I would suggest Oprah since she has an interest in education. And let me also
suggest the following.

The United States has one of the most innovative and excellent medical systems
and university systems in the world. But, the public school system is lacking
and unresponsive to the complaints of the parents. Why the difference? There
is no competitive pressure from the consumer of the system.

I am a doctor, so I usually make this analogy. Assume about on average 40% of
children struggle to read. Now, here's the analogy. Lets say you came to see
me as a doctor, and I told you only 6 out of 10 of my patients lived after
treatment. Then, I said, that you could leave and see another doctor if you
wanted, but I would keep your money if you went elsewhere, and you'd have to pay
an additional amount out of pocket for the other doctor who had 9 out of 10
patients surviving.

This is why we should argue for vouchers. In my area, approximately 11,000
dollars is being spent per pupil and 35-40% of the children do not score above a
basic level in reading and math. What if the state gathered a portion of all
property taxes and place them in a fund, and distributed a voucher worth 11
thousand dollars to each child. You could spend it on ANY public school, or
parochial school, or private school, or materials for home schooling. THE
PARENT is the only one in the system who truly advocates ONLY for the child, so
the parent should decide where the child is sent.

Don't you think schools would be more responsive to the needs of the children
if the parents not only could take the children out of the school and send them
to a better place, BUT THE SCHOOL WOULD ALSO LOSE THE MONEY. Once the principal
and teachers felt that competitive pressure, they're would be a REASON to
perform better because their lives would begin to be effected, not just the
lives of the children and families trying to get a better education.

So, if the petition is a mass emailing advocating a voucher system for public
education, sign me up!

David Smith, MD

PS By the way, Milton Friedman, the nobel prize award winning economist was a
great advocate of school vouchers because he knew that it would encourage
innovation through competition just like in the rest of our economy.

Brenda Beebe <beebe30@...> wrote:
I am in the process of trying to see how much interest would be in
people from these groups participating
in a mass email to the media.

I currently have posted this question on two other email groups and received a
fairly positive large response.

There is a common theme all of us share, it is not what labels are children have
it is the struggles we go through
with the schools and insurance companies. The system is not working and the
children are suffering. It is not really that the
laws aren't there for these kids it is the schools don't follow them and no one
holds them accountable.

To raise eyebrows and get exposure through the media, we need massive emails.
These emails should all be
titled the same in the subject line and then we can give a brief personal story
about the struggles we all have gone through.

Please let me know if you are interested and I will keep you posted of the
subject line title and to whom we will
email.

Although it looks like Oprah and/or Anderson Cooper.

Brenda

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