Why I Support Vouchers
My apologies in advance to Jordy for being long-winded.
Over the last five years, I have found the debate over vouchers to vacillate between entertaining and frustrating. The issue is probably the most important issue we face, but there is a lot of misinformation. Students from Brightonface competition from students at Bingham and Bountiful and even some from Boston. Over the next two decades, however, that competition will pale in comparison to the competition they face from Bombay and Beijing. With the globalization of world economies, we simply have to be better educated if we hope to maintain our standard of living.
I do not believe that vouchers will affect more than 5-10 percent of our school age children. However, that 5-10 percent will have a marked difference on our ability to compete internationally. Whether Utah has 10,000 more scientists and engineers or 10,000 more high school dropouts will have a significant impact on our community. That is why the Utah Technology Council and many other technology based concerns are supporting vouchers.
I have a very personal stake in the education of our children. My clients are typically scientists and engineers and other highly educated people. My employees are also highly educated, including several scientists and engineers. Having a well educated work force is critical to my future on both sides of the equation.
I also have five children who, if I have anything to say about it, will be highly educated. All five attend public schools - good public schools. Each has also attended private school at some point. Some of the private schools were been good for my children; some were not so good. However, the important thing is that we had the option of finding schools that worked for our children.
As a parent of five and having been actively involved at some of our children's schools, one thing became very obvious. Different children learn differently. A classroom that helps one child succeed may stymie another child who learns in a different manner. A child may be a social outcast at one school and find many friends at another.
Unfortunately, no school can be all things to all children. The good schools my children attend may be the same schools that are failing your child. How good a school is depends on how it meets your child's needs. No school will work for everyone. The only solution for this fundamental fact is to provide students with a wide variety of options so that they can find an environment that works best for them.
While Don Gale and others suggest that vouchers will cause our top students to flee to private schools I disagree. In fact, I believe that the exact opposite will happen. Students who are getting As and Bs have little motivation to leave public school and pay several thousand dollars to attend a private school. In contrast, the parents of students who are struggling are more likely to look to private schools to help get their children back on track. I believe that vouchers will actually increase the achievement level of our public schools by providing alternatives to stuggling students. It will also increase the achievement level of the children who leave as they find an evironment that meets their needs.
My experience with private schools has been that a large percentage of the new students were transferring from public schools because they were having difficulty succeeding in the public schools for any of a number of reasons. One student may be unusually bright and be so bored that her grades are suffering. Another student may have struggled because the public schools methodology for teaching math did not make sense to him. Yet another may have simple struggled socially to the point that it detracts from his ability to learn. I have seen each of these cases come to private schools.
I have also seen many of these students turn around. I have seen a young girl who almost failed out of eighth grade earn a college scholarship. I have seen children who were socially ostracized at the neighborhood school find friends at a religious school and suddenly like school rather than finding ways to avoid it. The problem often is not that the public schools were bad - they simply did not work for those particular children.
Unfortunately, some with a vested interest in maintaining control have raised specious arguments against private schools. Such arguments have included:
Private schools are only for rich white kids. In reality, the private schools my children attended had greater economic and racial diversity than our neighborhood schools.
Private schools will only accept who they want. In reality, there are a few private schools which have very demanding academic requirements. Most, however, will accept virtually any student who can function in a classroom setting. (If you attend a public school outside your neighborhood, the school can also get rid of you if you fail to meet certain standards). I have seen a few private schools who seem to specialize in taking academically challenged students and those with behavioral problems and providing them with an environment that meets their needs. Virtually any student can find a private school that will accept him or her.
Private schools are not accountable like the public schools. The real question is accountable to whom? The public schools are accountable to the State and local school boards. Private schools are accountable to the parents of their students. Have you ever seen a public school go out of business no matter how bad they are? Some of the schools in Salt Lake Valley test in the bottom fifth nationally. How long would a private school last with that kind of performance? If a private school does not meet a child's needs the child can leave. Been there - done that.
I really think that voucher opponents are making much ado about nothing. I would be surprised if more than 5 percent of students took advantage of the voucher program and most of them will not be the top students. Most students are learning at an acceptable level. It takes some serious motivation for a parent to pay out $2000-3000 for a child's education. However, for a child who is really struggling, vouchers provide the hope for an education that works for that child.
Those of us who can afford private schools are fortunate, as we always have the choice to find a better learning environment if our children need one. Because our future depends on a well educated work force, I want everyone to have that same choice. If a child can succeed in a public school, by all means, enjoy a "free" public education. If he or she would do better in a private school, however, please use some of my tax money to help them. Please, our future depends on it.
Over the last five years, I have found the debate over vouchers to vacillate between entertaining and frustrating. The issue is probably the most important issue we face, but there is a lot of misinformation. Students from Brightonface competition from students at Bingham and Bountiful and even some from Boston. Over the next two decades, however, that competition will pale in comparison to the competition they face from Bombay and Beijing. With the globalization of world economies, we simply have to be better educated if we hope to maintain our standard of living.
I do not believe that vouchers will affect more than 5-10 percent of our school age children. However, that 5-10 percent will have a marked difference on our ability to compete internationally. Whether Utah has 10,000 more scientists and engineers or 10,000 more high school dropouts will have a significant impact on our community. That is why the Utah Technology Council and many other technology based concerns are supporting vouchers.
I have a very personal stake in the education of our children. My clients are typically scientists and engineers and other highly educated people. My employees are also highly educated, including several scientists and engineers. Having a well educated work force is critical to my future on both sides of the equation.
I also have five children who, if I have anything to say about it, will be highly educated. All five attend public schools - good public schools. Each has also attended private school at some point. Some of the private schools were been good for my children; some were not so good. However, the important thing is that we had the option of finding schools that worked for our children.
As a parent of five and having been actively involved at some of our children's schools, one thing became very obvious. Different children learn differently. A classroom that helps one child succeed may stymie another child who learns in a different manner. A child may be a social outcast at one school and find many friends at another.
Unfortunately, no school can be all things to all children. The good schools my children attend may be the same schools that are failing your child. How good a school is depends on how it meets your child's needs. No school will work for everyone. The only solution for this fundamental fact is to provide students with a wide variety of options so that they can find an environment that works best for them.
While Don Gale and others suggest that vouchers will cause our top students to flee to private schools I disagree. In fact, I believe that the exact opposite will happen. Students who are getting As and Bs have little motivation to leave public school and pay several thousand dollars to attend a private school. In contrast, the parents of students who are struggling are more likely to look to private schools to help get their children back on track. I believe that vouchers will actually increase the achievement level of our public schools by providing alternatives to stuggling students. It will also increase the achievement level of the children who leave as they find an evironment that meets their needs.
My experience with private schools has been that a large percentage of the new students were transferring from public schools because they were having difficulty succeeding in the public schools for any of a number of reasons. One student may be unusually bright and be so bored that her grades are suffering. Another student may have struggled because the public schools methodology for teaching math did not make sense to him. Yet another may have simple struggled socially to the point that it detracts from his ability to learn. I have seen each of these cases come to private schools.
I have also seen many of these students turn around. I have seen a young girl who almost failed out of eighth grade earn a college scholarship. I have seen children who were socially ostracized at the neighborhood school find friends at a religious school and suddenly like school rather than finding ways to avoid it. The problem often is not that the public schools were bad - they simply did not work for those particular children.
Unfortunately, some with a vested interest in maintaining control have raised specious arguments against private schools. Such arguments have included:
Private schools are only for rich white kids. In reality, the private schools my children attended had greater economic and racial diversity than our neighborhood schools.
Private schools will only accept who they want. In reality, there are a few private schools which have very demanding academic requirements. Most, however, will accept virtually any student who can function in a classroom setting. (If you attend a public school outside your neighborhood, the school can also get rid of you if you fail to meet certain standards). I have seen a few private schools who seem to specialize in taking academically challenged students and those with behavioral problems and providing them with an environment that meets their needs. Virtually any student can find a private school that will accept him or her.
Private schools are not accountable like the public schools. The real question is accountable to whom? The public schools are accountable to the State and local school boards. Private schools are accountable to the parents of their students. Have you ever seen a public school go out of business no matter how bad they are? Some of the schools in Salt Lake Valley test in the bottom fifth nationally. How long would a private school last with that kind of performance? If a private school does not meet a child's needs the child can leave. Been there - done that.
I really think that voucher opponents are making much ado about nothing. I would be surprised if more than 5 percent of students took advantage of the voucher program and most of them will not be the top students. Most students are learning at an acceptable level. It takes some serious motivation for a parent to pay out $2000-3000 for a child's education. However, for a child who is really struggling, vouchers provide the hope for an education that works for that child.
Those of us who can afford private schools are fortunate, as we always have the choice to find a better learning environment if our children need one. Because our future depends on a well educated work force, I want everyone to have that same choice. If a child can succeed in a public school, by all means, enjoy a "free" public education. If he or she would do better in a private school, however, please use some of my tax money to help them. Please, our future depends on it.
To be clear, Rand's apology to me at the beginning is probably has something to do with ConnectBlogs, a site to which his feed is syndicated. It is certainly not about my position on vouchers --I'm very pro-vouchers.
Reply to this
Yes, my apologies were to Jordy for being long-winded.
Reply to this
I am sympathetic with the frustration of the few. My brother is a unique mix of autism and asperberger’s syndrome, and as a result finding a program that could cater to his unique needs has been more than just a little difficult. I am convinced that the public schools we have tried for my brother have made truly valiant attempts to meet his needs; however, it is just impractical to suppose that a single school could meet so many singular needs. As well intentioned and capable as many public school systems are, if left to them alone, the frustration of the few will remain impregnable. It is simply too much to expect. Is it also too much to ask to try something new in a controlled voucher experiment? If it is determined that the good of the many is being unreasonably sacrificed for the amelioration of the plight of the few, I will be the first to vote the trial terminated.
Reply to this
Rand,
I appreciate your thoughtful post on this topic. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow night.
ddt
Reply to this
The interesting piece of this voucher argument is that it boils down to whether you believe that the focus of education is "for me/my kids" or "for all of the kids." Both sides cannot agree because they have a fundamentally different viewpoint.
While I notice that you have a very pro-voucher stance, I don't think the economics of the voucher program will do any good for the poor schoolchildren or schoolchildren with uninvolved parents.
Schools are mostly a fixed cost enterprise. Papers, pencils, school lunches and other variable costs are a fraction of what the school spends. Schools are planned to service a certain number of expected students in the community.
So if you have a few students trickle out, the school has to find budget for the same amount of fixed costs as before. If enough trickle out (like 9 students @ $3,000 loss each = $27,000 = new teacher salary), the school has to fire a teacher. So now 15 students (assuming a 24 student classroom) get distributed and further overload the other classrooms. IE the class sizes get bigger. As the class-sizes get bigger, teaching becomes more ineffective and more parents pull their kids.
This cascade-effect will kill most schools. What's worse is that the effect is not immediate, but will take some time to suface. Once it does surface, it will likely be difficult to mitigate.
At sometime, even a good school will go belly-up. What do you do with the remaining kids? Is it their fault that they have poor performing parents or a lack of resources?
I don't think the voucher program is well enough thought out. I think we need to go back to the drawing board and consider how to maintain the schools, if vouchers are allowed.
Reply to this
I agree that there is a fundamental difference in ideology. It is effectively the difference in ideology between capitalists and socialists. Capitalists believe that society is advanced by each of us looking out for ourselves. As we do that we compete and society as a whole benefits by better products, better service and more options. I am old enough to remember the old AT&T and the airlines before deregulation - high cost mediocre service. I believe that education for all kids benefits when each parent asks what is best for "my kids."
Socialists, in contrast, believe that we need the government to look out for all of us and take care of the whole and that we should try and keep people equal. In principle it sounds great. Historically it has not worked so well. As I once heard it put, "Capitalism is a great way of making people unequally rich. Socialism is a great way of making people equally poor." For anyone who thinks that we can make outcomes equal - read ATLAS SHRUGGED.
I personally believe that the education of all kids will be benefited by each parent doing what is best for the education of their own children. In fact, parental involvement in their own children's education is the single biggest factor in educational success.
One thing that has frustrated me in discussing the voucher program is how many opponents of vouchers will make contradictory arguments against vouchers. It is common to hear 1) the amount is not enough for students to be able to attend private school and 2) the program will decimate our public schools. If the amount is not enough for students to leave, how will it decimate the public schools? The only way vouchers will decimate the public schools is if their is a mass exodus to private schools. In that very unlikely event, people voting with their feet is a pretty good indication that our public schools need to go out of business. Of course, this will not happen. Most children are doing just fine in public school (including all 5 of mine) and will not leave. Furthermore, there are not enough private schools in Utah to take even 10 percent of the public school population.
With respect to your economics argument, I respectfully disagree. I submit that the economic analysis fails because it is based on several premises which are inaccurate. 1) School costs are not truly fixed; 2) Student Populations are not static; and 3) There cannot be a cascade.
1) School costs are not fixed, they only appear so when looking in a microanalysis. If I add one more student to the 24 in your classroom have my costs increased $7000? No. Thus, there is the impression that most of the costs are fixed. However, can I keep adding students indefinitely without increasing costs more than the cost of paper, pencils and school lunch? No. Soon I will need additional teachers, I will need to build an addition onto the school - or build an entirely new school. I will have to hire more custodians, more lunch room workers, more administration.
2) Student populations are not static. Your economic model assumes that student populations are static. In Utah, however, this is not the case. According to a UEA advertisement a few years ago, Utah will have to spend over $1.2 Billion (yes with a "B") building new schools over the next decade. Riverton High School was completed just a few years ago and it is already 300 students over capacity. Drive around Salt Lake Valley and look at the number of schools with mobile class rooms. The east side/west side school district split debate is largely about who is going to pay for all of the new schools that need to be built.
Now lets look at your example using a growing student population:
Your 24 students rises to 27 after year one and 30 after year two and 33 after year three. At some point you have to hire additional teachers, build new class rooms (or schools) and add to administration. That gives us two classes with 15-17 children. By your analysis, the cascade should begin. However, schools face this scenario every year. They hire teachers when the can. (Last year several districts were 20-30 teachers short on the first day of classes.) When there gets to be to many children - we build a new school. Elementary schools run $10-15 Million and High Schools are over $20 Million.
Lets run your example again with vouchers. Year one, Mrs. Orr (my fifth grade teacher) has 24 children. Total cash in $168,000. After passing vouchers, three kids decide to go private* and all three get the maximum $3000 allowable. Two new children move in. Result: 23 children. Total cash in $161,000. No, wait. The three children who went to private school left behind $12,000. Total cash in $173,00 and only 23 kids. Thats an increase of per child spending of almost $500. No teachers got fired, no new class rooms had to be built. The three children who were struggling are not a drain on the teachers time and they are probably getting as good or better of an education. Sounds like everyone wins to me.
Now lets run a microanalysis. Riverton, Herriman and Bluffdale are growing at an alarming rate. If we can get 1,200 elementary school children to go to private school instead of public school. We will save $25 Million building two new elementary schools. If they get an average $2000 per in voucher money, we lose $2.4 Million - BUT, we avoid the $7,000 dollar cost of educating each one of those children. We give $2.4 Million and save $ 6 Million each and every year. The savings are enough to build a new elementary school every other year - or to give 2,000 teachers a yearly raise of $3000.
Now back to the first argument. The $3000 is not enough. Fortunately, historical evidence shows the contrary. Children First Utah offers a scholarship for low income families. The scholarship pays up to $2000 toward private school tuition. Each year more than 1000 applications are received for roughly 200 scholarships. These are low income families who would qualify for the $3000 voucher. The average cost of a private elementary school in Utah is $3800. If that many parents would apply for a scholarship that pays roughly half of the private school tuition, many more could afford an option that pays more than 75% of the bill. If your child is truly struggling in public school - you will find a way to come up with the remaining $800. I personally know several parents who have taken on second jobs or cleaned the restrooms at the private school to cover the difference in tuition.
I do not believe that vouchers will be the financial panacea that some proponents claim. Likewise, it will clearly not be the disaster that opponents assert. Rather it will provide an alternative for the 5% or so of students who want to progress but just are not cutting it in the public school system. I have the choice of where to send my children to school. All children will benefit if parents are able to chose the education that bets meets the needs of their children.
* Unlikely given that Mrs. Orr was an awesome teacher.
Reply to this