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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 27, 1999

News Release

NEA Hails Overturning Of Cleveland Voucher Program

Chase urges Ohio legislature to improve public schools for all children

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Bob Chase, president of the National Education Association (NEA), hailed today's decision by the Ohio Supreme Court outlawing the troubled two-year-old Cleveland voucher program.

The Ohio ruling follows on the heels of an April 23 decision by the Maine Supreme Court that found publicly funded vouchers for private religious schools were unconstitutional.

"Vouchers are not the way to improve public schools, and the Cleveland program is proof of that fact. It has failed to improve student performance, which is the ultimate test of any proposed reform," Chase said. "In fact, voucher students at some of the newly established private schools in Cleveland are achieving at significantly lower levels than public school students in all subjects.

"While the court's ruling allows the Ohio legislature to re-enact the Cleveland program, NEA urges the legislature to focus on proven reforms that will benefit all Ohio students. Small class sizes, quality teachers, and greater parental involvement are the answers to improving achievement for all students," Chase said.

"The Cleveland program has been a failure on all fronts," he added. "Student achievement has not been enhanced. An independent audit showed the program ran 41 percent over budget in 1998, which forced the state to take nearly $3 million from public school funds to cover the overruns. In its first year, the program misspent $1.4 million on taxis to transport students to voucher schools. And perhaps most telling of all, only about one in four voucher students ever attended a public school prior to receiving a voucher.

"It's time to pull the curtain down on the Cleveland voucher program, once and for all," Chase said. Chase likened the Cleveland program to a similar program in Milwaukee, which has also failed to raise student achievement, while costing that city's public schools $25 million.

"Vouchers hurt public schools, and they hurt public school students," he said.

Chase offered a number of solutions to improving urban education, including smaller class sizes and innovative programs like Success For All, a comprehensive pre-K-6 reading and language arts curriculum developed at Johns Hopkins University. Success For All, now operating in more than 1,100 schools nationwide, has dramatically improved reading performance for low-performing students. A 1999 report by the American Institutes for Research ranked Success For All at the top of 24 comprehensive school reform approaches. And, it can be implemented for a fraction of the cost of a voucher, Chase said. Just last month, the landmark Tennessee STAR (Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio) small class-size study reported that students placed in small classes in grades K-3 in 1985-89 continued to out-perform students in regular-sized classes throughout their public school years, even after returning to larger classes.

"We know what works, and today's ruling gives the Ohio legislature the opportunity to turn its attention toward helping all Cleveland students -- and all Ohio students -- improve their academic performance," Chase said.