School Vouchers

[Pike1483]

What do y'all think of school vouchers? I think they're a pretty good idea. Thoughts?

[33girl]

They suck and teach kids a terrible lesson - throw something aside instead of fixing it. They also do nothing for children in rural areas and contribute to the demise of neighborhoods.

And incidentally I am registered Republican but this is one of the party's views that I am against 100%.

I think they are a good idea...........

[AGDee]

I think they are a bad idea because, the way they've been proposed in Michigan (and defeated), they really only gave benefit to the rich who wanted to send their kids to really really expensive private schools. I can give more detail if anybody wants it.

Dee

[Pike1483]

Originally posted by 33girl
They suck and teach kids a terrible lesson - throw something aside instead of fixing it. They also do nothing for children in rural areas and contribute to the demise of neighborhoods.

And incidentally I am registered Republican but this is one of the party's views that I am against 100%.

Interesting-- could you share how the contribute to the demise or neighborhoods?

[valkyrie]

I am absolutely opposed to them. Money should be spent to better public schools so all children can benefit from it. I also don't want any of my tax dollars being used to send kids to religious schools.

[kappaloo]

Bad Idea.

I mean, you don't get to "opt" out of any other taxes - do you? It's like saying you shouldn't have to "subsize" medicare because you go to a private clinic.

[Rudey]

Parents should have the power to choose where their children go to school. Their taxes cover their schooling and the type of schooling should be something parents get to choose. Some close-minded people might disagree.

However, school vouchers also create a problem where funding for bad schools would be drained and parents who care would flee.

At this current stage, I am against it. This is one of those things that's great on paper only. Should there be more equality in funding for education and education itself more equal from school to school, then it would be a good idea.

-Rudey

[33girl]

Originally posted by Pike1483
Interesting-- could you share how the contribute to the demise or neighborhoods?

The children don't know their neighbors. Their schoolmates are miles away.

The parents care nothing about supporting a neighborhood school because their children don't go there.

The children are given a very bad message that they are "superior" to the children in the school nearest to them - it's a Bad School that Mommy and Daddy said wasn't good enough for them.

Neighborhood schools bring neighborhoods together, vouchers tear them apart.

[Taualumna]

Question: How much would parents get back, in general? The previous Ontario government was going to issue a tax credit of up to $3000 to parents who sent their kids to private school (the current government scrapped the bill, but the new PC Leader may look into it again). Depending on where the child is attending, $3000 may very well be a good chunk. The "real" religious schools don't generally charge nearly as much as the older private schools (these schools may or may not be religious, but are not seen as such).

[AGDee]

The way it had been proposed in Michigan, the amount of money per child would be the same, it would just be sent to a private school instead of their public school. The key problem is that not all schools receive the same amount of money per child. My school district gets $7300 per child per year. One of the wealthier suburban school districts gets $11,900 per year. So, if I wanted to send my child to a school with $10,000 a year tuition, I would still have to pay $2700 out of pocket, whereas if the parent from the wealthier school district wanted to send their child to the same school, it would be free for them.

The way taxes are paid for schools varies greatly by state so the logistics of this program would also have to vary greatly.

I also have a HUGE problem with my tax dollars paying for a religious school.

Dee

[IowaStatePhiPsi]

In IA each public school gets the same amount of money per child from the state, supposedly. So a voucher would not have a monetary skew if a child were to go to a private school. The biggest problem is in some of the rural areas of the state the only private school option is 1 religious-based school (either Catholic or Protestant). If you have 2 or 3 failing school districts near each other- you're screwed if you dont want your kid to be taught by a curriculum strongly influenced and infused with X religion.

[GeekyPenguin]

100% opposed, and I'm a mixed parochial/public school kid.

[chideltjen]

Against it... and I went to both public and private schools growing up.

[AlphaGamDiva]

against them.....i see why they are a good idea....but i think the money would be better spent on public schools....