School Vouchers: Kryptonite to Public Schools

This past week I read an article in the Philadelphia Daily News entitled “Pennsylvania: Voucher Ground Zero; Will they kill public schools?” and a lot of the content provided by reporter Will Bunch surprised me. The basis of the article is the push for school vouchers and voucher advocates (mainly the tea party) is to use the state of Pennsylvania as the primary marketing location for this, what I call a bias idea. The whole point of the school vouchers is to provide tax dollars to low-income families in order to fund their children who would transfer out of the failing public schools and have the choice for their children to attend a private or parochial school.

So the question lies, where does this leave public schools? Is this another way for school voucher advocates, to push for the elimination of public education?

Just think about it for a minute. These vouchers are provided to low-income families to send their children to a non-public educational institution. Meaning more money is being put into the private sector and this helps increasing enrollment in these schools. With increased enrollment, that means larger classrooms. Which could cause for private schools to place a “cap” on how many children should be enrolled in their schools in order to prevent large classrooms. If this idea was to go into effect, then public school students are then left with few options. Who is to say that non-public sector are willing to accept every enrollment application of these under-privilege students?

Not all students are able to make this transition; meaning they would be left behind. Therefore public schools would lack funding and be left out in the cold without any monetary resources to remain sustainable or to be reconstructed. Can we honestly say that all families would be given the opportunity to receive these funds? Also, what about the educational perspectives of the parents? We can’t say every parent agrees enrollment  into a non-public institution is the best way they would like to educate their child.

The article mentions the anti-voucher Education Law Center analyzed the current voucher bill and estimated that “over the first four years of the program, only 7.6 percent of the dollars would go to kids now the state’s 144 failing schools. Nearly two-thirds of the money would go to kids already enrolled in private or parochial schools.” So you tell me, how is this supposed to help the children that are suffering in these inadequate institutions? On PSEA’s (Pennsylvania State Education Association) website it discusses its disagreement with vouchers,” Vouchers do not save tax dollars. They increase costs to taxpayers, while draining resources from the students who need them most.”

What the tea party and these wealth investors need to understand, if Philadelphia public schools as well as other state public schools were funded properly and were provided the resources needed to operate efficiently, we wouldn’t be discussing vouchers. Why not put those monies into the public school system? It seems to me, the privileged is vouched for while the low-income students, once again, are forgotten.

Here is a video from a couple years ago about school vouchers. The debate continues...

Decison: Public or Private?

            When I first enrolled my 8-year-old daughter in Spruce Hill Christian School, a private Christian-faith based institution I was excited. I thought I was doing something extraordinary for her future. I believed that she was going to receive a quality education in collaboration with getting the attention she needed from her teachers. I heard positive things about Spruce Hill before I enrolled her and so far I have been satisfied.

I believe parents who enrolled their children into private schools, had the same perspectives I had. But in this economy, tuition has become a financial strain for many. For parents nationally and locally the recession has made them think about making the transitioning from private to public. Some parents have lost their jobs or their hours have been reduced (I’m an example of reduction) which it has made it difficult for them to keep up with tuition payments.

Even with transition in mind, school districts across the country are facing budget cuts (including Philadelphia) where it could affect the employment of teachers, initiate school closings etc. This poses another problem for parents deciding what sector they would like for their children to attend and what is affordable. A blog entitled “Private-School Refugees” discusses this issue and the decisions parents are faced with in accordance with their children's education. Parents are faced with a dilemma, including myself, on the aspect on how they should educate their child; it seems that the private schools and the public school districts are not making it any easier.