A school
voucher is a publicly funded credit or certificate whereby a student may be enrolled in a private school and apply the credit to tuition.
So, why should Tennessee taxpayers care?
1. Vouchers use your money to help pay for a student to go to a private school that answers to private administrators and not you the taxpayer. Public schools must answer to the people and are held accountable for the use of local, state and federal educational tax money.
2. Article XI, Section 12 of the Tennessee Constitution specifically states “The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance, support and eligibility standards of a system of free public schools.” Nowhere in our constitution is the General Assembly directed to take taxpayer money and use it for a voucher system so parents can use public money to send their children to private schools.
3. Private schools are not public institutions, and without proper oversight the “qualifications and standards” for students may fall short of expectations and undermine the fundamental idea of equality in education. Vouchers require the public to supplement these standards even if they are contrary to state and federal education law.
4. Vouchers force the public to support two drastically different educational systems one over which the public has no oversight.
We constantly hear about “parental choice” and how vouchers are needed because they are the only way parents will have a choice about where they send their child to school. Proponents of vouchers say they will create a competitive marketplace where parents and students have a choice outside of the public school system.
As a parent, I have always had the choice of where to send my children to school. I choose the public school system; however, I have friends that have chosen to send their children to private schools. That is their right and their choice. But even though my friends have made that choice, they along with every citizen of Tennessee is still obligated to support our constitutionally mandated public school system regardless of where their children attend. Why…because all Tennesseans benefit from public schools.
Public schools raise our citizens out of poverty and ignorance and make them solid, responsible, taxpaying members of our community. Citizens who care about our communities and want the very best for their children. Civilized citizens who understand and observe the rule of law. Education makes the difference.
Vouchers are unfair. They are little more than a boon to a small group of private school operators who will deprive a vast majority of Tennessee citizens of the much needed funding to support their local public school districts.
Consider this. Just because a parent is eligible for and receives a voucher, doesn’t mean that parent will be able to enroll their children in a private school. Public schools are open to all Tennessee children but private schools carefully choose their students. A student applying for a seat in a private school must meet certain “standards and qualifications” in order to secure a place in the school…regardless of whether the child has a voucher. These enrollment policies may be quite restrictive and private schools may refuse to enroll a child for any reason.
The public school system provides two critical elements that are not present in a private school setting: the right to attend school as guaranteed in the state Constitution and access to resources that ensure the education and growth of ALL Tennessee children. It is imperative that public school systems continue to operate and provide these opportunities. Removing funds from public schools through a school voucher system hinders these goals and ultimately steals opportunities from ALL students.
Vouchers create a system that is frightening. As a state, we must not drift apart, we must instead invest in efforts to help us grow together. We need to focus our attention on continuing to improve our public education system by embracing educational reforms that work thus raising our learning levels. There is little chance that economic opportunities will improve among key segments of our population if we go to a voucher system. In fact vouchers will surely do more harm than good.
The Tennessee School Boards Association is dedicated to the highest standards of public education and fervently believes that locally elected boards of education, representing the interests of their communities, are the most effective way to accomplish that goal.
We urge our General Assembly to reject any attempts to institute a school voucher program in Tennessee and instead focus on the Constitutional mandate to provide a public education system that will ensure hope for a better life for our students and our citizens.
Dr. Tammy Grissom, TSBA Executive Director
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Dr. Grissom,
I read your post, but must respectfully disagree. While i support the idea of public education, being the product of the public education system myself in another state, our public education system here is broken and under-performing and there is much to be done to bring up the standards in the public system.
Given that a student is only in the system for 12 years, a family just can't wait and hope things turn out okay. My two sons were in public school here in Hamilton County initially, at a "magnet" school, but we had to eventually transfer them to a private school to make sure that they continued to grow and learn and be challenged and not fall into bad habits, which we were starting to see.
We tried all of the AP courses available as well as weekly tutors that would come a few times per week to supposedly give them more challenging work, but it amounted to no more than "busy work" and they would often even miss recess or play time to do this mundane extra work and on many occasions ended up just helping other students with their work. On the advice of one of the teachers, who we greatly respected, we moved them into private education and, except for the cost, couldn't be happier with the outcome. When they both started college, they were well prepared and far ahead of many, if not most, of those in their classes.
I know that there are exceptions, but i think it is a shame that the public education system here in America cannot match that of other countries or that of private education, but that is a reality. Public school teachers are often disrespected, underpaid, overworked and discipline is a major problem. Curriculum choices are often lacking as well and, like i said, you only have 12 years, so you can't wait and hope things turn out okay.
With that said, is it fair for me to have to pay for both public and private education, when only private education is providing what is required for my children? That is what every parent of children in private schools are doing. Fair or unfair?
John Fricke
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Fair.
And I must respectfully disagree with you, Mr. Fricke. You made a choice. Your choice was to educate your child outside of the public education provided you by the local county/state of Tennessee. Your choice does not provide you a rebate on your taxes, or any percentage of them. By your argument, if my mother no longer drives, she should no longer have to pay the portion of her local and state taxes that goes to the roads, since she chooses not to use them.
If schools (locally, nationally, etc.) are failing their students, then the current trend of abandoning them will never solve the problem. When the families and citizens that could and would demand change and results simply walk away from these schools, no one is there to hold administrators and politicians accountable. Everyone else simply stands on the outside looking in (or not, as most of our elected officials tend to do), repeating stories and mantra that they have been told by someone else at some point.
When you look at the communities that have schools that are successful (and there are plenty, even in Tennessee), you are not going to find a strong private school presence. Instead, you have a community that backs their schools and demands accountability from them in return. That is not the case in Hamilton County, where the generally accepted premise is that your child cannot get a good education unless you pay $20,000 for it. That also is incorrect - there are very good public schools in Hamilton County where a child can get a great education, go to any university they want, and do exceptionally well. As someone with students with degrees from Harvard, Yale, and Columbia, I can attest to that.
Lee Crews
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What's unfair is that I'm zoned for a fantastically under-performing elementary school and I'm still forced to pay the full amount of taxes as well as private tuition. Why in the world shouldn't parents with school-aged children be allowed to make use of their educational dollars while their kids are in school? Why should we be forced to pay for both systems when one is simply not providing an acceptable service?
I have only one chance to educate my children and it would be beyond foolish to squander it on a school that's simply not up to the task. The system gets my taxes for +/- 60 years so I don't think it's too big of a stretch to allow me and parents like me to make the best use of our funds for 12 of those. The HCDE will still have 48 years worth of my tax dollars to fund it's various ambitions. Surely, they can get by on that.
F.L. Benton