The subject of charter schools and school vouchers has been an enduring discussion that is currently being argued in spaces from the local school board meetings to the state highest courts. Equally the charters schools and the school voucher initiative are collectively spoke of as “school choice” initiatives, in that they allow parents and students to choose the right educational option or school for them, be it private or public. A school voucher program provides parents and students with vouchers or documents that are accepted by private and public schools to pay for their education at a learning place of their choice, rather than the traditional public school to which they are assigned. Charter schools on the other hand are tax payer funded schools that are liberated from some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that are applied to public schools. In return, charter schools will provide focus and accountability for generating particular results, which are set forth in each school’s charter. As citizens of the United States we enjoy choices and time and again look upon this as rather a positive thing for a citizen of the United States. Being allowed to choose a school of your choice may sound like a sensible initiative on the surface, but when you take a closer look beyond the surface one see serious issues. School choice, though it seems reasonable on the surface turns out to not only be a bad idea; it violates of our US Constitution. With the numerous challenges facing public schools, it’s understandable why many people would be enthusiastic to pursue new paths in education.
Devotees of school choice point out that under the current public school system, parents with economic means already exercise school choice by moving from areas with failing or dangerous schools to neighborhoods with better, safer schools. Their argument is that school choice would allow all parents the freedom, regardless of income level, to select the school that provides the kids the best education (Chub & Moe, 1992). This means schools would have to compete for students by offering them something they are not receiving at a public school like higher academic results or greater personal safety. Schools that are unable to raise or come up to standards of successful schools would be looked at as flops and could possibly close. Campaigners within the school choice movement should be applauded for seeking to improve public education, but the changes they propose would in fact seriously damage public education as a whole.
The School vouchers initiative movement violates the separation of church and state. I point this out because when you look deep down into the weeds of this movement one sees the underhanded way in which it is being used for the government to fund religious education. A school voucher is a credit given to parents who want to move their kid(s) from a public school to a private school of their selection. Most voucher programs involve moving taxpayers’ money from public schools to private schools. In other words it allows parents to take their kid(s) portion of the per scholar spending from the state and transfer the funds to a private schools of their choosing.
The problem with this is that the bulk of these private schools are religious based in nature. According to Chub and Moe research more than 80% of the approved private schools in the Milwaukee voucher program for example, are religious schools (School Vouchers: Pros and Cons, 2015). And while there’s nothing essentially wrong with sending ones child to a Religious school, tax payers funds however should not be used to accomplish this action. This essentially violates the separation of church and state because states are being forced to fund religious education. (Chub & Moe, 1992).
The main argument we continue to hear for the reality of the voucher programs is that they let students achieve a higher quality education than they would or would have received in the public school they are or were attending due to its failing status. Nevertheless, studies of the federally funded DC voucher program found that there was no conclusive evidence that vouchers affected student accomplishment. In fact, children who were given the school voucher performed no better in math and reading than the children who weren’t given vouchers (Wolf, P., et al., 2010). Interestingly enough, the study did find higher satisfaction rates among parents with children in voucher schools. However, student satisfaction rates were statistically similar for both non voucher and voucher students. Similar studies of the longest running school voucher program in the country in Milwaukee actually found that public school students outperformed voucher students at every grade level on the statewide reading and math tests (Brief 102, no. 1 (2014).
Another issue that is created by the voucher programs is that, no matter how successful the programs are, they are only a short term solution. I don’t foresee Private schools having enough desk and chairs to educate every child. At the same time, taking money out of public school systems to allow a fortunate few to join the private schools ranks is harmful in the long run for the public school system. This takes away much needed municipal financial resources, and most of the times, it from the public school that is failing. Fantasizing that school vouchers is a sustainable solution only detracts from our ability to have meaningful discussions about the need to spend more money on public education. At a time when teacher shortages are rampant, class sizes are expanding, and the racial achievement gap is broadening, we certainly can’t continue to demand for school choice in the form of school vouchers. This just continue to put off the real dialog needed about adequately funding for our public schools so that they can actually provide quality cost free education for all. Any policy that doesn’t address that core problem isn’t worthy of consideration (Deepth T., n.d.).
In closing ,I would just like to point out that the current public school system guarantees an education for every kid in our country. As one wades through the weeds of this initiative it becomes obvious that this isn’t the case after examining the voucher school choice options. One must take into account a population of kids that have special needs. These students require many additional hours of direct teacher attention and assistance. These students could easily be viewed as “too expensive” to educate by the private schools and could face sub-standard treatment or even exclusion in profit minded, corporate operated, charter and some private schools. Even the voucher program holds a hidden selective element when one considers that religious schools are allowed to choose their students. The research on vouchers has also allowed both politicians and teachers to come to very different conclusions on the effectiveness and impact voucher programs due to some regions having had great successes with them, while others struggled with them. The long-term impact of policies related to this has not yet been determined, but as we move forward in the coming years we should have enough data to determine this issue from a more informed standpoint in order to make good quality education policies for all.