In the wake of two recent scandals in the Milwaukee voucher program (one voucher school's principal turned out to be a convicted rapist, while another school allegedly stole $330,000 in taxpayers' money), the media and school choice critics have been quick to call for much stricter regulation to prevent a repeat of these problems. Is their proposed solution likely to work?
To answer that question we might want to look at the most highly regulated schools in the U.S.: the traditional public school system. If these schools suffer about the same level of abuses as voucher schools or other private schools, then we'll have to question the effectiveness of regulation as tool for reducing such ills.
So, without further ado, here are some recent headlines I dug up in the past few minutes:
Woman pleads no contest to embezzling from school
A former Grand Haven area public schools employee pleaded no contest Tuesday to charges she embezzled more than $70,000 from the district.
$250,000 embezzlement hushed-up by school district officials
Item: About $250,000 was stolen from the 2001-02 budget of the Roslyn School District - and no one went to jail for it because school officials handled the matter privately.
They chose not to notify the police or the Nassau County district attorney.... [T]he seven-member Roslyn school board let the whole matter sink below the surface of public accountability because - as District Superintendent Frank Tassone told a reporter for the high school student newspaper last month - "I think the reputation of the school district was at stake."
School band leader admits to forging canceled checks
Two former Elizabeth School District administrators were convicted Monday on 27 charges stemming from allegations they embezzled from the district.
Former Oakland ISD superintendent arraigned on felony charges
Bowie Unified School District business manager allegedly embezzles more than $32,000
Former D'Iberville school employee accused of embezzlement
Convicted school superintendent will leave district in June
Maybe regulation isn't a particularly effective solution to school corruption after all. Hmm?
Posted by Andrew Coulson at April 14, 2004 12:42 AM | TrackBackThanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
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