A Study of School Vouchers
Should parents be able to choose which school a student can attend? And if they are, should they be able to choose to go to a different public school? Should the public pay for students to attend private schools or public sponsored private schools called charter schools? Well many people have different opinions if they were asked this question; well it isn't surprising that many different political groups would also have different opinions. Well all of these questions surround a single issue, school vouchers. This paper is going to look at the post-1996 views of five political groups (Christian Coalition, The Heritage Foundation, The New Democrats, and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition), and how their views influence the school voucher issue, and the obstacles that may stand in the way of getting those views implemented. I will also look at the effect that their stance would have on schools, teachers, and students are affected. At the end of the paper, I will give my thoughts and opinions on the school voucher issue. I will try to go from right to left on the political spectrum. The Christian Coalition has for a long time been linked with the morality side of the Republican Party platform according to Spring (1997). When I look
Because of the separation of church and state, public monies cannot be used to spread religion in schools. The only way to raise funds for private schools (especially religious schools) is to put money back into the hands of tax payers. So if we look at educational reform, it is not surprising that the Christian Coalition idea of educational reform is to support "educational savings accounts" for kindergarten through college, and an "education tax credit" which would help families finance their children's education (Christian Coalition Educational Reform, 2001). By putting more money into the hands of Christian families, more money can be spent on supporting private schools. In another article written in 2001 by Garrett, (who is a domestic policy research for The Heritage Foundation) an attempt is made to discredit teachers and teacher's unions on their stance against school vouchers. Her stance is supported by legislation that was introduced by a Republican state senator named Ray Haynes. Haynes's legislation would have required public school teachers to send their children to public schools. In the fall of 2000, the teacher's union in California helped to shoot down Proposition 38, which would have offered parents private-school vouchers. According to Garrett, union officials stated that vouchers would have moved the public-school system "a dollar closer to starvation and further from excellence." In the article Garrett points out a study that the California Teachers Association points out that one-third of the state's teachers send their children to private schools (Garrett, 2001). If Garrett's research is true, that would definitely show a conflict of interest with public school teachers. Unfortunately, I don't know much about public schools in the larger cities, and those numbers could very well be true. We don't have that option in the Upper Peninsula, but if we did, that would be an interesting number to look up. Finally, Garrett feels that teachers should worry less about their jobs and worry more about the quality of education provided in schools. It has always been the position of conservative groups that competition improves quality so it is just natural for them to side with the idea of school vouchers. This view fits in very well with the Republican Party platform, the religious right, and the Bush Administration. Another group that contains conservative views is The Heritage Foundation. The Heritage Foundation is focused on creating an America that freedom, opportunity, prosperity and civil society flourish (Heritage Foundation, 2002). According to Spring (1997), The Heritage Foundation is considered one of the largest conservative think tanks in America. It does have a quick link on the Republican National Party web page. As of May of 2001, 37 states including the District of Columbia have enacted charter school or voucher legislation (Garrett, 2001). Also according to Garrett, no state up to May of 2001 has repealed a charter school law. The conclusion that Garrett makes is that the popularity of school choice "will expand as more Americans realize that it improves student achievement, challenges public schools to improve, and enables more low-income families to give their children the best education (Garrett, 2001)". A report released on February 20, 2002 by the President of the Christian Coalition, Robera Combs, commends the Bush Administration for the arguments it made to the Supreme Court in support of school choice (Peterson, 2002). This support reflects the ties that the Republican platform has with the ideals of the Coalition. In quoting Combs, "It will be a great day in America when parents are given the freedom to use their own money to choose where to educate their children without having to bear the burden of paying what is in essence "double tuition" just because they choose a private or religious school,"(Peterson, 2002). It is pretty easy to see that the Christia
Some common words found in the essay are:
Christian Coalition, Jackson Jr, Heritage Foundation, Michigan California, Democratic Party, Republican Party, PUSH Coalition, Governor Johnson, Party Platform, Dawson Florida, school vouchers, christian coalition, jackson jr, public schools, heritage foundation, private schools, rainbow push, charter schools, democratic party, rainbow push coalition, party platform, according spring 1997, jackson jr 2000, school voucher issue, republican party platform,
Approximate Word count = 4033
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page double spaced)
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