In recent years, legislation providing financial assistance to parents who wish to enroll their children in private schools has been introduced in several state legislatures and ballot initiatives. The most striking example of this opposition was the defeat of Proposition 174, a California voucher initiative that lost on November 2, 1993. Under the initiative proposal, parents would have been entitled to a voucher worth $2,600 (about half of the $5,200 that the state supposedly spends annually per elementary and secondary pupil) to enroll a child in any public or private school of their choosing, including parochial schools. About 15 percent of all school children in the United States live in California. Of California's nearly six million students, 550,000 of them were enrolled in some 3,839 private and religious schools where the average tuition charged was about $7,000 per year; however, a large number of California private schools, especially Catholic schools, charged much less for tuition (New York Times, 1993).
Both proponents and opponents of Proposition 174 agreed that its enactment could set off a chain reaction of school choice laws across the nation. Understandably, the initiative ignited what may have been the most intensive campaign over a state educational initiative in U.S. history.
Proposition 174 was defeated in every precinct in the state, but did most poorly in affluent areas. High-turnout voters in wealthy districts worried vouchers would disrupt their competitive school systems. Proposition 174 was opposed by many taxpayer's groups. These groups were convinced that vouchers would mean an explosion in education taxes, as millions of dollars would go to families currently in private schools, even Governor Pete Wilson opposed Proposition 174. Many California voters in 1993 saw Proposition 174 as re-opening the door to the school integration fights many of them had just fled. More commonly termed white flight, Prop 174 had students from every district crossing district lines, introducing the possibility of lawsuits regarding racial disparities in the better districts.
The National Education Association spent a great deal of money in the effort to re soundly defeat the Proposition and their official stance as of this writing is:
The National Education Association believes that voucher plans, tuition tax credits, or other funding arrangements that use tax monies to subsidize pre-K through 12 private school education can undermine public education, reduce the support needed to fund public education adequately, weaken the wall of separation between church and state, and cause racial, economic, and social segregation of students.
The Association opposes voucher plans, tuition tax credits, or other such funding arrangements that pay for students to attend sectarian schools. The Association also opposes any such arrangements that pay for students to attend nonsectarian pre-K through 12 private schools in order to obtain educational services that are available to them in public schools to which they have reasonable access. (1970, 2000)
NEA 2000-2001 Resolutions
A-23. Voucher Plans and Tuition Tax Credits
With every parent getting a voucher from the State in the amount of $2600 for each child in K-12, one has to consider the fact that the money required to supplement the vouchers would have come from state taxes and out of public education. In California this amounts to about $6 billion a year. This would have raised state taxes still leaving the parent having to pay the difference between the voucher and the school fee. The average yearly cost of a secular private school in California is $10,000 while religious schools average $3000. This discrepancy is based on quality of teachers, infrastructure, and the fact that religious schools are subsidized by the local Church and its national and international fund raising pool. Just on its face it is obvious that the haves will be subsidized by tax money to take advantage of good quality schools while the have-nots will either use what is left of the public system or send their children to below standard schools. It costs more to send a student to an alternative school than a low-income parent could possibly afford even with the aid of a government voucher. Such a system will further increase the racist and socioeconomic dilemma of two nations separate and unequal.
A measurement of the only voucher system in place, at present, is in Milwaukee. Encompassing 700 inner city children it has been in place for a few years. The results are that there is no difference in math scores between public and private students, a drop in reading skills in the voucher students, and some of the schools are failing; leaving students stranded without a school at all.
State-enacted voucher programs are up and running in Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Florida, and all three have undergone or are still in court challenges. The longest running of these programs, Milwaukee's, was upheld by the Wisconsin Supreme Court-a decision the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review. It is a separation of church and state issue; taxpayers object to their tax monies going from the government to parents and then to a non secular school. The reason the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review the cases in Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Florida is because they know that voucher systems in place would not stand up to the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution: 1) being secular in purpose, 2) must neither inhibit or advance religion, and 3) must not foster excessive entanglement between government and religion.Lawsuits over the Cleveland and Florida programs are in progress. Both sides in the national debate say the Supreme Court in the end must settle the matter.
All these factors are an aside from the constitutional questions in the issue. Infrastructure, teaching aids, computers and well paid teachers would indeed facilitate and improve education.
Currently, Magnet and Charter schools are popping up all over the country. Some are successful and some are not, and it is really too soon for valid results to be applied to entire systems. The voucher question still remains as to whether this is possible under the separation clause of the First Amendment or will the constitution have to be amended. Probably it will be pushed as a States Rights issue and be up to the federal courts to decide.
So far taxpayers and parents know that vouchers have not passed the ultimate test -- improving student achievement. Additionally, economic, as well as, Constitutional factors are holding up the issue. It will be interesting to keep an eye on the voucher debate over the next two years.
Sources:
National Center For Education Statistics:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs98/finance/98217.html
National Education Association:
http://www.nea.org/resolutions/
New York Times, 1993.