The Final Word on Vouchers

Since tomorrow is election day, I thought I'd put in my two cents about Referendum 1. I've been involved in more discussions on this topic than probably any other of its kind. When I first heard about Referendum 1, I was intrigued and thought that it sounded okay. When I started talking to people about it and learning more, I quickly became opposed to it. Tyler blogged about it a while ago, and he got lots of responses from our friends. Check out this, this, and this. It's been fun to talk and argue with people. After my opinion was firmly planted, Tyler posted again and actually linked to the referendum itself. After reading it myself, my opinion almost changed.

Almost.

After a lot of thought, I will still vote against vouchers. I was almost convinced otherwise because after reading the actual text, there doesn't seem to be much wrong with the idea. I realized that all of the ads, both for and against the referendum, were feeding people a bunch of crap. The Oreo commercial in particular stands out to me. Even though it was trying to convince people to vote for vouchers, it made me want to vote against them since it stated that money will be taken away from public schools to fund the vouchers. Actually, the scholarship money will come from the general fund, and the leftover money will go to public schools. So it will be giving more money to public schools than they had before, but I think that since the money is from public funds it should all go to public schools. If there are really that many problems with public schools (which I don't think there are), why not invest more money in them instead of trying to take students out of them.

One thing that has bothered me from the start is that lots of people are saying that "vouchers would give me a choice". I'm sorry, but parents already have a choice. The money may make it easier for some parents to send their kids to private schools, but they still have a choice. All parents should be invovled in their kids' educations, no matter what school the kids go to. The vouchers are meant to help families with lower incomes, but families who can afford it already also qualify. I think that the poorest families who could benefit most will still be unable to afford the difference in tuition, let alone fees, extra-curricular activities, uniforms, etc. Plus, they'll have to find a way to get to school, and they won't have the benefit of school lunch and breakfast programs that public schools have.

Tyler thinks that I'm anti-private schools. I know that some students need extra help and extra attention, and private schools are just a better fit for some people, but I feel like a lot of people automatically think that since a school is private, it is better. I think that a lot more kids going to private schools probably take education more seriously than a lot at public schools do, but I feel really strongly that public schools give kids a lot more than just education. They have more options for extra-curricular and social activities, which make kids more well-rounded. Plus, teachers at private schools don't have to have college degrees or have special credentials. I know that doesn't mean that you'll automatically be a good teacher if you have those things or a bad teacher if you don't, but I think it's good to have formal training in teaching and specific subjects.

Proponents argue that if students leave for private schools, class sizes in public schools will decrease. That is probably true in some cases, but it may not always be the case. Unless schools change the way things are now, class size could actually increase. If enough kids leave, schools may not keep as many teachers, so the remaining number of students would be divided among the remaining number of teachers.

Overall, I think that Referendum 1 has the potential to do good things, but there are better ways to improve public schools. The points that proponents make sound good on paper, but I don't think that everything will be like clockwork. I know that something needs to be done to improve public schools in Utah since we spend the least amount of money per student, but sending kids away isn't going to fix the problem.