posted on January 22, 2004 02:46:16 PM new
....and headed to President Bush's desk for his signature. FINALLY.
Jan 22, 2:54 PM (ET)
By Christina Ling
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved the country's first federally funded educational voucher scheme, which will enable some poor public school students in Washington D.C. to attend private schools.
The controversial voucher plan, so-called because it gives the families of around 2,000 eligible Washington students vouchers worth up to $7,500 each for private school tuition, was part of a delayed 2004 budget bill that passed 65-28.
President Bush backs the idea but it is strongly opposed by many Democrats who say it will undermine public schools and is unfair to students left behind. Local civic leaders and parents in Washington are divided over the issue.
The five-year pilot project approved for the capital will be the country's first such federally funded plan for primary education. A handful of locally funded voucher programs across the country have stirred deep controversy.
"This (voucher) bill expands choice, empowers parents and is directed toward allowing every child in the District the opportunity to receive a good, high-quality education," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist told reporters before the vote.
posted on January 22, 2004 03:48:56 PM new Try not to drool, Linda, you'll damage your keyboard...
For those who wonder how and when this whole voucher business began, it was an idea first proposed by economist Milton Friedman in 1955, who thought privatization of education was a good idea. Its possibilities, in areas from everything to maintaining segregated schools to establishing faith-based curricula were quickly seized upon by southern segregationist organizations and Christian groups alike. It's an idea that has sought fruition for decades.
During the early days of the Moral Majority, the Rev. Jerry Falwell effectively declared war on public schools. "I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won’t have any public schools," Falwell wrote. "The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them." Similar views have been expressed by televangelist Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition. "Abolish the public schools," Robertson exhorted on his 700 Club program.
There is ample evidence that kids with special needs, i.e.: developmentally disabled, physically impaired, will not be among those that private schools will wish to enroll.
And while Bush had the gall to tell the nation that he is raising the standards of education (in the form of more testing, more emphasis on the "three R's" ) he neglected to mention that private schools are not bound to abide by public school standards; the footing is unequal and always has been.
Anyone who wants to read more about the voucher program, its history, and its goals can do so here:
posted on January 22, 2004 05:37:49 PM newAnd while Bush had the gall to tell the nation that he is raising the standards of education (in the form of more testing, more emphasis on the "three R's" ) he neglected to mention that private schools are not bound to abide by public school standards; the footing is unequal and always has been.
You are correct. Many kids will be "left behind" because of this. Anyone priced "private" schools lately? 7500 dollars wouldn't begin to pay for any that I'd send my kid to. That leaves church schools, which generally cost less, who will benefit from this the most....interesting.
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Mi abuelita me dijo "en boca cerrada no entran moscas".
posted on January 22, 2004 07:29:42 PM new
Not to mention that the schools are already booked up for years to come with rich kids. $7500 is not nearly enough to get a poor kid into a private school. Unless they start their own poor kids private schools. Maybe then they could go to one.
posted on January 23, 2004 04:50:20 PM new
The responses here don't surprise me. Typical from teachers unions and democrats who still are stuck in the mind set that we need to keep throwing more money at a system that's failing our children, rather than trying something new.
This program will be successful. Anyone who reads about the areas that are already using vouchers can see for them self the improvement in the test scores of these children.
The funding available in this program will be enough to pay full tuition at the grade school level.
And yes, many might choose a religious school....and I would support that decision, even for those who don't attend church or aren't religious. Those schools have long given a much better education to their students than have the public schools.
If I were a parent in the DC area and these vouchers would mean the difference between my child being successful or not.....no hard decision.
But it appears some would rather these children continue to fail, not ever learn to read/write or have the ability to improve themselves.
posted on January 23, 2004 05:48:05 PM new
Linda, you'd try the patience of Job, I think...
It is clear from your jejune recitation of unsubstantiated "facts" regarding unspecified voucher programs and their "successes" -- of which you alone seem to be aware -- that you have skipped like a carefree hop-scotcher over the flaws inherent in the voucher program.
I would request that you venture beyond your idyllic landscape of happy peppy perky Christian children and really acquaint yourself with the ramifications of the voucher/privatization agenda...
Start with the link I posted above; it'll provide you a couple hours' reading, which you can then use to barrel back in here and discuss, but at least you'll be doing so more informed than you (apparently) are now...
posted on January 23, 2004 05:57:11 PM new
Oh Linda...I am not a democrat nor do I belong to the teachers union.
I see lots of things wrong with our schools. Vouchers are not the answer. Teaching kids how to take tests isn't the answer either. A lot of kids learn how to take a test but never really learn anything else. All religions are equally right
posted on January 23, 2004 06:40:59 PM new
No no no NO vouchers. I'm Catholic. Why in hell would I want my tax dollars paying for religious instruction for Baptists...or Mormons...or Muslims..etc? Nope. I pay to send my daughter to a Catholic school. I don't expect (or want) somebody else to pay for her religious education. That's my responsibility.
posted on January 23, 2004 08:55:58 PM new
Linda, in two dozen plus years of teaching, I have never been a member of what you refer to as teacher's unions. Not the NEA, which isn't a union, nor the AFT, which really is a union, affiliated with the AFL-CIO, none of them. I firmly believe that the system is broken, just like you. Unlike you, I have seen it from the inside, and know that the causes of that breakdown, and any likely cures, are far more complicated than taking away money from the system. Personally, I see the opinions of those who support the voucher system as being nothing more than punitive towards the American public education system. You're not interested in fixing it, you're only interested in it's punishment and ultimate complete destruction. I have nothing against private education. My oldest daughter graduated from a private high school, and my younger daughter is a freshman there now. It is a very good school in Arizona which in addition to it's academic excellence (96% of it's graduates graduate from college), has a superb horsemanship and ranching program. I have busted my butt for years to send them there, and will do it for my son too, as he wants to follow in his sisters' footsteps. The tuition this year for boarding students is $27,500. My kid who is there now has a 25% scholarship which she won on the basis of her school recomendations from 8th grade, and her entrance exams. Both of my girls are over achievers, highly motivated and ridiculously competitive. With a discount, my ex and I still have to find the rest of her tuition ourselves. For her four year stint there, that will amount to over 75,000 dollars. No students will ever go to that school on a 7500 dollar voucher, if that's all his or her parents can pay. Sad, but that's the way it is. Church schools, on the other hand, will be falling all over themselves for those 7500 dollar vouchers, as they typically charge a whole lot less than private, non sectarian schools with strong academic credentials...I see the voucher system as 1) A way for the simplistic right to punish a system which desperately needs help and 2) An insidious way to get religion back into the mainstream of American education.
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Mi abuelita me dijo "en boca cerrada no entran moscas".
posted on January 23, 2004 11:00:42 PM new
I've got mixed feelings about private schools. I attended both public and private schools and I found that the private schools were much more challenging academically. Ironically, the kids in the private schools rebelled much more than the public school kids. I remember back in my 8th grade Catholic school class, there was a kid who could not say a sentence without using the 'F' word and another was so stoned, you could barely understand him. Peer pressure is really bad in private schools. I was in a Catholic school when I first smoked pot, vandalized property and mastered use of the 'F' word. The abuse of the nerdy kids was outright viscious. You can't shelter kids in a private school, it actually has the opposite effect.
If I have kids, my plan is to put them in a private school during elementary school years and then switch them to a public school from middle school on up.
it's true you can't shelter kids in a private school necessarily. It depends on the school. Church schools are often underfunded, and can't afford to lose students, even if those students really deserve to get the boot due to misbehavior. On the other hand, in most states these days, the most a public school can do is kick a kid out for the balance of the year, and then they have to let them back in when the new year begins. At my daughter's school, one serious infraction, such as drugs, alcohol, fighting or theft will get you gone forever, and your parents don't get a refund. I know my kid is safer there, at the very least, because the troublemakers don't last. Public schools need to have the power restored to them whereby dangerous students can be permanently expelled, for the sake of the rest of the students.
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Mi abuelita me dijo "en boca cerrada no entran moscas".
posted on January 24, 2004 04:45:07 AM new
Ebayguy, I can attest to what you said as well. Remember in catholic high school there were days we were done by noon. I remember friends in public school never were released before three. So we were definitely wilder to some degree with more time on our hands.
But I do notice what I learned in high school passes for community and even some university level college courses now. My father used to say the nuns and teachers at the catholic schools were very dedicated because they didn't make as much money they could have made teaching in the public schools. The Jesuit priests -- and I know somebody will bring up the drinking and child molestation -- but they had to read, and they made us read, too. Now kids just go on the Internet and pull some easy synopses off for a passing grade.
posted on January 24, 2004 05:56:23 AM new
How many of you with school age children VOTED against levies and bond measures for schools? If you voted at all
These vouchers are a step in the right direction and so what if the students go to religous schools... that could do alot of people some good.
Public Schools are a failure and it to fix it would take action people don't want to do.
