Riding the Storm, the Bare Truth, and Steering into the Void

Teacher Magazine ’s take on education news from around the Web, Sept. 16-22.

Hurricane Katrina left more than just trees and buildings uprooted. Thousands of children who would ordinarily return to schools along the Gulf Coast are now scattered throughout the country, and the Bush administration is proposing $1.9 billion in aid to help them. Applause for the idea slackened, however, when details emerged. More than a quarter of the money, it turns out—as much as $7,500 per child—would be earmarked for private school vouchers, and some are accusing the administration of using the disaster to push school privatization through the back door . “It is really a tone-deaf response to the crisis,” says Paul Houston, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators. “It is a real grab to get an ideological position across that they haven’t been able to achieve under normal circumstances.” Susan Aspey, the education department’s spokeswoman, didn’t see what the fuss was about. “Parents may choose to send children to private schools,” she explained. “They may not. But...