|
WASHINGTON,
D.C. – U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) issued today’s “Bush Administration’s
Misstatement of the Day” on education and school vouchers.
During
a visit to Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, D.C., President
Bush celebrated “the nation's first federally funded school voucher
program set up in the District of Columbia,” and added that he “hopes
it will turn into ‘change across the country’ in education.” (AP, 2/13/04)
But
according to the National Education Association (NEA):
Teachers,
parents, and the general public have long opposed private school tuition
vouchers — especially when funds for vouchers compete with funds for overall
improvements in America's public schools.
The
Educational Case Against Vouchers
•
Student achievement ought to be the driving force behind any education
reform initiative. See what research says about the relationship between
vouchers and student achievement.
•
Americans want consistent standards for students. Where vouchers are in
place -- Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Florida -- a two-tiered system has been
set up that holds students in public and private schools to different standards.
•
NEA and its affiliates support direct efforts to improve public schools.
There is no need to set up new threats to schools for not performing. What
is needed is help for the students, teachers, and schools who are struggling.
The
Social Case Against Vouchers
•
A voucher lottery is a terrible way to determine access to an education.
True equity means the ability for every child to attend a good school in
the neighborhood.
•
Vouchers were not designed to help low-income children. Milton Friedman,
the "grandfather" of vouchers, dismissed the notion that vouchers could
help low-income families, saying "it is essential that no conditions be
attached to the acceptance of vouchers that interfere with the freedom
of private enterprises to experiment."
•
A pure voucher system would only encourage economic, racial, ethnic, and
religious stratification in our society. America’s success has been built
on our ability to unify our diverse populations.
The
Legal Case Against Vouchers
•
About 85 percent of private schools are religious. Vouchers tend to be
a means of circumventing the Constitutional prohibitions against subsidizing
religious practice and instruction.
The
Political Landscape
•
Each year, about $65 million dollars is spent by foundations and individuals
to promote vouchers. In election years, voucher advocates spend even more
on ballot measures and in support of pro-voucher candidates.
•
In the words of political strategist, Grover Norquist, "We win just by
debating school choice, because the alternative is to discuss the need
to spend more money..."
•
Despite desperate efforts to make the voucher debate about "school choice"
and improving opportunities for low-income students, vouchers remain an
elitist strategy. From Milton Friedman's first proposals, through the tuition
tax credit proposals of Ronald Reagan, through the voucher proposals on
ballots in California, Colorado, and elsewhere, privatization strategies
are about subsidizing tuition for students in private schools, not expanding
opportunities for low-income children. |
|