Bus Vouchers

In 1989, Wisconsin’s more modern voucher programs, focused on poor children of all races. (Save our Schools NJ, 2014).  Regardless of the nature of the voucher program, the impact is the same- taxpayer funds being diverted from public school funding.

I am providing an analysis of “School Consolidation and the Politics of School Closure Across Communities” by Zorka Karanxha, Vonzell Agosto, William R. Black and Claudius B. Effiom (2013). The principal at Roosevelt Neighborhood School, Brian Jones, faced a state wide economic recession, which led to the merge of his school with Scott Magnet School of choice,

The Ann Arbor School District is facing about a $20 million shortfall over this year and next year school budget. The district currently spends about $7.2 million on transportation and is looking at outsourcing its bussing as part of an effort to deal with its budget shortfall. The districts goals are to try to stay away from making cuts to instruction, and cutting teachers. More Michigan public school districts contracted out in 2009 for at least one of the three main support services –food, custodial or transportation- according to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s annual privatization survey. The school districts are not mandated to provide transportation services, and some districts have stopped providing transportation completely to save on cost. The estimated per-pupil savings estimates from transportation privatization are significant as the state Legislature discusses reducing the state-aid foundation grant per pupil.

One type of voucher shock is a school system in Florida and Milwaukee who was threatened with school vouchers for low-income students to transfer to other higher performing private schools. If a school receives two “F”s within a three-year period the school is under “threat of vouchers.” This gives the school a stigma of performance and gets stuck in a low performance expectation from the outside world (Chakrabarti, 2008).

Since the 1980s, charter schools have allowed families to exercise school choice, a practice that had begun a few decades earlier when parents preferred to control their children’s education because of religious views or racial prejudices. As dissatisfaction with the performance public schools grew during the late 20th century, parents called on government to subsidize an arrangement where children could receive adequate education outside of the traditional public school system. Thus, two major school choice devices emerged: charter schools, privately run schools that receive public funding, and tuition vouchers, which cover some or all of tuition at participating private schools.

Not all public schools provide education at an equal caliber; many districts, particularly in small towns and inner cities, lack the education to provide students with the same quality students receive elsewhere. In these cases, students are confined by invisible zoning lines to schools that do not offer the same opportunities that leave students without help. Because of this, vouchers were invented -- vouchers intend to help those students by giving them the necessary funding to attend private or charter schools. Vouchers programs promise to provide all students with the opportunity for a better education. These good intentions look extremely well on paper, when many real-life factors are not take into account. However, the truth of the matter is this: when implemented into America’s education system in real-life, voucher programs fail miserably for a multitude of reasons, starting with where the money for vouchers comes from: public education

Throughout his essay, Gatto is able to create a strong emotional appeal that draws the audience into the issue with the public school system. A huge element he uses in terms of emotional appeal is his ability to raise questions regarding the school system. Using his experience of over two decades in the New York public school system, Gatto does a superb job of creating

Yet, Judge Garrity showed “little interest” in Gillis’s idea and “unabashedly admitted” to not even reading the Master Plan before implementing it (43). Richer’s unstated assumption that too much federal involvement is counterproductive can negatively affect a community. However, in the article itself Richer only seems to use all of his rhetoric and evidence towards the negative effects of forced busing rather than focusing on the effects of too much federal oversight. Another unstated assumption is that throwing money at an issue will not solve it. For example, it is mentioned in the article through data that the “first four years of busing cost the city more than $77 million”, and if forced busing were to end then the city would save “$20 million annually on transportation” (46). Richer states that if families had the opportunity for “greater choice[s] in education” then they would have the ability to “opt for schools closer to home”; thus “reducing the need for school buses”. Giving families the option to choose where their children go to school can be more effective in black achievement than costly mandatory busing by the federal government. Years later after Judge Garrity left, Boston’s public schools switched to a method called “controlled choice”. This is when parents are “guaranteed their first or second [public school] preference”; yet, they are only allowed to choose schools where their children “will not upset the racial

The first premise reveals that the voucher funds provided drive families in Cleveland to parochial schools; which are private schools affiliated with a specific church. The author's support against parochial schools indicates that they violate the First Amendment, demanding separation of Church and State. The counterexample provided is a technicality where the First Amendment is not violated. The unknown author states

Smith, Morgan. “School Choice and Vouchers.” The Texas Tribune. N.p. 1 June 2015. Web. 8

According to the Junior Scholastic, “and then there’s the cost. Issaquah,for example,would need to buy new buses and build a garage for them. For some school districts, the cost could run into the millions.” This quote explains how if the school would change the start time of the school they would have to buy more buses, which would run into millions of dollars. If the school districts would change the start of school to later, they would have to buy lots of extra buses. If the school would start at a later time and would have to buy more buses they would have to spend all the money that the school has saved up through all the fundraiser. If they used all the money we would have no money for new equipment for the gym and all the jerseys for all the sports and all the usually repairs around the school

This article provides a counterexample as to how the voucher system does not put an end to the public system. The article states that the voucher program makes the public system more competitive because they have to compete for students. The article counters its’ counterexample with the claim that public schools do not lack competitive drive, but the resources needed to stay competitive, recourse that are being given to religiously affiliated

This piece was written before the case was tried by the U.S. Supreme Court tried the case and after the U.S. District judge blocked the school voucher system in Cleveland. At this time, there was a lot of confusion and concern about what was going to happen to the student who had been using the vouchers and what this would mean for the future. This article offers a chance for both sides to offer their opinion on what this may mean for taxpayers and students.

We surveyed a cross-sectional sample of former EatSF voucher recipients who have not received vouchers for at least six months after completing the program. We used a mixed-methods approach to explore long term impacts of the program on the primary outcomes of interest such as fruit and vegetable intake, food security status, shopping patterns, health status, and overall wellness.

Imagine going to school and finding half of your friends are moving to different schools because they have qualified for a school voucher. It’s difficult to see them go because you have known them all your life. It’s also difficult to watch them attend the school which everyone knows in your community is known to better than the one you are currently attending. Questions are also brought up to your mind with school vouchers. Students who don’t qualify may ask themselves am I put into a disadvantage because my friends are attending a school, which is known to better than mine? Did my friends choose to attend this school or were there parents up to it? These questions can cause a dilemma to the students and their families. There are