Public schools

On the other hand, if your kid IS bright the private schools will help them shine, because of the rigors they impose. It's the reason a small school like mine, currently has alumni on full scholarship at Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. Not to mention U of I, and U of W Madison.

Only if you can afford the tuition at the few private schools here that have college prep programs. And even then most parents try to get their children into either the public school I graduated from or into another college prep public magnet that opened here about 10-15 years ago. Both schools have been ranked in Newsweek's top 10 public schools over the past few years.

Florida does have vouchers of a sort. Every year students in certain grades must take the FCAT, a state standardized exam for math and reading (and I think science now). Public schools get letter grades based on how their students do on these exams. If a school gets an F 2 years in a row, the parents for that school are eligible for state vouchers that can be used at any private school that accepts them. And since a private school has to administer the FCAT in order to be eligible to take the vouchers, very few private schools will take them because they don’t want to meet the state’s curriculum standards and the scholarships for learning disabled students are too easy to get.
 
This depends entirely on the School. Denver Academy is a private school specifically for the LD. My wife went there and got a fantastic education. Every teacher is very qualified and has been trained for this specific type of education issues.

But what do you do about a state, like Florida, that does not care how private schools operate?

Parents in places that have good quality public or private schools likely won’t be interested in sending their children to a NEST school because there would be nothing to gain. So NEST schools likely won’t put existing good quality schools out of business. But in places where existing schools are poor quality, NEST schools would provide an alternative that is not now available. The states could continue operating their public schools as before. It will be up to the parents to decide whether or not NEST schools will open.
 
But what do you do about a state, like Florida, that does not care how private schools operate?

Parents in places that have good quality public or private schools likely won’t be interested in sending their children to a NEST school because there would be nothing to gain. So NEST schools likely won’t put existing good quality schools out of business. But in places where existing schools are poor quality, NEST schools would provide an alternative that is not now available. The states could continue operating their public schools as before. It will be up to the parents to decide whether or not NEST schools will open.

I would be willing to bet that I could find good private schools in Florida as well. This assumption that because they aren't regulated by the state, they probably are just less so than the publics, they will always be bad is a common misconception and fearmongering used by liberals who wish to continue sending all kids to the public schools. If a school accepted vouchers they would have to meet, or exceed, the standards of the state. Pretty simple.
 
Only if you can afford the tuition at the few private schools here that have college prep programs. And even then most parents try to get their children into either the public school I graduated from or into another college prep public magnet that opened here about 10-15 years ago. Both schools have been ranked in Newsweek's top 10 public schools over the past few years.

Florida does have vouchers of a sort. Every year students in certain grades must take the FCAT, a state standardized exam for math and reading (and I think science now). Public schools get letter grades based on how their students do on these exams. If a school gets an F 2 years in a row, the parents for that school are eligible for state vouchers that can be used at any private school that accepts them. And since a private school has to administer the FCAT in order to be eligible to take the vouchers, very few private schools will take them because they don’t want to meet the state’s curriculum standards and the scholarships for learning disabled students are too easy to get.

Obviously you are not an alumi. I was speaking of grammar schools. :duh: You wish to whine about FL schools. Ok, you got a kid? Get him/her in a successful school, they are there. You have to find them. Or not, so much easier to bitch. Cheaper too.
 
Obviously you are not an alumi. I was speaking of grammar schools. :duh: You wish to whine about FL schools. Ok, you got a kid? Get him/her in a successful school, they are there. You have to find them. Or not, so much easier to bitch. Cheaper too.

Lady, you don’t know me from Adam. Furthermore you apparently know little of schools in Florida, public or private.
 
Purely my own idea based on my personal experience as a private school teacher. I cannot say that all private schools are bad. But, all but a few private schools here in my part of Florida are bad and will never be a worthwhile alternative to public schools no matter how bad the public schools may be.

I no longer support vouchers because, in a state like Florida, private schools determine their own curriculum and teacher qualifications. And as a result I’ve never met a single private school student who could read up to the grade level appropriate for his age. Furthermore, I once had a class of 7th graders (that included a 9th grader) that could not do long division, which is a 4th grade skill in public school here. I lost my first classroom job because I refused to give good grades just to keep the parents happy. Most private schools here operate without libraries or computer labs or science lab supplies. At my last classroom job I was given 2 class sets of science textbooks to teach 65 students. Students at this school were not allowed to take school books home and I was not allowed to assign homework.

My how times have changed. I learned to do long division in the THIRD grade at Sigsbee Elementary School, in Key West, FL.
 
Lady, you don’t know me from Adam. Furthermore you apparently know little of schools in Florida, public or private.

Too true. At the same time I do wonder if it's just the way you present:

Florida does have vouchers of a sort. Every year students in certain grades must take the FCAT, a state standardized exam for math and reading (and I think science now). Public schools get letter grades based on how their students do on these exams. If a school gets an F 2 years in a row, the parents for that school are eligible for state vouchers that can be used at any private school that accepts them. And since a private school has to administer the FCAT in order to be eligible to take the vouchers, very few private schools will take them because they don’t want to meet the state’s curriculum standards and the scholarships for learning disabled students are too easy to get.
My guess is that the FL state is requiring differing standards for different groups, not to mention having a problem with 'religion based'. You glide right over both.
 
Lady, you don’t know me from Adam. Furthermore you apparently know little of schools in Florida, public or private.

Well dude, as someone who spent 2nd, 3rd, and 9th thru 12th in FL public schools, I'd say you're doing just what No1 stated previously .....fearmongering and assuming the worst for all cases.

You seem quite oblivious to crappy students being part of the problem.
 
Well dude, as someone who spent 2nd, 3rd, and 9th thru 12th in FL public schools, I'd say you're doing just what No1 stated previously .....fearmongering and assuming the worst for all cases.

You seem quite oblivious to crappy students being part of the problem.

I have not said that all existing public or private schools are bad. Let me repeat what I said in my 2nd post in this thread: I cannot say that all private schools are bad.

But I know that enough private schools are bad so that private schools cannot be the panacea that libertarians and right-wingers say they are.

BTW: Since I have no children (and likely will never any children) and I am an only child myself so I’ll never have any nieces or nephews, I have nothing to personally gain from having a good quality school system. But, since I work as a private tutor, my business is dependent on having a bad quality school system, i.e., the worse the school are the more customers I have. However, I have never been one to put my personal interests above the public good. I call for a good quality school system because the nation needs a good quality school system- even if my business suffers as a consequence.
 

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