House Republicans seek 80% cut to federal program for students from low-income families

DevCat@lemmy.world to United States | News & Politics@lemmy.ml – 201 points – 1 years ago

Sharpening critique of public schools, House Republicans seek deep education cuts

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives want to dramatically slash funding for Title I, the long-running federal program that sends money to schools based on the number of children from low-income families that they serve.

A bill advanced by a Republican-controlled House subcommittee on Friday seeks to cut Title I grants by 80% or nearly $15 billion.

Republicans just keep writing the Democrat talking points for the next election.

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People going to private schools and homeschooling shows better results in both test scores and future success rates.

No shit. Guess who's more likely to attend a private school? People with money are and are likely going to be "more successful" regardless of where/if they go to school. They're also likely to have more free time and resources to use after-school test improvement courses. It's like saying "the children of billionaires are more likely to become at least be millionaires when they are adults."

Private education is not the cause of better outcomes. It is just a statistic with confounding factors. There's also a huge issue of private schools being for profit businesses, so looking good is important. They will remove poor performing students, and they will pass students who don't deserve it. There was at least one charter school that had almost no attendance but an almost 100% pass rate, because it was more profitable to pass them regardless and not enforce attendance.

Profit should not be the measure of success for a school, so why would we ever want to make that the case? The only reasons are either to line someone's pockets or to get more children to go to indoctrination chambers rather than places of education.

That said, there are plenty of issues with public education in the US. You point to how much we spend per student, but look at how little money teachers make. Things need to change for sure, but that isn't turning them into institutions for turning out money rather than good students. Just look at for-profit universities in the US. There are very few good ones and the vast majority of good universities are public. (You still have to pay tuition obviously, but they get some amount of public funding but have to conform to certain rules.)

People with money are and are likely going to be “more successful” regardless of where/if they go to school. They’re also likely to have more free time and resources to use after-school test improvement courses. It’s like saying “the children of billionaires are more likely to become at least be millionaires when they are adults.”

Interesting, so people that have the ability to send their kids to different schools, like having a school choice, is having more input and the kids are provided better materials and resources than they are in public schools!

There’s also a huge issue of private schools being for profit businesses, so looking good is important.

first off, not all private schools are for profit. Secondly, that's the point, they need to do well, or they don't make money. That's like saying 'dammit, apple only makes money because they provide a service that billions of people pay for and enjoy!! grrrr, I wish we just had one standard government phone for everyone!"

They will pass students who don’t deserve it.

Really? You're saying the private schools are the issue with this? Public schools it's literally illegal to hold someone back.

There was at least one charter school that had almost no attendance but an almost 100% pass rate, because it was more profitable to pass them regardless and not enforce attendance.

And baltimore public schools produce illiterate kids. You think using one example to base your opinion off of all charter schools is okay? I'll do the same but can name hundreds of public schools.

Profit should not be the measure of success for a school, so why would we ever want to make that the case?

I didn't. I made test scores and success in life a metric for it. Right now, schools are more segregated since they were literally segregated.

Your policy of forcing every kid to go to public school and requiring that parents will need to pay 40k to a private school to get a better education only hurts people. There are plenty of benchmarks we can require to ensure private schools take in students from different demographics. Right now a poor inner city kid is sent to a shitty inner city school, without an option to actually go to a good school. Give parents the option to do that.

but look at how little money teachers make. Things need to change for sure, but that isn’t turning them into institutions for turning out money rather than good students.

How public schools are run aren't making good students. I want to switch it up by offering the choice for schools.

My app is removing everything I type when I scroll up, and I'm not going to work around that. Anyway, you're misrepresenting what I said, whether purposeful or not. People with resources and money will always have better outcomes no matter where they go to school. It just so happens that many (most) private schools have a barrier that prevents people without resources from attending, so private schools appear to do better because they have better outcomes, but it's by design. The design isn't that they're better educators either, it's that their choosing to only accept people who will already likely have better outcomes because of confounding factors.

It just so happens that many (most) private schools have a barrier that prevents people without resources from attending, so private schools appear to do better because they have better outcomes, but it’s by design.

I have addressed one way to get around that off the top of my head above. I'm sure there are plenty of other ways.