Private Schools Cost Less Than You May Think

CATO ^ | September 8, 2003 | David Salisbury

[Mo1]

I had an tiff with a lady who said she is not for vouchers because she will never pay for instruction of religion. I tried to use the "It's my money" routine. She countered with, "You don't pay enough in taxes to cover the cost." She backed me into a corner. What should I have answered?

She is lumping the rich private schools together with the average private schools

There is a Difference

Example .. My sister sends her son & daughter to a rich private high school which costs around $15,000 per year for each child

I send my kids to my local catholic grade school, which costs around $2,500 a year for 2 or more kids

As for the vouchers .. if it was to pass, parents would only recieve a voucher for a certain amount like $2,000 a year. If that parent wanted to send their child to a rich private school .. that parent would have to pay the difference.

Also .. on another note. To educate a child in my school district, it costs the tax payers $10,000 per year, per child .. if the vouchers went through, it would save the taxpayer $8,000 per year, per child

[victim soul]

New York City's gay school costs $3 million for 50 students!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Mix Of Protests, Support Greet Students At First Day For Gay School


SEPTEMBER 08TH, 2003
http://www.ny1.com/ny/TopStories/SubTopic/index.html?topicintid=1&subtopicintid=1&contentintid=32988#

Protestors and supporters squared off as the nation's first high school exclusively for gay students opened its doors in Manhattan Monday.

Fifty students are attending the new Harvey Milk School in Greenwich Village, which Mayor Michael Bloomberg calls a safe haven for gay and lesbian students.

As students showed up for their first day of classes, about a dozen protestors, some from as far away as Los Angeles and Topeka, Kansas, shouted and waved inflammatory signs condemning homosexuality One young girl even held a sign that read, ‘Thank God for September 11.”

“God has been trying to wake up this city, because this city is the heartbeat of America,” said one protestor. “As New York goes, so goes the rest of the country, and so when you start having a school like this, other schools across the nation are going to happen. We’re simply saying that the blackout and 9/11 was trying to like get [God’s] attention.”

The protestors were outnumbered on the other side of the street, where hundreds rallied in support of the school and the students.

“I’m here to support these kids, because this must be the worst experience for them – to come and see people protesting their school,” said one supporter.

"The religion I espouse and the moral convictions that I come up to, this morning is really about love,” said another supporter who was wearing a priest’s collar. “I’m wearing my collar on purpose as part of a counter-protest to say they don't speak on behalf of all religious leaders, particularly here in New York City."

“Public schools are about children,” said Randi Weingarten, the president of the teachers’ union, “and about ensuring children get a safe and decent and good education. And it doesn’t matter how many people are going to protest, how many people are going to try to suppress that, the union stands with the teachers who want to work at this school.”

The anti-gay protest aside, some critics of the school say that it is a form of segregation and that its $3 million budget could be better spent elsewhere. But education officials point out that many of Harvey Milk’s students had dropped out of other schools due to physical or emotional abuse.

“I think it’s important this school exists right now because of the lack of support most schools have from the Department of Education in terms of teacher training and diversity initiatives that keep kids safe in their normal schools,” said one of the supporters at the rally. “This is hopefully a short-term solution for a larger problem.”

The school is an expansion of a two-classroom program that began 17 years. It is run by the Hetrick Martin Institute.

The Harvey Milk School has a 95 percent graduation rate, and a good record of helping gay, lesbian and transgender students who were harassed in their public school.

“I want to be very clear that the school's existence is not a question of gay or straight, or inclusion versus segregation - it's about what's best for youth in the world in which we live, where they are not accepted and are discriminated against on a daily basis,” said Bari Mattes, the Chairwoman of the Board of the Hetrick Martin Institute.

National Mental Health Association statistics show that nearly one-third of gay teens drop out of school each year, most because they are unable to cope with the harassment. Gay teens are also three times more likely to commit suicide than other youths.

Last year's valedictorian of the Harvey Milk School, Dino Portalatin, says the institution saved his life. He says he almost dropped out three years ago, when two of his closest friends at a public high school in Brooklyn outed him.

"I became increasingly depressed and began to feel I'd be better off dead that having to deal with the constant harassment and fights," said Portalatin.

[Kay Soze]

anti union NEA ping!

[Vindiciae Contra TyrannoSCOTUS]

BUMP! And cram the print-out down the throat of the NEA.

[mtbopfuyn]

I'm saying YES to our public school. Our public school continually earns the highest academic marks and there are very few discipline problems. The private school kids who transfer back to the public HS usually have to repeat a grade or attend summer school. Besides, I don't have a few thou$and laying around. Perhaps you might consider moving to another district or become an active within the school by volunteering or becoming an active member of the PTO. Throwing $$$ at a school isn't going to ensure your child recieves a good education.

[mtbopfuyn]

publik skool

My public school educated kids can spell that correctly.

[TerriBoulder]

My 6 and 7 years old's attend a Carden School.
See bouldercountryday.org It has very funky reading and vowel control program, but my kids don't have a problem with it. Search Mae Carden on internet. Our school has a very classic education including Latin. Mae Carden stressed that all children should be nurtured and helped along and teacher's should never look down their nose at the more academically challenged kids because they quite often turn out to be your best students with a little help.

[firebrand]

Montessori is great for the very early years--through kindergarten, and maybe first grade--because the kids learn concepts, without words, from the materials themselves, which seem like toys to them. They don't even realize they're learning. Because the learning is instilled so early, it becomes deeply programmed.

For those who can't afford a private school for 1-8, Saint Ignatius, on the East Side, is the next-best thing. The classes are large, and it is regimented, as it has to be, but the environment is very academic and the school wins awards.

From there, the kids can get into a great private school on a scholarship.

[Clemenza]

There are some good public schools out there. Unfortunately, most of these are in areas that charge an arm and a leg in property taxes that could otherwise be used for tuition money.

Then again, when I lived in South Florida where the schools are sh-t, friends of mine who had kids in the Socialist Academies, er, "Public Schools" kept raving about how great their schools were and how ahead their kids were compared to other schools, when statistics did not bear it out. I think most parents are absolutely CLUELESS when it comes to evaluating their schools vis a vis other educational institutions, especially in rural areas where there are few alternatives to the local socialist education camp.

Remember also that there is a world's worth of difference between the "Christian" and parochial schools, which are in many places no better or sometimes worse than the government schools and the $$ prep schools that we have in New York.

Public Education=Socialism for the middle class and a Twelve-Year sentence for America's youth. Feel free to trust your local educrats out in Wal-Mart land. When I have kids, however, there is not a chance in hell that they will attend either a Government or Parochial school.