Sunday, October 17, 2010

School Choice and Vouchers

"Voucher proposals take many forms, and some are designed to deliberately disguise the basic realities that will result over time. The best students will be skimmed off -- those whom private schools find desirable for their own reasons. Since families will have to make up additional costs, those in the upper-and middle-income brackets will be helped the most -- as long as their kids don't have personal, behavioral, or educational challenges that cause the private school to pass them by."
-- Kweisi Mfume, president and CEO of the NAACP

School choice and school vouchers, in education’s most recent history, have been offered to Americans in various states, as an option out of poorly performing school districts. In 1991, Minnesota became the first state to pass a law for the inception of a charter school, and officially marked the beginning of this country’s rethinking about schools. Charter schools enjoy support from public funding, while remaining free from most government regulations. In 1996, 25 states had charter schools.

Essentially, education is inherently more personal than public. Most parents, having once been students themselves, are fully aware of how much education can affect one’s future successes. New Jersey continued its rethinking about education, in January 2000. At that time, the state legislature piloted a five-year program, known as the Interdistrict Public School Choice Program. This program sought to answer a question on many minds: is public school choice a viable option for families desiring the best education in New Jersey? In June of this year, the legislature made the program permanent. The pilot program limited each district to one choice school. There are currently 15 schools in the state program. Under the Interdistrict Public School Choice Program, enrollment restrictions may be made by the sending schools, provisions may be made for student transportation and must be financed by the sending school, and annual performance reports may be made available to the public.

Just as in most arguments, school choice is said to have its advantages and disadvantages. Supporters of school choice have argued that it:
• Offers a way out of poor-performing schools,
• Supports educational innovation, by challenging the traditional school structure, and
• Acts as an answer to the needs of students and their families, motivating their commitment to school success.

Those who oppose school choice say that it:
• Creates inequalities because they take desirable students,
• Creates fewer learning opportunities about tolerance and diversity, by the nature of its own homogeneity , and
• Takes focus away from public education, and shifts it to personal advancement.

School vouchers differ from school choice, in that vouchers shift students from the public school system to the private/parochial school system. Just as school choice, school vouchers have both pros and cons. Some supports say that vouchers:
• Provide the same options to the poor, already afforded by the wealthy,
• Act to breed improvement through competition, in the race to be the chosen school,
• Enable students, who may otherwise be exposed to a constant dose of antisocial behaviors, to share in an environment where teaching skills and values traditionally take precedent, and
• Increase diversity in private schools, by providing access to all.

Some opposers of vouchers believe that they:
• Take funds away from already under-funded public schools,
• Allow private schools the opportunity to act irresponsibly, as they feel safe from rigorous evaluation,
• Ignore the diversity issues that may stem from the fact that private schools can choose their students and may show favoritism, and
• Threaten the private school environment, as educational standards may be lowered by new student inabilities.

"There are those, I know, who will say that the liberation of humanity, the freedom of man and mind, is nothing but a dream. They are right. It is the American dream." ~Archibald MacLeish

America was founded on the idea of freedom. Therefore, education should be offered under the design of that same freedom. Families and their students should be allowed the opportunity to attend the school of their choice, whether by choice school programs or vouchers. With sound regulations put in place to encourage student body diversity and high performance standards, programs could be the answer to any learners needs. It is about time teacher performance determined jobs, rather than tenure.

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