Voucher Threat

A popular topic in education reform is the impact school vouchers will have on America”s public education. Public education is at a serious threat do to the debate over education vouchers. School vouchers will redirect the flow of education funding, channeling it directly to individual families rather than to school districts. This will result in less government funding going towards improving public schools, lowering class sizes, and purchasing supplies and may eventually cause the downfall of public education all together.

The issues of school vouchers go beyond the classroom and are borderline unconstitutional. The idea of public funds being spent on private schools raises issues in its self. Public funds being spent on private religious schooling will raise interesting questions about the separation between church and state. Most nonpublic schools in America right now are run by religious organizations. Is it even constitutional for tax money to be spent religious schooling?

One of the most widely believed untruths about school vouchers is that it will allow poor inner city kids to have more opportunities to go to private schools, however compelling this argument may seem the truth of the matter is that vouchers will siphon the money out of the cities public schools causing the children whose parents still cant afford the subsidized tuition of these pricey private schools to receive an inferior education and create a large underclass of students who are trapped in a public school without enough resources to receive a quality education.

The fact of the matter is that school vouchers will create a competitive market in the education field causing the strongly funded private schools to thrive while the public schools that this country was built on to slowly deteriorate in quality due to fewer tax dollars being spent on the resources needed for public education to succeed. The action I would like to see the government take on this issue is to focus more attention on improving public education, instead of the redirecting of taxpayer”s money to private education.

The choice is clear if more attention was placed on creating a better learning environment in our public schools all children could benefit not just those who can afford subsidized private schools. Instead of offering an alternative to ineffective unsafe public schools why not focus our attention on improving those schools. Taking money away from already troubled public school systems without offering any solutions to the existing problems is bound to create a downward spiral in the already shaky public school systems.

The low impact approach I would take on this matter is to set up rallies especially in those areas where the vouchers would have the largest negative impact. Those areas being the troubled school systems of the inner cities. I would get forty or fifty people together to go to their local or district office and talk with their senator or state rep. I would start up a web page supporting my issue with links to advocacy groups and information that take a similar stand on the issue of school vouchers.

In the web site I would also include a prefab letter explaining the negative effects of school vouchers that viewers could download, sign and send to there local or state representative to help support my issue. Furthermore I would write to the editors of my local newspapers and explain my stand on the issue in a small column that would reach many potential voters. As an attempt to get some free media attention while spreading the word of my issue I would hold a public forum on vouchers and have the local news cover it.

The forum would inform citizens how they can get involved. I would hold the forum in a local schools gymnasium and try to get some influential speakers who support my issue in hopes to gain more supporters who will take action against school vouchers. In a high impact manner I would use an entirely different approach. Supposing I had a year off from life and 100,000 dollars to contribute to the fight against vouchers I would start by getting national attention.

I would try to team up with some key officials in congress who take the same position as I do. I would try to hold a national rally against vouchers. As an attempt to gain wide range publicity I would set up a web site for volunteer support effort. I would use the web site to keep my supporters updated on rallies and protests supporting my cause. I would set up a national call in day via the web where I get membership of the site to call into congress and support our stand on the issues.

I would help raise money by holding rallies and support groups for members of congress and other political leaders who are running for office and who support my issue. As would organize bus trips from inner cities around the country to Washington D. C. so that constituents could go to the members of congress that represent their district and explain to the congressmen their concerns with vouchers. All of these things would help to raise concern over school vouchers and hopefully have an effect on votes when the issue comes up in legislation.