The issue of school vouchers has gained considerable press
– and generated sometimes pointed debate – in recent years.
The bottom line question in the matter is should government
money be used to enable kids now in public schools to attend private schools,
even religious ones.
The issue of school vouchers has gained considerable press
– and generated sometimes pointed debate – in recent years.
The bottom line question in the matter is should government
money be used to enable kids now in public schools to attend private schools,
even religious ones.
In some cases, the push is for wide-open use, enabling any
child to take the government money that usually follows them to public schools
and apply it towards tuition at a private school – any private or religious
school.
In other instances, the call is for the use of vouchers for
poor children in poorly-performing or failing public schools.
Tentative programs have been launched and studied and debated
and challenged. Some say the vouchers are a logical means of making schools
accountable and giving students a chance. Others say the program will decimate
public schools and represents a violation of the separation of church and state
by providing government funding of religious schools.
However, in a major victory for voucher proponents, the U.S.
Supreme Court recently ruled that the idea of vouchers do not violate the separation
of church and state.
That has set the stage for the issue to move full force into
states – and observers expect that to happen in Louisiana during next springs
legislative session.
So, as state officials prepare to take up the matter, exactly
where do Louisiana residents stand on the issue?
Well, that depends.
A recent poll indicates that state voters have what a New Orleans
Times Picayune news article called “lukewarm support” for the use
of vouchers.
Indeed, when asked whether vouchers should be available for
all students, residents are almost evenly split – 45 percent for such an
idea, 46 percent opposed and 9 percent undecided on the question.
In turn, when asked whether vouchers should be used for low-income
students, 58 percent of residents said yes, 36 percent opposed such a move and
6 percent were undecided.
And when asked if they would support vouchers if they reduced
the amount of money going to public schools, only 26 percent of Louisiana residents
said yes, while 65 percent said no and 9 percent were undecided.
On another front, if the use of vouchers do come to pass, Louisiana
residents are clear that the private schools involved in such a process should
be held accountable for the education of the students in their care.
Asked if private schools accepting vouchers should have to
report test scores, 88 percent of Louisiana residents said yes, just 9 percent
said no and 3 percent were undecided.
Likewise, when asked if private schools receiving vouchers
should have to give students the same standardized test as public schools, 86
percent of survey respondents said yes, 12 percent said no and just 2 percent
were undecided.
The poll by the Council for a Better Louisiana sends a message,
group spokesperson Stephanie Deselle said.
“What our research shows is that any of these (voucher)
proposals should be carefully examined and that it should be one tool used in
very special circumstances, like with low-income students in failed schools,”
Deselle said.
Deselle also acknowledged there are practical questions to
be considered – such as where students leaving public schools will go?
Are there available alternatives?
“You have to have a school that is exhibiting academic
performance, and they have to have the space, and they have to be willing,”
Deselle noted.
As the Times-Picayune article noted on Nov. 22, New Orleans
is sure to be a focal point of any voucher debate. That school district has
the most failing schools in the state.
The Times-Picayune reported that officials of the Archdiocese
of New Orleans have expressed a willingness – and readiness – to take
whatever students seek to transfer schools.
At the same time, an Orleans Parish School Board leader complained
that the use of vouchers would rob their schools of needed funds, the newspaper
reported.
In addition, vouchers would increase the problem of segregation
by race and class in the area – and leave public schools only with the
students who are the hardest to educate, the official added.
All in all, with such players and arguments, the issue of vouchers
figures to be a passionate one – and could prove a tricky test for state
legislators.
Stay tuned – that test looks to begin early in 2003.