1. Homeschooler’s Day, State Board Policy, School Choice
2. Charter School Accountability
3. DC Voucher Program Round-up

FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: HOMESCHOOLER’S DAY, STATE BOARD POLICY, CHOICE IN THE SENATE

By the time you receive this newsletter, Homeschooler's Day will have taken place at the State House, which was April 21, and there was a good turnout. Over 300 homeschoolers stood on the State House steps where the governor delivered a proclamation celebrating homeschooling. On tap for the day was also a meeting with the lieutenant governor, and many informal meetings and presentations.  Look for more on homeschooling in the coming months—there will be an upcoming forum with the Commissioner of Education in which changes to the home study law will be the topic.
 
Speaking of the Commissioner, his office helped craft a policy for the State Board on not endorsing or supporting “outside work” that surely has its roots in the VBE/Friedman Foundation Strategic Vision Survey on Vermonters’ attitudes toward education and school choice. If you recall, the State Board backed off of supporting that survey, relying on a couple of outside groups (one of which received a hefty grant from the NEA) to criticize the scientifically-sound poll.
 
At its April 14 meeting, the Board considered a policy that would not allow the Board to “endorse, support, sponsor or approve the work of other organizations or individuals.”  The drafted policy would apply “to all work of other organizations or individuals, regardless of format, and includes, but is not limited to, surveys, studies, data collections, analyses, reports, findings, conclusions, and other expressions of opinion.”
 
In other words, if this policy had been in effect when VBE presented its Strategic Vision survey to the Board, they could have just washed their hands of it entirely, with no deliberation at all, since the policy would have prohibited endorsement or support anyway.
 
This applies to all outside organizations. One question I would be curious to know the answer to: Does this cover a partnership in which the department works with outside groups to produce documents? Documents in which the Department of Education's name and other outside organizational names appear? If so. maybe VBE could partner with the department on the next poll so that the “ work of other organizations or individuals” is also their work....
 
While the State Board was nervous about a poll on school choice, the Senate Education Committee has been thoughtfully moving forward considering more choice options for parents. S.140 is the bill that would allow this, and any parents who would like an opportunity to tell their stories (about why they’d like the opportunity enroll their children in other schools), please contact me.
 
Choice discussions always seem to bring up the same arguments. One of them is: what happens to the kids left behind in schools from which other kids have left? 
 
Few schools in Vermont would see a huge drop in enrollment due to choice—but maybe I have more faith in our schools than some of their proponents?  I also believe, though, that if we were to see a Worst Case Scenario—with an enormous exodus from a school—we’d be better off knowing we had a big problem there, rather than having it swept under the rug for countless years to come because of limited options for parents. After all education is supposed to be about the best educational interests of the child.
 
As always, let me know what you think and how you would answer that question from critics.
 
Retta Dunlap

FROM ELSEWHERE: CHARTER SCHOOLS ARE ACCOUNTABLE

The Center for Education Reform recently issued its 2009 Accountability Report on charter schools (available here: Center for Education Reform's 2009 Accountability Report)
 
Here’s their round-up: This report offers a state-by-state look at public charter school closures and finds that 657 schools (nearly 13 percent) have closed, with financial problems or mismanagement the leading reasons cited. The largest number of closures have been in California (103), Arizona (96), and Florida (82) -- the three states with the largest numbers of public charter schools. No public charters have been closed in Hawaii, Iowa, Mississippi, Rhode Island, and Wyoming. The leading causes of closure were: "financial deficiencies caused by either low student enrollment or inequitable funding" (41%); "mismanagement" (27%); "poor academic performance" (14%); and "hostile policy environment" (10 percent). Source: Center for Education Reform
 
Critics of charter schools might use these statistics and facts to claim charter schools fail. But the report demonstrates how immediately accountable these schools are, unlike their traditional public school counterparts, many of which continue decade after decade with mismanagement, poor academic performance, and more.

FROM ELSEWHERE: KEEP DC VOUCHER PROGRAM ALIVE

Although things are not looking up for sustaining the DC voucher program, interest remains high in its future. The Alliance for School Choice has compiled a good round up of articles and editorials on the DC voucher program that can be found here.

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The VERMONT EDUCATION REPORT is published by Vermonters for Better Education PO Box 255, Woodbury, VT 05681 - 802-472-5491. The Vermont Education Report may be reprinted with the editor's permission. For more information contact: VBE@comcast.net or visit us on the web: http://www.schoolreport.com

VERMONTERS FOR BETTER EDUCATION is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization whose mission is to enlist parents and the public at large in achieving quality educational opportunities for all the children of Vermont by monitoring the state of education in Vermont; promoting the value of educational freedoms for all parents; and giving parents the evaluative tools with which to identify excellence.

Retta Dunlap, executive director
VBE@comcast.net