Have you written a story about the public school unions that fight to keep know-nothing teachers teaching kids who cant read, add or compete in the job market? Of course not. Have you written a story about George Soros's money given to liberals. Of course not. Why not? Because you are a hypocrit. End of story.

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November has been reading Strunk and White. Now all he needs is spell check---well, maybe a heart and a brain as well.

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The best way to segregate schools is to charge more money for the private ones (my only proof is the lack of diversity I see in LRs private schools). Vouchers would put pressure on the privates to take minorities since the voucher would give them the "ability" to pay. Otherwise, the situation in LR continues to get worse as more private schools open.

Furthermore, in most other Arkansas towns, how much choice is there?

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November lies. What else is new.

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Vouchers would probably increase the cost of school the same way flooding the used car market with car vouchers would increase the price of used cars.

The real end game here is to turn education into something that generates corporate profit, just as we've done health care, where we are 1st in the world in profit but 37th when it comes to results.

Any fool can see that when the focus is on maximizing stockholder earnings and CEO bonuses fewer dollars are left for actually educating a child. Do we really want Wall Street investment bankers running our educational system?

But as the iPhone article underlines, a child really doesn't need much of an education to do the low-level service sector jobs that now make up our economy. When we sent all the jobs that produced the middle class away to other countries, we sent our need for education away as well.

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OLR, I understand your stats. But, the problem is that the Kochs and others with CEO bonuses are not part of that 37th ranking. The CEOs are going to have great schools for their kids. So, the answer to your question is yes, we want Wall Street investment bankers running our education system. The problem is that they aren't going to let our kids in.

Their healthcare is good. Their education system is good. I don't see how vouchers help them.

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Vouchers don't help them with health care or education. Vouchers help them by creating yet another mechanism for moving money from the working families of this country to corporations and then to the bank accounts of the few.

If you think that we don't get value for our educational spending now, wait until 30% is taken off the top by a corporation to pay for earnings, lobbying, campaign contributions, marketing, and million dollar CEO salaries.

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There might be something wrong with their methods or the backers themselves but how is opening up more options for kids a bad thing? Plenty of kids who are in a school that doesn't fit their needs currently could benefit from a voucher

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It's really quite simple. The Koch Heads want to reestablish segregation by neighborhood, thereby ensuring that the have's coexist only with the have's and he have not's get educated in the have not's neighborhood.

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LL adds more lies and unsupported opinions to the list. LL is skewered by his own ignorance and deep fried in caustic fabrications, served with a helping of knavery served in its own venom.

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"The Koch Heads want to reestablish segregation by neighborhood, thereby ensuring that the have's coexist only with the have's and he have not's get educated in the have not's neighborhood."

You're talking about our current system, right? The one that more or less assigns schools based off of the student's geographical location?

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Q: Who is government taking money from and who are they redistributing it to?

A: 80% of Americans share 8% of the money, but they used to have a lot more of it.

Draw your own conclusions.

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Oelke and Crossland Construction are supporting Bart Hester, big time, against Rep. Tim Summers in the republican primary for a Benton Co. Arkansas Senate seat. I'd guess Oelke/Crossland have already bought and paid for Hester's sponsorship of the AFP plans for Arkansas. Cross your fingers, pray, rub a buckeye, do whatever in hopes Hester gets beat.

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Know how I can tell when someone knows nothing about public education, Gyl?

They talk like they have all the answers to our problems or they talk like they know absolutely nothing about the real system of public education.

Guess which one you fit in?

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There is school choice now.

A Go to the free school.
B Pay to send your child to a school of your choice.
C Or home school them.

Either of the 3 will work well depending on how involved the parent is.

A or C takes a lot of time, B takes a lot of money.

Just don't force me to pay if your CHOICE is B.

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November, do you have some constructive suggestions to better schools in Arkansas, that are researched based and speak to the solutions to the actual problems? You might try reading Act 35 of 2003, it might give you a frame of reference from which those type ideas might be developed. Oh, yes, I would encourage you to google EAST Initiative, you might find fertile ground for ideas there also.

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Those are really interesting comments libs lie. Your name speaks to your level of objectivity. By the way, do you buy insurance on say an automobile, renters or home insurance, do you pay into that communist plot (Social Security)? Of course we really don't need medicare, crap everybody in Arkansas can afford to pay their own health insurance premium of a measly $526.00 per month (that's what it costs a person over 60 with pre-existing conditions). But don't let me confuse you with the fantasies you believe. Seems like we've become a nation of beliefs (not corroborated by facts) and those who want to deal with the realities of life. Of course this is a free country and you have the option to make a choice or not.

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>>Arkansas can afford to pay their own health insurance premium of a measly $526.00 per month (that's what it costs a person over 60 with pre-existing conditions)<

Not to get nit-picky here but you need to look up more recent numbers. My bro was
63, his wife 58 and together they paid $25,000 per year for full coverage, that was 4 yrs ago. He had a mild, irregular heartbeat. In 2001 best offer I could find was $625 mo. I had bronchitis. Deductible was high.
.
The good news is , as I explained to my shocked, wealthy brother, is that he was paying for for "one-shot" insurance. What? Glad you asked.

If you have the stroke, heart attack, or wifey gets breast cancer then your insurance would cover that, one-shot, then your coverage would not be renewed. Those raw deals are over unless Roberts' Court finds otherwise and kicks out PP-AHCA.

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Let's go along with the voucher system, BUT the schools that receive vouchers must follow all regulations and guidelines that public schools follow. Such as total open enrollment even those with severe disabilities, transportation, breakfast/lunch(free for many) certified teachers, min. state required classes, facilities up to code and the list goes on. I would suspect many "private" schools would rather turn down the voucher $ than follow all the rules involved with public educations.

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Still a maroon who can't spell h y p o c r i t e, huh November? I see that your post was filled with the usual lies, Koch/Faux brainwashing, and lousy syntax.

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All about school vouchers. There are people all over AR who never heard of " the Kochs" but who support vouchers.

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The well-off can send their kids to private school... the middle clas can move to a better district... the poor?? Their stuck with the school they have, good or bad!

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Finland has a completely different method of teaching in public schools that puts their educational system at the apex of successful systems in the world. This is done without private schools or the extended school hours & year round schools of Asia.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archiv…

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