Fans of school vouchers refuse to answer legitimate concerns.

They say they are for the poor and mostly minority students who have the least but then shrug their shoulders at the massive cuts to Bright Futures which disproportionately effects poor and mostly minority students the most.

They say they have to take a norm referenced tests, well if they are so great why don’t we dump the high stakes testing agenda for public schools and say they can take the same types of tests too?   

They say they save money while at the same time districts lament the millions and millions of dollars they are losing.

They say they are just for poor families but then ask you not to remember that they expanded the eligibility for a family of four from making just over 20 thousand to making just over sixty.

Furthermore the supporters of vouchers usually are also for S.T.E.M, Common Core and teacher accountability but shrug their shoulders at those things for private schools that take vouchers where teachers do not have to be certified nor curriculums recognized.

Also private schools that take less than a quarter of million dollars, the vast majority of them, don’t even have to report how they spend the money and since over seventy percent of the money goes to religious institutions we have effectively dismantled the first amendment too.

Finally this program with the barest of oversight is allowed to expand 25 percent a year, in less than five years it will take a billion dollars annually out of the state coffers and our education system.

Despite all this voucher proponents would have you believe the program is fine and those that oppose it or have legitimate questions are just heartless seeking to harm poor and mostly minority children.

Nothing could be further from the truth.