[aardvark1]

We will NEVER reform education until it is truly returned to the local level...by that I mean the neighborhood or the small town. At this point local school boards are hog-tied by state and federal mandates.

This is the reason private schools are so successful. They are truly controlled by those with the most at stake...the parents of the children they are paying to educate.

[ladylib]

Today's public schools are federal government schools thanks to No Child Left Behind. Half the school administrators don't know what's in the bill and how it affects their schools -- they are now just beginning to see that now what with the mandate that parents can transfer their kids from failing schools. Of course, NCLB doesn't answer the question What if a district's schools are all failing? Well-to-do districts aren't obligated to take these kids.

There was a representative from the Federal Department of Education in Newark, NJ, a couple of weeks ago who told public school administrators to clean up their act, or there would be vouchers in their future.

Perhaps states should refuse to accept federal funds. With the NEA in charge, however, I don't think public schools will ever be reformed. It's a lost cause.

[PMCarey]

This is the reason private schools are so successful. They are truly controlled by those with the most at stake...the parents of the children they are paying to educate.

More importantly, they have to compete. They have to sell the school in order to survive and if they don't deliver a good product they go out of business and the teachers and administrators lose their jobs.