RH Jones: For profit private schools -- Where Children come second

From RH Jones, November 28, 2006
Subject: For profit private schools -- Where Children come second

To all:

The following thought-provoking article appeared in the Akron Beacon Journal, 11/23/06, Editorial page B3, "Letter to the Editor" by David Spondike of Copley Township, Ohio. He wrote and I quote:

Where children come second

To those considering private schools: Perhaps with the exception of some religious or privately funded schools, most private schools are involved with a profit-making entity. One of the most prominent examples is charter-school owner David Brennan.

Businesses, by definition, must make profit their first and ultimate priority. They use service to humanity to facilitate that primary priority. This means that parents who place their child in a school where there is a profit motive are guaranteed that the child will be second in priority at best.

What parent who wants the best for his or her child would put the child in such a situation -- by definition, guaranteed not to be the first priority?

This is what public education allows. It allows the children of the community to ultimately be placed first in the priorities of the school. For-profit schools cannot do this. Public schools do. Test results show that the public schools are where children come first. It is where we can find the largest pool of expertise in the field of education. Society has a moral obligation to create a successful public school system.

Follow the money. There's a single week in October when the state conducts a student census. This census determines to which school the $8,000-plus in state funding will be sent for each student. After that week, the private school can expel the hard-to-teach-student and keep the money.

Now the public school must enroll that student and get him or her to pass the state proficiency exam with $0. And people wonder why those schools are underfunded and having such a hard time educating their students.

Remember this simple fact regarding the inherent difference in priorities between public and for-profit education the next time you read one of Brennan's letters wherein he whines that he is being treated unfairly.

David Spondike
Copley Township