Politicopia – Day 1
I’m pleased with Day 1 of Politicopia – an effort to give citizens a better handle on the Utah Legislature. It received some mentions here, here, here, and here. For now, I’d like Politicopia to focus on issues pending before the Utah Legislature. (Other great sites deal more specifically with Congress and national issues; I’ll give some links to those in upcoming days.)
I’d like to invite the public to get on Politicopia and drive. The content belongs to the people. Anything – and I mean anything – that you disagree with or want to change, change it. Someone might change what you write, but that is the nature of the Wikipedia-style experiment. I do ask that people stick to their side of the argument when they edit the pro/con sections, but, other than that, have at it, have fun, and get involved!
UPDATE (later): It never fails. I mention someone and embarrass myself by leaving off others. How on earth could I fail to mention my dear friend and tremendous supporter Britt Blaser, one of the most amazing people I've had the occassion to meet in recent years, Doc Searls, and my good colleague Rep. Craig Frank? Thanks to all these amazing people for their help and encouragement.
I’d like to invite the public to get on Politicopia and drive. The content belongs to the people. Anything – and I mean anything – that you disagree with or want to change, change it. Someone might change what you write, but that is the nature of the Wikipedia-style experiment. I do ask that people stick to their side of the argument when they edit the pro/con sections, but, other than that, have at it, have fun, and get involved!
UPDATE (later): It never fails. I mention someone and embarrass myself by leaving off others. How on earth could I fail to mention my dear friend and tremendous supporter Britt Blaser, one of the most amazing people I've had the occassion to meet in recent years, Doc Searls, and my good colleague Rep. Craig Frank? Thanks to all these amazing people for their help and encouragement.
posted by steve u. at 1/23/2007
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6 Comments:
I grew up in Utah but no longer live there. Due to family situations I still have an interest but really do not expect to live in Utah myself.
I can imagine you would like to encourage only Utahns to help contribute to the conversation at Politicopia but I just wanted to clarify.
Could be interesting, and I like the growing online access to the legislature (agendas, minutes, audio, video, etc.) But none of this is as useful as open-caucus debate would be--the most knowledgeable people debating the pros, cons, and consequences of their own bills. That would be the best way to educate the public about pending legislation.
VoU,
You might be right. And that point could be debated on its stand-alone merits. However, I'd be interested to guage the public's perception of how often closed caucuses occur. So, to you and any and all: how many Republican/Democrat caucuses were closed this session and last session?
Thanks Steve. As a grateful benificiary of yester year's public education system, I have always been and remain a supporter of making quality education available to all who want it. Government participation is the only way I know of to make any service universal. That meand Public education. Hovever, I have also seen lots of evidenc that alternative education can work more effectively and efficently for those who are highly motivated and do it right. So far I have not seen any substantive evidence that the quality or quantity of the education that any student in the public education system would suffer as a result vouchers. Just more of the same old rhetoric. As far as I can tell, the only ones with anything to loose ane not teachers of students. I'm as convinced by the opponents of vouchers as I am by the porponents that you are right . Voin Campbell.
I'm reposting my question here since you didn't address my question in your more recent posting. The $6000 per pupil that is often quoted is an average, right? So some students probably cost upwards of $10,000 per year to educate. If a majority of the students who take their $2000 & $3000 vouchers are those who only require $2000 or $3000 to educate (in a public school), that leaves a much higher average cost per pupil for the public school to deal with. The result is less money to educate more demanding students. How does this bill address this likely scenario?
Last anon.,
I'm pretty busy, and must have missed your question. Thanks for re-asking. First off, I don't agree with your premise. Far and away, most students will stay in public education. (Maybe that is a reason for much of the angst; public schools need to be more confident in their excellent product). In any event, private schools take an array of students.
To your question, though. The student stays on the rolls for 5 years. Whether the student is "expensive" or "cheap", the same money, minus the voucher, remains -- without the cost of actually educating the student.
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