Should Ohio expand its school voucher program? (Cleveland, Toledo: fit in, 2015)

[WRnative]

Here are pro and con editorials from the Plain Dealer's editorial board. The con article omits one great concern with an expanded voucher system.

One key result of expanding the voucher program is to cause a proliferation of parochial schools, whether Muslim, Lutheran, Christian fundamentalist, Jewish, etc. Many famed political scientists have emphasized the importance of minimizing cleavages for democracy to succeed in America, and largely attribute the familiarity created within public schools as an important means to reducing such cleavages.

A rise in private and parochial schools at the expense of public schools will promote the "old school ties" that extend well beyond the educational system into the economy, government, etc. Count on it, as anyone who has experienced such discrimination in their lives knows too well.

If students increasingly are diverted to private and parochial schools, expect even more polarization, self-interest, and even the Lebanonization of the U.S., so disastrous in other counties.

The con article also doesn't emphasize sufficiently well how an expanded voucher system will impact negatively public schools. Parents who rely on parochial and private schools will lose interest in support public school levies locally and certainly public school financing on a state-wide level.

It also remains puzzling that the Republicans, in their efforts to expand vouchers, refuse to make voucher-supported schools to participate in the same valuation systems as private schools. Why is that? Partially because many poorly-rated voucher schools are for-profit institutions whose owners contribute to Republican political coffers.

Not even discussed in the con article is what happens to sometimes very expensive special needs students, who often require special services. Will all special needs students be relegated to public schools, especially special needs students from poor families who can't afford any amount of tuition?

Sadly, public schools, such as Cleveland magnet schools, that have performed well, even against parochial schools, could be financially gutted by an expanded voucher program.

Cleveland's magnet schools score as well on state tests as St. Ignatius | cleveland.com

Do vouchers give kids better educations? Ohio test results are mixed | cleveland.com

Pro and con expanded voucher editorials from the Plain Dealer.

Expanding school vouchers statewide too costly a gamble: con editorial | cleveland.com

Sen. Matt Huffman's school voucher bill good for students and parents: pro editorial | cleveland.com

Note that the con voucher bill editorial notes that private schools not only will be allowed to cherry pick students (some states support only voucher schools that have admission by lotteries), but will be able to return unwanted students, such as kids with behavioral problems, to the public schools.

The Ohio legislature could expand public school magnet programs, perhaps with state-wide distance learning programs, and even implement public school choice, making improved education available to all Ohio students, regardless of their residency and financial means. Of course, such legislation wouldn't please owners of for-profit schools or those who don't want a diverse educational experience for their children.

[WRnative]

Here's an extreme example of what happens when public education becomes marginalized due to special interests who don't give a damn about the education of children in general. Lebanonization already is alive and well in the U.S.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/03/o...kids.html?_r=0

<<Public education became an afterthought. Schools were closed and sold off or rented to yeshivas, at sweet discounts. (An appraiser was indicted last year, accused of taking a handsome bribe for a low appraisal.)>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/08/n...-students.html

[residinghere2007]

I have young family members that attend Catholic schools with an EdChoice voucher.

I also considered sending my own kids to private schools via EdChoice but did not due to the fact that in the Toledo area (and I guess it seems statewide) that a majority (here in Toledo - all) of the private schools are religious schools. I am not religious and don't want my kid being taught to adhere to a certain religion at school.

Also, I have a poor view of most Catholic schools in our area and only think maybe 2-3 have good academics. One of my nephews goes to a very highly rated Catholic school here and I do believe he is getting a high quality education; however, due to him being poor and on a full EdChoice voucher I do believe that they do not put as much interest toward him. He is in 10th grade and has a 3.95 GPA for example and he had never even met his guidance counselor in school and had never heard of PSAT until I told him that I would step in for him due to him being such a great student (and kid, he's just an all around great teenager) and advocate for him at his school. Another of my nephews graduated from this same school and said that he was never counseled either about college, so I don't think that they got any advantages by being in the school other than the increase in academics, which honestly in Toledo they could have gotten in our magnet high schools like Toledo Early College (they could have gotten 2 years of free college at this school via Univ or Toledo, my older nephew goes to UT now and is in his 2nd year and has to pay full tuition) or Toledo Technology Academy.

I agree with one of your first articles in that it would be better to not use the voucher system and instead expand the magnet program. I'd like it if TPS did a full magnet district honestly with a neighborhood preference. My youngest child also goes to a magnet school as does some of my younger, elementary aged nieces/nephews. One of the magnet elementaries is K-8 and is predominantly black and lower income and it was the only school in Toledo with a majority black student body (over 85%) that scored in the "proficient" category in the entire district.

Also many of these private schools will not accept any students who have behavioral issues. I have another nephew who is on the autism spectrum. He could not get accepted by a Catholic school with EdChoice. I have a friend who has a child with some behavioral problems and learning disabilities but is pretty high functioning and is a decent student. Their child was kicked out of a Catholic school due to not performing well in school. The friend said it was because the child didn't get the support that they had gotten previously in the public school system (they had some special education services via public school). So the child was placed into a the magnet school that is predominantly black and is doing well today with support.

I think too often people buy into the idea that all private schools are better than all public schools. There are good and bad for both but IMO public has more of an appeal due to them being legally required to provide support and to accept all students.

So I would rather they expand magnet programs, also reform the requirements/process for hiring administrators and teachers (I have many educators in my family and though most of them are great, I and my family in education, feel that many administrators lack in organizational leadership skills and change management skills. Also some teachers have a bias against the children they are supposed to teach. For me it is drastically different between our magnet schools - the environment and the quality of the educators/administrators at the top programs versus the regular public school and not as highly performing magnet elementary schools).

[WRnative]

An expanded school voucher program could divert tens of millions of dollars from public schools to religious schools:

Giving tuition vouchers to middle class could have $70 million price tag for Ohio | cleveland.com