As someone who works hard and pays thousands for my children to attend private school in Louisiana, I am against this handout. I sacrificed and made the correct choices in my life so that I could pay for a private education for my kids. But, here comes RINO Bobby giving $8,500 to any low income student in a C graded or worse school to sit next to my child with nothing out of their parents pocket. Does anyone really think that this is going to motivate the parents to care about their kid’s education? Is something that’s given free of charge ever truly appreciated? Meanwhile the environment in my child’s school begins to resemble that of a public school.
Government money always comes with strings attached and once a private school receives a significant amount of government money, they can be lead around by the nose by that government. Tolerance education, diversity, etc. can all be a stipulation to the dollars. Jindal will not always be the governor of LA. God forbid a Dem get elected.
Now that private schools that have lower tuition know that there are kids out there with $8500 attached to them, what’s to stop the school from raising tuition to $8500? For the responsible families who’ve budgeted for this and can barely make $5000 per year, this is a screw job. They’ll pay up or be forced into the public school system if they can’t.
This is means tested. The middle class children get nothing out of it regardless of their public school’s performance. Failing school? T.S. if your household income is above 250% of poverty level.
Before you lambaste me as some sort of leftist, think about what I’ve posted and the poison that accompanies govt money. I pay tens of thousands in income taxes and property taxes($2500 goes to public ed). I take no government handouts. I pay thousands for my children to have a private education. And, now, there will be government handouts that allow kids to go to private school with nothing out of their parent’s pockets.
The poor don’t pay income taxes or property taxes, get free food, very discounted housing, welfare, free healthcare, free cell phones and on and on. And, now they get free PRIVATE education. At some point people are going to realize that free stuff isn’t going to motivate many to rectify their situation. Meanwhile the rest of us bust ass for half the year just to earn in real income an amount that equals all of the government handouts given to the sloths.
It’s sickening. Why bother?
You’re right. I can see that one of the strings attached to the money is that the private school has to take anyone with a voucher. I can also see private schools popping up just because of the vouchers. I can also see current private schools, especially the Christian schools, simply refusing to accept any voucher students.
I can see the points you are making. I guess in some ways it’s a catch 22. I know when one of my children attended a private school here in La. the private school she attended would stay very strict to their standards and would not hesitate to boot anyone out who acted up and became a problem.
Socialism is inherently unfair to all those forced to use it, pay extra to avoid it, and pay for it. Getting out of it will be unfair, as well to many, specifically people like you.
I **cautiously** support voucher, tax credits, and charters but am wary for all of the reasons you stated.
On the negative side:
** private schools become defacto government schools due to “strings”.
** Tuition creep as seen with college tuition.
** Vouchers are unfair to those responsible parents who have sacrificed mightily to ransom their kids from the godless socialist schools and, now, fail to financially qualify. In fact, they are unfair to all who fail to qualify.
On the positive side:
** They can immediately reduce the pressure on state budgets. In my state, government socialist-entitlement schooling is more than %50 of the state budget ( not including college and university budget expenses).
** They can help begin the process of building a private infrastructure.
** Wherever instituted the crush to get a voucher and abandon the government schools is overwhelming. This means reduced teachers union members and less influence on elections.
** In every study where children were accepted to a charter or voucher school by lottery, those winning the lottery do significantly better academically than those who did not get in. This is the “gold standard” to use when determining if privatization works. Even the highly “massaged” studies done by those defending the socialist government schools prove that voucher and charter schools do better but not worse than government socialist schools.
Conclusion: If vouchers, tax credits, and charters can be used to make the transition to complete separation of school and state, then I support them. If they are a means to make private school defacto government schooling, then I don't.
Our youngest just graduated from a very conservative private christian school. 5-6 years ago, our school began seeking inner city kids (families, really) to come out to our white bread suburban campus for their education. Every inner city kid is fully scholarshipped so there are no $$’s out of pocket for these families.
Huge, unqualified success!
One of these young guys ended up being close friends with my son. We got to know him well over a few years. He is now in college and on his way to breaking the cycle and becoming a responsible citizen.
Just a few things make this work. We have the ability to carefully screen which families are invited to participate - character matters. We self fund the program. We entered into the program with eyes wide open and full support....literally unanimous....of our board and our parents. Our families do a lot to love on these kids.
The net: Strong, well defined guardrails can alleviate many of your concerns. Strong, well defined families will make a difference in a few lives.
Good luck FRiend.
You make excellent points. At first blush this program sounds like a step in the right direction. If the state is going to guarantee and education then the parents should be able to ensure they get a good one. But if this program is not available to everyone it is a screw job. It inflates the cost of education. Everyone should get a voucher. Schools can charge $5000 more than the voucher if they want to.