Tony Evers: Trying to Throw High Heat at Voucher Schools

Tony Evers, the state superintendent of public instruction, has been making waves by going on the offensive against proposals to expand the use of private school vouchers in Wisconsin. In addition to what has been said in news stories such as this one in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, I’d offer three thoughts that struck me as I read the lengthy memo Evers offered to members of the legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance this week.

One: Legally and politically, this is almost surely idle thinking, but what if the private schools that are in Milwaukee’s voucher program had to face the same kind of consequences for getting weak results that charter schools and, of late, conventional public schools face?

Charter schools, which are independently operated, publicly funded schools, are generally given five-year contracts by a government body. (In Milwaukee, charter contracts are granted by the School Board, city government, or the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.) It is not unusual for a charter school to be closed if it is not getting good results at the end of five years, or sometimes sooner.

In the conventional Milwaukee Public Schools system, school closings are becoming common. Tightening finances and declining enrollments are key reasons, but getting bad results is also a factor. And a list of schools, including several major high schools, are under orders, based on federal policies, to take steps such as overhauling their programs and staffs and getting new principals because of low student success.

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The Sins of the Children Visited – This Time – on Their Parents

What to do about children who fail in school, or who simply fail to attend school at all? Efforts in recent years have focused on the schools themselves and on the teachers, and there have been initiatives to test children for performance in key areas and punish schools or teachers in underperforming schools. A recent New York Times article describes another approach: punishing the parents of underperforming (or under-attending) students. In “Whose Failing Grade Is It?” author Lisa Belkin discusses proposed legislation that endeavors to hold parents accountable for the performance of their offspring. She cites as examples a bill proposed in Indiana that would require parents to volunteer for at least three hours per semester in their children’s schools, as well as a proposed bill in Florida that would grade parents on their level of involvement in their children’s education, said grade to be posted on the child’s own report card. Belkin also notes that some states (she mentions Alaska and California) already have laws in place allowing for punishment of parents of habitual truants by imposing monetary fines or requiring attendance at parenting classes. The Indiana and Florida proposals were not enacted this past year, but their sponsors have vowed to try again in the new legislative session.

Obviously, very young children are entirely dependent on their parents’ efforts to get them to school, and to make sure that they have the necessary materials and support in order to attend consistently. However, problems of school truancy and failure to adequately fulfill academic requirements are more often seen and discussed as children enter the middle school and high school years. When we look at the issues facing these older students, are parent-directed laws a viable solution to the problem of kids failing in school?

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Wagner Releases “Fabulous in Flats”

Our former Alum Blogger of the Month Mary Wagner ’99 has a new book of essays out.  (I especially appreciated her post here on Howard Eisenberg.)  This is from her publication announcement:

Fabulous in Flats, the  third collection of essays by internationally published, award-winning Wisconsin writer and photographer Mary T. Wagner, is now LIVE!!  The book is available in paperback and E-book format at iUniverse, Amazon and Barnes&Noble.com.  

Fabulous in Flats  follows in the spike-heeled footsteps of Wagner’s two earlier essay collections, Running with Stilettos: Living a Balanced Life in Dangerous Shoes and Heck on Heels: Still Balancing on Shoes, Love & Chocolate!  Her earlier books netted a Mom’s Choice Award, an Indie Excellence Award, a Silver IPPY Award, and first and second place finishes in the National Federation of Press Women’s annual communications contests.  Wagner is a three-time finalist in the Royal Palm Literary Awards, and has won the Illinois Woman’s Press Association’s Silver Feather Award in 2008 and 2011.  Heck on Heels also earned a spot on the list of finalists for ForeWord Reviews “Book of the Year” Awards in 2010.

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