What's wrong with voucher programs?

[clockworkgirl21]

As I understand it, it's letting lower-income parents send their kids to private schools free of charge. It seems okay to me, but since it's a Republican idea, I assume there's something wrong with it I'm just not seeing.

[lord gibbon]

Well, That's the official story. However, the real reason is basically to get people to go to religious schools, and to weaken the public school system, and to essentially make education a commodity controlled by business.

[ScrappyB]

Not only that, the vouchers wouldn't even begin to cover the cost of private schooling. Seriously, private schools are expensive as hell. Lower income kids would have to go to public schools anyway, and public schools would have even less money than they have now.

Vouchers are basically a way to give a big fat check to the 1% with kids and funnel tax money into religious institutions.

[RavynousHunter]

Erm, not that I'm calling you liars, but...how are they using this to funnel money to religious institutions, exactly?  I'm legitimately curious.

[kefkaownsall]

said private schools are usually funded by a church.  They really do bankrupt the public school

[PosthumanHeresy]

There are almost no secular private schools.

[RavynousHunter]

I didn't think so, just for some reason, my dumbass head wasn't connecting the dots.  Thankee!

[PosthumanHeresy]

I didn't think so, just for some reason, my dumbass head wasn't connecting the dots.  Thankee!

No problem ^_^

[Cataclysm]

Why can't low income parents send their kids to public schools?

[MadCatTLX]

Why can't low income parents send their kids to public schools?

Let me put it this way. My school is one of the better and well funded public schools in my area.

[PosthumanHeresy]

All depends on the area. My schools in Florida were so awful my parents homeschooled me for a few years. Up here, the school is really, really weird, but also really good. That said, MadCat, dear non-existent god.

[mellenORL]

The private school voucher idea was dreamed up years ago by ALEC and their legislator droogs. It's just about justifying their scamming of the federal government to "claw back" their corporate and private income taxes...plus another 1000% more money beyond that. Wish there was a way to collate it all and get a real dollar figure on how much these policies net private companies. Notice how the GOP smoke screen is to call 47% of the population dole pigs? But the real fraud is the technically legal gouging of federal aid programs by companies and their rich asshole CEO's, like FL Governor Rick Scott did with Medicare. That made his company billions of dollars.

[ScrappyB]

Why can't low income parents send their kids to public schools?

Here's a simplified version. Say the cost to educate one student for one year is $5,000. Right now, a school district gets $5,000 for each school-age child that lives in the area, whether or not that child goes to a public school. If the child is home schooled or private schooled, the public schools still get the money. What this voucher system would do is take that money away from the public schools and give it to private schools, leaving public schools with less funding. It hurts anyone who is forced to use the public school system, which includes low-income families.

The rich families who send their kids to private schools get a nice fat break on their tuition, and the poor families who must rely on public schools anyway get the shaft.

[kefkaownsall]

Keep in mind some students need more then his 5000 dollar amount since the school needs to foot the bill for like aides

[Lt. Fred]

Schooling should be equal, and therefore should be public. That's the problem.