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The Supreme Court and School Vouchers
By Joe Cadrain, Winsted
There is a test case before the United States Supreme Court to determine the legal battle over voucher plans that give parents alternatives to public education. The court ruling will affect existing voucher plans in Milwaukee, Cleveland, the state of Florida, and other states in America.
This case concerns a six-year pilot voucher program in Cleveland that allows parents to choose alternatives to one the worst-rated public school systems in the country. Basically the two sides are divided over the use of public monies for the education of our children. The countless number of public school unions and the National School Boards Association stand firm, stating that public money should only be provided to public schools—today, tomorrow and forever. On the other side are those who have lost confidence in a system that has been flooded with local, state and federal money and has nonetheless shown a steady decline in results since 1963. They want to use some public money to assist them in providing a better education for their children in better public or private schools. In Milwaukee the voucher plan allows enrollment in another public school, a secular private academy or a parochial school. This issue has seen 38 friend-of-the-court briefs, more than any other case this year.
Should the court rule in favor of the education unions, our children would continue to be held captive in failed public schools unless parents are able to pay private school costs or homeschool their children. (The next step would be to stop homeschooling.) Of course legislators, state and federal, will continue to throw more of our money at our schools, even though that has never produced anything other than expensive failure. Politically Correct Education destroys truth, corrupts history and glorifies the bashing of America; yet if choice is totally removed, foreign students will fill the majority of good-paying jobs while our students will flourish in the fast-food restaurant business.
But should the court rule in favor of the Cleveland voucher plan, there would be a move in many states to advance plans allowing parental choice in the educational process. Parents could hold all school officials—public, religious or private—accountable for how good they are at educating children. Monopolies, on the other hand, are rarely productive because there is no reason for them to improve.
It is hard to estimate how many new private schools would be built if the court approves the use of vouchers to create a competitive market for students. Certainly some new schools would prosper while others would fail. In the long run, parents, schools and teachers would feel better about themselves because students would become better educated. Competition alone would ignite each school to do its best to provide the education parents are looking for.
Opponents of vouchers claim that school choice is a scheme to give public money to religious schools. This statement is based on the assumption that religious schools would receive the bulk of voucher monies. At the present time in most cities and towns, the only alternatives to public schools are religious schools—but I think this would change to other private schools should the court rule in favor of vouchers. Montessori Schools are becoming popular in our area, and others could follow.
Teacher unions claim that vouchers rob their schools of money that might make them better, while skimming off the brightest or most motivated students. OK, lets say that 40 students get vouchers. If each voucher is worth $2,250, they would take away $90,000 from where they attend school now. If the school system spends $10,000 to educate each student, they could still spend $400,000 minus the voucher cost of $90,000—which would leave them with an extra $310,000 to spend on the students they still have. The public school would end up with smaller class sizes, and that should be good for everyone. Why the brightest or most motivated students would leave the public schools with vouchers, I cannot answer. Personally, I did not realize that the students in Cleveland who wanted to leave the system were black and going to the inner city schools.
We need to support competition, support accountability in all schools, and support vouchers to make it all happen. Have a nice day.
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