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Issue Paper SnapshotSchool Vouchers |
Voucher programs are a type of “educational reform” that supporters believe will improve public education by introducing competition between public and voucher schools. Voucher programs, also referred to as “school choice,” give public dollars to parents in the form of a voucher. They use the voucher to pay tuition for their child to attend a private secular or nonsecular school. Voucher backers argue that public schools will be forced to make positive changes in order to attract students.
Support for the idea of school vouchers continues to increase. Currently, about half of adults in the United States support the concept of vouchers. Even in Wisconsin, which has one of the best public school systems in the nation, more than half of adults are receptive to the concept.
Talking Issues
Vouchers undermine public schools by shifting resources to nonpublic schools.
Every serious study of voucher plans concludes that vouchers don’t improve student learning. Evaluation of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program during its first five years showed that the performance of voucher students was about equal to students who remained in Milwaukee Public Schools.
Research shows that the differences between public and private school achievement levels are insignificant and due primarily to two factors: parents of children who attend private schools tend to have higher levels of education and income, and private schools select the students they wish to educate (typically, they do not educate students with special needs or students who have behavior problems).
Polling data show that nearly 90 percent of Wisconsin’s citizens feel that if private schools accept public dollars, they should have to be accountable to the citizens of the state, as is true for public schools.
Last school year there were slightly more than 6,000 students in the Milwaukee Choice Program. They attended 86 private schools. Participating schools have to meet only one of four minimal standards. They do not have to employ certified teachers; they do not have to educate students with exceptional educational needs if they are required to make significant adjustments to programs or facilities; and they do not have to participate in state testing programs.
WEAC Position
WEAC believes that vouchers create a system of private schools that pursue private agendas at public expense, operating without accountability to taxpayers while draining resources from public schools. Public schools have an important role in sustaining a democracy. Shifting that support undermines the entire system and threatens the education of those most in need.
Sources
OnWEAC Resource Page on Private School Vouchers
National Education Association - http://www.nea.org/lac/papers/vouchers.html
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics - http://nces.ed.gov/pubs98/98229.pdf
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