My son started Pre-K at a private Catholic school last month. My husband and I made the decision early on that our children would be attending private school rather than public due to many factors, not the least of which is the poor quality of the public schools that we are zoned for. There were a myriad of other personal reasons as well. We made this decision knowing that for the next 14 years (Pre-K, K, 1-12), we will be shelling out a substantial amount of money for our child's education (15 years if you count his sister who starts Pre-K next year) - and tuition expenses are compounded by the uniform cost. We are lucky that we have this option - that we have the funds to send our children to the best school available to them - even though it's going to "hurt" financially, we can still dig deep, and do it.
However, each time that tuition bill is drafted from our bank account, I start thinking (dreaming?) of school vouchers. Certainly, vouchers would help out our budget tremendously. But is it the right thing for our society to have them available? Let's examine what vouchers are, and some of their pros and cons.
What are school vouchers?
From
Wikipedia: "A school voucher, also called an education voucher, is a certificate by which parents are given the ability to pay for the education of their children at a school of their choice, rather than the public school to which they were assigned."
From
School Choices: "School vouchers, also known as scholarships, redirect the flow of education funding, channeling it directly to individual families rather than to school districts. This allows families to select the public or private schools of their choice and have all or part of the tuition paid. Scholarships are advocated on the grounds that parental choice and competition between public and private schools will improve education for all children. Vouchers can be funded and administered by the government, by private organizations, or by some combination of both."
– enacted in 1995; about 6,300 students enrolled; approximately $19 million annual cost
Milwaukee, WI – enacted in 1990, about 17,410 students enrolled; estimated 2006-07 cost of $110 million
Washington, D.C. – enacted in 2004; about 1,800 students enrolled, $14 million annual cost for federally funded program
Arizona – 2 small programs enacted in 2006, each with a cap of $2.5 million annually
Florida – McKay voucher program for children with disabilities enacted in 1999; about 17,300 students enrolled; $107 million spent in 2005-06
Georgia - special education voucher program patterned after Florida's McKay program; narrowly enacted in 2007
Ohio – statewide program enacted in 2005; about 2,200 students enrolled
Utah – small program for children with disabilities enacted in 2004; universal voucher program enacted in 2007; challenged by voters and will be put to public referendum in November 2007
PRO School Vouchers:
In the 1950s, economist Milton Friedman voiced his opinion that school vouchers would promote competition and improve schools. Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani supports taxpayer-funded vouchers for private elementary and secondary schools: "People come from all over the world to attend college in the United States," Giuliani said. "How is it that we have the best higher education in the world and a weaker K-through-12 system?" Giuliani said. "What's the difference? Why does one operate so well and the other not nearly as well? American higher education is based on a quintessential American principle -- choice. I'd give parents control over their children's education. We've got to have competition operating. If we don't do that, our education system is going to deteriorate." (source)
Another view is that vouchers help deliver equal education for all children. Presidential candidate John McCain said "School choice stimulates improvement and creates expanded opportunities for our children to get a quality education." The Honorable Kurt L. Schmoke (mayor of Baltimore) had this to say, "My support of school choice is founded in the common sense premise that no parent should be forced to send a child to a poorly performing school...We need to give poor children the same right that children from more affluent households have long enjoyed. The right to an education that will prepare them to make a meaningful contribution to society." Per School Choices: "At present, educational choice is concentrated among wealthier families, who can opt for private schooling, and who can more easily relocate to areas with better quality schools. Poor inner city children, by contrast, are frequently stuck in dilapidated government school buildings and offered an abysmally poor education compared with their suburban counterparts.
" Double taxation" It has also been said that the current system is unfair as parents who choose private school as they are paying twice for education - once for tuition at their private school of choice and once again when they pay taxes for the public schools ("Why Conservatives and Libertarians Should Support School Vouchers").
The same article brought up Religious Liberty: "Nearly nine out of ten parents who choose private schools do so out of religious conviction. They oppose the secular humanism taught in government schools and want their children to learn their own values and beliefs. It is a well-established legal principle that no one should be required to pay a tax penalty to exercise a constitutionally guaranteed right."
CON School Vouchers:
Vouchers
drain money from public schools and they are "tantamount to providing taxpayer-subsidized 'white flight' from urban public schools (
source). The
Americans United for Separation of Church and State put it this way "Public schools will improve only if our government officials and the public decide to make a serious commitment to educational quality. Diverting money from public schools to private will not achieve this goal, but will hurt the nation's public education system."
Additionally, The voucher system is
a violation of the United States Constitution ("Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion") because it provides government funding for church-run schools (
interestingly enough, I found an argument against this that compares school vouchers to the GI Bill: "A properly structured voucher system is no more a violation of the principle of the separation of church and state than is the GI Bill. This program allows military veterans to use government dollars to attend any university of their choice, public or private, religious or secular.")
"Cream skimming" - Private schools are already selective on whom they choose to admit. With school vouchers, the pool of applicants would be larger, allowing them even greater selectivity. They may choose to exclude more students with disabilities, autism, and discipline problems - students public school are required by law to admit. This one concerns me personally quite a bit as my own son has learning delays and allergies - and it was touch and go there for a while as to if the private school of our choice was even going to accept him.
So what do you think? Are vouchers a good idea or not? Why or why not?
Cross posted at The Soccer Mom Vote.
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