Sunday, April 10, 2005

CHANGE AFOOT IN BRITAIN?

Parents would be given more control over their children's education, with the "ultimate sanction" of ousting the management of failing state schools, under plans being unveiled next week in Labour's election manifesto. The proposal is designed to correspond with similar measures for expanding the private and voluntary sector's role in the NHS, as well as giving people more say in the operation of police and local authority services. Tony Blair believes the radical nature of such third-term reforms will show that the scale of new Labour's ambition remains undimmed after eight years in government.

The manifesto is understood to have been agreed with Gordon Brown in unexpectedly trouble-free negotiations over recent days. This reflects an apparent rapprochement between the Prime Minister and the Chancellor. Friends deny there is any formal succession deal, but Mr Blair is privately acknowledging Mr Brown as his heir apparent.

Although most of the policy platform has been announced previously, the "parent power" plan goes further than last summer's five-year education plan. This had proposed allowing the private or voluntary sector to take over management of failing schools put into "special measures" by Ofsted inspectors. In February David Bell, the Chief Inspector of England's schools, said that 332 - 1.5 per cent of the total - were in "special measures". This figure is almost double that for last year. Labour's manifesto will now promise that "parental satisfaction surveys" should also be one of the key determinants of judging whether a school is failing.

Groups of parents will be given the chance to apply to run the school and appoint a new head teacher. Teaching unions and local council leaders have expressed reservations about these "independent specialist schools". The policy is based on a similar system in Sweden where parents have set up schools and taken over responsibility for running others. Ministers say that closure of a school or the replacement of its management should be only the last resort. Instead, they want parents to be more closely involved in their children's education by giving them e-mail addresses for teachers and more places on school governing bodies.

Labour will guarantee that there will be no extension of academic selection in state schools and that equal access to NHS care will remain free at the point of delivery. John Reid, the Health Secretary, has already assured unions that he does not foresee the proportion of NHS operations being performed by the private sector rising above 15 per cent.

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EDUCATION: THAT GOOD OLD MONEY TROUGH FOR LEFTISTS -- MUSLIMS NOW WELCOMED IN TOO

The wife of an influential Muslim cleric was sentenced to house arrest and probation Monday in a corruption investigation that became public when an FBI bug was discovered in the mayor's office. Faridah Ali was convicted in October on charges she conspired to defraud a city community college of about $224,000 by setting up an adult-education program involving ghost students and nonexistent classes. She was sentenced to five years' probation, one year of which she must serve under house arrest. She also must pay $30,000 in restitution and a $2,300 fine. [Why only $30,000?]

The case was based partly on financial records, and partly on FBI wiretaps that recorded Ali discussing the scheme on the telephone. It was related to a broader federal corruption probe that became public when a listening device was found in the office of Mayor John F. Street. Street has not been charged and has denied any wrongdoing, but the city's former treasurer and several others are now on trial over how they negotiated government contracts.

Ali is married to Shamsud-din Ali, a Muslim leader known for his close ties to city Democrats. Both Alis are awaiting trial on racketeering charges more closely related to the corruption probe.

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Why equal education funding isn't as easy as apple pie: "When a judge in February ordered New York State to spend an extra $5.6 billion to bring New York City school funding up to the level of surrounding counties, he left a question unanswered: How much difference will all those billions make for children in failing schools? Unfortunately, based on studies of spending patterns in New York and other big-city school systems, the answer is 'not much.' That's because of the dark secret that our research has uncovered: Some big-city schools get plenty of money. We have studied actual spending on every school in six big urban districts. Knowing that districts' official budgets ignore many factors that drive spending -- for example, differences in the salaries paid teachers in one school versus another, or differences in the services particular schools get from the central office -- we followed every dollar."

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.

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