More private tuition vouchers on tap, as public schools face cuts

[Roland99]

Source: Orlando Sentinel

A state-financed program that gives tuition vouchers to thousands of low-income Florida students to attend religious schools may get a boost in funding while cash-strapped public schools face more cuts.

A bill being pushed in the legislative session that began this week would increase the amount paid to private schools for each student receiving a Florida Tax Credit Scholarship.

It also would make the tuition vouchers available to thousands more families by raising the income threshold while allowing corporations to steer more money to the fund instead of paying state taxes.

...

While the Florida Constitution prohibits giving state money to religious institutions, Weatherford and other backers argue the state is not funding religious schools because "the state never touches the money." Instead, corporate donors who agree to contribute to the scholarship fund operated by Step Up For Students, an independent Tampa–based agency, get state tax credits. Step Up For Students writes checks to parents who endorse them to schools to cover tuition.

Read more: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-florida-tax-credit-scholarship-20100303,0,2829600.story

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Nice little justification in there, eh?

[Robb]

1. Nice attempt at a church/state workaround there.

Money laundering, in essence, to thwart the Constitution. They must be proud of themselves.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

2. Vouchers suck.

I understand why they're doing it, from a financial perspective. They only wind up giving the throughput funding that would normally be given on a per student basis, meaning that the state isn't giving a damn about the all the back office and admin services that go into teaching a kid. Parents will make up the difference directly in the portion of the tuition that the vouchers won't cover. It's an ass-backwards way at solving a budget shortfall.

[WriteDown]

3. Vouchers may not work, but school choice is a must...

People should be able to choose the good school across town and not be confined to an insane asylum.

Sincerely,

Chapel the Evergreen.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

4. I agree on the need for choice.

Which is why I support magnets and charters, which come with the same accountability and opportunity that any public school does. Vouchers, on the other hand, are a failed model that diverts public school funds to places that lack proper accountability for those funds.

[Hannah Bell]

6. no, they don't "come with the same accountability". they get a different set of rules, sometimes

none.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

8. No, they don't.

You are factually incorrect.

[Hannah Bell]

10. no, mr. wolfwood, you are. that ability to operate without all that nasty red tape

school districts have to abide by -- including public oversight of their finances, in some cases -- is INDEED one of the points used to sell them to the public.


you can say "you're wrong" a million times. it doesn't make it so. THEY DON'T HAVE TO FOLLOW THE SAME RULES TRADITIONAL SCHOOLS DO.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

11. Prove it. (nt)

[Hannah Bell]

12. what would constitute proof to you? i want to know before i waste my time

providing you with evidence you won't accept.

[Sabriel]

13. They're not mandated to provide special education services

So, either you don't send your identified kid there, or you send your kid and waive access to that kind of support.

Add to that the high numbers of low-income and students of color identified for special ed, and you have a pretty nifty segregation process.

And since many charter/magnet schools are outside students' home zone, parents must provide transportation to and from school. Show me a low-income parent who can either afford the funds or time to do that.

[Jakes Progress]

14. Why don't you prove your point? You can't.

I've worked in eight states with charters. Some are allowed to avoid some of the accountability rules by the very cause for their existence. The ostensible reason for charters is to see what happens if they don't have to operate within the same confines as the public school. Otherwise, what would be the purpose. If they follow the same hiring practices, the same curriculum, the same schedule, the same testing, the same procedures as the regular classroom, what would be the purpose? For someone who champions them so much, you are woefully uninformed about how these things work.

[Hannah Bell]

15. still waiting for you to tell me what would constitute proof to you....

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

16. Law citations. (nt)

[Jakes Progress]

5. What reagan hath wrought.

The end of public education in America, and on the Democratic watch. ronnie and bill bennet would be so proud.

[bluestateguy]

7. Let's see how much the Christian conservatives like vouchers

especially when Muslim schools and Hindu schools or Pagan schools start accepting voucher money.

[DissedByBush]

9. I'd love to see that

With the first madrassa that gets voucher money.