EDUCATION VOUCHERS GOOD STRATEGY BUT BAD POLICY

Voucher programs are inherently bad, especially in public education. The idea of these programs is to destroy public educations at the behest of special interest groups. One of the talking heads of MSNBC (Ed Schultz) has repeatedly said, in one format or another, the good thing about public education is that when you open the door of public school you open it to everyone. Does it surprise anyone that this is the major objection of opponents to public education? The promise of America is that equal opportunity is there for everyone. Upward mobility is possible.

I want my children to go to schools that have all the resources they need to learn: the best teachers, a computer at every desk, music and sports facilities, a great lunch program, and a long train of etceteras. I do not want to have my children bussed long distances, or have them go to an all black school or all white school, I hate that I cannot use the school facilities to teach Sunday school. The universal demand is that I do not want to pay taxes for other people’s children to go to school. The Republican solution to all of this is the “voucher program”, which I maintain will be a disaster for America.

Compare upward social mobility to the basic premise of a voucher program. Politicians designed the voucher program to give parents freedom of choice but at the same time to create advantage for some over others; these things stand in conflict. At first blush, this sound like it is a way of giving middle-income families the same advantage children of rich families have—to go to a nice school. However, it is obviously like a dog chasing its own tail.

If you take taxpayer’s money out of public education, it is obvious you will damage public education to benefit private education. As an aside, private education is often a “for profit” endeavor, which increases the cost. If special interest groups supplement private education, even if there is a profit motive, it is a form of privatizing taxation. People willingly pay tuition but are not willing to pay taxes then they argue they are paying to send their child to a “school” so why should they pay taxes for other peoples children to go to school? Does it surprise anyone that their reason for not wanting to send their children to public school is that public schools are underfunded? The public schools are underfunded because people do not want to pay taxes so they support voucher programs, which the American people support because they believe it helps children—no it doesn’t. It may help a few children but it is a form of greed, which is destroying America’s future. Voucher programs may be a clever strategy but makes for bad policy.