Private school parents: 100-day requirement for voucher money isn’t fair (Nevada)

Las Vegas Sun ^ | July 17, 2015 | Ian Whitaker

[ConservativeStatement]

Parents of private school students don’t want to put their children in public school for 100 days to be eligible for Nevada’s new voucher program.

That was the general consensus of four hours of public comment at a Friday hearing on the new law. Parents urged lawmakers to figure out another way to determine eligibility for the program, which currently requires students be enrolled at a public school for 100 days before their parents can receive money.

SB302, passed by legislators this year, says families can receive around $5,000 each year per student to use on things like private school tuition.

[ConservativeStatement]

I wonder why people would want to avoid public schools. /sarc.

[tje]

Letter from a teacher: http://whitegirlbleedalot.com/letter-teacher-3/

[Tax-chick]

I see the legislature’s fiscal point. States and districts rely on the tax contributions of residents who don’t use the public schools to fund the system for those who do. If they begin spending $5,000/year on additional students, that’s an additional cost. On the other hand, if a public-school student switches to private, that’s a possible savings, because the per-pupil cost of public schools is less than $5,000.

They’re really asking parents to enroll in public school for a year, because attempting to transfer to private school more than halfway through the year is unlikely to fly. I suppose what they really wanted was to offer the vouchers only for public-to-private changes, but couldn’t swing that politically.

[heartwood]

How about home-schooled children?

You could do some nice field trips for $5000.

[Tax-chick]

Especially if you have five or six school-aged children. “Guess what, kids ... we’re going on a two-week history cruise in the Mediterranean. Be sure to take notes!”

However, if the state included homeschools in “private school,” they would still run into the money problem. The only way this works out financially for the state is if they get students who were in public school, out. Even too much of that would be bad, because the public school system exists to expand, and if too many students leave, the public eventually notices that they’re spending more for less.

If we recall that the public school system functions for the benefit of its employees, rather than the benefit of its “customers,” it all makes sense.