Vouchers will spend tax dollars on religion
Vouchers are a terrible idea, and it is important to be engaged in this debate. If voucher proponents succeed, it will mean the inevitable dismantling of our public school system.
The word that is often used is “choice.” Supporters argue that vouchers give students and parents a “choice” in their education. Who doesn’t want choice, right? It sounds so good. But let’s examine what this so-called “choice” really is.
Approximately 90 percent of all students — kindergarten through 12th grade — go to public schools in the United States today. Only 10 percent go to private schools. But here is the little secret voucher proponents won’t tell you. Of those private schools, 9 out of 10 are private religious schools. This means the so-called choice is between a public education and a religious education. Do you think this is a real choice? Or is this choice more about a backdoor way of funding private religious schools and sucking money away from the public school system?
There is nothing wrong with sending children to a private religious school. That right has existed for a long time. No one wants to stop a parent from getting what they think is the best education for their children. The problem arises when your and my tax dollars go to fund their religious beliefs.
One of the most important and cherished principles of religious liberty is that government should not force any citizen to furnish funds in support of a religion with which he or she disagrees or, for that matter, even a religion with which he or she does agree. Voucher programs violate this central tenet. Vouchers use taxpayer money to fund a primarily religious education.
Public schools, especially here in Texas, are already inadequately funded. Tax money that would ordinarily go to public schools would be siphoned away by vouchers not only limiting but actually harming the capacity of public schools in the state.
One of the ironies is that vouchers do not improve opportunities for kids from low income families. Voucher payments do not cover the entire cost of tuition or other mandatory fees for private schools. A 2003 study of the Ohio program concluded: “For many families, the financial burden of paying even the relatively small portion of their children’s private school tuition is more than they can bear.” In the end, the families most likely to use a voucher are the ones who could already afford to send their kids to private schools.
Religious private voucher schools usually do not have to comply with the same teacher standards, curriculum and testing requirements as the public schools. Depending on the enacting law, private voucher schools may discriminate against a student based on his or her gender, disability, religion, national origin, economic background, academic record, English language ability, or disciplinary history. Here in Texas we already see a voucher proposal in this legislative session that will explicitly exempt private voucher schools from state education accountability regulations. In other words, schools accepting vouchers would be receiving taxpayer money with no accountability.
We need to make some important decisions about education in this country and in this state. It defies logic that we can improve public education by taking money out of the school system by way of vouchers. This is the surest way of destroying the public school system where 90 percent of our children are educated. Our public school system created the most advanced nation in human history. Why on earth would we want to destroy it?
Eric Lane is president of the San Antonio Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church & State. He can be contacted at firstname.lastname@example.org