A little closer to home.

[unionmom]

Just found this about the old program ...

Washington, D.C. Voucher Program
Congress created the Washington, D.C. voucher "pilot" program in 2004, making it the first federally funded school voucher program in history. About 1,900 students participate in the program, with vouchers worth up to $7,500 per student, at a cost to federal taxpayers of about $14 million a year. In June 2007, the U.S. Department of Education released the findings of a Congressionally mandated academic evaluation of the program, which revealed no significant differences in reading or math achievement between voucher students and Washington, D.C. public school students, even though the participating private schools are permitted to maintain their admissions standards. Also in 2007, a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report uncovered countless problems associated with the program's lack of public accountabilty, including federal tax money going to private schools that do not even charge tuition. The five-year pilot program is set to expire in 2008, unless Congress chooses to reauthorize it or continue funding it.

Federally funded? Forget that noise!!

 

[newsjunky]

Ok, if the voucher covered up to $12,000 then Sidwell could have been worked out. They do financial aid for some where they knock off 2/3 of the tuition.

It's an incredibly good school. I had some friends that went there. My parents had apparently considered sending me there at one point.

Public school costs $27,000 per child in DC or so I read. That is for a failing system.
Link:http://blog.heritage.org/2012/07/25/d-c-public-schools-spend-almost-30000-per-student/

Public school may cost that, but that is not what they give in vouchers. (I have no clue why...but they do not.)

Probably because they only apply the local amounts and not the federal amounts that go toward the education of the child. That is what Charter Schools get in Georgia. I think the state and federal amounts follow the child but not local school funds.

 

[ShoeDiva]

Ok, if the voucher covered up to $12,000 then Sidwell could have been worked out. They do financial aid for some where they knock off 2/3 of the tuition.

It's an incredibly good school. I had some friends that went there. My parents had apparently considered sending me there at one point.

Public school costs $27,000 per child in DC or so I read. That is for a failing system.
Link:http://blog.heritage.org/2012/07/25/d-c-public-schools-spend-almost-30000-per-student/

Public school may cost that, but that is not what they give in vouchers. (I have no clue why...but they do not.)

Probably because they only apply the local amounts and not the federal amounts that go toward the education of the child. That is what Charter Schools get in Georgia.

Gotcha. It is sort of ridiculous that it costs that much for a failing system and the private schools that run just a little more in the same area have excellence in their education programs. Where is that breakdown?

 

[newsjunky]

Ok, if the voucher covered up to $12,000 then Sidwell could have been worked out. They do financial aid for some where they knock off 2/3 of the tuition.

It's an incredibly good school. I had some friends that went there. My parents had apparently considered sending me there at one point.

Public school costs $27,000 per child in DC or so I read. That is for a failing system.
Link:http://blog.heritage.org/2012/07/25/d-c-public-schools-spend-almost-30000-per-student/

Public school may cost that, but that is not what they give in vouchers. (I have no clue why...but they do not.)

Probably because they only apply the local amounts and not the federal amounts that go toward the education of the child. That is what Charter Schools get in Georgia.

Gotcha. It is sort of ridiculous that it costs that much for a failing system and the private schools that run just a little more in the same area have excellence in their education programs. Where is that breakdown?

It really is sad and it was horrible that Obama cut that program in DC.

 

[newsjunky]

Just found this about the old program ...

Washington, D.C. Voucher Program
Congress created the Washington, D.C. voucher "pilot" program in 2004, making it the first federally funded school voucher program in history. About 1,900 students participate in the program, with vouchers worth up to $7,500 per student, at a cost to federal taxpayers of about $14 million a year. In June 2007, the U.S. Department of Education released the findings of a Congressionally mandated academic evaluation of the program, which revealed no significant differences in reading or math achievement between voucher students and Washington, D.C. public school students, even though the participating private schools are permitted to maintain their admissions standards. Also in 2007, a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report uncovered countless problems associated with the program's lack of public accountabilty, including federal tax money going to private schools that do not even charge tuition. The five-year pilot program is set to expire in 2008, unless Congress chooses to reauthorize it or continue funding it.

Federally funded? Forget that noise!!

The money that the public school would have gotten for the child from federal dollars just went with the child. Nothing wrong with that. This article made it sound like something it was not. Consider the source.

 

[unionmom]

That's a ridiculous amount of money ... but at least their food seems healthier than what our kids are getting.


As for Obama cutting the program ... I'm sorry but I have a problem with an additional $300M of federal tax payer money going to the DCPS system. Somebody needs to find a way to make that $24,000+ per child work. That's beyond insane. Fairfax County Public Schools, some of the best schools in the country, cost half what DC does. Throwing more money at the problem is not the answer.

 

[newsjunky]

That's a ridiculous amount of money ... but at least their food seems healthier than what our kids are getting.


As for Obama cutting the program ... I'm sorry but I have a problem with an additional $300M of federal tax payer money going to the DCPS system. Somebody needs to find a way to make that $24,000+ per child work. That's beyond insane. Fairfax County Public Schools, some of the best schools in the country, cost half what DC does. Throwing more money at the problem is not the answer.

I still have a question as to whether they did throw ADDITIONAL money into it.

 

[unionmom]

That's a ridiculous amount of money ... but at least their food seems healthier than what our kids are getting.


As for Obama cutting the program ... I'm sorry but I have a problem with an additional $300M of federal tax payer money going to the DCPS system. Somebody needs to find a way to make that $24,000+ per child work. That's beyond insane. Fairfax County Public Schools, some of the best schools in the country, cost half what DC does. Throwing more money at the problem is not the answer.

I still have a question as to whether they did throw ADDITIONAL money into it.

So you're saying that the Fed program wasn't additional money but instead it was them allowing the Fed funds already going to the district to be used in a voucher program, is that right? Interesting.

 

[mei lan]

The poorest children were attending Hopewell Friends, and the public schools that were "left behind" were improving too. It was brilliant pilot program.

That was the same school Obama's children attended was't it?

Yup.

Negative. The Obama children attend, and have always attended in DC, Sidwell Friends, one of the most expensive private schools in the country.

I said Hopewell, I meant Sidwell.

Oh, got it...I thought you may know of another school by the Hopewell name. See? Even when you're wrong, you're right.

 

[newsjunky]

That's a ridiculous amount of money ... but at least their food seems healthier than what our kids are getting.


As for Obama cutting the program ... I'm sorry but I have a problem with an additional $300M of federal tax payer money going to the DCPS system. Somebody needs to find a way to make that $24,000+ per child work. That's beyond insane. Fairfax County Public Schools, some of the best schools in the country, cost half what DC does. Throwing more money at the problem is not the answer.

I still have a question as to whether they did throw ADDITIONAL money into it.

So you're saying that the Fed program wasn't additional money but instead it was them allowing the Fed funds already going to the district to be used in a voucher program, is that right? Interesting.

Not the system's money but the Federal money that belonged to the child and should follow the child who was lucky enough to go to the private school.

 

[lotstodo]

Ok, somebody help me out ... Sidwell is a private school, not charter. How would the "poorest children" be getting into Sidwell? (Clearly I have not followed anything with the DC public schools. Not a chance in h-e-double hockey sticks that I would ever have kids living in DC.)

In Washington DC, the Federal Government spends over $12,000 per child per school year, NOT counting capital expenditures. This is the most in the country, and they were getting the least for it. They started a voucher program, where each student who qualified (poor) got a voucher for a bit less than $8,000. Even though tuition at SF was some $30,000, they agreed to take a good number of voucher kids for the $8k. All public schools participated, as did the majority of private schools. The results were excellent. There was no doubt that the parents and taxpayers were getting more for their $8k than they did for $12k. The only problem was that the spaces were limited by the scope of the pilot program.

 

[unionmom]

Thanks gang for helping me get a better grasp on the program. I didn't have a clue how it worked.

I'd still love to know why DC needs so much more money per child for a complete [bad word for poopy] school system.

 

[lotstodo]

Thanks gang for helping me get a better grasp on the program. I didn't have a clue how it worked.

I'd still love to know why DC needs so much more money per child for a complete [bad word for poopy] school system.

Obviously that's what happens when the Federal Government is in charge of Education.

 

[unionmom]

Pretty much everything about DC is a total cluster.

 

[newsjunky]

Thanks gang for helping me get a better grasp on the program. I didn't have a clue how it worked.

I'd still love to know why DC needs so much more money per child for a complete [bad word for poopy] school system.

Obviously that's what happens when the Federal Government is in charge of Education.

:agreed :thumbsup

 

[ShoeDiva]

Ok, somebody help me out ... Sidwell is a private school, not charter. How would the "poorest children" be getting into Sidwell? (Clearly I have not followed anything with the DC public schools. Not a chance in h-e-double hockey sticks that I would ever have kids living in DC.)

In Washington DC, the Federal Government spends over $12,000 per child per school year, NOT counting capital expenditures. This is the most in the country, and they were getting the least for it. They started a voucher program, where each student who qualified (poor) got a voucher for a bit less than $8,000. Even though tuition at SF was some $30,000, they agreed to take a good number of voucher kids for the $8k. All public schools participated, as did the majority of private schools. The results were excellent. There was no doubt that the parents and taxpayers were getting more for their $8k than they did for $12k. The only problem was that the spaces were limited by the scope of the pilot program.

Do you have a link for that? I am only questioning it because I was told it has not been more than 2 a year and they were helping with some financial aid to make up some of the difference, but parents still had to chip in quite a bit of money for food, books, extras. Technically not reducing the tuition to the voucher amount.(Apparently there between parents lots is shared, but they only release certain information to the public.)
Obviously my info is from a parent there and could possibly be wrong, so I would love to see an actual article.

I know here, for special needs students, they can take the money associated with them, say $5,000, that $5,000 can be applied toward tuition at an approved school and the parents or financial aid have to cover the rest.

 

[newsjunky]

The end result was that the poor kids who won the lottery to get a chance at a better education were tossed out of the elite school that Obama's children attend. :tapfoot2

 

[ShoeDiva]

The end result was that the poor kids who won the lottery to get a chance at a better education were tossed out of the elite school that Obama's children attend. :tapfoot2

The voucher program is still running this year, is it not?

 

[unionmom]

SD ... the Sidwell Friends web page has a lot of info on the "financial aid" that they do.

 

[ShoeDiva]

SD ... the Sidwell Friends web page has a lot of info on the "financial aid" that they do.

Thanks, never thought to look there. :soashamed )