Did you know that your tax dollars are being used to pay for private tutors for some, but not all, students? I've said this many times, and above in my blog header - There is a dramatic difference between an equal opportunity for an education and an equal opportunity for an equal education.
It sounded simple enough: Help low-income students perform better in public schools deemed in need of improvement by giving them tutors. And let the federal government pick up the tab.
But what appeared to be an easy way to address a component of President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act has become anything but. The federal government, state education departments, local school systems and many of the 1,700 or so private education companies offering tutoring are battling over complex rules. Just who can tutor what, to whom -- and where?
...Critics have said that although the idea behind Supplemental Education Services is laudable, the Bush administration's rules are tilted in favor of the private sector."The Bush administration very much wants to encourage private [companies] to get involved in elementary and secondary public education," said Jack Jenning, director of the nonprofit Center on Education Policy, a Washington-based advocacy and research group. "They are finding any way they can to encourage federal money to be shifted to private companies . . . . Their whole bias is in favor of private companies and against school districts."
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