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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 16, 1999

Statement

Statement by NEA President
Bob Chase On Public Agenda's
Report On Thin Ice

We applaud Public Agenda and the Charles A. Dana Foundation for looking more deeply at Americans' views on private school tuition vouchers, charter schools, and efforts to improve public education. They have performed a true public service by shedding light on an issue that fascinates "national experts" and is far removed from the concerns of most parents.

The debate over vouchers is an argument the public and most parents aren't involved in. Parents don't want vouchers. They want good schools in their neighborhoods.

Given a choice between improving public education and trying more experiments, like vouchers, Americans want policy makers to concentrate on improving public schools -- with things like high standards, improved discipline, smaller classes, and additional resources.

Polling data that is based on language intended to influence people -- such as voucher descriptions that call them "opportunity scholarships" -- aren't very meaningful.

Public Agenda presented Americans around the nation with substantive information about vouchers. And they found that most people recognize that vouchers don't address the issues parents really care about. They are simply a way to subsidize private education for a select few.

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.