Milly Silva, Barbara Buono’s pick for Lieutenant Governor, is being hailed as a “warrior” for low-income families and communities, as well as labor union members. In other words, as Patrick Murray at PolitickerNJ puts it, Buono has chosen someone “just like her. Not just in gender, but in ideology and policy priorities – liberal on social issues, strong labor supporter, wary of education reform policies, etc.”
One of those education reform policies that Buono is “wary of” is offering options to kids trapped in failing districts. She told The Record today that, for instance, charter schools “were never meant to replace public schools. People are trying to use simplistic solutions to complex problems, and charter schools are not the answer.”
Buono might want to more closely study her running mate’s resume. When Milly Silva was an elementary school student in a lousy Bronx district, her mother, no doubt a powerful school choice advocate, managed to get her daughter a scholarship to The Spence School, an exclusive private all-girls school just off Fifth Avenue on 91st Street in Manhattan.
The Spence School, by the way, charges an annual tuition of $40,975 for all grades K-12. After graduation Silva went on to attend Columbia University.
Now she’s running for Lieutenant Governor.
Perhaps Buono ought to look more closely at her running mate and reconsider her education reform positions.
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Are you not struck by the seeming paradox embodied in the astronomical tuitions charged by Spence and other elite private schools. Why is it that "reformers" like to claim public schools are spending way too much per pupil when the truth is closer to half the cost of a good prep school? Why aren't the hedge funders who send their kids to Spence while "slumming" in public school "reform" attempting to lower their own cost structure by busting Spence's teachers' wages???
Inquiring minds want to know!
Kallikak-
1. Most private schools are not elite, high-cost prep schools like the one discussed in the post. Don't mistake 'one' for 'all.'
2. Some NJ districts spend more on schooling their students than President Obama spends sending his girls to Sidwell friends.
Sidwell tuition:
http://www.sidwell.edu/admissions/tuition-and-fees/index.aspx
Abbot Districts
NJ Districts: http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/13/04/11/mapping-school-spending/
And what are the graduation rates of many of these NJ districts? Hovering around 50% and less. So we can save money and offer kids a better chance for graduating.
3. The "hedge funders" are definitely sending their kids to the elite prep schools. That is their choice. AND they are trying to make high-quality educational options a choice for less fortunate students as well. Hate 'em if you want, but they're trying to help kids too.
School choice works. As long as a school educates a child well, it can be traditional public, public charter, private, virtual, blended, homeschool, outdoor, indoor. Just teach the kid well.
Stop defending a system that places students needs behind the wants of adults who cling to a selfish status quo.
Buono, look at your choices. Your answer to serve kids best is found in your selection's education history.
"Hate 'em if you want, but they're trying to help kids too."
I don't hate 'em, but I do recognize they stand at the vanguard of a winner-take-all paradigm/world view that has decimated the U.S. middle class and largely eliminated mobility out of the lower class regardless of educational achievement.
P.S. Aren't you worried that fewer and fewer people can afford your Kool-Aid?