School Choice and the Dropout Thesis

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Her point is to get support for her views, and she did, because three months after she wrote this piece there was a rally at the State Capitol in Austin where 5,000 people called for school choice in front of the Capitol building. Therefore, her words helped people make up their minds and seek action from their legislators. However, she failed to convince the legislators, who did not even address school choice during the 2007 legislative session (Editors). Either this means that the legislators are not listening to the will of the people, or that her rhetoric failed to gain their support.

The media has certainly picked up this issue, and it is an issue all around the country, not just in Texas. The Milwaukee school district has had a voucher system like this for over sixteen years, and it has proven to be a money saving plan for taxpayers, and their dropout rates have decreased. However, some parents complain they have little recourse when they choose a school they are not happy with, so vouchers are not the only answer to public education, dropout rates, and other issues plaguing schools today.
Jamie Story has an interesting theory, but her rhetoric outweighs her solid facts, and I would have felt much better if she had cited more concrete Milwaukee statistics in her article. She should have backed them up with where she got them, and given some real, usable numbers for the Texas taxpayer so they knew the program would not cost them more money in the end. References Editors. "School Choice Legislation." CEOAustin.org. 2008. 4 May 2009. Storey, Jamie. "The Dropout Drain: How Dropouts -- Not School Choice -- Take Money From Public Schools." Texas Public Policy Foundation. 2007. 4 May 2009. ......

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