Authentic School Choice for Virtually No One

[Modern School]

The school choice and voucher movement is heating up again, with the new Republican majority in congress and pressure from their Tea Party supporters. They want less “Big Government” intervention (read: less support for publicly funded and publicly controlled local schools that serve the vast majority of American children) and more “parental choice” (read: less of their own money going to public schools for the rabble and more tax breaks, incentives and vouchers to subsidize their kids’ elite private schools). At the vanguard of this movement are Wisconsin, New Jersey and Florida, where Governor Rick Scott is calling for universal vouchers that would provide families with money for private schools, taking a portion of those funds from the pool of tax dollars that would have gone to public schools.

According to a 2003 Heritage Foundation survey on school choice, 41% of U.S. representatives and 46% of U.S. senators who responded have sent at least one of their kids to a private school. Politicians, like their super rich patrons, have the wealth, power, social connections and status to send their kids wherever they wish. Of course, with the continuing underfunding of public schools, and the damage done by a decade of NCLB, along with the thirty year decline in income for the majority of Americans, it is no wonder that public schools seem so undesirable to the wealthy. More importantly, the majority of Americans do not have the power, wealth and connections to get their kids into and pay for elite schools. Even with vouchers, the top elite schools will remain largely out of reach for most Americans due to location, entrance requirements and cost.

For the full article, please see http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2011/01/authentic-school-choice-for-virtually.html

[HockeyMom]

1. Rick Scott in Florida ran on this

Mr. "Naples Own" of 7 years. Vouchers so parents can have "choice". No WHO will have this choice? At one private school in Naples the tuition runs from $14,000 to $18,000 a year per child. Does anybody really think vouchers are going to come anywhere near that amount? Even religous schools (LEGAL issues involved with that one) are still at least $6,000 a year. So WHO are these vouchers going to benefit? Only those who can already pay for them. Charters? As in FOR PROFIT Education? Sorry, children are not products for PROFIT.

[d_r]

2. and private schools can pick and choose

they have no mandate to provide education to every child. They can choose not to let in kids with special needs, or children from poor households. They can set up interviews to eliminate children from single parent homes or whatever criteria they wish. They can recruit some kids for athletic ability, some for academics, some for social connections and donations. Pick and choose. The private schools are the ones that get the choice. Just an excuse to get children out of integrated schools. Remember some of these right wingers want to eliminate public schools altogether. Some think that not every child can learn. Some think that not every child deserves to go to school.