Vouchers [Politics/Religion]

Spacey started it. 

So this (interminably  long and positively mind-numbing) round of public- vs. private-education funding comes to an close in Utah.  Vouchers looking to go down hard.  After the legislature passed two very suspect bills authorizing vouchers, a petition initiative got recision on the ballot, the NEA and who knows who else got involved and eight million was spent (more than on the mayoral race in SLC) we're back where we were (are).  What a cluster*fudge*. 

So anyway.  I believe we're seeing the first of MANY such initiatives over the next decade or so.  As public education continues to fail some students/families we'll see more and more of this.  Very, very interesting topic. 

Full disclosure.  My kids go to private school.  I'm for the concept of vouchers but hope they never pass.  I know that doesn't make sense.  I don't think the public schools should have a monopoly on tax-payer money in educating our children.  They can be inefficient, tenure blows, the NEA and UEA blow harder, there are so many reasons to give parents more say in how their child is educated given they are paying the taxes that support public education. 

On the flip side.  I like my children's school.  I don't want the government involved.  Once we start taking federal/state money it's a short ride to government oversight of everything we do.  Our private school will become a public school.  No thanks. 

I know there are good public schools.  I know there are fabulous teachers.  Unfortunately, the opposite holds true too.  Just don't want anyone to think I have a beef against public schools.  Especially if your spouse is a teacher.   

i think if you think the public schools aren't worth it you SHOULD get a refund towards another option.  the full price? no.

How do you quantify "worth it"? Lots of people want lots of different things for their child's education. Can or should the public system be expected to cater to each of them? Should they be punished if they can't? Overtly skewed example: What if a parent believes an education should include Creationism? Are they entitled a refund because the public system has "failed" their children? Where/how is the line drawn?

That sounds eerily familiar.

^^^All good points. I still feel good about my opposition.^^^


Though one might admit with the excessive (read: comical) use of the terms "liberal," "East-coast," "Ted Kennedy," "moveon.org," etc. the pro-voucher rhetoric has essentially been an exercise in "how effective are a.m. radio talking points in rallying the troops?"

In Utah one might legitimately reason a secular education has a particular religious bent.  I certainly received a tremendously sanitized version of Utah history in jr./sr. high. 

But you make a good point.  While the whole church and state argument has morphed tremendously over the past 200 years it's fair enough that the public should not have to fund faith-based education with which they may disagree.  Having said that, if the faith-based aspect is 5% of a curriculum should the whole curriculum be discounted?

At the end of the day I still have to pay a tuition bill.  No more, no less, than if the vouchers initiative passed.  At least upon failure I don't have to deal with a bunch of new wankers trying to *8==>* up my kid's school.   

Indeed it is not, and is.

Vouchers go down in flames with less than 40% of the vote.  Now we can get back to our regular commercial rota and despising Tom Shane. 

Our kids are at private schools.

I'm against vouchers for two reasons.  First, because of creeping public interference in private education that comes with it.  It's just not worth it.  Second, because it drains resources from public school systems that already have some evident resource-performance disparity.  In other words, the most likely scenario is that vouchers would be used by kids in the worst public schools, which would have the effect of making those schools worse.

I'm not convinced public education is broken.  A lot of it begins at home, and no amount of investment in public education is going to fix a problem that starts with a parent who doesn't give a *feces* about education.  To the extent that private schools do better than public schools, it is most likely a result of parents who are committed to the education process, and are willing to beat and torture their kids to get the job done.

I don't possess a sense of entitlement with regards to being also forced to pay for public education.  We do private schools by choice.

I pay property taxes, and a very large fraction of the tax goes to support the public school in my community because it is one of my communities big cost centers.  Whether or not I have kids, I'd have to pay that property tax. So whether or not I take advantage of the 'free' education, I pay into it.

I don't have a serious problem with that.  It turns out our community's schools are perceived as pretty good.  The good school system makes the community attractive, and this has the effect of buttressing our property values.  I view the tax as part of the cost of my investment in my home.  But I have little sympathy for the public education mafia...the community citizens who demand money from their neighbors insisting that no cost be spared to get their kid get the best education.   

Overall, I view public education as a good thing.   It is essential to move human society forward.  The countries that struggle in the world economy are those who's public education systems are rudimentary, by comparison.