School Vouchers

[Kevin]

It's not really fair to doom some kids to an inferior education based upon where they live and their parents lack of income. I'd rather that administrators and teachers be held accountable for the state of their schools though. I could see myself supporting this measure if it was used only after a vast variety of other options had been exhausted.

My girlfriend teaches band in a public school -- many of her kids are urban poor on social programs, etc. Although they get some of what many would call the "worst" kids, as a public school they do a decent job. If the kids try to succeed, they can. If not, they don't. She gave a pretty scary statistic to me (if it's true) the other day when she said that 35% of her kids in mid-high are the major decision makers of their family -- they don't respond well to being told to shut up and sit down in class when they're the ones buying groceries and paying their parents' bills.