Seven in 10 Americans say they would prefer improving existing schools over providing vouchers for private or church-related schools
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A trillion-dollar deficit is scary. So is a possible second Great Depression. But scarier still would be trying to solve these problems without real input from the public.
Team Obama, Technology & Public Engagement
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The fallacy of this poll question is that it assumes that the amount spent on education is a zero sum game. "Do you want to improve public schools OR pay for vouchers?" As if doing one precludes the other. The fact is that the average spending per pupil in public schools is $6800 per pupil, versus $3300 per pupil in private schools. If a parent gets a voucher to send their kid to private school, it actually SAVES $3500 for the state. That same money can then be used to spend more on the remaining public school students.
That's assuming the state fully subsidizes vouchers -- in most states, vouchers don't cover the full cost of the private school tuition. The difference would be paid by those who voluntarily put their kids in private schools, meaning the total amount spent on education increases in the state.
In other words providing vouchers INCREASES the amount that can be spent on existing schools, and furthermore increases the TOTAL amount spent on education. You can have your cake and eat it too! There's NO logical reason to oppose vouchers on economic grounds, which is the tack taken by the ridiculously biased wording of this poll question.
There are more nuanced reasons to oppose vouchers. One theory is that all the "good" students (meaning students with good PARENTS who don't want to send their kids to the public schools where drug problems are rampant, and discipline is terrible) will flee the deteriorating public schools. I don't consider that a bad thing though. If schooling changes to all private, that's fine with me. Private schools produce comparable results for fewer dollars -- how is that bad for society?
The other reason I've heard is separation of church and state (many private schools are religious). There are non-religious private schools out there, and I'm sure many more would spring up if vouchers were approved. Besides, the voucher is a benefit sent to the parent, not to the school. As such, it shouldn't be the government's business how it gets spent. When the government sends you a stimulus rebate check, it doesn't forbid you from donating it to a church, does it?
An overwhelming reason to support vouchers is that it creates freedom of choice for parents. When deciding on a policy, I think we should always err on the side of freedom, especially in cases like this where it is a "win win" scenario.
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