I sat quietly and listened during meetings of the Education Freedom Committee. I listened as the committee was being told by private school proponents that they had absolutely no plans to change anything about their requirements. In fact, the committee was told that it was fine for public schools to continue to adhere to the state’s accountability requirements but that should not be the case for other schools. One particular presenter stated that in the past they had not wanted to accept government dollars because they came with strings attached; however, in this new age of “universal vouchers” and school choice, that has all changed and they are very open to accepting public dollars. In essence, we will take your tax dollars but not your standards. Speaking as a taxpayer, this does not sound right to me.
It is all about so-called school choice; i.e., as a parent, I should be able to choose where my child goes to school. Of course I can. It’s my child. But here’s the deal: when we come together as a society, we agree to pool our funds to provide certain services for the common good. I know, common good is a strange concept these days, but that is one of the reasons why “governments are instituted among men.”
If families decide that the schools supported by the common fund do not meet their needs or expectations, this does not mean that they now have the right to take their money back. When they knowingly and intentionally choose an option other than the public one, they should provide the funding of that choice. If parents or any citizen decide that because they have private security in their community, they should be able to take taxpayer dollars away from the community police to pay for that security, would that be a sensible option? So why is this option considered reasonable regarding our public schools?
What about public dollars to educate your child at home (home schooling) without standards and little regulation? Why is this even a consideration? How do we monitor how my tax dollars are being used in this instance?
There are statistics and data that convey the negative impact of school choice that I am not going to go into here. It’s the principle of the thing. Under the guise of school choice, we are allowing selfish decisions to undermine the system created to educate all children. School choice proponents want to have their cake and eat it, too. They want tax dollars, but also want to retain the right to admit who they choose and set their own standards with no accountability to taxpayers. This is wrong and I urge you to vote against any bill that seeks to establish school choice funded by tax dollars. As a taxpaying citizen and as one who recognizes the value of public education, I say NO and I hope you will, too.
Joann Mickens
Executive Director, Parents for Public Schools