The Grand Rapids Press reported today that the Grand Rapids Public Schools lost 1,100 students over last school year. They say this is the largest single-year student loss in a decade. The article (which is not available online) quotes a school board member who's completely baffled by the loss.
Well, gee, who knows, maybe it's the total lack of fiscal discipline? After asking for and getting $160 million to build buildings, they increasingly hint that they will be declaring bankruptcy. Now please tell us, board members, who in their right mind would send their child to a school district that will be bankrupt in a year? The only students that will be left are those with parents who can't afford to send their children someplace else.
So, while tens of thousands of children get completely short changed with a disaster of a school system, the politicians in Lansing, in collusion with the teacher's unions, do everything they can to prevent the expansion of charter schools, which serve a much higher proportion of at risk and poor children than traditional public schools. And when's the last time you heard a charter school whining about money?
It's a tragedy that an entire generation of children, whose biggest hope in life is to get a good education, will be left behind by bureaucrats, labor unions, and selfish politicians.
No comments:
Post a Comment