Dale Ballou, a UMass professor, started things off by challenging Gorrie s proposition that funds are leaving the school districts. He said that the students are also leaving and that the schools therefore didn t have to spend as much. Allowing for fixed costs, he said, some money should leave the district to go to the charter schools. Peyser was next. Your proposed programs make no sense whatever.
Education is difficult.
You can t make it easier with vouchers. Peyser responded briefly by stating that although public schools can add value to the life of a student, too few actually do today. Gorrie, however, challenged that vouchers will hurt rather than help. Mark Kennan, who described himself as both a union activist and a board member at the Hilltown Charter School, spoke in glowing terms about the charter school movement and the accountability process. He described the four-day assessment which his charter school had recently undergone as both thorough and exciting.