that answer then I can also understand why you are against it. Im sure Most of these children benefiting from this program are doing better not because it's a good school because it may not be and not because it has better teachers, it's because it's Giving these type of children an expectation or a type of HOPE THAT THEY NEED. All these negative comments had one underlying root to me and that is "MONEY" , no matter how intelligent you might try to make it.GIVE OUR CHILDREN HOPE IN A DYING WORLD! Also some of these public school are not bad, they just need to change and make things better especially for those kids that get left behind or the public school system seems to forget about which causes that child to either give up on school or just drop out. We need more programs that helps that child that need the extra help and from personal experiences some school districts does not offer it. The children that's benefiting from this program probably are the ones that get looked over in the public school setting because they require more attention than the other children. You know some of these public schools need a program where it is designed to help those kids that need extra one on one attention instead of labeling our kids as disabled or just having behavioral problems. Some of these kids have behavior issues because they are crying out for help.

3) Comment by teacherguy - 26/12/2012

It would seem to me the Black Alliance for Educational Options should be more invested in becoming the Black Alliance for Educational Fairness for the Millions of Students Neglected by Poverty (White, Black, and Hispanic) than providing options for a few? Just think...we could help a handful of students versus we could help the overall quality of education for millions...the fact this "options" group exists proves that it is easier to take the student out of a failing school than to fix a failing school...America must turn from being selfish-oriented to providing for the common good again.

4) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 26/12/2012

No Mr. Lewis, the funding does NOT "belong to the student." Anymore than the funding from all taxes for education should be a play toy of the "reformers" to play with as they wish. The courts have mentioned that it does not come without strings. Now, only the "reformers" have actually voted on this concept, not the voters themselves. Mr. Lewis, in spite of your support system of national billionaires, you know, the ones who pay your generous salary, you don't actually have the support of the people of Louisiana, because there has never been a vote of the people for vouchers. In every single vote in a multitude of states where there WAS a vote of the citizens for statewide vouchers... those votes failed. So please, don't play coy and take your concept of "the money follows the student" and pretend that the public has supported this. That would be just another lie from so-called "reformers." But let's actually look at the money, using your figures. 54 students you say, and $467,623 spent on those students. Using math, we find that is approximately $8,700 for each student. Quite a bit more than the state's claim of $5,100 per student. And here is where another of the big lies comes in. The claim of reformers and the State (even in their spreadsheet) is that there are "savings" that accrue to the local district. Wrong. Dead wrong, and financial chicanery. Mr. Lewis, could you please explain how a local school saves money when a few students leave from each grade level? The local district still has the costs of all the teachers... (if 15 students from 5 grade levels leave an elementary school of 400 or so, is that school able to save any money? How? You can't get rid of a teacher whose class goes from 20 students to 17, can you? You still have the building expenses and the Principal, the custodians, the librarian. Yet this school is losing (using your figures) over $100,000 that YOU say should "follow the student." Show us, please, where YOU would make cuts in the elementary school to offset this loss of funding! A big lie from John White and the reformers.... there are NO savings of any size to offset the vouchers. So, the school district and the citizens of Baker and Louisiana are still having the pay the costs of the school, but now they have to get ride of two people at the school. Two employees who are actually working directly for ALL students in the school, yet the funding has been taken by those who think like you, Mr. Lewis, that ideology of "competition" and false "choice" trumps the rights of the other 380 students in the school, and of all the taxpayers, none of whom voted for taxes to pay for your local religious schools. Not one of them. About the quality... let us ask you, Mr. Lewis, a question. What was your position on the 300 parents who asked that Capitol NOT be taken over by the state and given to 100 Black Men to run. The cries of their voices were drowned out by the reformers who said THEIR CHOICE to remain with EBR was not to be considered, that in point of fact, the state knew best. Will you support the vote of parents in a school to NOT be taken over by the state? It seems the "choice" you support is only that choice which destroys public education. Is that what your Billionaire Club funders require of you Mr. Lewis? On the subject of quality, knowing as you do (but usually deny) that school performance scores are, for the most part, merely a function of the poverty in the community from which the students come, are you actually doing anything to ensure that the neediest students get vouchers? Perhaps requiring the state to actually give the income ranges and distribution of the incomes for those families receiving vouchers. Not for individual students, of course, but like they used to do for public schools. What percent qualify for free meals, reduced meals, and in the case of vouchers, those who qualify for neither but come from families up to $57,000 for a family of four. And what about quality, will you fight for accountability for all private or parochial schools to ALL taxpayers, and not just to the individual parents of a child in that school? We know that some churches have told their congregations that they need the money for their school, and so parents should enroll their students in the church school. Don't the citizens paying the bills deserve to know the quality of this church school? Come on, Mr. Lewis, fess up.

5) Comment by teacherguy - 25/12/2012

I don't mind public tax dollars "following" students to provide better educational opportunities for students...AS LONG AS WE ARE ASSURED they have left a D or F school and have moved to a school that is stronger than the one they came from. Mr. Lewis, can you provide me with ANY evidence that the school they went to provides the student with a better educational opportunity? Have the schools they went to been graded as a C or better using the SAME evaluation tool as the Baker schools? Can you tell me if those students that the money followed completed the school year in their "new" schools? If not, did the money follow them to the school they went to then? As 1ryben stated below...if my tax dollar builds a bridge I'll never drive on in north LA, I can still expect that bridge will be built to meet a public road standard. These schools the public tax dollars are following students to are not being measured by the same standards as the schools those students are leaving...and if we allow the parents to choose "with their feet"...how many years might a student attend one of these choice schools before it becomes clear to the parents that these choice schools are actually worse than the public school they left?

6) Comment by 1ryben - 25/12/2012

Oh, and the cries of the Baker community were heard...they broke away from the EBR system and by any account, they failed! Their schools are certainly no better now and probably worse than before the breakaway. Why would we suddenly determine that their judgement is so great when it comes to making educational decisions for their children? It's not about the kids. Just say it.

7) Comment by 1ryben - 25/12/2012

You are wrong. Tax money does not belong to any individual. If I wanted my road taxes to follow me, can I demand it? Why not? Why should MY tax money fund some road in rural North Louisiana? I'll never travel there. Dpt of Wildlife and Fisheries? Why should any of MY tax dollars go there? I neither hunt nor fish. Why should these virtual schools receive the same amount to educate kids when they do not have anywhere near the same overhead? When OUR tax money is used we should demand accountability yet when you use MY tax money all I need is the illusion of choice. This is not their tax money anyways. I'm willing to bet none of those families paid $8660 in taxes . Even if they did, no way all of it was earmarked for the MFP. Therefore, it is not their tax money, but ours! And throughout history, we've demanded accountability when spending our heard earned taxes.

8) Comment by Mildred Citizen - 25/12/2012

Well said, Mr. Lewis. You are a champion of the kids. It is obvious you care about the children and not the educational establishment. You are correct that The Advocate's article was incomplete in its reporting of the facts. I am glad these kids are getting a better opportunity. As the other posters have noted, we require accountability for our tax dollars.