School Vouchers - Blog #1

Blog #1

The topic I chose to learn about is the issue of school vouchers. I found a good source of information on the topic in a March 11, 2009 article from the CNN website:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/11/martin.vouchers/index.html#cnnSTCText

As is stands now each state is responsible for establishing its own policies concerning the use of vouchers. The reason this topic has been stirred up again is because of the new 410 billion dollar “omnibus spending bill” from President Obama. Both sides (republicans and democrats) are relatively eager to see the bill go through but buried inside is a stipulation that will essentially halt voucher programs.

This stipulation has caused a bit of controversy in certain circles. Teachers and teacher unions have been opposed while more conservative groups have supported vouchers. While there are enough issues dealing with the subject to fill a book, I can’t help but to look at two ways; as a teacher and as a parent.

As a teacher, vouchers would be horrible for a public school. It has been a trend that kids that come from richer families tend to better in school and kids that come from poorer families tend to struggle (obviously this is not an absolute). Since the richer families would be the only group that would benefit from the vouchers they would be the ones that would take their kids out of public schools. This may not be a major concern until one starts to think about the effects of a smaller school population. This would mean less funding and less quality teachers. If the student population consisted of low income students, schools would have a more difficult time filling teaching positions with high quality teachers. No matter what anyone says, teachers will be less likely to want to work in a building that is filled low income students and the problems that typically go with it such as behavior and attendance.

As a parent, vouchers would be good because I would then be able to remove my child if I felt that the school was not meeting my expectations. The idea of being able to shop around for the school that would be best for my child sounds appealing.

Since I just happen to be both a teacher and a parent I have come to the conclusion it will be my own responsibility to ensure that my kids are learning. If there would ever be a time that I feel that my child is not performing well enough I will not be blaming the school. I would take the initiative to do whatever it would take to get him to improve either through tutoring or extra work at night. I think it sends a horrible message when I see employees of our school district and politicians who oppose vouchers send their kids to private schools. In conclusion, I feel that our government has a responsibility to make our public schools as good as possible and commit to constantly trying to improve them.