June 10, 2007

School Mashup

The Story:
--- Can DC schools be saved, the WaPo asks? The story is gloomy and reeks of a suburban perspective. True DC shools are abysmal, but there are some bright spots that are ignored.
--- DC spends $12,979 per pupil each year, ranking it third-highest among the 100 largest districts in the nation. True DC schools must perform many state functions, but $13k/year?

View from the Bubble:
--- Only with good schools can DC truly become a great city. Unless there is more than a handful, the old pattern I-got-pregnant-and-moved-away will continue. Furthremore, DC's underclass will remain as such with a professional class with kids to school to look up to.
---Mayor Fenty I must do something about the excessive admin costs incurred by DC.

Links: WaPo Mashup here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The truth is that DC public schools can't be saved. Get the DC government out of the school business and instead hand over that $12K to every student to be used as a voucher to attend a school that actually performs.

If we just keep waiting for someone to come save the schools we will continue to fail our children.

Anonymous said...

The fix is in and DC Public Charters are the wave of the present and future too... The money follows the student to the public charter school but not back to the local school if they leave the school (or are pushed) after the school census day in October.

Also the weighted student formula is used to assign revenues to students. Charter schools get the whole shebang, DCPS takes the total and then shaves off a substantial amount for special education students and transportation.

The Post series was interesting, but mostly it was a more detailed flyover at 2,000 feet rather than 20,000. It is still a flyover.

Take a look at the graphic and check the graph of 'racial makeup' ovet time.