“We’ll use the taxpayers’ money to make sure the child learns. … We want to be concerned about the results, not about the structures.”
– Rodney Paige, Secretary of Education
The goal of education reform should be to provide all students with the opportunity to receive a quality education. To accomplish this goal, parents need the tools to become active participants in their child’s education, and to hold schools accountable. This can be accomplished through the following:
Give all parents a choice of where their children go to school.
All parents should have the power and opportunity to choose their child’s school – regardless of where they live or how much they earn. This can be accomplished in a number of ways to serve the needs of different communities:
Local communities should be allowed to create charter schools – independent public schools that are held directly accountable for producing specified educational results. Neither state nor local authorities should specify the educational methods charter schools must employ, limit charter school numbers or enrollment, or mandate who charter schools must hire.
Vouchers should be made universally available, so that all parents can afford to choose which schools their children attend. As a first step, vouchers can be offered to families whose children attend overcrowded or poorly performing schools.
Universal tax credits should be made available so that parents exercising choice are not forced to pay twice to educate their children. A “universal” tax credit allows any taxpayer to take a credit for money spent on tuition or educational expenses for any child, so that even low-income families can benefit from the tax credit through scholarships. Tax credits should not be refundable.
Education savings accounts should be expanded to allow parents to use money saved for elementary and secondary education, as well as higher education. The total annual contribution should be increased from the current, paltry $500.
Maintain the independence of private schools and home schoolers.
School choice plans, such as vouchers, tax credits, and education savings accounts, can play a significant role in giving parents effective choice over their child’s curriculum. Such plans can only achieve their promise if they avoid placing new curricular requirements or other regulations on private schools and homeschoolers.
Free the public schools to respond to parental choices.
Teachers and parents should have the maximum freedom to design a curriculum that improves academic achievement and accommodates different parents’ diversity of views about the types of education that they want for their children. Individual public schools are smothered in bureaucracy imposed by higher levels – federal, state, and the local school district – that prevent parents and individual teachers from educating children effectively.
Reduce the mandates and bureaucracy that inflate the cost of public education.
Qualified individuals with diverse professional backgrounds should be allowed to teach in both public and private schools, and government spending on education should provide local schools and school districts with flexibility to meet their needs, as determined by local parents, teachers, and principals. CSE also opposes increasing the size of the federal or state government through lotteries or other means.
Enact a Teacher Protection Act that frees teachers to maintain control of their classrooms.
State and federal governments should adopt a Teacher Protection Act, allowing teachers to better maintain control of their classrooms without fear of unreasonable retribution or lawsuits. The number of teachers purchasing liability insurance has increased 25 percent in the last five years. Teachers and other district employees deserve protection from civil and criminal liability when they act in conformity with state law and district rules. Enacting a Teacher Protection Act will return classrooms to the teachers, the schoolyards to our children, and our tax dollars to education, not litigation.
Make public education accountable to the taxpayers who fund it and the parents forced to turn over their children to it.
Schools that fail to serve the needs of local students should lose their funding as parents choose a different school. CSE opposes increasing the federal government’s role in education through, for example, setting standards for local schools. While there may be a role for states to direct public schools to engage in some type of testing, it is not clear that every state, or every school in a state, needs to do the same thing, or that the government needs to choose the test. Such decisions should be left to the local schools and the parents of the students they serve.”
"Tutatumia pesa za walipa kodi kuhakikisha kwamba mtoto anajifunza". """Tunataka kuwa na wasiwasi juu ya matokeo, sio juu ya miundo,"" Rodney Paige, Katibu wa Elimu, alisema, ""Lengo la mageuzi ya elimu inapaswa kuwa kutoa wanafunzi wote fursa ya kupokea elimu ya ubora.""" Ili kufikia lengo hili, wazazi wanahitaji zana za kuwa washiriki wa kazi katika elimu ya mtoto wao, na kushikilia shule kuwajibika. Hii inaweza kutimizwa kwa njia ifuatayo: Wape wazazi wote chaguo la mahali ambapo watoto wao huenda shuleni. Wazazi wote wanapaswa kuwa na nguvu na fursa ya kuchagua shule ya mtoto wao - bila kujali wanaishi wapi au wanafanya kazi kiasi gani. Hii inaweza kutimizwa kwa njia kadhaa ili kuhudumia mahitaji ya jamii tofauti: Jumuiya za mitaa zinapaswa kuruhusiwa kuunda shule za mkataba - shule za umma huru ambazo zinawajibika moja kwa moja kwa kuzalisha matokeo maalum ya elimu. "Hakuna mamlaka ya serikali au ya mitaa ambayo inapaswa kutaja mbinu za elimu ambazo shule za mkataba lazima zitumie, kupunguza idadi ya shule za mkataba au uandikishaji, au kuamuru ni nani shule za mkataba lazima zinaajiri. """ Vouchers zinapaswa kutolewa kwa wote, ili wazazi wote waweze kuchagua shule ambazo watoto wao wanahudhuria. Kama hatua ya kwanza, vyeti vinaweza kutolewa kwa familia ambazo watoto wao huhudhuria shule zenye watu wengi kupita kiasi au zenye matokeo duni. "Kufikia sasa, mikopo ya kodi ya kimataifa inapaswa kutolewa ili wazazi wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto wa watoto.""" "Kukopesha kodi kwa ujumla"" kunaruhusu mlipa kodi yeyote kuchukua mkopo kwa pesa zilizotumika kwa masomo au gharama za elimu kwa mtoto yeyote, ili hata familia zenye mapato ya chini ziweze kufaidika na mkopo wa kodi kupitia udhamini." Mikopo ya kodi haipaswi kurudishwa. Akaunti za akiba za elimu zinapaswa kupanuliwa ili kuruhusu wazazi kutumia pesa zilizopatikana kwa ajili ya elimu ya msingi na sekondari, pamoja na elimu ya juu. Kwa hivyo, mchango wa kila mwaka wa jumla unapaswa kuongezeka kutoka kwa $ 500 ya sasa. Kuhifadhi uhuru wa shule za kibinafsi na wanafunzi wa nyumbani. Mipango ya uchaguzi wa shule, kama vile voucher, mikopo ya kodi, na akaunti za akiba za elimu, zinaweza kuwa na jukumu muhimu katika kuwapa wazazi chaguo bora juu ya mtaala wa mtoto wao. Mipango kama hiyo inaweza tu kufikia ahadi yao kama wao kuepuka kuweka mahitaji mapya curricular au kanuni nyingine juu ya shule binafsi na homeschoolers. Shule za umma zinapaswa kuwa huru kujibu maamuzi ya wazazi. Walimu na wazazi wanapaswa kuwa na uhuru wa kutosha wa kubuni mtaala ambao unaboresha mafanikio ya kitaaluma na unakubaliana na maoni tofauti ya wazazi kuhusu aina ya elimu wanayotaka kwa watoto wao. Shule za umma za kibinafsi zimezidiwa na udhibiti wa serikali unaowekwa na ngazi za juu - shirikisho, jimbo, na wilaya ya shule ya mitaa - ambayo huzuia wazazi na walimu binafsi kuwaelimisha watoto kwa ufanisi. Kupunguza amri na uburudani ambao huongeza gharama ya elimu ya umma. Watu wenye sifa na uzoefu mbalimbali wa kitaaluma wanapaswa kuruhusiwa kufundisha katika shule za umma na za kibinafsi, na matumizi ya serikali ya elimu yanapaswa kutoa shule za mitaa na wilaya za shule na kubadilika ili kukidhi mahitaji yao, kama ilivyoamuliwa na wazazi wa mitaa, walimu, na wakurugenzi. CSE pia inapinga kuongeza ukubwa wa serikali ya shirikisho au serikali ya jimbo kupitia bahati nasibu au njia nyingine. Sheria ya Ulinzi wa Walimu inatoa uhuru kwa walimu kudumisha udhibiti wa madarasa yao. Serikali za jimbo na serikali za shirikisho zinapaswa kupitisha Sheria ya Ulinzi wa Mwalimu, kuruhusu walimu kudumisha udhibiti bora wa madarasa yao bila kuogopa adhabu isiyo ya busara au kesi za kisheria. Idadi ya walimu wanaofanya kazi ya kuokoa maisha ya wanafunzi imeongezeka kwa asilimia 25 katika miaka ya hivi karibuni. Walimu na wafanyakazi wengine wa wilaya wanastahili ulinzi kutoka kwa dhima ya kiraia na ya jinai wakati wanafanya kazi kwa kufuata sheria za jimbo na sheria za wilaya. """Kutunga Sheria ya Ulinzi wa Walimu kutawarudisha walimu madarasa, watoto wetu viwanja vya shule, na dola zetu za kodi kwa elimu, sio kesi." """Hii ni kwa sababu elimu ya umma inapaswa kuwajibika kwa walipa kodi ambao wanaifadhili na wazazi wanaolazimishwa kuwapa watoto wao." Shule ambazo hazifanyi kazi kwa mahitaji ya wanafunzi wa eneo hilo zinapaswa kupoteza fedha zao wakati wazazi wanapochagua shule nyingine. CSE inapinga kuongeza jukumu la serikali ya shirikisho katika elimu kupitia, kwa mfano, kuweka viwango kwa shule za mitaa. Ingawa kuna jukumu kwa majimbo kuelekeza shule za umma kushiriki katika aina fulani ya upimaji, haijulikani wazi kwamba kila jimbo, au kila shule katika jimbo, inahitaji kufanya kitu kimoja, au kwamba serikali inahitaji kuchagua mtihani. Maamuzi kama hayo yanapaswa kuachwa kwa shule za mahali hapo na wazazi wa wanafunzi wanaotumikia. <unk>