So every other Utah county technology blogger seems to be full swing into pushing the vouchers. Seems to be a connection with the tech sector and the fact that Patrick Byrne is bankrolling the pro-voucher group. Everyone must feel a kinship. Anyway, a few more thoughts from comments I have heard from several people. One is that parents shouldn’t have to fun other parents kids. Well with the voucher we are giving 3,000 to each student per year regardless of how much you pay in taxes. So say you have 5 school age kids (not unusual in Utah), then you are getting 15k in vouchers. Do you know how few people are paying 15k in Utah taxes? Or even 3k? So people are still going to pay for other kids whether it be in public or private school. The rich pay for the poor in either system. Major things would have to change for this to be any different.
Another issue I have is how people treat so flippantly the public school system and how it should be more “free market”. Well, last time I checked public schools are a part of the Utah Constitution. So until you remove that little part the legislature has a responsibility to not only continue the public school system but make sure it is in good condition. If you don’t like the public school system as a whole then you need to repeal that first and then you can make better arguments. Right now the pro-voucher groups seem to be just fine with public schools eventually losing out on funding and cutting essential programs. Of course proponents make it seem like all public schools are loaded with 90% fluff and that kids just do gym all day anyway. I think that is what I did all day, had gym and world cultures every day for 4 years, dang public school. Strange many of these same people berate our national leaders of not following the national constitution. Once again, whatever is convenient to your argument.
What I want answered is three things.
1. How are you going to limit the number of people who can game this system? In California and other states parents regularly game the system and end up pocketing the money and the quality of education for the children actually goes way down.
2. How to deal with private schools that go belly up (happens often). If a school goes under midway through the year what do you do with the kids? If they go to a public school then you are paying for them twice over with public money.
3. How do you deal with the issue of future budget losses and/or a large spike in number of vouchers? Do the public schools take a hit before the vouchers? Is there a cap?
Overall, this voucher program was not thought out well at all. I am appalled it passed in the first place. Go back to the drawing board, close up the loose ends, and bring back something better. I will send my kids to public schools, but I am all for private schools, just not this mess of legislation.
First of all, $3k per kid is not true. That’s the maximum a family can receive per child. There is a tiered dollar amount for vouchers and it’s based on the “Income eligibility guideline,” which is defined as the maximum annual income allowed to qualify for reduced price meals for the applicable household size as published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture by notice in the Federal Register.
I’m trying to find the numbers but in most states, those who make around $35k a year or less qualify for the $3k voucher. Those who are paying $15k a year to send their kid to private school are only going to get the $500 a year voucher. Of course, you don’t hear that from referendum opposition. So if “the rich” are the one’s really interested in it then you’ll only see $500 per voucher sent to them. That’s very different than $3k. It’s all based on a parents’ income.
Other thoughts:
Parents assume full financial responsibility for the education of their child if they accept the scholarship (that’s under the law). The schools are also required to be audited by a CPA, and the legislature still has to designate the money for the vouchers on a per-year basis. If there isn’t enough, it gets divided among students who already used vouchers the year before.
So in essence, if there isn’t enough money and it’s mostly “the rich” using the vouchers, then we’re talking even less… more like a few hundred dollars per student.
I think “budget losses” is the wrong way to look at it. The legislature decides where the education money goes in this state, and this is one of the fastest growing states in the Union. With the major increase in construction, the budget is only going to go up because the education budget is tied to property tax. There will be no loss. Large spikes won’t matter either. The legislature decides how much money it will give to the voucher program. The dollar amounts are all caps and that’s only if the legislature decides to give (and how much to give) to the voucher program that year.
There are far less loose ends than people think, but it’s rare that they actually read the fine print on this thing.
The full text of it is right here: http://www.votefor1.com/Parent_Choice_in_Education_Act.asp
Warning: It’s long and full of detail.
Russell
October 31st, 2007
Thanks for clearing things up on the budget losses, I didn’t read that part closely. I’m glad they have built in caps to it. I do disagree about expecting Utah’s economy to keep growing like it has, but that is just an opinion.
The part about which families get more money was the point I was trying to make. Some advocates speak of a free market for schools and not having to pay for other people’s kids. I wasn’t saying only the rich would use the vouchers, I was saying the rich would pay for the poor in the voucher system just like in public school. The voucher system doesn’t change that. People earning under 35k a year with a child will be paying next to nothing in Utah taxes, so people in higher income brackets will foot the bill for the voucher. All I am saying is people say that tax payers won’t be paying for others in this system, which isn’t true.
Trent
October 31st, 2007
I enjoy reading your posts. Thanks for all the hard work. Sara
Jeanbart
January 12th, 2010
I’m learning more everyday reading your blog. Thanks for all the hard work. I’m looking forward to more reading here!
Kuper
January 12th, 2010