If Sen. Dan Patrick wasn’t already the target of the left in Texas, his advocacy for allowing parents and students to have more choices in public education will certainly put him in the crosshairs. Thankfully, he has Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on his side but this will still be a hard battle to win. Hopefully, facts will win the day and the ultimate fate of school choice will not hinge on emotions. In that light, here are a couple of resources from pro-school-choice groups.
The first is a policy paper from the Orthodox Union, an educational, outreach and social service organization which serves the North American Jewish community. This is the group that sponsored the Rally for Tuition Affordability that Sen. Dan Patrick spoke at last week. They passed out copies of their Orthodox Union Position Paper on Government Aid to Jewish Day Schools, which includes a short section on why they support choice, a discussion of the constitutionality of school choice, and a few specific policies that they support. A quick outline of the paper:
- Reasons to support:
- Economic fairness
- Benefits the educational system by adding competition
- Social justice
- Constitutionality
- Federal
- State
- Tax incentives and constitutional issues
- Specific Policies Supported
- Security Grants
- Reimbursement for Government-imposed mandates
- Special education services
- In-Kind support (healthcare, textbooks, technology)
- Free transportation for all students
- Energy efficiency rebates and grants
- Tuition Tax Credits
- Tax credits for donations to scholarship organizations
- Education vouchers
The paper is an excellent way to become quickly informed on the overall issue of school choice, or as they term it, tuition affordability. Click on the link above or click here to read it.
The Orthodox Union has also dedicated a portion of their website to Tuition Affordability – it also has a section specific to Texas. One of the more interesting things to me is that these programs are already in effect in several other states, including Floriday, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin.
Another resource comes from the Texas Catholic Conference. As I noted in my coverage of the Rally for Tuition Affordability, Sen. Dan Patrick didn’t commit to a single type of funding but there was much talk about tax credits. The TCC has created a handout discussing tax credits. I received the handout from Maria Huemmer, Communication Director for the Texas Catholic Conference, who says:
We are particularly concerned with working-class families who may have limited options in choosing an educational setting for their children. Through the Corporate Tax Credit program, businesses have incentive to donate to scholarship-granting organizations which can offer these scholarships to families that have demonstrated financial and academic need. Participating families are able to apply the scholarship to a private school or another public school. While the program reduces the amount of tax revenues received by the state, it produces a net fiscal benefit because education spending for students receiving scholarships is reduced by more than the amount of revenue lost. In addition, local property tax funding for school districts is maintained while student population is decreased, allowing local districts to increase per pupil spending.
Here is the handout (click here to download):
I hope that these resources help to open a constructive dialogue on the issue. As I said earlier, this will be a battle but it can be won. Let’s not turn this into a partisan battle though – let’s unite with like minded groups from both sides of the aisle that want to see the overall educational system in Texas improve. By putting forth the ideas behind the documents listed above, and being passionate about the need to give inner city children a chance, I’m confident that we can help Sen. Dan Patrick get this passed through the legislature.
David,
I am not opposed to vouchers. Indeed, I may elect to send my grand daughter to a private school when the GPISD can no longer support her special needs. Luckily, GPISD has a good tax base mix and has not suffered as much as the largely residential areas to the north and west of the city. GPISD has a very good program for special needs students and it is much better than comparable programs in the more exclusive school districts to the north. I know because my oldest daughter is an elemenatary teacher in one of them and we compare notes.
It is my understanding that the state compensates each school district on a per student & per day of attendance basis. I think it is reasonable to allow parents to take a significant portion of that money (if not all) as a voucher payment to an accredited and certified private school. The last phrase is important! We already have enough “diploma mills” fleecing the taxpayers thru government backed student loans for the many sham technical schools that have sprung up in the last decade.
I do oppose several items on that Christmas Wish List as an unfair burden on taxpayers who are already paying for one school system. Tax Credits means one person skates paying a tax and another picks up the burden. You do know who that “another person” is don’t you?
Simple
David, we cant allow the govt to accredit/certify schools for the purposes of vouchers, because if that happens, the govt controls the private schools–and our problem is perpetuated.
Simple, as you can see from Jim’s comment, there is going to be a huge argument about “accredited and certified”. I agree with you about “diploma mills” but at the same time, we can’t have the state controlling private schools, IMO. I do not know how they are going to get past this particular problem but in answer to Jim’s specific question, State Rep. Elect Jonathon Strickland has already filed a joint resolution proposing a constitutional amendment to prevent it: http://bit.ly/WtSIVc
From his press release:
Of equal or greater concern will be the Islamic religious schools – will the legislature carve them out somehow and make them ineligible? I hope that doesn’t happen but I wouldn’t rule it out.
This is not an easy road but IMO we must do something to give inner city kids a chance to succeed. Some schools are just plain unsafe, in addition to having terrible academics. And then there is the real question, one that Izzy has raised with Ed, how do you teach children that don’t want to learn and have no parental structure to push them?
I would not want my tax dollars designed to improve the education of the next generation to go to an Islamist School if it taught in its history curriculum that the Holocaust never happened, or to a fundamentalist Protestant school which teaches in its science curriculum that the earth is only 4000 years old and that humans and dinosaurs once roamed the planet together. If private schools are going to receive public funding, they should be held to some minimum consensus of curriculum standards. Maybe some view that as “regulation” or unacceptable “control.” I do not. I would be OK with voucher funding of an Islamist or Christian or Jewish or Buddhist school in the mainstream, even if they require students to take courses in religion as well.
Jim and David,
There is a simple solution to the intrusion of the state into private schools; Don’t take the taxpayer’s money.
Sounds like they want their cake and to eat it too!
The children who can’t learn or will not because of behavior problems, cannot get into any private schools that might make a difference. I had some experience with this a while back when I tried to
get my daughter into several private schools. My daughter already had a bad track record and was beginning what has become a life long addiction to drugs. None of these schools wanted to take her and the money was not an object. I even offered a significant tithe above the tuition and was rebuffed each time.
A critical factor in the performance difference between the major private schools and the public schools is that the private schools can and do “Cherry Pick” the potential student pool.
I do agree with you on parental involvement being a factor. Of course when you are putting down between 10 – 30 k$ per year; you are significantly incentivized to pay attention to your investment.
Ms Simple and I are both retired now, but we work as Teacher’s Aides to my grand daughter’s teacher and are at the school at least twice a week. Most of our students come from middle class to near poverty homes, but I can truthfully say that the young parents are involved as much as their jobs allow. There are only a few students that have no structure at all and they are a drag on the majority.
I wish Dan (et al) would put a little effort into fixing the system we have now.
Simple
Mainstream, everyone is “in the mainstream” until they aren’t. 😉
Of course, you would be defining “mainstream”, am I correct? But what about those that disagreed with your definition?
Simple, I hear you but I don’t know how to reconcile that point. If religious private schools refuse to accept vouchers/tax credit scholarships, then there really isn’t much of a point to enact the law.
Would they accept some sort of “accreditation” to receive gov’t funds? I suspect that they would. If I were a purist and in charge of a religious day school, I would not accept anything that let the government in the door.
But I’m not. I suspect that the majority of religious day schools will accept some type of oversight – of course, some will not- but will continue to complain. I’m sorta like Mainstream above – if a school refuses to teach what we have collectively learned as a society in favor of their specific religious beliefs, I don’t think that they should participate.
This is not an easy subject. But I still think that vouchers/tax credits must be enacted to improve our public education system.