I draw a big distinction between K-12 and secondary institutions. First off, the NEA has no influence in community colleges. That’s a big one. Second, they charge tuition to students. Third, they are not mandatory.
I do have a problem with the fact that they take taxpayer money, but it seems they give a better return on investment than do primary schools.
If you called your child’s school a “community school”, I would still ask - why should I pay for your child’s education? You said you pay for them to attend a different school, do you pay the full cost of their attendance there?
....why should I pay for your child’s education....Because you will be the beneficiary of my child one day. That is why you as a citizen have the right to demand excellence in your local school (whether you use them or not). You have the right to demand your tax dollars be spent wisely and with financial integrity.
But make no mistake, the leaders of tomorrow will come from all parts of the educational spectrum. We want and need excellence in schools.
I draw a big distinction between K-12 and secondary institutions.
Clearly, I'm just not sure you're correct to do so.
First off, the NEA has no influence in community colleges. That’s a big one.
That's so untrue, it boggles my mind. Virtually every state has an NEA arm that is heavily involved in the community colleges. Heck, Iowa's NEA arm is right now trumpeting
the big funding increase they got for community colleges
Second, they charge tuition to students.
I'm not sure why that matters. So far, it hasn't stopped the left-wing loons from taking their toll on community, state and private colleges. Also - I'm currently paying tuition for public school, so does that exonerate it in your mind? Didn't think so.
Third, they are not mandatory.
What distinction were you making? My mandatory taxes help fund the community college, my mandatory taxes help fund the public school. However, attending the public school is not mandatory. I can choose to homeschool my kids, send them to private school, send them to the local public school, or pay more to send them to a different public school.
If you called your child’s school a “community school”, I would still ask - why should I pay for your child’s education?
Ah...now we're getting into familiar territory. I'm not convinced that you should.
You said you pay for them to attend a different school, do you pay the full cost of their attendance there?
It's costly (before the discount for my wife working there), but I'll bet it's still shy of what the tax money would be. Neither do I get a refund of the tax money I've paid that supports the in-zone school.
If your beef is the educational malaise that has resulted from squandering of taxpayer money on large numbers of NEA-indoctrinated government schools, I'm with you. If you're going to argue specifics over why I've made a poor choice for my kids putting them in the specific school they are in - you proceed at your own risk, because you really don't know that many specifics about me, my kids, or the school in question. If you think your generalized understanding is enough, then good luck.