School Vouchers

Is School of Choice a Wise Option?

Today, charter schools and vouchers are still somewhat under debate. They are being argued in places from the local school board meetings to state supreme courts. Both are considered “school of choice” initiatives which allow parents to choose their child’s educational path outside the traditional public school system. The school voucher is a program which provides a certificate which is used to pay for education at the school of choice outside the public school system. Charter schools have been freed from rules, regulations, and statues with the responsibility of producing assured results that are set forth in the school’s charter. These (charter) schools are publicly funded. Choice is a God given

right and most Americans think of it positively. The ability to choose one’s school sounds like a great initiative on the outside. Let’s look a little closer at how serious a problem this actually could be. School of choice violates the constitution and is a bad idea.
Public school system faces many challenges.

That’s why they are eager to pursue various options on providing education. As we view society today, we find that families are already using the school of choice initiative. Wealth families move their children from failing or dangerous schools to neighborhoods with safer, better schools. “Their argument is that school of choice would allow all parents the freedom, regardless of income level, to select the school that provides the best education” (Chub and Moe). Now, we have schools competing to offer higher academic results and greater safety. This brings activist within the school of choice movement seeking to improve public schools. More often, an activist proposal may seriously damage public education as a

whole.
The biggest danger in any initiative especially school of choice is the power large corporations which specialize in opening and operating charter schools. Two of the most prominent are Green Dot the leading public school operator in Los Angeles and KIPP, who operates in 19 different states consisting of 65 schools. They represent the growing trend of privatization in public schools by a large organization. Most Americans fear that corporations like Green Dot and KIPP may grow to a point where the control of education will no longer be in the hands of the public. “Education policy would be left in the hands of entrepreneurial think tanks, corporate boards of directors, and lobbyists who are more interested in profit than educating students” [Miller and Gerson]. But it is still being argued that public education should be left in the hands of educators and not those with business degrees. If left in the hands of those with business degrees is simply dangerous. Common sense prevails here.
Now with the school voucher program which varies from state to state has faced many challenges.

There are divided opinions of which it is constitutional for government (federal) to give money to private schools, many of which are religious private schools. According to the NEA, “About 85 percent of private schools are religious. Vouchers tend to be a means of circumventing the Constitutional prohibitions against subsidizing religious practice and instruction” [NEA]. The parent of children who may receive vouchers viewpoint is the use of government funded school vouchers as an acceptable means of funding a child’s education. Reason, the family pays taxes and it should be allowed to have that money pay for their child’s education. But the question arises what about those taxpayers that do not have children, or children are no longer in public school. Aren’t they paying taxes also? So it is easy to say that there are more people against the school voucher

program.
America guarantees every child a chance to get an education. No matter the need. This may not be the case with the school of choice options. It must be considered the fate of special needs students who require additional attention from teachers and/or staff. This can be viewed as to expensive to achieve. Also, create substandard learning environments because of profit minded charter schools. There is a hidden selective element in the voucher program. Religious schools are allowed to choose who may attend. “Parents may apply to the school for admission of their children, but the school may choose to not admit them” [ATF]. Truly the way to get around these problems is to fund public education appropriately.
As we know America was the first country to provide public education to every citizen. We, now, must ensure that these initiatives don’t erode what has been established. Although, these initiatives are attractive but after further scrutiny that perception tends to fade. But the danger of big business taking control of education is somewhat real. Think about what would happen if Enron controlled education, Wow. Voucher programs are also appealing in first light, but become less attractive when considering their constitutional legality. Both are answers to problems facing public education. “But consider that for decades public education has suffered from lack of proper funding” [Haider- Markel]. Without the proper funding nothing has truly succeeded, so funding is the key issue to public education success. The question is look for the simple answer which is “FUNDING”.