Vouchers: there should be parity and accountability for all

By Julie Delegul

Gov.-elect Rick Scott announced that he wants to offer every student in Florida a private school voucher.

Currently, the state offers vouchers to low-income students through a tax diversion called the Tax Credit Scholarship. Florida also offers vouchers straight from the state treasury to students with disabilities, the McKay voucher.

Scott’s new policy push calls for a review of what’s right and wrong with the two voucher programs.

Never mind that the Florida Supreme Court threw out a less ambitious voucher program than Scott’s when Jeb Bush was governor. (The court said then that public education dollars could only be spent on “uniform” public schools.)

Something much more important than the law is at stake: educational quality for students.

Empirical studies belie the notion that private schools educate our children better than public schools do. When socio-economic status and race are accounted for, studies from the U.S. Department of Education say that private schools don’t get better results.

Further, Florida’s own studies showed that private voucher school students performed no better than their closest-matched public school peers on standardized test gains during the two years the state took data on the issue.

Arguably, we need more studies. But we can’t compare voucher schools to public schools because the Legislature slashed the norm-referenced Stanford 10 for Florida’s public schools.

Perhaps lawmakers don’t want researchers, voters, taxpayers and parents to make those comparisons. After all, if private schools were actually better, wouldn’t they want to demonstrate it on a common playing field?

Parity in accountability should also extend to McKay vouchers. Providing progress for individual students with disabilities, based on commonly accepted scientific standards as embodied in individual education plans, is the law of the land.

For the sake of students, their families, and taxpayers, private schools receiving state money must not be deemed exempt from laws which protect disabled students.

Until we devise systems by which private schools are held accountable in exact parity to public schools — using apples-to-apples testing instruments — we ought not be directing any more taxpayer money their way.

Bishop McLaughlin of Potters House, protests to much

Bishop Vaughn Mclaughlin took umbrage at the Times Union investigation into local schools that took advantage of the Florida Tax Credit scholarship program. The Potters House Christian academy reaped on average a little over 1.1 million dollars a year for the past five years for its roughly 240 students. This is money by the way that is diverted from public schools that are currently facing what one education expert termed a financial apocalypse.

I have no doubt that the Potters House serves children that come from an impoverished back ground, just like every public school does and I won’t argue if the faculty does a good job or not, though scientific data shows that on average charter and private schools do no better than regular public schools. Though I think it is very unfair and misleading to compare the Potters House graduation rate, as I think it is very unfair and misleading to compare public verses charter and private schools in most categories. They are playing different games.

Public schools are required to educate whoever walks through their doors, regardless of parental involvement, economic back ground, and effort, lack of effort, behavior or disability. Private and Charter schools on the other hand can not only pick and choose who they want but who they keep as well and can have more requirements made of their students and their families. Furthermore their hands aren’t tied but many of the stifling regulations that are currently choking public schools but again with all those things working against the public school, they do just as good a job as private and public schools.

Imagine running a race where you were blindfolded, bare footed and had your legs tied together and your opponent had no such impairments, in fact they also had a new pair of shoes courtesy of you. They should win going away right, well in the case of public verses charter and private schools they don’t, in fact it’s a photo finish. I can’t be the only one who sees the problem here. Why are we funding charter schools as an alternative to public schools if they don’t bring anything extra to the table?

Bishop MacLaughlin, nobody questioned your teacher’s ability or your kid’s needs or your school’s mission. All that was questioned is if we the public should be giving away our money to what are basically for profit businesses that do no better than public schools. Very reasonable questions if you ask me.