Re: School vouchers

School vouchers

My understanding is that school vouchers will be detrimental to special education.

Re: School vouchers

Re: School vouchers

School vouchers

Would everyone be entitled to vouchers, or just those of a certain income bracket? It appears as if in many places it's only for a certain bracket.

Re: School vouchers

Re: School vouchers

To address missing pieces raised by Jenhos on the other thread:

The "problem" with school vouchers (tho defining it as a problem depends in vantage point) is that they drain public schools of funding in a few different ways.

1. The most obvious funding issue is that the formula by which schools receive funding from NYS (I cannot speak to other states) is calculated on a per-student basis. Schools can adjust payroll expenses to account for dropping registration rates, but some costs (like the money to keep buildings open or run bus routes or commitments to loans taken to make capital improvements like new wings and computer labs) are not as flexible.

2. As of now, if you send your kid to private school, the local school district has to foot the bill for transportation to get them there, which can get very expensive. I imagine the same logic would apply for students going to charter schools or opting into public schools in outside districts.

The problem with this is that it is often the most vulnerable kids who are left behind: the ones who couldn't get into a charter school, as many of them have selective admissions requirements, a luxury public schools do not have in the competitive market the voucher system tries to create. They also often come from families in which parents are too timid (as with undocumented immigrant families who try to fly under the radar because they don't trust the system) or too overwhelmed or dysfunctional or absentee to seek a voucher to attend a different school. In sum, it can have the effect of skimming the "cream" from a heterogeneous district and leaving a public school to grapple with a higher ratio of incredibly needy children and a lot less funding to serve them.

I will also say, from the reports from my Florida teacher-friend, it does not go over well in wealthy communities with "A" schools that suddenly poor kids can opt to attend, which goes back to my point about the possibility of Hempstead students suddenly attending Syosset schools. Those schools are "A" because the children are largely coming from stable, financially secure homes and professional, involved parents. My friend's school was downgraded from an "A" to a "B" once this option was opened up in Florida, and the community was livid at the intrusion of these outside kids into their cherished public schools.

I also know with DeVos that she refused to say in her hearing that charter and private schools receiving public funding must be held to the "same accountability measures" as public schools, which is another factor that rigs the game against the public school, which has become the favorite whipping boy. Additionally, I have a serious problem with taxpayer dollars going toward for-profit schools of any kind, which is something DeVos is okay with, though other voucher systems have eschewed this option.

So that was an essay, but maybe now the question has been answered satisfactorily and no one will feel that this is uninformed "whining."

Message edited 2/9/2017 5:48:05 PM.