Fixing The SES Program

I'm not particularly opposed to the tutoring companies, but I'm getting a little tired of these pro-provider SES columns -- first Hickock's in the Post over the weekend, now this one in EdWeek. Neither seems particularly insightful or balanced, and their appearance one after the other makes me suspicious that there's some sort of coordinated campaign going on. There's also something a little unseemly about the arguments they make, given that the Secretary just created a giant windfall for them by expanding the so-called SES flip. Well, maybe they didn't know that was coming. Right. This one at least has some concrete (if self-serving) ideas about how to make SES work better. For what it's worth, I would propose creating independent agencies of some sort to administer the SES and choice programs -- along the lines of the organizations that ran the St. Louis busing effort, or the Cambridge choice program. The SES and choice programs represent a clear conflict of interest for the districts.