Black leaders rethink vouchers

For years, teachers and others who opposed private school vouchers in Florida could count on black lawmakers to stand with them. But there are signs that support may be cracking. The most recent example came last week. The foundation named for former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, an icon in the black community and a longtime voucher opponent, announced it would be awarding hundreds of vouchers to low-income kids in Miami.

More here.

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Comments

Some of those self-appointed "leaders" thinking at all is already an achievement.

[terminator]

Ironically, now that Mrs. Meek no longer needs the support of the teachers union, she supports vouchers.
I don't remember ever seeing anything about her or other so-called "black leaders" such as state board chair Willard Fair doing anything for their local public schools.
Instead, they align with right wing fanatics like Jeb Bush to push the anti-public education agenda.
Not surprisingly, most every single one of the public schools in Meek and Fair's district are D/F schools. Yet rather than support their local public schools they decide to resort to voucher schemes so they can play big man on campus.
Reporters should view Mrs. Meek's new voucher clearinghouse with a jaundiced eye since recent Miami Herald reports concerning her and son Kendrick Meek's involvement with a sleazy Boston developer who hoodwinked Miami-Dade county taxpayers for millions on the now defunct Liberty City Poinciana Park project.
Turns out while Mrs. Meek received office space rent free in the developer's Opa Locka building and drove a Cadillac Escalade courtesy of the developer, Kendrick Meek pushed for additional federal funding for the project.
Only when the Herald corruption probe fingered the Meek's involvement did the whole house of cards come crashing down.
Vouchers are simply a cheap gimmick to undermine public schools.
Until the black community starts cleaning its own house, there's nothing the federal, state and local governments can do for them.
We've poured billions into closing the achievement gap between Asians/whites and black/hispanic minorities with barely a blip of improvement.
Pouring billions down the drain attempting to educate many who don't want to be educated only drains away funding from those students/parents who actually care about getting an education.
More parental involvement, smaller classes, better discipline, more rigerous course requirements, more vocational/technical/alternative school options and a no-nonsense approach to education are all cheaper common sense solutions that would go along way towards improving the culture of these perpetually failing schools.

Carrie Meek sold out to the highest bidder. Where's the story? This is no surprise or anything new.

[Susan S]

Great. As the rest of the world is finally waking up to the voucher sham, this group decides to support them. Talk about being a day late and a dollar short...

Dear Adam Smith,

You state that no one will be allowed to post an entry to your blog that is “racially, ethnically or religiously offensive.”

Terminator’s comment that:

“Until the black community starts cleaning its own house, there's nothing the federal, state and local governments can do for them. We've poured billions into closing the achievement gap between Asians/whites and black/hispanic minorities with barely a blip of improvement. Pouring billions down the drain attempting to educate many who don't want to be educated only drains away funding from those students/parents who actually care about getting an education”

certainly fits that category. It should be taken down. As evidenced by the hundreds of thousands of members of both the Hispanic and Black communities who work hard help their kids in both public and private schools, such a comments is a blatant stereotype and not worthy of your blog. Have the integrity and courage to take it down.

[do your research]

For Terminator to imply that Carrie and Kendrick Meek are “aligned” with Jeb Bush is hilarious. Has he forgotten that Kendrick led the sit-in of Jeb’s office over one Florida? Does he forget that Mrs. Meek crashed a Jeb campaign event in Liberty City and took over his press conference?

The truth is that black leaders, including Mrs. Meek, Lawson, and others simply want to give low income parents more power. That’s all there is to it. They are hearing from their own constituents. When you have over 2,000 kids in your district on these programs, and their parents are vocal, you listen.

More credit to these officeholders for listening to the people they represent.

[Chris W]

Carrie Meek is way past her prime. She should be respected for the historical role she played, but that shouldn't blind us to the fact that she's lost whatever edge she had. And now that she doesn't have to answer to the voters, who cares what she likes or doesn't like?

What nobody is saying is that *parents* are the ones who create the students that the teachers have to teach. *Parents* have control over the TV remote, and *parents* are the ones who get to follow up with their kids to make sure homework gets done. Parents are the ones who enforce discipline in the house and set the tone that the kids carry with them to school.

Vouchers are a ruse, plain and simple. They're a simple solution offered to fix a huge, complex problem. And they will fail. The main pushers of vouchers are still right-wing Christians upset that there is sex education at all in schools, and that they can't have Genesis taught in science class. And so they whine, and they kvetch, and they come up with little bottles of voucher holy water and sell them as magic beans that will automatically fix our failing schools. But our failing schools are mainly due to failing students, and they're mainly due to failing parents.

do your research:

Giving parents choices is exactly what the Republicans are trying to do with the vouchers. Finally, some in the black community recognize it.

For those interested in understanding why these black leaders are changing their minds on parental choice for low income families, watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/flacetampa

It shows over 4,500 people converging on the capitol in April from as far away as Miami. They came to show their support for parental choice and these programs. One of the speakers, in addition to Sen. Lawson, was Florida civil rights icon Rev. H.K. Matthews, who marched with King at Selma and was jailed over 30 times in Pensacola trying to bring equality to that city. Fittingly, Matthews was also the keynote speaker this January at a Democratic Black Caucus MLK Dinner. Look at the crowd in the video--it is almost all minority and mostly African American. When you watch it, it is not hard to understand why this transormation is taking place.

It is taking place because blacks have figured out that the Ds just want them for their votes; that so long as thei vote a straight D ticket, nobody is going to take them seriously and both sides are going to take them for granted.

Maybe some people are getting tired of the dems telling them that they know what's best for them and they will take "good care" of them and their families as they continue to get poorer and minority education falters further. Jeb is right on this as he wants to give these people an OPTION to have access to what may be a better system. This is a hands down win fro the R's. Whatever happened to the D's who complain that the rich have access to a better HC system than the poor, these children need access to the best education possible.

Rememeber that these parents are just being given the power to act upon their own choice. They even, on average, have to pay out of pocket to be on the tax credit scholarships (average tuition at the 800 participating schools is $4,300 and the maximum scholarship is $3,750).

For Sen. Wilson to say:

"I don't see how any African-American can support vouchers... Those who do are very misled and they are moving along a path that they don't understand."

this either shows an incredible lack of understanding or lack of respect for her own constituents. These parents understand exactly what they are doing--choosing the right school for their kids.

http://www.amazon.com/Jeb-Americas-S-V-Date/
dp/1585425486/ref=sr_1_1/105-2383425-5062019
?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186950008&sr=1-1

Posted by: | August 12, 2007 at 03:03 PM:

Jeb Bush paraphrase: What am I going to do for African Americans - probably little to nothing.

THAT is not giving a damn about African Americans.

Check out the real record about vouchers rather than the rhetorical verbiage.

4:17 exactly right.

And there are just too many self-appointed 'leaders" in our community who don't really know what we are all about.

[we all agree]

terminator is an IDIOT

Posted by: | August 12, 2007 at 04:27 PM:

"Self-appointed"?

She is a duly elected State Senator.

Posted by: we all agree | August 12, 2007 at 05:09 PM --- are idiots.

2:24 the truth is exempt. And it hurts, doesn't it?

5:10 you are a self-appointed leader is you are elected by a miniscule proportion of an ignorant community to which you are not even responsive anyway and blow your horn with an eye towrads remaining in office rather than towards doing any good for anyone. That fits Wilson and plenty of others.

[Boca Grande]

Termie says some pretty stupid stuff, but racially offensive? Nah.

I moved here from PA, where there's no forced integration and no option of choosing a school. You go to school where you live. That means that if you live in a black area, your kids get a crappy education. The nearest predominantly black school system was a complete disaster. Billions and billions of dollars were spent on teachers, tutors, free lunches, on-campus daycare, a full-time police presence, and every other nanny-state liberal program you can think of. The end result was another crappy school. Teachers left because of the conditions, new facilities were quickly destroyed by vandals, violence was a normal part of the school day, the dropout rate stayed close to 50%, and all the billions didn't make a dent in the failing status of the schools. At what point will the left, beholden as it is to the parasitic unions, allow parents a way out? Your programs aren't new, and increased funding has been the policy for the last 30 years. It hasn't worked. It won't work. Until leaders of all races have the nerve to tell it like it is - black culture is a culture of failure that must fundamentally change - the only hope is to get good black kids with good parents out of the bad schools.

[Epol]

Pleeeeze. It's open knowledge that the Hon. Carrie Meek will do or say anything for the right price.

She's particularly fond of nice cars.

It's really sad.

Black parents have been very supportive of vouchers for a long time. They recognize it as their best chance for their children to escape crappy public schools. For too long, the Ds have taken the Black vote for granted, and demanded loyalty from elected Black oficials on that, and other issues, to the detriment of the Black community.
Thank goodness their are a few Black leaders willing to support vouchers, and endure the harassment of the teacher unions and the Democratic Party establishment.
Full disclosure: I think Carrie Meek has always been an idiot, but eventually, she gets one right.

Posted by: | August 12, 2007 at 07:33 PM:

You are a self-appointed leader?

Who truly represents the communities of interest in this thread?

Posted by: Epol | August 13, 2007 at 09:04 AM:

Your claim is likely true for just about everybody.

Right?

Thank goodness their are a few Black leaders willing to support vouchers, and endure the harassment of the teacher unions and the Democratic Party establishment.
Posted by: | August 13, 2007 at 03:18 PM:

Then, who are those "few Black leaders"?

Posted by: | August 13, 2007 at 03:18 PM:

Then, who are those "few Black leaders"?

Posted by: | August 13, 2007 at 08:01 PM

Great question: Then, who are those "few Black leaders"?