School Vouchers

The Problem

Many students are taught at public high schools that they had no say in choosing. According to where they lived, you attended a certain school district. If the school is failing or underperforming, there is not much else you can do, but leave the area. If you are not familiar with the area, picking the best school district resembles a lottery. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t. Of course, no one has to leave the competency of their school to chance. Parents can research and find the right location with the best schools. Even if you end up in a subpar school district, then, there is also private school, homeschooling, etc..

Some of these options are not accessible to every citizen in this country. Some people do not possess the resources to move to the district with the best schools. These areas can tend to have more expensive homes and higher costs of living. Private school isn’t always the solution either, especially if you can’t afford paying taxes to aid your local public school and then paying the tuition and other expenses for the private school.

The Solution

These are the reasons that some politicians and lobbyists are striving for school voucher systems. A school voucher is a publicly funded scholarship that allows students to attend private school instead of public school. Some states have established a school voucher system in order to help certain segments of their population attend better schools.

There is no specific formula for how much the scholarship will be worth.   Most states take some portion of the funding that would be invested in the child’s education at the public school and award it to the student. For example, a proposition in California stated that the state would give $4,000 or half of the average per-pupil funding in government schools. This gives the students and parents more freedom to find the schools that best suits their needs.

The vouchers usually have requirements. Some of the stipulations specify that the student must come from a low income household, the student must have certain disabilities, or the public school they attend must be failing. Maine, even, gives school vouchers to students who live in rural areas away from public schools.

Sentiments

Of course, with any policy stance, school vouchers have its proponents and its opponents. The two sides both have convincing arguments and two of the most prominent actors are the Friedman Foundation (for vouchers) and the National Education Association (NEA) (against vouchers).

The NEA splits its stance against school vouchers into four categories: the Educational Case, the Social Case, the Legal Case, and the Political Landscape.

The educational case says that school vouchers should only be used if they are proven to be effective for student achievement. It also mentions that the funds given out for scholarships take away funding for public schools.

The social case states the system is unfair and supports inequality. Therefore, it creates a greater divide amongst different diversities.

The legal case simply states that the government would be undermining the separation of church and state because these funds would allow students to attend private schools of which a majority of them are religious.

The political landscape cites what they consider to be scandalous behavior by politicians, such as advocating the school voucher debate not for school choice, but instead to help subsidize students who would attend a private school, with or without vouchers.

On the flip side of the coin, the Friedman Foundation believes that school vouchers would increase competition and allow education to become more privatize. The foundation believes that a complete, national school voucher program would vastly improve the quality of education. This is because schools would compete for students in order to receive funding and keep their doors open.

The Friedman Foundation states that school vouchers should promise higher productivity and faster economic growth. They also say vouchers should narrow the wage gap by decreasing the educational gap between the workers and the business elites.

The Friedman Foundation has very little data proving that its theory is correct, but truthfully there is very little data out there for them to use. School voucher systems are few and far between. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, only 12 states and the District of Columbia use school voucher programs.

Opinion

My personal take on the situation is that school vouchers sounds pretty enticing; especially for students educated at failing schools because it gives them the opportunity to search elsewhere. On the other hand, I don’t think taking funding away from public schools will solve the problem.

School voucher systems can enforce competition amongst school districts for students, but should primary and secondary education really be a competition between local schools.  For some reason, I feel that education is a public good that should be distributed by our government.  Private schools are a great option, but I don’t believe the government should be distributing scholarships unless the circumstances are strenuous.

Then again, change can be difficult and I don’t enjoy the idea of modifying the public school system because I was educated in one and I couldn’t imagine it another way. Personally, it is hard to favor school vouchers because there is so little evidence for it.

My views are still very indecisive on the subject. What do you think? Some input would help!

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