The Myth And Politics Behind School Vouchers

Whenever the subject of school vouchers pops up I am always amazed at the pro-voucher contingent’s disconnect from reality.  Their vision of a voucher system is so far from the truth that I have trouble not laughing.  But… it isn’t funny.  What it is is another attempt to destroy public education by pulling money out of the system.  It is also highly political and Christian based.

The main problem with everyday voucher supporters is that they haven’t done their homework.  They are quite comfortable with bumper sticker slogans:  Vouchers will provide a way of sending your child to one of those private schools you always dreamed about, but couldn’t afford.

Sounds good, right?  Pity it isn’t true.

And if you really want to see what vouchers will offer, look no further than Louisiana:

Of the plans so far put forward, Louisiana’s plan is by far the broadest. This month, eligible families, including those with incomes nearing $60,000 a year, are submitting applications for vouchers to state-approved private schools.

That list includes some of the most prestigious schools in the state, which offer a rich menu of advanced placement courses, college-style seminars and lush grounds. The top schools, however, have just a handful of slots open. The Dunham School in Baton Rouge, for instance, has said it will accept just four voucher students, all kindergartners. As elsewhere, they will be picked in a lottery. [emphasis mine]

Just four kindergarten slots at one of the most prestigious schools?  Those voucher supporters who are dreaming of Tower Hill and Archmere… it’s time to wake up and take a look at the sort of schools that will accept your child.

Far more openings are available at smaller, less prestigious religious schools, including some that are just a few years old and others that have struggled to attract tuition-paying students.

The school willing to accept the most voucher students — 314 — is New Living Word in Ruston, which has a top-ranked basketball team but no library. Students spend most of the day watching TVs in bare-bones classrooms. Each lesson consists of an instructional DVD that intersperses Biblical verses with subjects such chemistry or composition.

The Upperroom Bible Church Academy in New Orleans, a bunker-like building with no windows or playground, also has plenty of slots open. It seeks to bring in 214 voucher students, worth up to $1.8 million in state funding.

At Eternity Christian Academy in Westlake, pastor-turned-principal Marie Carrier hopes to secure extra space to enroll 135 voucher students, though she now has room for just a few dozen. Her first- through eighth-grade students sit in cubicles for much of the day and move at their own pace through Christian workbooks, such as a beginning science text that explains “what God made” on each of the six days of creation. They are not exposed to the theory of evolution.

“We try to stay away from all those things that might confuse our children,” Carrier said.

Other schools approved for state-funded vouchers use social studies texts warning that liberals threaten global prosperity; Bible-based math books that don’t cover modern concepts such as set theory; and biology texts built around refuting evolution.

I don’t think these schools figure into most voucher supporter’s vision of  vouchers.  But this is the voucher reality.

There’s another reality I see coming with vouchers, and that’s the sudden creation of Voucher schools.  These schools will pop up overnight; their creation based on tapping into all that government money.  We’ve seen this phenomenon with certain Charter schools.  As usual, follow the money, because vouchers have very little to do with education and a whole lot to do with the private sector getting its hands on government money.

What’s also clear, when it comes to vouchers, is the Christian Conservative agenda.

Rep. Kenneth Havard, R-Jackson, objected to including the Islamic School of Greater New Orleans in a list of schools approved by the education department to accept as many as 38 voucher students. Havard said he wouldn’t support any spending plan that “will fund Islamic teaching.”

“I won’t go back home and explain to my people that I supported this,” he said.

“It’ll be the Church of Scientology next year,” said Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin.

Carter, R-Baton Rouge, said the Islamic school withdrew its request to participate in the voucher program.

“They’re not interested. The system works,” he said.

The Islamic school withdrew it’s request to participate in the voucher program? I’m sure they did after they realized (were told?) that vouchers weren’t intended for non-Christian religious schools… But I’d be very interested in hearing their explanation.

So for the Voucher supporters dreaming of their child attending Tower Hill or Friends… Sorry, they’re just not that into you.  But if you’re okay with a school that doesn’t teach math or evolution because “We try to stay away from all those things that might confuse our children” then you’ll have plenty of Voucher school options.