Posted on 04/20/2013 3:48:17 AM PDT by Hacksaw
Educators, lay leaders and rabbis representing South Florida Jewish day schools met last month in Tallahassee in a concerted effort to advocate state legislators for funds to alleviate a Jewish school tuition crisis. The visit, facilitated under the auspices of Chabad of Tallahasee, was a unique opportunity to build and strengthen connections between key community leaders from Jewish South Florida and Florida’s Jewish Legislators.
"The inaugural mission was to educate legislators in a very personal way about the Jewish day school crisis," said Elliot S. Schreiber, director of the Jewish Leadership Coalition for School Choice in South Florida.
Print Comment RSS Share With tuitions topping $20,000 per student, and insufficient private scholarship to meet the demand for tuition assistance, many parents cannot afford to send their children to Jewish schools. Currently, state programs provide a small amount of funding for tuition at Jewish day schools through programs like Step Up for Students and the McKay Scholarship for Students with Disabilities, yet advocates believe there is a long way to go towards ensuring affordable Jewish education for all.
(Excerpt) Read more at lubavitch.com ...
they want that then go back to NY, NJ Boston etc,
Far too many come down here and then want handouts like they got up north
Wait a sec, are we for school choice/vouchers or aren’t we?
We must remember the core principles in play. In this case, the core principle is: Does a parent have the right to choose the education for the child? Or does the Government?
Attach all money spent per child to the child, not the school system, and parental authority is restored. All schools can compete for their student’s tuition.
My guess is that in short order, a mixture of computer based ‘distance learning and parental/hired tutor education will be producing a generation of students far more capable than those now seen slouching across graduation stages, clutching a diploma they can’t really understand or read.
***Attach all money spent per child to the child, not the school system, and parental authority is restored.***
Education should be privatized. Capitalism and competition is the best answer.
Khan academy lectures as “homework” then one-on-one help with the rough spots by tutors knowledgeable in subject matter instead of the latest education college fad seems like a potential winning model to me.
Hypocrites.
Is that a vague reference to the GI Bill?
I've complained from time to time about tone deaf communications, and the linked story is a good example. It is from a Jewish publication and is written by Jewish folks about Jewish educational needs, which is fine ... except that it's written as if no one outside the tribe is going to read it. That's never a safe assumption, especially in the age of the internet. It's also short sighted, because when you are involved in a public policy question, you want to (1) give some ammunition to your allies; (2) preempt ignorant or malicious criticism; and (3) educate your own folks about who their friends and opponents are.
It sounds to me like the group involved was lobbying for expanded school choice via programs that would be universally applicable: e.g.,
Currently, state programs provide a small amount of funding for tuition at Jewish day schools through programs like Step Up for Students and the McKay Scholarship for Students with Disabilities, yet advocates believe there is a long way to go towards ensuring affordable Jewish education for all.
The group of Jewish advocates represented a joint, non-partisan effort organized by the Jewish Leadership Coalition for School Choice (JLSSC) and included representatives from organizations across the spectrum of Jewish affiliation. United in their goal in securing expanded school choice and funding opportunities for the secular education needs of students who attend Jewish schools, the delegation included the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, Agudas Yisroel as well as influential leaders from Conservative and Reform backgrounds.
If I had written the story, I'd have included a sentence or two acknowledging the broader applicability of the initiative to other faith communities, as well as to secular private schooling. You are pretty deep inside a bubble when you go lobbying with a boatload of reform, liberal, conservative, and orthodox Jewish groups and call it a "multi-denominational" effort. Technically yes, but ....
It's like the First, Second, and Third Baptists getting together with the Faith Baptists, Primitive Baptists, and Methodist Episcopal Baptists and calling themselves inter-denominational.
In fairness, the group was apparently visiting only Jewish legislators, which adds to the insular aura. A single sentence would have gone a long way in clarifying things: "The JLSSC is also working with a broad coalition of other school choice advocates, Christian and secular as well as Jewish, to improve educational options for all students."
It's all a question of broader cultural sensitivities. I can't imagine a Catholic group failing to acknowledge the broader context, largely because the Catholics have spent 150 years defusing Papist conspiracy rhetoric. Most protestant denominations would also be reflexively ecumenical when addressing a social policy issue.
State funding? BIG MISTAKE! The golden rule of power is: he who has the gold makes the rules.
Regarding Kahn Academy and such, there is another crucial issue in education - who test?
Which leads to: Who issues credentials, AKA professional accreditation?
I recommend a paper by a fellow FReeper, Carry_Okie - Google “We Test, And How”.
Short version: Allow insured private academic testing. “Insured” means the testing company carries insurance against costs incurred if a tested person does not have the skills tested for.
Why not hit up the Wall St. bankers?
I would add to that tone deafness a headline writer who has me asking; “Do you really want to go there?”
Credentialism via attendance, vs. true competence in an area, is completely out of control in our society. A large part of the reason is discrimination lawsuits and threats thereof.
I presume the Jewish groups referenced in the story were probably making a very unexceptional round of lobbying calls on some very modest school choice initiatives, but the story and headline are written as if the editor and writer went out of their way to buttress their critics' argument.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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This request likely relates to the defeated Amendment 8 which would have allowed for state funding of religious schools. Religious schools, not Jewish schools. Should Chabad be successful, other faiths will reap the benefits of their effort. Am I surprised by the opposition of some freepers to things like vouchers and religious school funding. Not really. Teachers unions have supporters everywhere.
After this the muzzie schools will be funded. Christian schools. Satan schools too. Maybe gay academies too.
100% of the money, federal, state and local, comes from the taxpayers and it should be understood it is for EDUCATION and that should not mean it is for protecting ANY education institution, but for insuring adequate funding for each kid who needs to go to school, and therefor the money - each kid’s share of the federal, state & local money - should go to the school the parents want to send their kid to - any school
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