Posted on 09/08/2003 12:46:12 PM PDT by jimkress
Vouchers, tuition tax credits, and scholarships are being awarded in a growing number of states and big cities as a way of allowing more children to attend private schools, rather than government-operated public schools. Wherever these programs are implemented, critics claim that vouchers or tax credits won't give children from poor families access to private schools because the costs of such schools are high. But are private schools really prohibitively expensive? Not according to the numbers.
The most recent figures available from the U.S. Department of Education show that in 2000 the average tuition for private elementary schools nationwide was $3,267. Government figures also indicate that 41 percent of all private elementary and secondary schools -- more than 27,000 nationwide -- charged less than $2,500 for tuition. Less than 21 percent of all private schools charged more than $5,000 per year in tuition. According to these figures, elite and very expensive private schools tend to be the exception in their communities, not the rule.
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.
In Florida, where students can attend private schools under several choice programs, the number of private schools in the state is increasing as school choice programs become more predominant. The percentage of Florida students enrolled in private schools has risen from 9.31 percent in 1992 to 12.5 percent in 2001. According to the Florida Department of Education, 353 new private schools have opened their doors since May 2000. Private entrepreneurs and philanthropic foundations have poured more than $76 million into Milwaukee's private schools since school choice was implemented there. This growth in private schools underscores the fact that the private education sector responds to increased consumer demand.
Existing school choice programs have already provided evidence of the benefits of school choice both for those students that switch to better schools and for those who stay in public schools. Studies in Florida, Milwaukee, San Antonio, Arizona, and Michigan have all shown that, in areas where school choice is available, public schools, in one way or another, improve in significant ways, including test scores and parental involvement.
Fostering a more competitive market in education is critical if the quality of education in inner cities and elsewhere is to be improved. Government monopolies -- and that includes public schools -- tend to serve many or most of their clients poorly, especially in a large and diverse society. Giving parents access to a growing, affordable, and diverse supply of private schools will help ensure that the current generation of American children receives a quality education.
. . . and you replied that it isn't up to her to decide that the kids are to be taught to disrespect her parents and their religious convictions. No matter how rich she is, and no matter how much tax she pays--or says she favors paying.It's right and proper that educators be subject to a religious test--the test that of acceptability to the child's parents, not some busybody voter who doesn't even know the child, much less suffer the consequeces of the child's time and enthusiasm lost to pedagogic incompetence and futility.
The education must be for the child, and not the child for the education. But the child is not competent to define his/her own educational needs, and the government is not entitled to control the child's religious instruction. The child's parents, and only the child's parents, rightly have that authority. Her taxes do not buy the right to have any say in the matter at all.
She is demanding that the government subject educators to a religious test in direct violation of the doctrine of seperation of church and state (not to mention the First Amendment to the Constitution </sarcasm>).
Needed repeating.
Every gathering should have a sign with that legend on it. People are brainwashed on the subject. Homeschooling results should have taught us better but blinders and media effects keep the public from recognizing how wasteful we are with tax dollars.
Now that the Feds are into it it will get worse.
Anyone RENTING a house is also paying for it.
Perhaps the greatest achievement of the otherwise lackluster Hugo Sonnenschein administration was the abolition of the School of Education at the U of C. It made Colombia Teacher's College look like Bob Jones University.
The education they will recieve there is head and shoulders above the public school that both my daughters attended.
They had to take remedial courses their first year of college just to keep up. My mistake and as pennance I have made a promise to myself that as long as I can get to work my daughters and their husbands will have all the help they need sending them to Christain Schools. Unfortunately for me my other daughter has triplets who will be starting school in two years.
LOL
I've heard that overall, DoD schools are pretty good but you obviously feel differently. What are your criticisms?
I went to Ramaz and then to Buckley. I got accepted to Dalton and Collegiate for High School. While I hada great time visiting Dalton, it was not for me.
As for Political Correctness, virtually all of the schools have been infected. There is a special counsilor for gay students at Collegiate now. In my day (1992-95!) kids stayed in the closet until the last semester of senior year.
We aqre dealing with an all boys school. The last thing we wanted was a gay clique. Unfortunately, a new headmaster was brought in and decided to change the climate and mores of the school.
But she expects you to pay for teaching teens how to use condoms, etc. And for teaching teens that homosexuality is fine.
If she won't pay for teaching your children values you approve of, why should you pay for teaching them values you don't?
Most of our local taxes go for schools. In most places, the teachers unions have more to say about how that money is spent than the parents do. That's backwards.
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