I am opposed to the vouchers because those of us that have gone to or put children through Cathloic, Lutheren or Private schools had to make many sacrifices to send our children there. The only way I might even consider it is if those parents that send their children there get a nice tax break for doing so. Not the ones using the vouchers, the ones paying the tuition. And another thing I fear is that the religious school's, will have parents protest the Religion Classes and I feel if their kids go to say a Catholic School then they should realize they have to participate in Religion classes. That is one reason we sent our children there. We pay taxes too, that fund the public schools and still paid tuition, yes by our choice, however, if the vouchers are issued then again I think a tax break should be given to those that pay full tuiton.

I am vehemently opposed to using government (federal, state, whatever) taxes to send anyone's children to private or religious schools, for many reasons.

First, call this a "voucher" if you want but it's tax money, purely and simply. This could be, then, supporting religious schools (read: religion) and like the Founding Fathers, I want strict separation between government and religion.

More importantly to me, however, is the fact that this does two other detrimental things to our schoools. It undermines our public school system by taking money away from them (this money has to come from somewhere, folks) and it sets up a system where the wealthier and/or brighter children could--and would, don't kid yourself--be set up in classrooms away from everyone else. It would create a two-tier system that would not, in the beginning or end, then, be equal. They'd be separate but they wouldn't be equal. It would be grossly unfair and only grow worse with time.

Don't send "vouchers"--what a misnomer--to any other schools.

Mo Rage
The Blog

1st. This TAX MONEY used for a "voucher" should be put in to the public school system to make it better. How could this be a good idea. Money for a program like this does not grow on trees.
2nd. The parents of these "voucher' kids would not agree with the discipline requirements these private schools have.

Mr. Evans,
I have a question regarding your statement that I would like you to clairify for me.

"It sets up a system where the wealthier and/or brighter children could--and would, don't kid yourself--be set up in classrooms away from everyone else.

I went to Catholic schools all through my school years as did my son. My daughter did most of her school years. My husband and I worked hard to pay for their education. We chose to put them in a Catholic school so they would get the religious education, besides going to church and how we lived our lives, but for the dicipline too. I was in no way an A student nor was my daughter. We did the very best we could but were not A students. We didn't fail either we were average. We weren't seperated from the other students. I just wanted you to clarify your comments so they are not mistaken.
Thank you

I do agree government money should be used for the public school system and not for vouchers.

One problem with vouchers is that the government will still be able to sticks its ugly head into how you want your children educated. I am for vouchers as long as the government only uses basic guidelines on if a student is learning anything. I think anything that puts the freedom of choices with the parents is good. Vouchers tax credits and so on. The problem with taxcredits is it only helps the rich as the poor do not pay income taxes or pay very little.

It is our money that goes to the government. We should have the say as to how our children are completely educated and we need to take control of that. That easily means different things to different people so GIVE US THE CHOICE!!!!

Vouchers are not the answer.
Get rid of the dang no child left behind assessments. I have a child who reads at a first grade level (she is in 6th grade) and against my judgement, she was passed along and aided duringthe tests to get the scores the schools needed.
Like it even matters what scores they get anymore as the gov keeps taking away money from the schools as it is because they overspend somewhere else.

Thompson what are you afraid of? Take control of your kids education and maybe the child wouldn’t just be pasted on. That is the beauty of some type of system that puts control back into the hands of the parents.

I agree Fred. It should be parents as first teachers. You can't send your child to school and expect the teachers to do all the teaching. We have always believed teaching our children was our first priority. How much time D. Thompson do you spend teaching your child? If you have a sixth grader that only reads at a first grade level you can't put all the blame on the school systems. And further more, you could have had your daughter held back. What about getting her a tutor? She needs help and as a parent it is your responsibility to see to it that she gets it. If you let her continue to go on and not do well in school it is shame on you. Like Fred said, take control of your childs education.

This issue really got me thinking, and I've started to think these voucher schemes are entirely wrong. To offer financial incentives to send children to a faith school, where they are not free to make up their own mind, is not correct in my opinion.

Erice do you really think they are taught to make up their own mind in public school? They get all kinds of crap crammed down their throats there and we often have no say in what they are taught. Maybe in Beverly Hills you don't have that problem.


Freedom should be in the families court, not the schools.

The voucher program would probably result in a much larger number of mediocre to poor private schools opening, and siphoning as much money out of the system while paying administrators huge bucks.
I find it ironic that the parochial school system, which is undoubtedly the most successful education system in the U.S.- is run by relatively low paid teachers and administrators.

We did. We finally had a teacher support us in our decision. Trust me I fought.
Do you know how hard it is to get the adminstration in ANY district work with you to develop the best plan to help develop your child and get them on track? Every year its been, well she has improved. I'm sorry she has academic warning for four years! Work with us and don;t feed me that BS.
FOUR YEARS I have fought this and this January, my kid will finally get what she has needed.

Phil the system we have now is not mediocre to poor? The main thing is we a stuck with it. You must move or pay to change your kids education. Everyone wants choice in other things but not in education. Don't understand it at all.

As soon as tax funded vouchers can be used to send someone to a Catholic school, the government can start telling a Catholic school to have Muslim rituals during Ramadan.

It won't be only Catholic schools that the vouchers will be used at. There are other religious run school's and private schools. My understanding is, if you are not of that religion and you go to a school of a certain faith you have to still participate in the classes. Wouldn't the division between church and state not allow the schools to have to follow the other religious cultures? So far no matter what religion you are if you go to a church run school be it Catholic, Lutheren, etc. you have to participate in the schools curriculum. I don't see how that can be changed by the governement. I know they will do what they want, I just didn'think they could. I thought they would be protected. I went to Cathlolic school's for 12 years and knew plenty of students that were not Catholic's. We never had an issue. But then back when I went parents wanted the best education for their children and several sent their children there for the disipline as well as the education. I never understood why the public schools had to do away with some of the disipline. It's a shame that parents won't listen to the teachers more then their children and if the child is causing trouble in school punish your child instead of going to school and blaming the administration. True sometimes it is, but request a different teacher for your child. Work with the school's instead of against them. It's a shame children are afraid to go to the bathrrom at school because they get jumped in the bathrooms for their lunch money. If the vouchers are used properly I see nothing wrong with that, but again I do believe the people that send their children without the help of vouchers should get some kind of tax break. I don't intend for it to sound like double standards as far as the division between church and state and then asking for a tax break.

Phil I don't disagree with that. But a good number of Catholic schools already take government lunch money and have become dependant on it. What would have to happen if vouchers is a vigilant out cry not just from Catholics and other Christians but other religions and groups as well. Then we have to hope the Government would listen. That can be a problem as we now know. Maybe their is a better way than vouchers I don't know.

Some thing better is out there than the way it is. If you think about it we are at the mercy of our local schools. If they are teaching something you don't like then we do have the right to complain or go to court but it still comes down to what they really want to do. I don't trust them myself. Courts or the schools. I had one of my kids in a public school for one year and at Christmas they where told not to say Merry Christmas as it might be offensive. The same class had a kid that would tell the teacher F... you and nothing was done about it. The teacher said he could not discipline the kid because he had a right to be in the class with the others.

One way or the other the main thing is we need to take control of are kids education back. Don't leave education completely up to the schools. That goes for private schools also. If you don't have time, make it. Question them. Read to them. Make them read to you. Keep up with grades. Kick them in the butt every now and then and that goes for the schools also. Not all kids are made for collage prep either. Take care of them with skills classes. My God these are your offspring. If something is more important to you then shame shame shame on you!

To the parents who don't care, well maybe we need to kick them in the butt. Maybe more than once or twice.

Parents are the first teachers of children, and I feel it is very important that we make time to spend with the children to go over homework. If your child says they don't have homework then make them read, do math, study something every night. If you don't know what to do ask the teachers. They can always tell you what you can work on with your child. Mine even had to do work sheets and read and other things in the summer. The teachers always told me things I could have them do. I never sent my kids to school because you had to, I sent them their to learn, but we didn't leave it all up to the teachers either. We did our part as teachers also and are doing the same with our grand children. Parents have to be involved with their children. It's fine to be friends with them, but parent them first. There would not be so many graduates that can't read or write if the parents took back control of their kids. For a child to be able to cuss a teacher and a teacher can't do anything is wrong. And to be able to cuss but not say Merry Christmas. No way. It's time we take back the school's and put dicipline back into schools and time for the parents to step up and stop backing their kids and start agreeing with the schools. Let's bring respect back too and that needs to start at home. We need to help our kids instead of hurting them.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. My parents sat down with me and went over my scxhoolwork and I did it with my son. I sla cked off a it with my daughters abd can tell a huge difference. I believe schooling should start at home and parents should be held accoutable to a certain degree for helping to educate their chilrdren. At the same time I feel we,as parents need to hold teachers accountable. Their are teachers in our system who do not want to take the extra time to help children who learn more slowly than others and that is a great disservice to our children.

Jennifer, I agree that the students that need more attention do not get it. My daughter had a teacher that was also a coach, and he had no time after school to help the students that needed help because he always had to be at practice after school. I have heard other parents run into this too. I think academics should come before sports. If a student does poor in class they can't play sports, so if a teacher is also a coach and has kids failing, his or her place is in the classroom not on the field in my opinion. The teachers do need to be made accountable and the school districts should make sure the children get the help they need. Even if another teacher that has time to work with a child in need what is wrong with that? It doesn't have to be their teacher? What would your opinion be on that idea?

Right. I oppose all vouchers. As I have said in a couple posts above. This is not just about Catholic schools. I believe that if you do not like your child's school situation, you should do what you can to change it, even if that means moving or paying for a private school. If you cannot change your situation, then you should do your best to help influence what you have toward the best possible outcome. I know first hand that USD 500 gives you that opportunity. But you should not expect the government to pay to orchestrate your education preference. That is up to you.

One thing though Phil, It is not the government that pays it is the tax payers. It is our money. Therefore we should have a lot more say as to where we want our kids to go to school. I think a lot of that happens in a round about way anyway. I know I have friends with kids in the Desoto district that don't live there and we all know that Piper has them. A friend in Bonner says that they even have a bus to pick up kids from KCK. So way not just make it so we can send our kids where we want. Yes maybe some adjustment in the way taxes are paid will have to be done but lets think it out. Freedom is good!