Liberalism and Religion

[Michael McIntyre]

It's possible to dream up an inequality-reducing voucher scheme.  In Chicago, for example, one might average the tuition at Lab School, Latin, and Francis Parker along with per-pupil spending at New Trier and Naperville Central to come up with an amount for the voucher, on the principle that poor kids should be able to purchase the education that rich kids' parents are willing to pay for, whether through tuition or taxes.  But all you have to do is tell the proponents of vouchers "write your scheme like this and I'll sign on" to find out what they're really after.  Then they'll start telling you about the level of school spending in North Dakota or make up an absurdly low number about how cheaply Catholic schools manage to operate...and their voucher schemes don't even come up to that level.  Your afterthought should come first.  Busting teacher's unions is the PRIMARY reason for these proposals...something these folks are very up-front about when they're talking in-house.

But, when someone does come along and propose that $12,000 voucher....I might be tempted.

MM


>>> nathan at newman.org 06/21/02 09:18 AM >>>

----- Original Message -----
From: "Yoshie Furuhashi" <furuhashi.1 at osu.edu>


>"Separate and unequal" schools can't be remedied by experimenting
>with vouchers and charter schools.  They can be only reformed to some
>degree by abolishing the system of funding schools based upon local
>property taxes and (more importantly) by redistributing wealth from
>the rich to the poor.

Guess what- vouchers do that.  They are invariably funded by state funds,
rather than local property taxes.  By their nature, they end geographic
discrimination since they come from more central sources.  This is another
reason why they have gotten support from some interesting source.  Many
voucher programs have been underfunded, so they are not real alternatives
for poor families, but vouchers funded at the same level as public schools
would essentially eliminate the dependence on local property taxes.

Actually, my most negative view of vouchers is that they would be used to
undermine teacher unionism and pay.  I don't have that big a problem with
charter schools, funded private schools, and so on, as long as they meet
basic educational standards and have card-check requirements to qualify for
government funds.

-- Nathan Newman