Vouchers — Parents, Don’t Depend On Them

admin — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:20:08 +0000

Vouchers, which give tax money to parents to pay for tuition in private schools, sound good in theory. The problem is that voucher programs are few and very far between. The Supreme Court declared vouchers constitutional in 2002, but currently only thirteen cities or states have created voucher or education tax credit programs.

Some of these voucher programs are tax credit programs, whether personal or corporate, and cover only a fraction of tuition costs. The voucher programs have various restrictions that limit their benefits to a relatively small number of children (such as the Florida programs that are limited to disabled students or to schools that get an ‘F’ grade). Also, many of these programs pay only part of the tuition costs. In the ‘tuitioning’ programs in Maine and Vermont, most eligible kids simply transfer to public schools in other towns. In effect, these programs barely scratch the surface -they only help a tiny fraction of the approximately 45 million school children who now suffer through public-school education.

Also, the education establishment, teacher unions, and most state and federal legislators in the Democratic party are against vouchers. Teacher unions fight voucher initiatives tooth and nail with lawsuits. When the unions take state voucher plans to court, these lawsuits can drag on for years. The voucher fight is going to be a long, bitter, ongoing legal battle between parents, states, and the teacher unions. For example, on Jan. 5th, 2006, the Florida Supreme Court struck down a state-wide voucher system in Florida. About 700 Florida children now attending private or parochial schools under this voucher program will now have to go back to public-school “education prisons.”

Also, most states today are running huge budget deficits. As a result, states are cutting back on programs already on their books, so they can hardly afford expensive new voucher programs. California had close to a $13 billion budget deficit (which they “closed” by the typical near-sighted trick of borrowing the money with new state bonds), Texas a $10 billion deficit, and New York about an $8 billion deficit.15 (these deficit numbers keep fluctuating, depending on which politician is citing which new study, but the deficits are huge).

With state governments burdened by multi-billion-dollar deficits, what is the chance that you will see a voucher program in your neighbor-hood any time soon? It might not be wise for you to wait around for such a voucher miracle.

Another problem is that even if vouchers were more widespread, private religious and secular schools simply do not have the room for all the students who would like to transfer out of public schools, either with state vouchers or private scholarships. According to Nora Murphy, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of New York, private Catholic schools in New York could accommodate only 3000 new students. Yet, in September, 2002, 240,000 New York students in failing public schools qualified to transfer to a “better” public school under the “No Child Left Behind Act.” If all these students’ parents instead wanted vouchers for private schools (if such a voucher program existed), you see the problem.

For all the above reasons, parents who want to give their children a decent education now, cannot and should not depend on vouchers coming to their local neighborhood anytime soon. Parents, don’t wait around for another fifty years while voucher advocates fight drawn-out lawsuits and fierce opposition by teacher unions, public-school bureaucrats, and the entrenched education establishment.

Don’t pin your hopes on state governments with huge budget deficits to create vouchers for every child in your state. Don’t risk your children’s future on state and local politicians who get campaign contributions from teacher unions and consistently vote against voucher programs. Depending on government authorities to come to your rescue is an exercise in futility.

Tweet This Post

The Charter School Wars — Why Public Schools Hate Charter Schools

admin — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:17:13 +0000

Many public school authorities hate charter schools. It’s not hard to see why. Charter schools embarrass local public schools. These charter schools often do a better job educating students, for less money. For example, in the 1999-2000 school year, Ohio charter schools got $2300 less per pupil in tax funds than local public schools. Charter schools therefore spotlight regular public schools’ failure to educate students with more tax money at their disposal.

Charter schools also take money away from public schools. Every child that transfers to a charter school makes the child’s former public school lose an average of $7500 a year in tax money. This tax money is the life-blood of public schools. It is the source of their power, of their very existence.

Finally, public-school authorities like their monopoly power over our children’s education. Charter schools are free from much of the regulations and controls that regular public schools have to put up with. Charter schools therefore threaten the public school monopoly because they introduce a little competition into the system.

So what do angry or frightened local school districts do in response? School authorities often harass charter schools by reducing their funding, denying them access to school equipment or facilities, putting new restrictions on existing charter schools, limiting the number of new schools, or weakening charter-school laws.

They harass charter schools in other ways. For example, they create convoluted application procedures or don’t give new-school applicants enough time to process their applications. They also use city agencies, zoning boards, or fire departments to harass the schools with regulations. For example, the Washington DC school district harassed a local charter school with an asbestos removal issue that forced the school to spend over $10 million in renovation costs. Local school districts have an arsenal of regulatory guns with which to harass charter schools, or reduce their numbers.

Teacher unions often oppose charter schools

Teacher unions initially opposed charter schools. However, when charter schools became popular, the unions changed tactics. They now grudgingly give approval to charter schools, on certain conditions. They often push for district control over the schools, collective bargaining for charter-school teachers, or other restrictions.

Some teacher unions have renewed their open opposition to these schools with their usual lawsuits. The Ohio Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit that seeks to declare Ohio’s charter school laws unconstitutional. Ohio’s charter schools have been dragged into this lawsuit, thereby forcing them to waste valuable time, money, and resources on legal battles. Teacher unions use such lawsuits to try to stop or slow down the charter school movement. Also, Washington State, and some other states, still have no charter school laws partly because of strong opposition by teacher unions and other interest groups who oppose charter schools.

As a result of this harassment by state education bureaucrats, local school districts, and teacher unions, there are not nearly enough charter schools to fill the demand. There is a constant waiting list for these schools, especially in low-income minority neighborhoods. In the 2001-02 school year, the average charter school enrolled about 242 students. About 69 percent of these schools had waiting lists averaging 166 students per school, or over half the school enrollment.

The over 750,000 students currently enrolled in charter schools may seem like a lot, but that number represents little more than 1.7 percent of the approximately forty-five million children who attend public school each year. Yet charter schools have now been around for over ten years. As with vouchers, how long will it take, if ever, for charter schools to come to your neighborhood? Fifty years?

Parents – please consider if you want to wait around this long while your children suffer through twelve years of public school.

Tweet This Post

American Liberty News» Vouchers Don’t Work

Vouchers — Parents, Don’t Depend On Them

The Charter School Wars — Why Public Schools Hate Charter Schools