School Choice: Somewhere, Milton Is Smiling
 

I've been an advocate of school vouchers for years now. Makes so much sense there's only one conclusion it isn't common policy, loosing budget money and politics.


Somewhere, Milton Is Smiling

Utahns win a hard-fought victory for school choice.

Monday, February 5, 2007 12:01 a.m. EST

The late Milton Friedman, who was the nation's foremost advocate for school choice, would be more than pleased with the news coming out of Utah. By a vote of 38-37, the Utah House last Thursday approved the first-ever statewide universal school choice plan.

.....

Utah's plan is modest, and at the same time revolutionary. It would reimburse parents sending their children to private schools between $500 and $3,000 a year based on their family income. Parents whose kids currently attend private school would not be eligible unless their income was low enough. But all new kindergartners would qualify, so that by 2020 all private school students would be eligible for vouchers.

State Rep. Steve Urquhart, the bill's chief sponsor, says the breakthrough in winning House approval was the realization that it wouldn't harm public education. The bill stipulated that for five years after a voucher student left the public system, the district would get to keep much of the money the state had paid for his education. Given that the average district gets $3,500 from the state and the average voucher is expected to be $2,000, a typical school district would gain some $1,500 every time a student left its system.


http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110009624

Re: School Choice: Somewhere, Milton Is Smiling
 

I have no problem with school choice as a concept. Except that it takes money out of public schools. We'd basically be subsidizing private schools.

Also I'm not sure how far away the kids can go - is the district responsible fior bussing kids all over the place at school district cost ? And how does this affect the global warming argument ? ;)

Honestly, from my limited experience as a parent with kids in school (first and third grades), how much the kids and parents want to do well is more important than the school they're at.

Re: School Choice: Somewhere, Milton Is Smiling
 

Where I agree that proper parenting is the most important aspect of education, I think choice is crucial. Everyone pays for education whether they use it or not. Giving a parent a break on what they pay when they're not using said service, only makes sense. We spend half a trillion dollars on education in this country. Money isn't the problem. I like the idea of having a choice. I think such choice breeds competition, and competition always improves efficiency.

Re: School Choice: Somewhere, Milton Is Smiling
 

Thisis a positive development. As to the issue of money being taken from schools, you will note on a per student basis the amount of the vouchers is less (usually , .5) the amount spent on kids in the public school system, so that would leave more per student for the students remaining in the schol system. ;)

Re: School Choice: Somewhere, Milton Is Smiling
 

I was under the impression that part was just the initial phase in for students leaving public schools in the first five years.

I don't know how to say this nicely but . . .

One of the problems I have is that kids who are at bad schools are typically kids from bad homes (on average, not all). And, quite honestly, I don't want them coming into my kids' schools and lowering the quality of student at my schools. Right now the system works in a weird way. Most kids at bad schools have lesser parents, most kids at good schools have better parents. Again, not all in either case. Honestly, if you average the two then you bring down the majority to help the minority. It doesn't affect me as I live in the middle of nowhere without significant differences between schools. But on a theoretical level, if I lived elsewhere I'm not sure I'd want a bunch of bad kids with bad parents showing up at my kids' school with a voucher in their hands.

Re: School Choice: Somewhere, Milton Is Smiling
 

I have no issues with School Choice as long as the choice is not faith based, that would be a violation of church and state. My concern is that possibility of extremist education, would it be ok if the voucher went to a Islam educational center??

Re: School Choice: Somewhere, Milton Is Smiling
 

Why would a bad parent care enough to do the paperwork to transfer her kid to a better school?

Re: School Choice: Somewhere, Milton Is Smiling
 

Exactly, and beyond that, why would a bad parent invest more of their money to cover the portion of the tuition that the voucher wouldn't cover? See, I think that a parent who pays for an education directly, as in not via taxes, would be more concerned with a return on their investment. Even at the max of $3,500, their would certainly be an out of pockets cost.

Re: School Choice: Somewhere, Milton Is Smiling
 

Maybe they wouldn't. But now that my kids are at school and the issue is more real to me, I'm a little more cautious about wanting to have my kids mixed in with other kinds of kids.

I know it sounds awful but there's a lot of crap out there.

Re: School Choice: Somewhere, Milton Is Smiling
 

Actually, vouchers merely allow parents to have a choice by NOT FORCING them to pay for something they do not want. Police are police and firefighters are firefighters, but teachers do a lot to shape and mold the minds who will be leading society of the future. They teach young people from age 5 until 18 what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is false. Huge influence on young people.

And right now, with "public education" so heavily dominated by a certain mind-set that many parents do not agree with -- but have little choice in the matter -- there is a distinct lack of diversity of opinion available in the "public" schools.

The current "public school" system is a monopoly on the minds of the youth, and that is unfair. And scary, given what the "politically correct" agenda of the public schools is.