Do you agree or disagree with private school vouchers?
548897
I oppose school vouchers.\n\nWhy Vouchers Are Bad for Public Schools\n\n1. Even a pilot voucher program would siphon hundreds of millions of dollars in public tax dollars out of neighborhood public schools to fund private and religious schools. Public schools are already struggling to pay for equipment and other resources they need to teach our children.\n\n2. Vouchers don’t create ’choice’ for parents and kids; they create ’choice’ for private schools at taxpayers’ expense. The private voucher experiment in progress in Edgewood ISD confirms that private schools will use vouchers to recruit the most talented and academically motivated kids out of public schools at taxpayers’ expense, leaving behind the children who can’t get into private school.\n\n3. Despite the loss of some students to vouchers, schools will not see a reduction in their bond debt, personnel and program costs. School boards would be left holding the bag-forced to make up their budget shortfall by raising the property taxes of local businesses and citizens.\n\n4. The pro-voucher lobby’s promises are misleading. Elite private schools are very selective and a voucher would not cover tuition. Many private schools would refuse vouchers if state accountability tests or standards were required.\n\n5. Due to the huge sums of tax money that would be newly available under a voucher scheme, fly-by-night schools would open, looking only to make a profit. The state would be powerless to prevent these unaccredited and unqualified schools from taking taxpayer funds.\n\n6. Spending public tax dollars for religious schools violates the state and federal constitutional separation of church and state. Hundreds of clergy from across the state have decried the use of vouchers as an affront to our constitutionally guaranteed protections.\n\n7. There is no credible evidence that vouchers improve the educational achievement of students who use them, while there is abundant proof that smaller classes, early reading intervention, a longer school year, and other reforms do work. Voucher schemes represent a billion dollar long-shot gamble with our children’s lives and our state’s future.\n\nhttp://www.tfn.org/publiceducation/vouchers/oppose/index.php
346177
Hear Hear.\n\nIt surprises me how ignorant people are. Here you are, saying that you want to choose to send your kid to a private school. Another poster decides that yes, you should be able to do that, but "it is wrong to take money out of the public school system." Hmmm....your tax dollars pay for the public schools, if you want to send your kid to private school, you're free to do so, but you still have to pay for other kids to go to public school? Does that make sense to you?\n\nI agree with you. Tax me less, and I'll make the decision with the LARGER disposable income I have, as to which school my kid goes to.
463509
Bad: People want their students to get premium educations - but no one wants to pay for it.\n\nGood: Some students thrive and excel in the current system... and others... are scary.\n\nGood:  We strive towards the ideal that all people are created equally and are equally capable of succeeding in accomplishing their dreams.\n\nBad:  We deem failure when we don't meet the IDEAL... which is completely impractical anyway.\n\nBad: State testing... always wants to raise the bottom 50 percent to the top 50 percent.  Whoah... who taught the politicians their math? There will ALWAYS be a bottom 50 percent.
869117
i belive state schools r funded by tha state through taxes... tha rest r private and r usually higher in rates
862768
It serves the needs of the masses--if the politicians would stay out of it and let the parents and educators set the standards and establish policy.  Unfortunately all too often state lawmakers distribute money to the school districts and feel they have all the answers.\n\nYou've made a blanket statement that is hard to answer.  A lot depends on where the public schools are located within a town.  Even in school districts that cover all the schools in one town/city you will find differences based on that neighborhoods' population.  I hate to say it, but even in the town I live in which is considered to be affluent there are pockets of lower income citizens.  These parents have to work two jobs sometimes and English is not necessarily their first language.  They don't have access to in-home computers in many instances.  The schools are overcrowded and many are left behind because there aren't enough people to work with the kids.  Other parts of town the parents are overly involved and put great effort and their own money into having art and PE classes for their kids.  They pay for these salaries out of their own fundraising efforts.  As you might guess, there is a preponderence of doctors, lawyers, etc. in these areas.  The kids aren't any smarter inherently, but they are given advantages others aren't.  They act more like private schools with public school money.\n\nThese schools tend to be smaller in size which allows for more individualized attention.  In the larger schools gang activity--even if they are only wannabees--increase.  Reputations suffer and they are seen as less desirable so even less money is funneled to them which seems to be the opposite of what should be occuring.\n\nThe best thing about the public schools that I've observed in different states is the quality of the teachers who are dedicated to helping kids learn with few resources and low pay.  Now that they have to pass exams to reach Masters level (not the degree, but the level of competence) they have to work even harder to put their dossiers together to prove their ability.  They don't get the prep time people think they do because they're constantly attending meetings on the new literacy programs, the federal standards, disciplinary meetings, and whatever else comes up.  They spend their own time going to school events such as sports or music programs and spring fundraising events because they care about their kids and the school.\n\nI'll be honest.  I'd worked on my Master's in another field when I decided to take all the classes I needed to become a secondary school teacher.  At the last minute I chose not to take the NTE because I couldn't deal with the bureacracy and pettiness of school boards, administrations and even some parents.  I've put my talents to other uses helping kids and I'm much happier for it and I think just as effective.\n\nI hope this somehow answers your question.
920441
Private schools know they are an expensive option for you to select so they have to work hard to earn your business,\n\npublic schools couldn't care less about impressing you or earning your business. \n\nAll you have to do is compare the percentage of students that actually graduate from public schools compared to private, \n\ncompare the SAT scores from public and private schools and finally compare the percentage of graduating seniors that go on to college from each. \n\nThe only excuse for sending your kids to public schools is because you can't afford it.  \n\nFinal thing to look at, find out where your Senators and congressmen send their kids, even though they are ultimately responsible for "public education" over 90% send their kids to private school, think they know something?
646848
Opposition to universal preschool\nWhat's coming out of Oklahoma and Georgia, two states that implemented universal preschool over a decade ago--is not particularly promising. Last year, the gains in reading scores of fourth graders in both states ranked among the bottom 10 on the National Assessment of Education Progress tests--the premier benchmark for comparing student performance across states. Even more stunning, not one of the 10 best performing states had universal preschool programs. \nUniversal preschool advocates often underestimate the cost of universal preschool. This is what a sober assessment of a similar universal day care program in Quebec suggests. The final price tag for Quebec's day care program is 33 times what was originally projected: It was supposed to cost $230 million over five years, but now gobbles $1.7 billion every year. Much of the increased spending has gone not toward increased access, but increased costs. Day care worker unions, on the threat of strike, negotiated a 40 percent increase in wages over four years. \nUniversal prschool often creates long waiting lists and results in disadvantaged children competing with higher income children for preschool access. In Quebec many low-income parents, who lost their child care tax deductions in order to finance the program, have been crowded out by middle- and upper-income parents more savvy at negotiating the system. According to research by Peter Shawn Taylor for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, half of Quebec's day care spaces are taken by families in the top 30 percent income bracket. \nHome schooling movement that believes children should be educated by their families and not by the government \nAnti-government movements that believe that the government does not do well with providing services, except for police, military and fire \nExtreme capitalists that desires the privatization of all functions including even private prisions and private roads. \nPrivate preschool providers who may feel threatened economically by a system that could exclude their participation. \nThose opposed to the particular funding mechanism or desire the funding to go to another benefit instead of Universal Preschool. \n\nHere is a search that you can look through for your information:\n\nhttp://www.ask.com/web?q=opposition+of+universal+preschool&qsrc=1&o=312\n\nHere are the news hits:\n\nhttp://news.ask.com/news?qsrc=1&o=312&q=opposition%20of%20universal%20preschool&news=true
548968
looking at no child left behind... I almost start to wonder if this isn't trying to destroy an already underfunded education system... \n\nWith no public education...the wealthy would be the only ones that could afford to become educated and then keep control of their wealth through that control of education... \n\nah... capitalism at it's best...\n\nDon't you just love how freetyme813 insults basically every American with his rants on public school... almost everyone attends public school and if we're all that "stupid" then why did the majority vote for conservatives?\nTest scores are at all time highs... so if he's calling today's kids dumb... and you graduated a long time ago like I did... then he's calling all of us really dumb....\nI think we all know who the "dumb" one is here...\nSorry we didn't go to private school because our daddy was rich like you apparently did... some of us have to actually work for what we have...
158376
Education voucher\n\nAn education voucher, commonly called a school voucher, 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.
117581
It is a subject is many private schools. I think it is wonderful to have a choice.\n\nIt does tick me off that children can't even say the Pledge of Allegance anymore because of "Under God"....I wonder if the people upset about that still spend money.."In God We Trust"?
1067497
Should they? No. Will they? Yes. \n\nPoliticians are a breed of short term thinkers. They care about today, ignore the past, and are oblivious to the future. \n\nIf someone is going to wave a huge bundle of cash to a cash strapped government, then you'll see many things be privatized without consideration of the long term impacts.\n\nI work for a government agency, and there was talk of privatizing it. Nobody but the governor was in favor of the idea. Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, and many others in the community agreed that making the public service private would be worse for the community at large. \n\nThe governor has recanted his desire to privatize the institution. \n\nConsider for a moment what our lives would be like if every public service were privatized? We'd live in a very marginalized society with distinct differences between rich and poor. The middle class would be small, and almost non-existent. \n\nTake education. The GOP has been deliberately underfunding public schools so that they'll fail. As schools get worse, they begin to promote the idea of privatized schools. They'll sell us the notion that businesses are more efficient than government, and that businesses are not going to be pushed about by "liberal" politics. \n\nBottom line: they wish to create an expensive, class-based, tiered educational structure that panders to consumer interest at the expense of the public at large. \n\nProfit is the bottom line of businesses and private interests. Public welfare is no concern to the monied interests. \n\nJust image what kind of education poor Americans would receive if education was privatized. They'd get the McDonald's variant of education. Many middle income families would find themselves even further cash-strapped by having to pay for their child's education personally. \n\nNot to be rude, but there are things children need to learn away from the home beyond a watchful parent's eye. In particular, sex education. \n\nAs such, a privatized system would create a tailorized and custom made education instead of giving a broad and general education. \n\nSchools could teach their "preferred" method of teaching subjects like history, religion, and other humanities. \n\nWe'd lose cohesiveness and unity as a people if the system was privatized. \n\nLook at Indiana and other states that have privatized their tollway systems. Nobody is happy with the arrangements except the politicians that engineered the deal and the businesses that are raking in profits from the deal.\n\nPrivatization is basically a lose-lose situation for the public at large in a long-term context. It's a win-win for businesses and politicians of cash strapped governments. \n\nLastly, how do you hold a private business/group accountable. If they have millions of dollars and armies of lawyers and lobbyists, how do you compete with them if they do you or your community wrong? \n\nMoney corrupts. \n\nIt's our duty as citizens to safeguard our liberties. We need to stay informed, stay active, and keep our friends and family in the know. \n\nWe have to work against privatization if we wish to keep living in a free society.\n\nKeep in mind the purpose of having a government: to protect the public from each other, from private and secretive interests that have ambitions of power and control. \n\nGovernment is a tool that should provide protection of our civil liberties, our property, and our rights to pursue our own happiness. \n\nAs a tool, it's only as effective as the people running it. We need to put people in office that understand what government is, and how to use it. We need to stop putting people in government that use it for enhancing their business dealings and that have contempt for the government and its purpose. \n\nWe wouldn't hire a carpenter who hated tools. Why elect someone who hates government?
679237
It is an age old debate of public schools vs private schools. It is a competition in which the public schools often come out on the short end of the stick on.\n\nWhile it may not be fair, It certainly does not make them a pansy school. I know in NJ, there is always an uproar that public schools do not want to play the bigger private schools such as Don Bosco, Bergen Catholic and such... The results are usually a blowout...\n\nI can see both sides of the issue but there doesn't seem to be a great answer...
137004
For some individuals, Yes.  Two of my high-school age children are currently attending charter schools, and with great results. They get more individualized attention and better grades.
544431
Yes I believe they do as they should. I attended a boarding school and all of my friends in the church did as well. Addressing the point of the last entry of only the rich ones do well that is not 100% true. The church makes it possible for ALL to attend the school of there grade level. The worthy student fund makes it all possible. I feel as though I had a better education through the system. I feel bad for those of you that feel it is only for the rich. I may not have been rich then but I am now in spirit if nothing else.
221551
This sounds oddly worded.\n\nMy kids have gone to a private school most of their lives, and most of the tuition is used for operational costs- building expenses, salaries (a big chunk), etc.\n\nAll of the schools they have been to have several students on scholarships, but then there is still money coming in- a scholarship for $500 means the school GETS $500 from whoever issued the scholarship.\n\nThe bigger problem is when the schools adjust the tuition to meet the families income. For low-income families, this means an operational shortfall that has to be made up in someother way. Anotehr concern is those families that for whatever reason do not meet their tuition obligations.\n\nThe schools I am involved with try to fill in the income gaps with assorted forms of fundraising, such as:\n- golf tournements or other sporting events\n- product sales\n- auctions and banquets\n- inter-class challenges (penny wars, etc.)\n- garage sales\n- grant writing\n- estate planning\n- and so forth.\n\nUnfortunately, the formula is easy- you either need to raise tuition rates, reduce operational costs, or find extra money in the community.\n\nThe last is the most common answer, but the toughest. You can try for a few 'big ticket' fundraisers, or a lot of small fundraisers, or a combination of the two.\n\nOne solution I have seen tried (but not at my kid's schools) was for the school to host evening and weekend classes for adults. The plan is like this:\n- Parents, etc. who have a skill or something to teach let the committee know about their interest and figure out how many classes, how long, etc.\n- The committee offers a catalog of classes for people who are interested, and publishes a price per class or course.\n- The committee and the school provide places for the classes, and provide operational support.\n- The instructor gets a share of the money raised for their class, and the school gets the the rest.\n\nSupposedly, the school gets a nice chunk of money out of this and has been doing it for years.
122634
Public schools are free.  That's about as cheap as it gets.
1158621
It's a GREAT idea. Public schools had better start paying attention or there will be no public schools. Plus, have you seen tuition at a Hebrew School?