Voucher Schools

[Captain Chaos]

Here is a link to an article about voucher schools in Milwaukee:

JS Online: Lessons from the voucher schools


It seems to me that there is a lot of potential, and they are mostly getting good results, but they lack one thing - oversight.


Parents may or may not take their kids out of crappy schools. However, the school board should be active in investigating each voucher school, and taking away its voucher status if it sucks.



Otherwise, it seems ok to me.


The downside will be an increase in religious education at schools - but - if that is what parents want, it will be up to them.

[Gods_Mercenary]

I agree, parents should be able to take their children out of low grade schools and put them into better one's. Religious education may grow, but, like you said, it's a parent's choice, and in most schools the religious educationis just another course, you may have to sit through a mass or two, but you're missing classes, so the kids don't care.

[Captain Chaos]

I agree, parents should be able to take their children out of low grade schools and put them into better one's. Religious education may grow, but, like you said, it's a parent's choice, and in most schools the religious educationis just another course, you may have to sit through a mass or two, but you're missing classes, so the kids don't care.

It cannot be mandatory religious education. We cannot have a situation where the only school available is one where the child is required to receive religious indoctrination.

However, that will rarely be a problem. The school board can simply say that a child must be allowed to sit out of religious classes if the school accepts vouchers from that child's parents.


Crappy schools will arise, to take advantage of the money being offered. The Milwaukee experiment has proven this. Thus, the school board needs to practice a degree of oversight. Basically, they would be applying extra competitive pressure to these schools, because many parents are too ignorant to do it themselves.

[Gods_Mercenary]

Most school districts have a non-religious school anyway.

[Captain Chaos]

Most school districts have a non-religious school anyway.

Indeed.

I think that most religious schools would be willing to accept the parental opt-out option on religious indoctrination. Given the money involved, I bet 99% would accept it.

My little girl's school is a Christian Montessori school, but they allow nonbelievers like us to choose for the child to opt out of the religious stuff.

[Gods_Mercenary]

Most schools would happily change their rules for the new students, anyway. From my experience, the schools that don't do this just haven't bothered to because their non religious students and their parents don't care and itwould be more trouble than the effort required to.

[5010]

It seems to me that there is a lot of potential, and they are mostly getting good results, but they lack one thing - oversight.

I think as long as there is choice and a free press, there is enough oversight. Vouchers give parents choice, the schools need good PR or the parents will take business elsewhere. Public schools need a great deal of oversight because they are the monopoly. Even if the press uncovers a problem, the public needs gov't to deal with that monopoly. With vouchers, the public deals with the problem more directly.

If parents have a problem with religion, they can choose another school. I only see this as a problem if one's ideology is so rare in their area that no school conforms to it. But that's better than what happens now in areas where the secular ideology of the public school monopoly goes against the needs of the magority in areas where a certain religious ideology is followed by most residents.

[Captain Chaos]

I think as long as there is choice and a free press, there is enough oversight.

Is your opinion based on principle or observation? From the Milwaukee experiment, it seems like a bunch of kids are getting crappy educations because of ignorant parents keeping them in crappy schools.

If my taxes are funding the school board, I would like them to use their expertise to weed out the crappy schools.

Crappily educated kids are more likely to grow up to be thugs and kill me for my socks.

If parents have a problem with religion, they can choose another school.

Maybe. However, I see no problem with saying no forced religious education for schools that receive vouchers. The schools do not have to accept the vouchers.

[tman_ndsu08]

The only thing I don't like about it is that the government is still running schools.


I'd rather see all public schools shut down and then parents get a voucher to send their kids to whatever private school they want.

[Captain Chaos]

The only thing I don't like about it is that the government is still running schools.


I'd rather see all public schools shut down and then parents get a voucher to send their kids to whatever private school they want.

That is what I mean.

The only government role would be in the school board, which would set local education standards, and investigate schools to see if they are good enough to qualify for vouchers.

[tman_ndsu08]

No.

I don't want any government involvement in the execution of the service.

Leave it to the market.


If a parent is stupid enough to leave their child in a failing school, so be it.



Got to let people make those mistakes. Otherwise, might as well just go 100% socialism and program everyone's lives for them each day.

[Captain Chaos]

No.

I don't want any government involvement in the execution of the service.

Leave it to the market.


If a parent is stupid enough to leave their child in a failing school, so be it.



Got to let people make those mistakes. Otherwise, might as well just go 100% socialism and program everyone's lives for them each day.

As a taxpayer, paying for these vouchers, I do not want that money wasted on crappy schools.

Does the government not have an obligation to allocate money in a responsible manner?


I do not want my tax money spent on raising future thugs.