What is you position on the issue of School Vouchers?

Question

If you don't know what they are, is a certificate by which parents are given the ability to pay for the education of their children at a school of their choice, rather than the public school to which they were assigned. Since all students by federal law are guaranteed FAPE (Free access to public education), it would be more of a structural change in our education then one that requires a significant amount of capital (except during a transition).

I don't want to know if you have a better idea, I simply want to know your views and logic for or against this idea.

Answer 1

I am 100% for it.

The reasoning behind why I approve is to have some healthy competition between the public and private schools. Teachers will be more on the ball if they have to compete for students.

How much better is anything. when it is of a competitive nature? I am asking does it matter if it is a product or a service? The right to choose your childs education is one of the most important things that could happen to our school system.

While we are at it, how about getting rid of tenure? Let's stop teachers from becoming lackadaisical. We need bright and inspiring instructors for these kids. This would certainly bring more energy to the classroom also!

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Answer 2

One important thing is that in many parts of the country (the South, the mountain states, the rural midwest) what you'd end up with is government funded religious brainwashing, since many places would only have choices of religious schools outside of the public school system. I'm sure some folks would love that, but then comes the next thing:
Why not just put enough resources into all the schools so that they're all good? There are still disparities in schools in the ghetto and schools in wealthier areas.
Private schools in Florida didn't have to pass the same tests that public schools had to, AND they can just kick out or refuse to accept kids that misbehave.
In Miami, these "schools of choice" have such long waiting lists that they don't really have a choice.
Also, private schools usually pay teachers low low salaries, so the claim that they're doing better is because they have 1. tough discipline, 2. can choose their students,
3. don't have huge class sizes, and 4. don't have to pass the same state tests.

Answer 3

A voucher system is the only real hope for the US secondary education system. Throwing money at government schools for the last 45 years has not done a bit of good. Public schools need to move out of the way and let the market place decide who survives by allowing competition in education.

Answer 4

That there is no need for them. If parents and teachers care enough about children, they don't have a need to go to a different school, than what is local. Kids aren't learning for the most part, because parents are too busy, or don't care enough to sit down with their child during homework, and help them understand. Not enough people are concerned with children's education. PARENTS HELP YOUR KIDS, because apparently NO ONE else IS!!!!!
Black children in bad areas of cities, don't do their homework, and don't usually show up to school, even. MMMMMMM, I wonder why there are so many gang members? Could this be because parents aren't doing their JOB, as parents?????????
It is not to say just blacks, but all people are capable of learning. Just because you're poor, doesn't mean you're dumb, or unable to learn. Education is free up to the 12th grade, and so are libraries!
I am also sorry that I can't change these people with the kids who aren't learning, with the kids who aren't showing up to school. I can't change that they don't care. I can't change their mentality.
No school voucher will change a child's education, or learning ability. The power is within themselves, and if they don't use that power, I suppose they grow up to be the garbage man.
If only the richer schools teach well, then that's saying the poorer schools have no good teachers. I don't believe that.

Answer 5

Im a big supporter of a complete system. Milton Friedman wrote extensively on the subject. But i would want a complete voucher system where a school, public or private, only gets payed if the student (or students parents) choses to go there, with the voucher equal to the full cost of school, instead of a partial system like in some cities today. Todays systems generally only dirrectly helps those with some money, and not the poor. But they may be needed a sa way to gradually shift the politics to the end goal.

If we had a universal voucher system, we would be placing market incentives into the system. Schools have to compete for good students and students have to compete for good schools.

In the short run, if a student is in a bad school, he/she can just leave and not have to be forced to go there because of where his or her residence is, waiting for politicians ans school boards to finally fix their school while they suffer for years on end.

In the long run, there will be less bad schools, because if people are allowed to leave, then those teachers and principals lose their jobs, so there is now a market incentive for the administrators and teachers to not have a bad school. And if that doesnt work, the school just stops existing and students go elsewhere.

This system would be closer to how our higher education system works. You are given financial aid (a voucher) and it only goes to the school that when you go there. Its not a coinsidence that we had the best college system int he world but a subpar grade school system. The one with choice and competition does better.

How many people do you think would support a college system like our grade school system? Unless you have enough money to pay the entire price tag out of pocket, the only college you can go to is your local state school. Any takers for that system? And yet thats how our grade school system works.

But a voucher system is also how most of our other social services work. The government doesn dirrectly run a grocery store, it gives you food stamps (voucher). The governemnt does run hospitals, it gies you medicare or medicaide (voucher). You chose where to go get food or healthcare. The school system should be teh same way.

Also, this will diffuse the social debates such as school uniforms, school prayer, etc. If you want to go to a school that has that, you go. If you dont, you dont. No one is forced to have these things, and no one is denied form having them either.

Also, if parents have to make a choice over where a student goes, it will enhance parental envolvement in their kids eduaction, rathere then just accepting that their kid is going to the schoold own the street. Furthermore, because students can leave, and with them the paychecks for the school teachers and admin, the schools wil now be more responsive to parents.

People are just too afraid of change so they balk at this idea whenever it is proposed even though this is how most of our other social services work. Add in teachers unions who have it in their interest to maintain the status quo so they dont have to have pressure of losing their jobs if they are not teaching well, and you get the massive resistance to this system. I find it ironic that it is the party that calls itself "progressive" that is most interested in preserving an old, dysfunctional system left over from the industrial revolution, and only benifits a special interest group (teachers unions). By the way, isnt the democrat party supposed to be pro choice?

Though it isnt a perfect system, Chile incorporated a massive voucher system in the 80's,and now over 60% of students go to private schools, and Chilean students do signifigantly better on test scored compared to other latin American countries.

Answer 6

I agree with vouchers. I know that at the local level in some states, there are hundreds of applicants for certain teaching jobs such as elementary level teacher and social studies teacher. However, instead of them competing for the jobs, they are locked out by poor teachers who hold a position because of tenure. If there was a competitive system in place, there would be more teaching jobs and smaller class sizes by default. Bad teachers would have to "put up, or shut up", instead of hiding behind tenure.

Answer 7

In areas where school vouchers have been implemented, they have been a tremendous success. They allow people who already pay the outrageous property taxes to withdraw their children from the failed public schools and place them in private ones where they actually learn rather than being indoctrinated to the liberalism that the US public school systems promote. It is a proven fact that MOST of the nation's largest cities have schools that have huge dropout rates and failure rates for minorities and the general population as well. This is due to the teacher's unions failure to promote proven teachers and instead to promote the longer-term teacher who has seniority but no effectiveness. See the two links below for evidence of the truth in these statements.
I am a teacher who stopped teaching because the unions refuse to budge from their promotion of failed ideas. My children both went to private schools, and both graduated, both graduated college and have master's + and are earning well beyond the national average because of my and my wife's sacrifices.

Answer 8

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Answer 9

I am in favor of vouchers. I believe in competition in all things and think our current public education system is destroying the future of the US, by dumbing down our children to the lowest common denominator.

Answer 10

I support them. I want to be able to choose what school my kids go to.

The teachers hate them because this would introduce accountability into the public school system.