Friday, August 01, 2008

Weighted Student Funding

I know that everyone assumes that the model for Batman's Gotham City is New York but I am convinced that it's more likely to be downtown Chicago.

I'm in Chicago at the 35th annual ALEC meeting where I'll be presenting model legislation designed to implement Weighted Student Funding.

Basically, the legislation introduces competition into public schools by allowing students and parents to choose high performing schools over lower performing neighborhood schools. It does two things. Gives students the right of exit. More importantly, the money follows the child to whatever school her parents choose. As you might imagine, lousy schools will see an immediate drop in funding that is directly connected to students leaving for better schools.

One of the most important resources ALEC provides to its members is model legislation. Through the combined effort and unique partnership of public and private sector members, model legislation is drafted, deliberated and approved by one of ALEC's eight Task Forces. These bills provide a valuable framework for developing effective policy ideas aimed at protecting and expanding our free society.

While ALEC provides the resources, our members, long known for their legislative activism, introduced hundreds of bills based on ALEC model legislation. During the latest legislative cycle, dozens of ALEC model bills were enacted into law.
I wrote about San Francisco's Weighted Student Formula here. Policy Brief here.

Chicago is a beautiful city. I never remember the camera so I don't have any pictures.

No comments: