Straight from the source

http://www.ed.gov/nclb/choice/schools/choicefacts.html
Above is a link to the official government site, that states what the current plan of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Naturally this includes vouchers and other educational issues that effect vouchers.

I am a little wary of the slogan they have at the top; "Parents know what is best for their children. Expanding educational options for parents is one of the hallmarks of the No Child Left Behind Act and it remains one of the President's highest priorities."
— Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings

Parents will want what is best for their children, but people who oppose vouchers would argue that parents could be wrong. Parents could force thier religious views on thier children or simply select poor schools. To be fair, NCLB seeks to combat the the selection poor schools by forcing requiring that the parents be well informed of thier options.

Sources and Summaries

I'm still looking for more but heres some voucher information sources I've found so far

I'm doing annoted bibliography for a class, and im still on the lookout for more sources if you know of any.

Jost, Kenneth. "School Vouchers Showdown." CQ Researcher 12.6 (2002): 1-144. CQ Researcher Online. CQ Press. 8 Feb. 2007 .

The in-depth report tried to remain unbaised as it helped the reader think through how the Supreme Court was likely to rule in an upcoming voucher case. The report referenced other cases, and brought up many “recent” (from the perspective of when the report was writtin in 2002) points and revealed data sets on both sides of the the issue.

Paley, Amit R. "New Spending for No Child Left Behind." The Washington Post. 6 Feb. 2007. 8 Feb. 2007 .

The newspaper article puts a Democratic spin on Bush's latest Education proposal. Paley mentions that the bill would add $300 million to school vouchers and cut special-education grants to states.

'No Child Left Behind' Prompts Subtle Standoff." CQ Weekly 64.46 (2006): 03168. CQ Public Affairs Collection. CQ Press. 8 Feb. 2007 .

The report gives lots of outside information on Bushes stance on education, including that he proposes vouchers to fun transfers of low-income children to better schools. It does not mention that democrats explicitly oppose vouchers, but it does portray them as resisting the renewal of No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

Spellings, Margaret. United States. Secretary. Department of Education. Building on Results: a Blueprint for Strengthening the No Child Left Behind Act. Jan. 2007. 8 Feb. 2007 <http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/nclb/buildingonresults.pdf>.

This gives information on the actual proposal for renewal of the No Child Left Behind Act. The word voucher is not used but it does say it is essential to give states flexability in finding creative solutions to problems. It specifically mentions funding succesfull state methods.

Scharrer, Gary. “Thousands rally for school vouchers.” Houston Chronicle. 8 Feb. 2007. 8 Feb. 2007. .

The feel of the article is that people want texas to fund vouchers but it probably isn't going to happen. He qoutes both sides formally then cites a stories of people who need the money.

Carmody, Susan. “School vouchers are only a Band-Aid.” SMU Daily Campus. 8 Feb. 2007. 8 Feb. 2007. <http://www.smudailycampus.com/home/index.cfm?event=dislayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=5d480db4-6cff-4d21-aba9-78b5fc7b0dda>.

The article just informed me that NCLB expansion includes $4,000 “Promise Scholarships.” Then she goes on to say that improving public schools has been working, while providing vouchers for people to leave them has not beein improving grades.

“Indiana School Choice.” The Heritage Foundation. 2007. 8 Feb. 2007.

<http://www.heritage.org/Research/Education/SchoolChoice/Indiana.cfm>.

The article has a bunch of odd statistics at the start. The bottom has a history and summary of all bill concerning vouchers, including ones that never made it through Indiana's congress.

Dana, “The governemnt we deserve.” Principled Discovery. 1 Feb. 2007. 8 Feb. 2007. <http://gottsegnet.blogspot.com/2007/02/government-we-deserve.html>

Dana brought a refreshing view to the topic of school vouchers; that the federal government should not be invovled in education in the first place. She mentions that it is not stated as a federal responsibility. She doesn't really follow how nice it would be if the government did not tax-to-pay-for or fund education, but instead notes how most people just look and wonder which way is the best way for the federal governemnt to make their cheap education more effective.

An Interesting Resource

http://schoolsmatter.blogspot.com/2007/01/nclb-blasted.html

First of all I haven't done much reasearch yet so it was cool to find out that "Education Secretary Margaret Spellings released the changes the administration wants in the 5-year-old education law, up for renewal this year. A second proposal would allow students in failing public schools to apply for a $4,000 religious or private school voucher."

He continues:

• “President Bush has clearly decided to invite partisan bickering rather than bipartisan progress,” said American Federation of Teachers President Edward McElroy. “Every minute spent debating a voucher proposal means less time for making needed changes to a law that has been long on promise and short on progress.”
  Baltimore Teachers Union spokesman David Barney said Tuesday that the union would support the AFT’s position.
  “Vouchers would shift resources and the best students, but what about the kids left behind,” Baltimore County School Board President Donald Arnold said. “The biggest thing we need to do is bring all the schools up to the top-performing levels.”
  With school board leaders from Harford, Anne Arundel and Carroll counties, Arnold met with Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., Tuesday at noon in his Capital Hill office to discuss the No Child Left Behind reauthorization.
  Arnold would like to see the current law changed to designate an entire school as failing, even if only one small subgroup of students misses the adequate yearly progress marks. Ruppersberger said he’s more concerned about fully funding the legislation.

So yeah, it was cool to see where education might be going, and this guy just had alot of fresh perspective.

I especially found interesting that vouchers is automatically a bi-partisan issue. It seems like it could be very true if you first think, christians want their private schools at less cost, or, a few resources presented vouchers as benefitting the rich. At any I the fact that it is only $4000 could be part of an attempt at bi-partisan progress.

I also didn't know the actual voucher proposal being looked at was limited to failing schools. I'm not sure how this effects the arguements I've seen.

Blah blah Blogging?

What value is there in blogging?
First, blogging has the advantages that go along with any kind of logging.

1. I can get it out. When I just have to talk about something. I can use a blog. For instance I can vent my anger about Microsoft's blatant idea theft, or the share my excitement about this great idea I just had. When I just have to tell somebody a blog is a way to do it.
2. I can sort it out. Writing a log of an activity I've done clarifies it in my mind, making it clearer in my mind and easier to sort out.
3. I can get it back. If I don't write it down I might forget it. Blogging allows me to retrieve these ideas that I might otherwise forget.
   

The web provides me with a diverse pool of people to network and interact with.

• The fact that they exist and can come read my page. causes me to try and make sure I have something to say. I might just say something irrelevant or poorly supported among friends, but here I feel more pressure to know what I'm talking about. In return for my diligence these people out there might actually read my blog and give me valuable feedback. Networks of people commenting each others blogs, and exchanging ideas online can develop an topic far better than an isolated group of people with similar backgrounds could do in person.

• The same point about backgrounds can apply to Christian living. While blogging is one more place where Christians can (and should) display a good testimony to other groups, it can be far more effective for Christians (especially those who have been too sheltered) to see how the rest of the world thinks.

(Comp 2) Very Beginnings of my Research Paper

jeffberkowitz.blogspot.com
In the above discussion, the writer seems to favor vouchers as a way to basically bring educational equality to the ghetto and give them equal playing ground. Additionally, the ghetto schools would have to improve to keep their students and their funding. This seems to sum up the standard argument for government educational vouchers.

parentalcation.blogspot.com
This blog contends that, given the choice of many schools (from vouchers), many parents would still choose poor schools and waste government money. He cites a rural school vs a nearby school. The ghetto school is generally thought to be worse in polls but statistics showed it to far outperform the nearby rural school. He ends by saying choice is still good (leaving the reader to guess that he still supports vouchers).

I haven't found anything that applies specifically to our family situation. (Which I guess would be a proposed voucher to for middle income families with high expenses to send their child to a Christian school[if the govt is gunna go that far they should just go and do it for everyone])
Another sort of alternative is just to allow gov't funding for schools like ours, but with the current emphasis on "separation of church and state" that isn't going to happen any time soon.