Voucher Plan Lacks Accountability

[CShine]

"The D.C. school voucher plan being considered by Congress does not spell out how the federal government will assess the performance of students receiving the tuition grants, leaving it to the U.S. Department of Education to devise a system for determining whether vouchers are raising academic achievement. That provision has become a point of contention in the vouchers debate. Many opponents of the legislation say that private school students receiving the federal money should be required to take the same standardized test as that given to the children remaining in D.C. public schools, while voucher supporters argue that Congress would be micromanaging if it imposed such a requirement."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6882-2003Sep13.html

[JCMach1]

1. Same thing happened in Florida-- there was MASSIVE

abuse of the system.

[pw]

3. what the ...?

Requiring students to take the same standardized texts regardless of where they go to school is micromanagement?

[mbperrin]

5. Yes, as you know,

anything that would slow down the looting of America by private interests is micromanagement! And micromanagement is Communism! and Terrorism! and most of all anti-Americanism and just wrong!

</practice speech for Republican office-seeker>

[bluestateguy]

2. Wanda Sykes spoofed vouchers on her show the other night

Though the irony is that she is a Bush lover. Her spoof showed how any fool can start a "school" just to collect the voucher money without any accountability.

[Whoa_Nelly]

4. In Florida

vouchers were ruled to be unconstitutional, and rightly so.

http://iedx.com/article_1.asp?ContentID=EN284&SectionGroupID=NEWS%20

An interesting piece here:

Are Vouchers Unconstitutional?
February 20th, 2002

Wednesday, February 20th, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments concerning the constitutionality of a school voucher program operated in Cleveland. Critics of the plan point out that Cleveland's voucher system forces taxpayers to support religious institutions with which they disagree. Such forced support, they claim, is a violation of the constitution.

I misagree. That is, I reach the same conclusion for different reasons.

Those bringing the suit against Cleveland's voucher scheme are arguing it is unconstitutional because it has the effect of financing religious organizations with tax dollars. Thus, when a Christian parent sends his Christian child to a Christian school, the principles of the first amendment have been violated.

I believe the constitutional violation occurred when the government took money with the intent of redistributing it on educational services. It is wholly abhorrent to force an atheist to pay for the Christian education of another. It is equally abhorrent to force a Christian to pay for the secular education of another. Indeed, it is immoral to force one Christian to pay for the Christian education of Christian children. This is precisely what government education does.

Read more here...
http://www.jimduensing.com/are_vouchers_unconstitutional.html

[NashVegas]

6. Unaccountable in So Many Ways

Taxpayers don't get to vote for private school boards. No one does, to my knowledge.

Vouchers have the potential to be just as hampering to private schools as they would to public school funding.

ie, with no voter accountability, for tax funding, private schools are going to have to accept voter input for their administration. I don't see them really wanting to do that.