Jun 23 2008
Perdue, McCrory Speak on Vouchers
“As governor, I will not be distracted by experiments like vouchers and private school tuition,†Perdue told several hundred attorneys at the N.C. Bar Association convention in the first debate of the governor’s race. “Vouchers take money away from the public schools. I am not going to take my eye off the prize and allow vouchers to break the back of public schools.â€
I do not support vouchers either, but not for the same reasons as Perdue. I am opposed to vouchers because once you start giving private schools public money it’s just a matter of time until the state will start to enforce its will over the schools. Hence, they will no longer be private, so what’s the point.
McCrory did not respond to her voucher comment during the debate, but afterward told reporters that he would talk more about his views on vouchers later in his campaign.
He did say he favors giving parents more choice in where to send their children to schools. He also favors the state allowing more charter schools – schools run with public money but who are given more independence to develop their own programs – to be opened in North Carolina.
This is a more positive direction to move in. Parents need to have a choice as to where their kids go. It shouldn’t be delegated by where they live. I think public school funding should come from the state level. The state should determine a set amount as to what it costs to educate each child and then the money should follow the child to whatever school the parents decide to send them to. This will encourage competition between schools for better education because each school will want that money.
Here’s the rub with your position–the language about “public money” is a misnomer. There’s no such thing as “public money.” It’s YOUR money that they took from you under duress. Thus, like the BS about the Feds “giving” us a stimulus check, when they “give” you something, they’re not giving you anything that wasn’t yours to begin with. Any voucher program worth its salt would be nothing more than the equivalent of a tax credit that you have to spend on educating your minor children. As for Govco getting their hands into the private schools, there’s nothing really to prevent them from doing that now if they have to offer the NCSCOS.
I’m also dubious of your stipulation that student assignment should be independent of residence. Freedom to choose residence is a crucial freedom, and choosing to go where the best supplier is located is the only way to force the issue of educational quality. The only way your plan for the money to follow the child would work is if the cost of transportation comes off the top of that voucher.
Admin your later article about special needs tax credits and your response to it is what Vouchers is all about. You contradicted yourself. The state giving you money to put your kid in a private school because your public school is failing is a Voucher.
When both my kids are in school, I’ll be getting more in services than I pay in taxes (state and local). So, I’ll get more than my money back.
You just describe the dutch system of education.
Public schools competing for students because the more students they have, the more money they get.
Of course, this only works within a system without geographical assignments