Diane Ravitch, an education historian, writes about charter schools, standardized testing, vouchers, and the influence of private funders on public education.
HN commenters cite it as a critical source on Gates Foundation funding, Common Core, and charter schools in debates over school policy.
:-/ Yeah, deunionizing would be great.... Private school teachers get paid much less than public [1], with the bonus of being fired any time. Instead, when school districts attempt to bust the teachers union, they do it in order to funnel money to charter schools, often religious [2]. These charter schools have selective admissions, and often won't keep children with any sort of difficulty [3], which artificially raises their test rates, and hoses kids who need the help.
[1]: http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/10/why-are-private-school-teachers-paid-less-than-public-school-teachers/280829/
[2]: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28401042/colorado-supreme-court-rejects-douglas-county-voucher-program
[3]: http://dianeravitch.net/2014/02/26/breaking-news-new-data-show-high-expulsion-rates-from-charter-schools-in-chicago/
So your argument and basis for calling vouchers a Scam is because the dollar amount for the voucher is not granular enough? Maybe the dollar allocation could be better, but it doesn't make vouchers a scam. If you'd like more confirmation in your beliefs may I direct you here...
https://dianeravitch.net/
IMO, vouchers have a place in school choice and I would prefer that they are used to give disabled, disadvantaged, and hard to educate children more options. I am a bigger fan of open enrollment and charter schools as zip code\housing affordability should not dictate a child's educational destiny.
I could well be wrong on the details, but note that Bill Gates and his foundation funding enabled Common Core to meet RttP goals, in a way that https://dianeravitch.net/2014/06/08/the-inside-story-of-how-bill-gates-bought-the-common-core-standards/ describes as a "coup".
Curriculum standards only work if people follow the standards, which for the US means tests, along with the artificial high-stakes I mentioned.
"charter schools are created to help the poor, not the rich"
This is in theory, many charter schools are not following this principle, see for example:
http://dianeravitch.net/2013/01/14/do-affluent-white-neighborhoods-need-charter-schools/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-15/taxpayers-billed-for-millionaires-kids-at-charter-school.html
Not everyone is as confident in Bill Gates's magical abilities as he is.
http://dianeravitch.net/2013/01/10/how-bill-gates-wasted-50-million/
http://seattletimes.com/html/dannywestneat/2014437975_danny09.html