Is the DLC Becoming Pro-Voucher For Public Education?

The DLC seems to be in favor of vouchers:

Despite many years of school reform efforts, and successes in some states and localities, nationally the United States is still struggling to provide effective education for millions of poor and minority students. A big part of the problem, suggests charter public school pioneer Paul Hill in a new report from the Progressive Policy Institute, is that truly innovative and customized instruction for special-needs children remains at the margins of a larger system that still insists on one-size-fits-all education.

To achieve a real breakthrough in education reform, Hill proposes a fundamental change in the role of local school boards in places where public education is failing to meet the needs of students. "Today, boards oversee a central bureaucracy which owns and operates all the schools in a given district," writes Hill. "It is time to replace this 'command and control' system and replace it with a new model: portfolio management. In this new system, school boards would manage a diverse array of schools, some run by the school district and others by independent organizations, each designed to meet the different needs of students."

According to Hill, portfolio-based school boards would manage a system with eight key features:

* Public oversight to ensure strict accountability for civil rights compliance and student performance, and much looser regulation on school procedures.

* Public funding attached to students rather than schools, with a premium for the neediest students.

Progressive vouchers? No word yet from the teacher's unions.