In fact, that wake-up call is already being sounded by the state's testing and accountability system. Now a school's performance is in the open, for all to see. That gives the district, and the community, both the evidence and the mandate for improvement. The system has shown which of Lodi's schools are high achieving and which are low achieving, and remedial action is being taken accordingly. Just as Lodi Unified and other districts are embracing major improvements, Prop.
Supporters say vouchers have proven effective in Milwaukee and elsewhere.
But the evidence is clouded, at best. In Milwaukee, as in several of the locations where vouchers have been adopted, only lower-income students from failing schools are eligible for vouchers. They reflect only a small fraction of Milwaukee's students, and opinions on how the voucher system has worked there, both financially and academically, are mixed. 38, in contrast, would allow virtually all parents of school-age children, regardless of income, to seek vouchers. This could lead to further polarizing of our education system, with the children of richer, more savvy parents streaming to private schools while poorer children, especially those with special needs, remain on public campuses.