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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSchool Vouchers Are Dysfunctional by Design
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/09/school-vouchers-are-dysfunctional-by-design.htmlNo paywall
https://archive.ph/M55Wx
Florida homeschoolers could take Disney vacations on the taxpayers dime thanks to a recently expanded school-voucher program. The new Personalized Education Program, or PEP, provides about $8,000 annually to thousands of homeschooled students to get taxpayer-funded theme-park passes, big-screen TVs, and other items with an attenuated connection to education, Judd Legum reported at Popular Information. Theme-park tickets are an approved expense under PEP, and in a private Facebook post obtained by Legum, one parent says they got passes to Disney World and Universal Studios approved through the program. Another asks for advice on getting an annual pass approved.
As Legum notes, Florida has delegated the administration of the vouchers to two private nonprofit organizations, Step Up for Students and AAA Scholarship Foundation. These nonprofits generate revenue based on how many students they can attract. So, they are incentivized to meet the demands of parents who receive vouchers. Though theme-park tickets werent originally an approved expense, Step Up for Students reversed course after parents complained.
In the Facebook posts, parents treat the program like its their private candy jar. Theyre right: It is. What Legum uncovered isnt abuse, exactly. Rather, the program works as designed. Homeschooling parents now enjoy the financial resources and freedom the state of Florida denies public educators. Thats a deliberate choice on the part of Florida lawmakers and a natural outcome of the parental-rights movement.
As implemented by Step Up for Students and AAA Scholarship Foundation, PEP can cover big-screen TVs and expensive Lego sets and even some video-game consoles, if parents have a child with special needs. (In another private Facebook post, a parent asks if they can purchase a PS5 bundle that includes God of War, which is rated for adults only. They said their child is 5.) Homeschooled students can now pay for swing sets, foosball tables, air-hockey tables, skateboards, kayaks, stand-up paddleboards, dolls, and stuffed animals through PEP, Legum added.
*snip*
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School Vouchers Are Dysfunctional by Design (Original Post)
Nevilledog
Oct 2023
OP
kairos12
(13,062 posts)1. Same in
AZ.
Disgrace.
leftstreet
(36,164 posts)2. DURec
Lonestarblue
(10,768 posts)3. One more step in Republicans' efforts to kill public education.
Timeflyer
(2,314 posts)4. The goal--privatize all schools so investors can harvest those public school tax dollars.
Because real estate investments fluctuate, but there'll always be more school kids to indoctrinate with whatever the privatizers want. And the compliant legislators are rewarded with big donations.
senseandsensibility
(18,612 posts)5. Exactly. It really is as simple as that.
Of course to do it they have to convince the MAGAS that it's all about parental rights.
Solly Mack
(91,280 posts)6. K&R