Arizona's Dismantling of Public Education

And their athletic programs

 

At my house this is followed by 6 more minutes of her explaining to me why I should have spoken to him for 6 minutes.

 

I have answered already in this thread already...

-- Rich should not get vouchers
-- State can estimate per student cost (before costs that we all pay for common good type services). It's pretty easy accounting.
--Then those that DO get vouchers get a % of what would go to them based in an Income based sliding scale.

 

Objection. Generalization.

 

How much do you think on average a private school tuition is?

 

More than most people will get from the vouchers. This is only going to matter to a certain number of people. It wont be some crushing windfall of cash flowing away from the PS system

 

I'm going to assume that you would agree that private school could costs between 15K and 20K per year per student. Have a few kids and you are looking at 60K a year.
In Florida, schools are funded primarily from property tax millage and it's no where near 15K a year unless you have a 50 million dollar mansion. It also gets funding from the lottery (people shouldn't get money back for a voucher from that) and in some cases sales tax (shouldn't get voucher money from that either). I just don't think the money works out to be able to pay for private school with voucher money.

 

It may not, and I am open to talks about the dollars.

If the math doesnt work, then we can have that talk. But lets just say its 10k per student at the lowest income level. Maybe, JUST maybe the parent can get help for the other 5k? Grandparents, second job, partial scholarship etc. it also could be used for homeschool or co-op education if the parent can meet the testi g criteria. That would require a much smaller voucher to just cover books etc.

This is not the slam dunk bad idea that some on the left want to frame it as

 

You're ignoring the fixed costs issues and the 100% acceptance requirements.

 

Ignoring? Not at all.
I think a private school that takes vouchers would need to be willing to adjust their policy or not see a dime.

But this isnt just about private schools. We have millions being homeschooled. Co-op education is growing fast. Those cost much less and have great results

 

You say that as if it's a bad thing. Athletics, both in high school and college, have enabled many minority students access to a top-notch education that they would not have been to receive otherwise. I fully support private schools broadening their populations by recruiting athletes who meet their academic standards.

 

You have provided zero evidence to support this.

 

Not a bad thing at all. Don’t assume that they meet the academic standards, tho

 

I don't. But that is the circumstance under which I support the practice.

 

The idea that only the government is capable to educating our kids is ridiculous and shallow. One size fits all is not the answer.

I was public educated. My oldest has always been public educated. My younger two have been a mix with my middle likely going back to public for high school.

 

Not to your liking, but you have a professional bias (which I fully understand) and I have a parental bias perhaps.

We see things based on personal perspective and will not convince each other, even with a mountain of evidence.

 

What evidence have you provided that was not to my liking? What is my professional bias?

 

We are watching the actions with pure intention to reverse Brown v Board of Ed and move back to separate but equal.

stop lying Republicans and get on with it.

 

Exactly.

The vouchers in FL are $8,000/year per child, even a wealthy person with just 1 child probably isn’t putting in $8,000 towards the local school systems, million dollar homes without homestead might be pushing past $8,000 nowadays, but that tax isn’t 100% schools. So truly it wouid take a multimillion dollar property before a person can say they are just getting back what they put in, and that’s just for ONE child at that $8,000 voucher value. For multiple kids? Fughettaboutit.

People with multiple kids are potentially getting $24,000, $32,000 or more in vouchers. Romney had something to say about makers and takers. These aren’t just “takers”, they’re ubermoochers. Even crazier when juxtaposed against these same people voting against poor kids getting a few hundred dollars towards school lunch. It’s truly nuts.

 

I don't think anyone is saying only government can do it. There have been private schools ever since our founding. (At least, I think. I haven't looked it up.)
But there's a lot of good reasons for public schools to thrive and have everyone's full support. As others have pointed out, public schools take everyone. So everyone has a place to go. And as a country, it should be important to all of us that everyone be educated. Not just "I got mine."
There's something to be said about the pooled resources. Put all the money into one high school rather than six. Better facilities, more class options.
But the most important thing is the sense of community. There's been a lot of concern about kids being isolated. At home on their tablets than out playing in the neighborhood. If you go to school with that kid down the street, if all the kids go to the same school, don't you think they're more likely to be friends outside of school?

When everyone goes to the school functions - the sports, the arts ... It can only help pull us together.