Reply #22: I disagree...

[procopia]

However, they are not the whole of the support for vouchers at this point. There has been a shift, and the support base has grown with people who see voucher programs as a good idea and from a completely different perspective.

The support base has grown somewhat because the deception and propaganda used by free market advocates and the religious right has influenced more people. They have funneled millions of dollars into this issue and have framed vouchers as a "scholarship" for the poor and disadvantaged--"shouldn't poor children have a chance for a good education?"--which is all just a Trojan horse tactic because we know these people care nothing about the poor. The same people who are promoting vouchers "for the poor" would deny them health insurance.

neither will sending kids to them who need to be educated now rather than be a part of some long term plan or dream which will not benefit them when they need it.

Vouchers will not fix anything. Many studies have confirmed that private schools are no better than public schools when students' backgrounds are considered. Vouchers take money from public schools which could be used for special classes, smaller classes, better teachers, etc.--not in the long term, but now.

My POV is that vouchers work if they allow parents to choose options outside the public schools, and allow small private schools a better chance of survival.

There is nothing to keep parents from choosing private schools, now. Even poor parents have been known to make the personal sacrifices necessary to provide private education if they want it badly enough. As far as "allowing small private schools a better chance for survival," you are advocating subsidizing private schools, and that does cross the line of separation of church and state.

The government is supposed to be indifferent to religion, not hostile to it.

Is the government supposed to be hostile to public schools, because it has been, starting with the 1983 propaganda report, "A Nation at Risk".

http://www.america-tomorrow.com/bracey/EDDRA/EDDRA8.htm

Public schools have been denigrated, forced to test and meet arbitrary demands or be deemed a "failing school," resulting in losing funds to private schools which are not required to provide accountability to the public or even parents.

Furthermore, sectarian schools integrate religious values and doctrine throughout their curriculum, indoctrinating students on human sexuality, creationism and the role of women in society. Taxpayers should not be forced to pay for the indoctrination of religious views they disagree with.

Exactly what does moving to the hunt country do if not remove your taxes and children from the city or county you find to be less desirable?

Students move in and out of school districts continually. It usually doesn't effect the total average enrollment. In fact, a family with ten children is now living in a house my family moved out of.

And isn't it a bit elitist to reserve "good schools" for those who can afford them?

No one wants to do that. We want to make all of the schools "good schools," and that can never be accomplished with vouchers.