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Student Vouchers Invite
Government Involvement
Glossary to
Educational Choice, Part 2
Education/Nancy
Salvato |
January 26, 2005
- Casey Lartigue, in
Semantics
and School Choice, says that "there is no such thing as a "voucher
school." This would be correct because an education/school voucher is a tax
funded certificate, given to parents to pay for the education of their
children at any private or public school that accept students with vouchers.
There are inherent problems associated with the meaning of voucher, which
can be gleaned just from the juxtaposition of the words tax funded and
private. Obviously taxes imply government money and private means
independently run. In public education and in private education, the two
ideas cannot be reconciled.
There are plenty of arguments for and against supporting vouchers. But when
all the facts are closely scrutinized, the best way to assure a wide variety
of unlimited options rather than "controlled choice” in education is to
leave the government out of it. Vouchers, by their very nature, invite
government regulation and the implementation of their agendas; which serves
to stifle the singular nature and overall appeal of a private institution.
In Reasons Home
Schoolers Should Avoid Government Vouchers, the legal staff of the
National Center for Home Education came up with some very valid reasons to
discourage the widespread usage of vouchers. If vouchers are taken to the
next level and extended to all students, and not just a finite amount of low
income attendees of dysfunctional schools, it would necessitate raising
taxes to provide for the millions of school aged children who already
benefit from independent schooling. "Edd Doerr, Executive Director of
Americans for Religious Liberty, predicts that vouchers would cost Americans
33 billion dollars annually in increased taxes.”
As it currently stands, parents who have chosen to send their children to
independent institutions are paying tuition twice; once through taxes and
once to cover the costs of an alternative education. With vouchers, these
same parents could conceivably end up paying more. The private institution
they’ve chosen may decide to maintain its independence and not accept
vouchers with their inherent strings; obligations to comply with government
mandates. Enrollment in these instances may decrease because families may
pursue alternative education at voucher accepting institutions. Tuition may
increase for remaining students due to declining enrollment.
Jonathan Rauch, in an open letter to Bill Gates entitled,
A Liberal
Plot to Destroy Private Schools gives us an idea of what the future
might bring if vouchers catch on. He imagines that the following dialogue
amongst those who pushed for vouchers might sound something like this, "What
were we thinking when we crusaded to hook private schools on public
money?"
And he believes that those amongst the teachers unions, which he believes
"by then may have extended many of today's anticompetitive public school
rules to the private realm”, might say, "Boy, were we ever lucky we lost
that fight. Now all schools are public."
In the Pew Forum’s:
School Vouchers Settled Questions, Continuing Disputes it is pointed out
that there are likely to be a number of legal challenges to vouchers based
on state constitutions, which argue against the inclusion of religious
schools in voucher programs. Some state constitutional provisions say that
government funds may not be used for any private school. Some provisions are
more specific and exclude aid only to secular religious schools. At any
rate, it’s clear that this is a point of contention that won’t be going away
anytime soon.
Many would agree that the public school system is in trouble due to the
schools being "over centralized, bureaucratic behemoths”, an apt description
penned by David Boaz and R. Morris Barrett in,
What
Would A School Voucher Buy? The Real Cost Of Private Schools: Why the
Schools Don't Work Proof of their assessment lays in the fact that in
1987 there were 3,300 employees in the central and district offices of the
Chicago public school system yet only 36 administrators overseeing the
Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago schools. There are many more such examples.
Special interest groups, such as the NEA dominate the public school system,
and district schools no longer responsive to the specific interests of the
communities in which they exist. Even former AFT President Al Shanker agreed
that, "there are few incentives for innovation and productivity.”
But how can more parents afford alternative means to an education? Parents
should be able to have Universal Tuition Tax Credit to be used against their
property or income taxes; deducting a portion of the cost of an independent
education. By allowing parents this means, no public funding is diverted
from the public school system nor will private schools become beholden to
public school administration or ideas.
Government schools would be forced to compete for students; bringing
innovation and efficiency. There would be free market competition in
education and schools would arise to meet new demands. Schools, and the
teachers employed in them, would have financial incentive to meet the
demands of excellence. They could charge and benefit from compensation
befitting a school of high caliber. No poor teacher would survive in a
market situation that expects them to carry their weight.
School Vouchers and Universal Tuition Tax Credits are both intended to make
alternative education more accessible for those who lack the financial means
to take advantage of it. But, vouchers invite government involvement which
by its very nature controls choice. However, tax credits are not publicly
funded. This money has never seen government hands. In addition, they are
available to anyone who might benefit. Scholarships can be set up so that
individuals and corporations can donate to those who don’t pay property
taxes or whose income tax is negligible. We wouldn’t want the government
telling us which stores to shop, or what foods to buy. Why do we allow the
government to decide what schools we will attend and what bill of goods they
will be selling?
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