Posted on 07/05/2002 6:49:32 AM PDT by capecodder
Vouchers: The Parent Trap
Texas Eagle Forum March 1999 Cathie Adams, President, Texas Eagle Forum
VOUCHERS: THE PARENT TRAP
Who will have the fundamental right of educating children: parents or politicians?
By Cathie Adams, president of Texas Eagle Forum
Virtually every candidate for political office claims that if we elect him, he will fix public education, and since 92% of our children attend public schools, such political promises appeal to almost everyone. Those political promises have led to a multitude of unproven education fads introduced in public school classrooms, but there is one idea that has yet to overcome political opposition: vouchers, a.k.a. school choice. There are two major sources of opposition for the idea: teachers' unions who are afraid of losing part of their funding and those who hold to free market ideals and oppose government regulations.
Voucher supporters claim they would create competition for the public schools and thereby improve them. But columnist Charlie Reese sums it up nicely: "Government schools cannot compete in any sense of the word. They are government schools, creatures of law and politics. Faculty, its pay, and the curricula are determined not by the schools, but by politicians, bureaucrats and, in some cases judges. To state that public schools can compete with private schools is like saying a bronze statue of a horse can compete with a live one."
In reality, public funding would destroy private education. Saralee Rhoades outlines why in The Freeman, a newsletter published by The Foundation for Economic Education:
Private schools will become dependent on this new source of money and in time unable to exist without it. Private schools electing to safeguard their freedoms, not taking advantage of "free" money, will not be able to compete. When the only schools left are government schools, is there any assurance that the quality of public schooling will not precipitously decline as it has before? The resultant government monopoly will preclude any form of competitive standards. Costs will skyrocket as offices are set up nationwide to monitor the expenditure of government funds, protect students from exploitation, and expand services as further needs arise. Eventually the aim will be the maintenance of the program, not the education of children. Compliance with government policy and maintenance of the status quo will assume greater and greater importance, as more workers become dependent on government-subsidized salaries. The bottom line is that government cannot fix the educational problem because government is the problem.
Some insist that voucher legislation can be written to protect private schools. Chester Finn, chief architect of the National Goals (presented in former President Bush's America 2000 plan and President Clinton's Goals 2000) and a voucher advocate refutes the claim. "Some to be sure, like to think they can have it both ways; i.e. can obtain aid without saddling themselves with unacceptable forms of regulation. But most acknowledge the general applicability of the old adage that he who pays the piper calls the tune, and are more or less resigned to amalgamating or choosing between assistance or autonomy."
Texas voucher supporters believe that if legislation denies federal funds, then private schools would be free from government strings. In 1995, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 1 and created the Texas Workforce Commission that have brought about systemic reforms required by federal education laws, Goals 2000 and School-to-Work. The Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) is being restructured to come into compliance with the rewrite of Texas' essential elements into performance standards/outcomes called Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills-all an outgrowth of the federal programs. It is logical that if private and public schools are answerable to the same bureaucracies, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the Texas Comptroller, then they will both be controlled by the federal government programs.
State regulation is guaranteed. Governor George W. Bush has said, "I believe we ought to try a pilot voucher program that is tied to our accountability system [the TAAS test]." Rather than public schools being forced to compete in an education market place with private schools, the private schools would be forced to conform to the same outcome-based standards and performance-based tests prescribed for every public school by both federal and state governments. Ronald Trowbridge, vice-president for external programs and communications at Hillsdale College in Michigan, wrote in The Wall Street Journal "If government vouchers are extended to private primary and secondary schools, truly private schools in five, 10, 15 or 20 years will become virtually extinct."
Courts have broadened government control over private schools that take government funds. The infamous Grove City College vs. Bell case decided that even though the GI bill funds went directly to a student rather than a school, it came under federal regulations. The all-male Virginia Military Institute was forced to admit women or forgo state funding. And Liberty University dropped their religious worship requirement in order to retain their state tuition assistance grants. George Roche, president of Hillsdale College writes, "What is especially galling about this (attitude of 'you take our money, we own you') is that federal money was forcibly extracted from us in the first place. When they 'give' some of it back, it comes not with strings attached, but chains." Hillsdale is the only college in the U.S. that refuses even the GI Bill because of its federal tentacles of control.
The bottom line is: Vouchers would cause the demise of private schools because they cannot compete with what some parents will perceive as "free" schools. And government regulation will force them to be like public schools.
Vouchers would grant the government the "right" to collect your money and redistribute it to the more needy or dictate where and how you spend it by granting you a voucher. Collecting taxes and redistributing them is socialism.
Vouchers will cause private school tuition to escalate as witnessed by the sharp increase in public college tuition after the GI Bill was passed in 1943. Fewer parents would be able to afford true private schools.
Vouchers would politicize private schools the same way as public schools. Dr. Gary North, president of The Institute for Christian Economics, describes how voters/parents have consented to a system that rewards educational bureaucrats rather than serving parents as consumers with legal authority over their children. The chief losers of the political scheme are the students.
Vouchers would methodically expunge religion from private school curricula. George Bernard Shaw of The Socialist Fabian Society of England frankly stated, "Nothing will more quickly destroy independent Christian schools than state aid; their freedom and independence will soon be compromised, and before long their faith."
The only voucher bill filed in the Texas legislature as I write this report is HB 709 by Rep. Mike Krusee (R-Round Rock). The bill would mandate that: parents notify the state for a scholarship; the voucher "entitlement" be paid to the school instead of to the parent; the private schools be accredited by a private organization recognized by the Commissioner of Education and report to him on the school's performance on the academic excellence indicators; the private school not refuse to enroll a child on the basis of religion or academic achievement; and that the private school must certify to the Texas Comptroller all admissions regulations.
Senate Education Committee Chairman Teel Bivins (R-Amarillo), also will sponsor legislation calling for a limited voucher program. He says private schools that participate must be accredited and must test their students with the TAAS. This would make the once "private" school economically, spiritually and educationally beholden to the state.
Government vouchers sound good at first, but when we measure whether they will bring more liberty or more government, they certainly grow government. And it is uncanny that conservatives would encourage government to reduce welfare and support a reduction in the size of government, but advocate school vouchers. By cycling taxpayers' money through government hands, then back to parents, the voucher program would create a new category of people who will become dependent upon government largess. We cannot mouth limited government while our actions promote limitless government.
(fearfully), I ask are you talking about your co-teachers?
No organization in American history has done more to drive religion out of the public square or stop taxpayer fundig of private schools than the AJCongress. Their, now departed,lawyer,Leo Pfeffer, is an icon of the left for the cases he argued before SCOTUS. Check out what the AJCongress has to say on the issue:
This has been going on for years, even without vouchers. The private schools will not tolerate a problem child, and do not have the money to take care of students with special needs.
That is what we need to have happen. All the liberal grops I mentioned have sworn to fight vouchers everywhere they are proposed. OK, let's give them their wish. It costs conservatives nothing to introduce a voucher bill in every state in the union.
But it will cost the NEA, the ACLU and AJCongress plenty of money to fight them. Even if we lose, we win. The more money the left spends defeating vouchers, the less they have to support liberal candidates for office.
Republican elected officials should put a voucher bill on the table in every state before the fall election.
And if the bills are defeated, so what? We can introduce another. And another. And another.
We can bleed liberals dry with this.
We homeschool right now. Our kids test scores make the public school scores look like a kindergarden.
If we could get our school taxes back, our kids would probably be in the Christian Learning Academy. I know we could come up with the rest of the cash needed. The tax break would pay for about 1/3 the tuition. That would be enough to allow us to pull it off. We'd take it!
Our neighbors sent their daughter to the CLA, and her grades were wonderful. She was a great kid. Polite, clean, and smart. She went to private school for 7 years.
They lost some of their income and had to send her back to public school. The kid is failing everything. She doesn't even have to try. She says they'll pass her anyway.
The school doesn't make the children learn. They just get summer school funding instead. The schools are full all summer around here.
That little girl is now a lost child. She turned into a public school kid, and her parents are having a heck of a time with her. The school blames the parents, of course.
Of course, any law can be amended in any legislative session. Have any of the "strings" been eliminated?
_____
Council for American Private Education (CAPE) May 1999 Florida Legislative Conference Committee Summary
Requirements for Private Schools Participating in the Florida Opportunity Scholarship Program
(The following is from the Summary of Conference Committee Action prepared by the Florida State Legislature.)
A private school must be a Florida private school, may be sectarian or nonsectarian, and must do the following:
Except for the first year of implementation, notify DOE and the local school district of its intent to participate in the opportunity scholarship program by May 1 of the school year preceding the school year in which it intends to participate. The notice must specify the grade levels and services available for the program.
Demonstrate fiscal soundness by being in operation for one school year or provide the DOE with a statement by a certified public accountant confirming that the private school desiring to participate is insured and the owner or owners have sufficient capital or credit to operate the school for the upcoming year serving the number of students anticipated with expected revenues from tuition and other sources that may be reasonably expected. In lieu thereof, a surety bond or letter of credit for the amount equal to the scholarship funds for any quarter may be filed with the department.
Comply with federal antidiscrimination provisions.
Meet state and local health and safety laws and codes.
Determine, on a random and religious-neutral basis without regard to the student's past academic history which opportunity scholarship students to accept. (Preference may be given to siblings of students already accepted under the program).
Be subject to the instruction, curriculum, and attendance criteria adopted by an appropriate nonpublic school accrediting body and be academically accountable to the parent or guardian as meeting the educational needs of the student. The private school must furnish a school profile which includes student performance.
The status of accreditation, as well as the highest degree attained by each faculty member, must be included in the school's annual report to DOE.
The private school must include in its school profile the percentage of teachers who hold regular Florida teaching certificates.
The private school must employ or contract with teachers who hold a BS or higher degree, or have at least 3 years teaching experience in public or private schools, or have special skills, knowledge, or expertise that qualifies them to provide instruction in subjects taught.
Comply with all state statutes relating to private schools.
Accept the opportunity scholarship amount provided by the state as full tuition and fees for each student.
Agree not to compel any opportunity scholarship student to profess a specific ideological belief, to pray, or to worship. The private school must adhere to the tenets of its published disciplinary procedures prior to the expulsion of an opportunity scholarship student.
Requirements for Students Participating in the Florida Opportunity Scholarship Program:
(The following is from the Summary of Conference Committee Action prepared by the Florida State Legislature.)
In order for a student to remain eligible in the opportunity scholarship program, all of the following provisions must be met:
The student must remain in attendance throughout the school year, unless excused by the school for illness or good cause.
The student must comply fully with the school's code of conduct.
The student's parent or guardian must comply fully with the private school's parental involvement requirements, unless excused by the school for illness or good cause.
The student's parent or guardian must ensure that the student takes all required statewide assessments. The student may take the required tests at a location and time provided by the school district.
A participant who fails to comply with the requirements of program participation forfeits the opportunity scholarship.
Praises be, I am not a teacher. I currently work in quality control where I judge what may ship and what must be re-worked based on the measurements taken by my people on the floor.
I should just be able to glance at the cumulative average and decide but instead I must check every calculation that they make. Do not get me started on rounding to the nearest number. They simply can not do it.
a.cricket
It certainly made all the NEA members happy. That's the propaganda they've been handing out for years.
Vouchers are not scholarships.
Or they don't have kids in a typical public school.
The requirements, though, do not give the students or parents any additional "rights" that the other students have, nor does it give them more room to "complain". Those requirements clearly state the student mus follow all rules of conduct, and parents must be involved if the school requires it. Those two provisions turn off many parents in the first place.
Bottom line is: Only parents who care about their children's education are going to take advantage of this program. You will not have parents with whiney brats trying to sue schools into submission over petty things they could get away with at a publc school. An atheist isn't going to send his/her child to a private school, and demand they change things and accomodate his/her beliefs. Those types of people don't last a week at a private school. Their children are miserable because no one likes them, will talk to them or be their friend. Kids are good at enforcing such "social order" in public schools.
Vouchers are not scholarships.
Thats the name of the Florida program.
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