Republicans Unveil School Voucher Plan

Breitbart.com ^ | 18 July 2006 | BEN FELLER

[ChessExpert]

Congressional Republicans on Tuesday proposed a $100 million plan to let poor children leave struggling schools ...

[Amelia]

But my gut says that a million dollars per year is too much for respite care (but ToT..I REALLY DO understand what you are saying too)..

I agree.

I also can't imagine quite what would happen to these families & children if the public school system were done away with. I suppose they might then be covered under medicaid or something.

[NutCrackerBoy]

I would like to see a drastic reduction in federal involvement in education. Not only that, I think the Constitution clearly rules out such involvement. But I prefer to work through a political party that is relevant. Given the realistic situation, vouchers are a slam dunk. They absolutely are good.

In an election year, it makes Democrats look very bad to oppose them. This is something we can do every election year til doomsday - use the Dems slavery to special interests (teacher's unions) against them.

[Non-Sequitur]

Get rid of public schools entirely would be my first choice.

Not going to happen, as you well know.

But if they are going to take our monies though property/sales and some federal taxes I'd rather have a choice and let other parents have the choice where they want those funds directed for their own child's education. The best fit for their children.

You have a choice for your child's education. You may forego public schools and educate your children in private schools. Nothing stops you. But when you start asking the government to subsidize your private schooling then you have to accept that the government is going to expect to exercise control over those institutions it is paying for. And if it starts doing that then what will the fate of those private schools be?

Taxes like property and sales, used to pay for schools for which they have no choice, which have no exemptions or deductions and they have to pay full. If they are paying them let them choose what's best for their child, not some bureaucrat liberal indoctrinating socialism and deviancy.

And your solution is a government program providing tax money to allow you to do something you cannot otherwise afford to do. And you don't see the irony in that?

[Non-Sequitur]

No, but they still make us pay for public schools, whether we use them or not. Until that changes, private education is a much larger financial burden than it would be in a free and fair market.

They make you pay for roads you don't drive on, prisons you don't live in, police and fire regardless of whether you use them or not. I don't go to the local university but I pay for it. If you don't choose to use the public school system then that's your right. Send your kids to private schools, home school them, or send them to public schools. That's your choice.

[Young Scholar]

They make you pay for roads you don't drive on, prisons you don't live in, police and fire regardless of whether you use them or not.

I use roads, prisons are full of people I want to be protected from, and if I ever need them the police for fire services are there for me. It's best if these are paid for at the local level as much as possible, so those who do benefit from having them in their communities pay for them.

I don't go to the local university but I pay for it.

And is that conservative? Is it fair? No.

If you don't choose to use the public school system then that's your right. Send your kids to private schools, home school them, or send them to public schools. That's your choice.

If they force me to pay for it, it takes away a lot of that "choice." What if the government took 90 percent of your income, and then offered you its food rations, its housing projects, its public transportation, and its medical care, if you wanted. Otherwise, you could buy your own. How much choice would you really have?

[Non-Sequitur]

If they force me to pay for it, it takes away a lot of that "choice." What if the government took 90 percent of your income, and then offered you its food rations, its housing projects, its public transportation, and its medical care, if you wanted. Otherwise, you could buy your own. How much choice would you really have?

Yes but the government doesn't take 90 percent of my income so I don't have to worry about food rations or housing projects. The government is required by the state constitution to establish and maintain a public school system. It is not required to subsidize a private school system. I'm free to take advantage of the many excellent private schools around but I choose instead to take advantage of the excellent public school system where I live. I know many who educate their kids in private schools, all for religious rather than quality reasons, and being good conservatives they don't expect me to subsidize them. But you expect the taxpayers in your area to subsidize you.

[uptoolate]

"I hope that the vouchers will apply to Home Schooling."

We homeschool so that we will have a greater control over what is taught to our kids. Liberalism is running rampant in the public educational system. I don't want my children learning that kind of a world view. Homosexuality, Feminism, Environmentalism, Socialism, Multi-culturalism, and many more Liberal Doctrines of their Faith are being taught and enforced in the public school system. Our tax dollars are being collected by the government and then distributed to the schools with a new name on them, 'Federal Tax Dollars'. Along with that money comes a list of Liberal Doctrines that are to be taught.

How long do you think it will take the government to start demanding the recipients of the Federal Tax Vouchers teach their children the Liberal Doctrines?

When ever the government gives you their money, eventually you will only be able to spend it on what the government approves. Let them keep their money and stay out of the private affairs of my life. Better yet, how about not even collecting my money so they can rename it theirs for education in the first place?

[William Terrell]

Yes, Lady, but my post was intended to define the tentacle of government that will compel our private schools to change their curriculum to the demands of the NEA, it being an executive agency.

[RKBA Democrat]

Vouchers are a political red herring. So-called "conservative" politicians can support vouchers all they want, secure in the knowledge that the courts will ultimately smack them down. Just as they have every single time the attempt has been made to implement voucher programs in the past. The truth is, vouchers are simply a way to continue with the status quo while providing the illusion of educational choice.

[ChessExpert]

The Republicans should be working on this on the state level. And the on the federal level they should be abolishing the Department of Education.

Yes.

But they might not make much progress at the state level. I once heard state government described as an extension of the school board.

Does anyone have a breakdown of spending by the states?

[wintertime]

That is your choice as a parent, and unfortunately your responsibility as a tax payer.

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I have an idea!

Unite with other taxpayers and drive a stake through the heart of government schools.

Government schools need two things: Money and students.

1) Remove your child from these toxic cesspool immediately and homeschool or privately school them. Make what ever sacrifice necessary to make that happen. Encourage your church to open free or very low cost schools and take in as many non-members as possible.

2) Join with other taxpayer and go to the polls and vote NO to government schools spending. Vote for politicians who will also vote NO to government school spending.

Considering the rapid growth of homeschooling, it seems that

[wintertime]

Gov't-funded education to help with the severely and profoundly disabled is far more acceptable to me than gov't-funded education for healthy kids of highly-educated parents who should be able to foot the bill and/or educate them on their own.

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Government schools are a GREAT BIG entitlement to the middle and upper classes.

[wintertime]

.A Baptist church in my little town recently re-located and, in conjunction with this, announced that it was going to change from a predominantly black church into a multi-racial church. With the re-location, it opened a K-12 school, and - almost overnight - it became multi-racial.


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wow! That proves that old canard wrong, that whites want vouchers because they don't want their children associating with blacks.

[wintertime]

How long do you think it will take the government to start demanding the recipients of the Federal Tax Vouchers teach their children the Liberal Doctrines?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The Liberal RELIGION is what is being taught.

Remember, the education of children is NEVER neutral, politically, culturally, or religiously. That means government schools are NEVER religiously neutral and never have been.

[no dems]

The "Reparations thing" will never make it to first base either. It will just force the Dems to offend 80% of the American electorate or offend their Black base.

[Tired of Taxes]

I'd heard about that rule, but some teachers and school administrators are not abiding by it.

[Non-Sequitur]

So which path are you following?

[wintertime]

I homeschooled my children and they are adults now. They are planning to homeschool their children as well.

I go to the polls and vote NO to any government school spending. In my state, vouchers and tax credits are an issue each year and are making some progress. I phone my reps and encourage to vote yes.

Our church is very unlikely to open church schools but I encourage others to consider this as an option for their churches.

Hopefully, government schools will deteriorate to the point where rational parents will have no other option than to remove their children. Government schools need two things: Money and students. Each time another parent removes their children, they lose school population, money, and support at the polls.

[Amelia]

I'd heard about that rule, but some teachers and school administrators are not abiding by it.

It might vary by state or by district. I know I've heard several FReepers saying they've had trouble with that sort of thing, but I also know that I'd be in huge trouble if I suggested such a thing.

[Calpernia]

>>>>Vouchers for everyone would be much better.

That has a nasty consequence too. That gets government (NEA) monies into private schools. THEN the strings come with those monies. Soon the private schools won't look any different than the public schools. The NEA is what needs to be killed off.