Friday, November 17, 2006

CA CHARTER SCHOOLS UNITE TO DOUBLE NUMBER OF PARENTS WITH ACCESS TO CHARTERS

Press release from California Charter Schools Association:

California's charter public schools today launched the "My School!" public awareness campaign to mobilize parents statewide to find, support and expand access to charter schools. The campaign aims to double the number of parents statewide who can choose charter schools for their children. The California Charter Schools Association kicked off the campaign with the launch of www.myschool.org, an interactive Web site that includes a map of California to help parents find a charter school near them.

The "My School!" campaign, designed to reach more than 300,000 new parents, will help inform parents about their right to choose the best public school for their child. The campaign will also assist parents, teachers and local community groups in starting new high-quality charter schools and will provide additional support to strengthen existing charter schools.

In a survey of California voters commissioned last year by the Association, 78 percent of the voting public said that giving parents the ability to choose the best public school for their child would help improve the overall public school system.

"Charter schools open doors of opportunity for hundreds of thousands of families across the state because they empower parents, teachers and local communities to have ownership over their public schools," said Caprice Young, CEO and president of the California Charter Schools Association and parent of a charter and a district public school child. "The `My School!' campaign will allow more than 300,000 new parents to learn that they have the right to choose the best public school for their child and will help parents find a charter school near them."

More than 50 charter schools across the state have already started to participate in this campaign, including incorporating the "My School!" theme in school curriculum projects, community activities, and creating dialogue among educators and parents about what their school means to them. These schools have provided more than 2,500 photos of their teachers, parents, students and supporters holding a "My School!" sign proclaiming what their charter school means to them.

Visitors to the www.myschool.org Web site can quickly find a charter school by viewing an interactive map of their neighborhood and clicking an icon that represents the local charter to get more information. The Web site includes links to each charter school's profile through "Greatschools" (www.greatschools.net) a nationally-recognized online resource to help parents access even more information on public schools.

The campaign is part of a larger effort by the Association to expand access to charter schools. In addition to increasing its web-based technical support and offering charter teacher recruitment fairs across the state, through the campaign, the Association is announcing a series of programs and services including:

* The "High Quality Charter Grant" program, which will provide $8 million to community groups to open charters in Los Angeles Unified, San Diego Unified, Oakland Unified, Sacramento City Unified and Fresno Unified school districts.

* Offering a series of "How to Start a Charter School" workshops, and through its "Charter Launch" program, will provide over 90 hours of direct support to communities in need, enabling them to start some 65 new charter schools.

* The "California Charter Quality Institute", which will provide ongoing expertise and leadership mentoring to over 40 newer charter schools.

* The launch of the "California Charter Building Fund" in early December, which will provide below market-rate loans to help more than 25 charter schools purchase facilities.





A GREENIE EDUCATION POLICY

Below are excerpts from the very socialist education policy of the Green party in the Australian State of NSW. No mention of parent choice and an utter loathing of private schools. They are far to the Left of the NSW government -- which is a mainstream Leftist one

1.1 Education is a key determinant of the ability of an individual to participate in the economic, cultural and social life of our society. The provision of quality public education to all children is thus a key social justice objective, as well as being central to creating a cohesive and successful society.

1.2 Only a well-funded and resourced public education system can deliver high quality outcomes for all Australian children, regardless of their socio-economic background, abilities and level of family support. Only public education can build a collective sense of belonging and a respect for diversity.

1.3 The Greens NSW believe that it is the primary responsibility of the state government to fund and administer public education. This responsibility is enshrined in 4(d) of the NSW Education Act 1990 which states that "the principal responsibility of the State in the education of children is the provision of public education." We also believe that the Federal government must also make the funding of public education its primary responsibility.

1.4 The massive increases in total Commonwealth and state government funding of private schools has exacerbated the financial disadvantage of public education and has drawn resources away from our government schools and TAFEs. Continued government funding of the wealthiest elite private schools is inequitable and inefficient.

1.5 Both commonwealth and state governments have abandoned their responsibility to the public education system, including TAFEs and Universities. Consequently salaries are inadequate to match the complexity and importance of the tasks demanded of teachers. Class rooms are insufficiently cleaned and maintained. There is an urgent need for more specialist teachers for students with learning difficulties, school and TAFE counsellors, resources for children with special needs, public pre-schools and funding for teacher training and development. Libraries and textbooks urgently require more funding. Class sizes remain too large, especially in the early years of education.

1.6 The attempted closure of eight public schools in Sydney is a symptom of the failure of the current and previous governments to provide adequate funding and appropriate policy settings to protect and enhance the social and economic values that public education delivers.

1.7 Despite the state government's failure to adequately provide for public education, the Greens NSW celebrate the achievements of our government schools and TAFE colleges and congratulate the teachers, parents and students on the excellence of outcomes, derived from a shared sense of responsibility for the future of our society.

1.8 The Greens NSW welcome the initiative of the NSW Federation of Parents and Citizens Organisations and the NSW Teachers Federation in establishing an independent inquiry into the Provision of Public Education in NSW, conducted by Professor Tony Vinson. The process of extensive consultation with teachers and parents has lead to a number of high quality recommendations, including additional resources for teacher professional development and reduced class sizes in the early years of schooling.

1.9 The State government has embarked on a program of privatising the construction, ownership and operation of new public school grounds and buildings, despite overwhelming international experience that the Privately Funded Infrastructure model is more expensive in the longer term and can damage the ability of the school to deliver independent, quality education and community service.

1.10 The day to day operation of schools is funded globally (i.e. by a single allocation of funds to cover all activities) and expected to run on business principles. The size of the global budget is inadequate to meet the needs of most public schools so that some educational standards are compromised.

1.11 Public schools are also expected to supplement their resources by the fundraising work of parents and citizens groups. Further, many schools are forced to obtain sponsorship from local businesses and industry, raising the potential for schools' autonomy and independence to be compromised.

1.12 The effects of the increasing gap between rich and poor have produced an ever growing sector of the community that experiences poverty, periodic or long-term unemployment and unstable access to housing. The effects of these social problems have a profound influence on the educational achievement of affected children. Consequently problems associated with literacy, numeracy and general learning have become more acute.

1.13 NSW is the only state that has a disadvantaged schools program, now known as the Priority Schools Funding Program. While this is commendable, the program is far from adequate, largely due to lack of support at a Federal level. The programs funded under this scheme, while educationally sound and useful, are not able to make significant in-roads into the basic problems experienced by schools servicing disadvantaged communities.

1.14 Teacher in-service training in public education has been drastically curtailed over the past ten years, making it difficult for teachers to cope with the demands of introducing new syllabi into the curriculum in the time expected.

1.15 The introduction of the new HSC curriculum and changes to curriculum requirements for other years has not been accompanied by adequate resources, thus placing an unacceptable burden on teachers in public education.

1.16 The Greens NSW face the challenge of seeking to improve the public education system by addressing:

1.16.1 low morale;

1.16.2 increased workload for teachers;

1.16.3 pressure to adopt business principles in school and TAFE management;

1.16.4 the haphazard development of secondary education, which has largely resulted in the development of a range of specialist high schools to the detriment of local comprehensive high schools. This has resulted in competition between some schools, at the expense of cooperation. The restructuring has occurred in a secretive way without publicly accountable or contestable evaluation and is fragmenting the NSW education system. This approach to the organisation of secondary schools undermines the equity objective of public education.....

1.24 Many of the non-government schools receiving large allocations of government funds serve children from wealthy families and are already well endowed with resources such as heated indoor swimming pools, rifle ranges, and high-tech computer labs and libraries that can only be dreamt of by public schools.....

1.27 The 80 or so wealthiest private schools in NSW including The Kings School, Parramatta, Sydney Grammar, Presbyterian Ladies College, Barker College and Kincoppal Convent and Newcastle Grammar receive more than $40 million dollars in NSW State per-student funding (plus other subsidies on loan interest payments and textbooks) and much more from the Federal Government.

1.28 This amount is approximately double the NSW contribution to the Priority Schools Funding Program (previously known as the Disadvantaged Schools Program), which serves to reduce class sizes in public schools which serve communities which suffer from socio-economic disadvantage. This program makes a valuable contribution to improving educational outcomes and social equity.

1.29 Private schools are exempt from the provisions of the Anti-Discrimination Act, allowing them to discriminate against children on the basis of religious background, ethnicity are physical disability. Many private schools, for example, exclude children who are confined to wheelchairs. Further, some private schools discriminate on the grounds of family income in that they charge fees which exclude children from poorer backgrounds. Some private schools also practice discrimination against staff on the basis of sexual practice....

2.3.6 comprehensive public education contributes to the reduction of inequality, supports social cohesion and economic well being, creates a safer society and reduces rates of imprisonment in the general population;

2.3.7 only comprehensive public education is capable of providing everyone with a sound foundation for lifelong learning by granting both sexes equal access to early childhood services, schools, TAFE and university education, irrespective of the economic, social and cultural background of their parents, and thus contributes to equal opportunity for all;

2.3.8 education of students in comprehensive public schools and colleges contributes to the diversity of the learning environment, promotes respect for and understanding of others, and contributes to the reduction of social, racial and cultural prejudices among young people;

More here

***************************

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.

The NEA and similar unions worldwide believe that children should be thoroughly indoctrinated with Green/Left, feminist/homosexual ideology but the "3 R's" are something that kids should just be allowed to "discover"


Comments? Email me here. For times when blogger.com is playing up, there is a mirror of this site (viewable even in China!) here. My Home Pages are here or here or here.

***************************

No comments: