Ultimately the world turns on money whether you like it or not. You need to answer this question, how come the cost of educating a child in the government schools costs about $10,000 yearly contrasted to about $20,000 in private school tuition? The private schools have lower teacher saleries compared to the public school union teachers. One other thing that may help to think this through is Harard University recently announced they would no longer charge tuition more than 10 percent of the parents annual income. For a middle-class family making $100,000 annually, that's $10,000. That's incredible.
For your idea to work, you need to know the real economics in the education industry. It sure doesn't make sense to me. Cut private school tuition to $10,000 a year and you will see a flood of applicants.
The **most** expensive church based school in my state is $4,500 ( this year). The **most** expensive secular school is $12,500, or a little more than half the cost of a government school kid in Washington, D.C.
Also you should remember that the exclusive school is not necessarily providing a better education. What the parents are buying for that money is social networking and country club facilities.
By the way, the tuition at my private parochial school in Philadelphia, St. Joan of Arc, was $2,383 for 2002/2003.
Personally, I believe private school tuition could be reduced drastically and quality of education greatly **improved** by abandoning the brick and mortal, Prussian style school, and applying modern technology and the curriculum developed for homeschoolers.
The following is from 2003:
]http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3231
Many people may think private schools are expensive because the costlier private schools also tend to be the most well known. For example, many in Houston have heard about St. John's or Tenney High School, where tuition runs over $13,000 a year. But fewer Houstonians have likely heard of Southeast Academy, Woodward Acres, or Pecan Street Christian Academy, all of which charge less than $3,000 per year, well below the city's private school average of $4,468.
Average private school tuition in other cities tells the same story: a large number of moderately priced private schools with a few very expensive, well-known exceptions. Median private elementary school tuition in Denver is $3,528. In Charleston, $3,150. In Philadelphia, $2,504. In New Orleans, $2,386.
Anthony Williams, mayor of the District of Columbia (where Congress is considering a school voucher program with voucher amounts of up to $7,500), recently stated, mistakenly, that “most private school tuitions run in the five figures — far beyond what is contemplated for the voucher program.”
In truth, according to a recent survey, the median per student cost for private elementary schools in the District of Columbia is $4,500, well below the mayor's “five figures.” Only 39 percent of D.C. private schools have tuitions of $10,000 or more.
In all of these cities, the average private school cost is significantly less than the amount spent for each student in public schools. A voucher or tax credit worth the same amount spent per student in public schools would easily give parents access to the bulk of private schools available in their communities. With more parents able to afford private schools, new schools would open to accommodate the increased number of students.
Government is giving education away for free to the parent. This tuition free education, and the free babysitting that comes with it, is powerfully addicting.
So....If conservatives are going to wean parents away from government education they will need to meet the government's fee: FREE.
Personally, I don't think people appreciate things that are given to them for free, but this is the price that government is charging for its educational product, and conservatives will need to charge the same. Conservatives can do something better with its free voucher schools, they can give a better quality product than the government school.
( See post #12)