VOUCHERS: THE PARENT TRAP

TORCH, TEXAS EAGLE FORUM | MARCH 1999 | CATHY ADANS

[RonF]

"And, how will private schools be able to maintain private school admissions standards? Won't they be "discriminating" if they don't take a student with "special needs" or with a "disciplinary record"?"

This is one thing that skews the public vs. private school comparison. Not only do public schools have to take anybody who walks in the door, but private schools have kids in them whose parents have on average a much higher personal committment to their kids' education. If public schools could toss every kid who's a distraction to educating the rest of the students, they'd have a much better record.

[Protagoras]

Because the consumer will also control the spending of the voucher, they conclude that same conditions (e.g. no regulation) will apply for schools.

Private schools are already heavily regulated by the government. The regulation will only get worse if vouchers are added to the mix.

[another cricket]

The question is not "Is this the Best?" But "Is this better then what we have?" There is no certainty that any of these hypothetical problems will ever appear. Suits may certainly be brought but winning them is another matter entirely.
Other problems will appear but they can be dealt with as they arise. If it does not work then we changed it once and can do so again if need be. Nothing is set in stone.

I quit being scared of shadows and hypothetical boogie-men a long time ago.

a.cricket

[Starwind]

Once those dollars leave our hands, the money becomes government funds.

But once the funds are returned via vouchers it's our money again. The only restriction being it must be spent on education (you can't buy a car for example, with it)

[capecodder]

A voucher is not cash. It's government paper.

[Starwind]

A voucher is not cash. It's government paper.

Your half right. It is isn't cash, but it becomes my paper.

[concerned about politics]

Your argument that he who pays the piper, calls the tune

The parents.

[Dakmar]

2) There is no government control. It is parents spending their money as they choose.

I was responding to the assertion that private schools would refuse vouchers if they came with strings attached. If that's the case, then vouchers could only be used in schools which allowed government meddling, which gets us right back to where we are now.

[Starwind]

if they came with strings attached.

As has been previously pointed out, there are no additional strings attached.

A voucher is the parents rebated 'education fund' to be spent as the parent chooses, without strings, on their childs education.

[FreeTally]

Your argument that he who pays the piper, calls the tune

The parents.

Bingo.

In my graduating class, there were two students who violated some rules near the end of the Senior year, and the administration said it would not let them walk at graduation. Well, the students of both parents paid the school a visit, and presto, their children walked.

Parental pressure would force private schools not to accpet voucher students if any off these scenarios came to pass.

[concerned about politics]

1) It's not more money, it's the same money taxed away that's been rebated back to parents
2) There is no government control. It is parents spending their money as they choose.

That's the very, very big part of all this that's lost in the pro-indoctrination propaganda. It's a tax break for a good education, and yet they complain!
If a private school cost more than that, the parents come up with the balance, not the government.

[LarryLied]

So why have the NEA, the AFT, the NAACP, the NCJW, the ACLU, PFAW, the AJCongress, the ADL and other left wing grops vowed to fight vouchers in every state in which they are proposed?

[Protagoras]

The only restriction being it must be spent on educationGOVERNMENT APPROVED EDUCATION.

I altered it a little for effect.

[FreeTally]

As has been previously pointed out, there are no additional strings attached.

I think Dakmar was saying the same thing I did earlier - if the school perceives that there are strings attached. The schools perception is everything. To be safe, the school may simply not accept vouchers.

I think people are erroniously assuming that voucher programs will pop up in every county in every State overnight, and that private school administrators will be licking their chops to get some of this "new money". Not going to happen. Only three States have such programs now. And what is still sad, is that very few parents of children from these "failing schools" even care enough to apply for the voucher. Check the statistics from here in Florida. Every child in the several failing schools is eligible, but only a few parents apply.

[Starwind]

The only restriction being it must be spent on education, GOVERNMENT APPROVED EDUCATION, such as charter schools as previously approved.

[concerned about politics]

So why have the NEA, the AFT, the NAACP, the NCJW, the ACLU, PFAW, the AJCongress, the ADL and other left wing grops vowed to fight vouchers in every state in which they are proposed?

Because they'll loose their dictatorship over parents.
"Give me your children, and I'll have them for life." -- Stalin and the Socialist Goals 2000 program.

[FreeTally]

So why have the NEA, the AFT, the NAACP, the NCJW, the ACLU, PFAW, the AJCongress, the ADL and other left wing grops vowed to fight vouchers in every state in which they are proposed?

BINGO! That's exactly why I say this argument is a NEA sponsored, desperate propaganda trick. It does pay to be cautious, and look at all issues, but I do not think this is a "Trojan Horse".

[Dakmar]

So why have the NEA, the AFT, the NAACP, the NCJW, the ACLU, PFAW, the AJCongress, the ADL and other left wing grops vowed to fight vouchers in every state in which they are proposed?

NEA/AFT - Money/power/jobs
NAACP - Insist on taking the opposite side of Republicans on any issue
ACLU - Hate all religions
ADL - See ACLU, add except their own.

[concerned about politics]

but I do not think this is a "Trojan Horse".

It's a tax break tward freedom.

[FreeTally]

To everyone on this thread: So that I may gain insight as to where you are comming from, and as to your knowledge of private schools, who here either went to a private school or sends their children to one?