VOUCHER TALKING POINTS
1. The public doesn’t want vouchers. The public wants to improve the public
schools.
A September 1998 poll conducted by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
showed that support for vouchers had declined sharply (over their previous annual poll),
from 57 to 48 percent among blacks, and from 47 to 41 percent among whites.
That same poll shows that 62 percent of the general public – 76 percent of blacks
and 60 percent of whites – believe the government is spending too little on public
education.
A November 1998 poll conducted by Louis Harris for Recruiting New Teachers, Inc., showed
that by 84-14 percent, Americans prefer "doing what it takes to put a fully qualified
teacher in every classroom" over school vouchers.
The 1998 Phi Delta Kappa Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public
Schools showed that 88 percent of parents want their tax dollars spent on smaller class
sizes, and 89 percent want funds for modernizing their children’s public schools.
Every time voters get the chance to speak on vouchers, they reject them! On Nov. 3,
1998, Colorado voters rejected a tuition tax credit/voucher proposal, 60-40%. On November
7, 2000, voters in Michigan and California overwhelmingly rejected voucher schemes.
2. Rather than spend precious tax dollars to convince a few students to leave public
schools – we should spend those dollars on proven programs that can help all
students.
- The Milwaukee voucher program strips $25 million from the public schools and serves
about 6,200 students. But students who are part of a Milwaukee class size reduction
program significantly outperform students in voucher schools in reading and do as well in
math. This initiative costs $4.5 million annually and benefits 2,400 students. For the $25
million spent on vouchers for 6,200 kids, Milwaukee could lower class size for an
additional 13,000 children.
- For only $7 million, Milwaukee could put Success for All in every public elementary
school -- serving 56,665 children, with more than $1 million to spare.
- For the $10 million spent on Cleveland vouchers in just one year, Success For All could
have been implemented in all 80 of Cleveland’s public elementary schools – with
$6 million to spare.
3. Vouchers take money from the public schools, forcing us to choose between cutting
school budgets or raising taxes.
- Vouchers are an abandonment of public schools, not a way to improve them. They serve
only a few students, and they leave most students behind in schools even more depleted of
resources.
- In 1998-99, the Milwaukee voucher program was expanded to include religious schools. The
program now costs the city $25 million in state education aid, even though fewer than 25%
of the students receiving vouchers attended the Milwaukee public schools during the
1997-98 school year
- Milwaukee has now raised property taxes – a "voucher tax" of $5 million
– to help pay for its voucher program.
- In Cleveland, the voucher program was funded by transferring $5.25 million from public
school funds dedicated to serving disadvantaged students. Of that, some $1.4 million alone
went to pay for taxis to take voucher students to school.
4. Vouchers don’t guarantee "school choice," because the private schools
do the choosing. There is no fair "competition" between public and private
schools.
- Private schools – not parents – decide who can attend. And when their
enrollment is full, they don’t have to accept anyone else. When was the last time you
saw a portable classroom outside a private school?
- Private and religious schools can exclude students based on gender, religion, conduct,
ability, and special educational needs. As long as they can, there can never be any fair
or meaningful "competition" between public and private/religious schools.
5. Vouchers don’t bring more accountability to education – they bring less.
- Official studies of the Cleveland and Milwaukee voucher programs show no significant
differences in achievement between voucher students and their public school peers. In
fact, students in newly created Cleveland voucher schools are performing significantly
below their public school counterparts in reading, science, math, and social studies.
- Private and religious schools do not have to have high standards for students and
teachers – or any standards at all.
- Taxpayers pay the bill when there is waste and fraud, as in Milwaukee, where four
voucher schools closed – two because of financial fraud. Many parents took their
children out of voucher schools because they were dissatisfied with their academic
performance. And many students were stranded in the middle of the school year when their
voucher school closed suddenly – leaving them without so much as their transcripts.
- Vouchers invite the creation of "fly by night" private schools to take
advantage of voucher funds, but there is no accountability for how they spend public
funds.
6. When we do "what works," public schools work. We need to provide schools
with reforms that work, and not divert scarce resources to vouchers for a few.
- The Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS) reports that at least 25 urban school
systems show significant student progress on state and local achievement tests. And more
than 20 districts have cut dropout rates. Other findings: many districts report fewer
discipline violations, more students are taking AP courses and exams, and scores on
college admission tests like the SAT and ACT are up.
- CGCS also reports that when urban high school students complete rigorous courses –
even in the poorest school districts – they outperform their inner-city counterparts
who do not take those courses, and significantly reduce achievement gaps between urban and
non-urban students preparing for college.
- More Americans are completing high school than ever. Eighty-two percent of all adults
age 25 or older have at least a high school education. The percentage of black students
obtaining a high school degree rose from 59 to 87 percent between 1971 and 1998. The
percentage of Hispanic students obtaining a high school degree rose from 48 to 62 percent
between 1971 and 1998 (The Condition of Education, 1998, NCES).
