Vouchers in the News

Public funding of private school vouchers remains a bitterly contested issue in various states at any given time. This is a collection of published news stories and opinions about this ongoing issue in public education. The collection is updated regularly, so please visit frequently.

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Protect Our Public Schools: No New Charter School

Alameda's great public schools are the foundation of our community. They benefit all of us by upholding the promise of equal opportunity for all, by strengthening our collective bonds, and even by helping property values. Now is not the time to cripple our public schools by gambling with charters, vouchers, or any other quasi-private school plan.

Alameda Sun opinion by Rob  Siltanen
Jan. 4, 2008

Sibley comes out swinging in announcing he filed for Anderson's Legislature seat

Jonathan Sibley lost no time attacking fellow Republican Charles “Doc” Anderson on Tuesday while announcing his campaign to win the Texas Legislature’s District 56 seat.

...In a move separating him from many Republicans who support vouchers that would use public money to cover private school tuition, Sibley attacked Anderson on the issue. He called mandatory school vouchers a "bear in the woods" that threatens the quality of public education and local control over schools.

"I firmly believe that vouchers should not be forced on a school district, and I firmly believe that what may be good for a big city urban school district may not be good in McLennan County and vice versa," he said.

Tribune-Herald article by David Doerr
Dec. 19, 2007

Few using special needs vouchers

Just 5 percent of the state's special education students eligible for private school vouchers are using them this school year, according to a state report.

According to the Georgia Department of Education, there are 199,509 students with disabilities -- ranging from dyslexia to severe learning disabilities -- enrolled in public schools statewide, and just a fraction of them, 899, received vouchers to attend private schools.

The [Macon, GA] Telegraph article by Julie Hubbard
Nov. 28, 2007

Canvassers put voucher vote to bed

Results from the Nov. 6 school vouchers referendum vote were made official Monday: Voters handed the Legislature's proposal to subsidize tuition to private schools a certified drubbing.

About 42 percent of Utah voters turned out for the statewide election that was combined with municipal contests, according to the state Board of Canvassers. Of more than 523,000 votes cast statewide, 325,279 voted against the voucher proposal to 198,205 for it.

Salt Lake Tribune article by Glen Warchol
Nov. 27, 2007

An alternative to vouchers in the works?

The door slammed on private school vouchers last week, but a window apparently cracked open for a sister concept Wednesday.

Leading private school tuition-voucher group Parents for Choice in Education, along with the nonprofit Children First Utah, is working to get the word out about other states that give businesses income-tax credits for donating to private school scholarship groups, executive director Elisa Clements said.

Deseret Morning News article by Jennifer Toomer-Cook and Bob Bernick Jr.
Nov. 15, 2007

Voucher defeat may cost Utah Republicans in '08 polls

Rarely does the Utah Legislature get its comeuppance as it did when voters overwhelmingly defeated state-funded private school vouchers last week.

But the real reckoning may come a year from now, when those who fought for a plan scorned by nearly two-thirds of the state seek re-election.

The public sentiment expressed in the referendum could hardly be more clear, nor could the disconnect between the voters and their elected representatives.

Salt Lake Tribune article by Robert Gehrke
Nov. 14, 2007

Voucher Supporter Says Program As Simple As Oreo Cookies

Can a stack of Oreo cookies really explain the confusion surrounding private school vouchers? Parental rights activist and star of the widely seen pro-voucher commercial Richard Eyre says the cookie stack simplifies the voucher equation.

"You've got your seven and a half cookies. And the most that any voucher student can take of that seven and $7,500 is $3,000. The average would be $2,000. That leaves $5,000 in the public schools and the kid is not there anymore," says Eyre.

KCPW article by Eric Ray
Oct. 31, 2007

Plenty of election spending
Vouchers: Proponents, foes shell out more than $5.5 million total

The two main Utah pro- and anti-voucher groups have together spent more than $5.5 million on their campaigns since Sept. 13.

According to political issue committee financial reports that were due Tuesday, pro-voucher Parents for Choice in Education has outspent Utahns for Public Schools (UTPS), the state's main anti-voucher group, by about $1.36 million in the past month and a half while collecting more than $1.2 million more than UTPS.

Deseret Morning News article by Tiffany Erickson
Oct. 31, 2007

Paul Rolly: Vouchers camp spins news show

First, it was Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. who didn't know his comments at a pro-voucher news conference would be turned into a political ad urging voters to approve Referendum 1, prompting him to say he did not want to become a poster boy for vouchers. 

Now, it is KSL's turn to take umbrage at the voucher advocates' attempts to turn the media giant into a pro-voucher toady.

Salt Lake Tribune opinion by Paul Rolly
Oct. 31, 2007

KSL News Report Causing Stir in Voucher Debate

KSL Television is taking issue with a flyer that the company says implies Eyewitness News produced, or helped to produce, the pro-voucher ad.

The flyers center around a story aired in mid-October, aimed at putting some claims in the voucher debate to the "Truth Test."

ksl.com article by Marc Giauque and Tom Callan
Oct. 31, 2007

The Chronicle's View: Referendum 1 would hurt Utah's public schools

...It is a shame that the education of those who are supposed to lead our country in the future is of such little value that Utah legislators are willing to evade actually fixing the problem with increased funding and put in its place a voucher system that will prove to be more destructive than the system currently in place.

Utahns need to open their eyes to what might happen to our public school system. It isn't as pretty as some would have you think.

The Daily Utah Chronicle editorial
Oct. 24, 2007

Voucher issue heats up in latest debate

Despite polls showing Utah's education voucher program is unlikely to pass a referendum in two weeks, the debate over the issue continued to sizzle Tuesday night at the University of Utah law school.

Backers branded those opposing vouchers for private schools "bigots," and accused them of spreading lies.

The opponents countered that the program, which offers vouchers of $500 to $3,000 depending on income, would be a subsidy for the wealthy and unconstitutionally pump tax money into private and religious schools.

Salt Lake Tribune article by Glen Warchol
Oct. 24, 2007

Paul Rolly: Bramble flubs figures on vouchers

For a certified public accountant, Senate Majority Leader Curtis Bramble needs to brush up on his math.

 Bramble had an opinion piece in the Provo Daily Herald on Saturday that argued that voters should approve private school vouchers. He noted that from 1995 to 2005, Utah's public school enrollment increased by 34,423 students. He said that between 2005 and 2015, the projected growth will be 154,752 students, "a staggering 450 percent increase."

...If there were a 450 percent increase in the student population by 2015, we would have 3 million student-age children. That's about a half-million more than Utah's entire population. To reach that figure, every woman in Utah of child-bearing age would have to have six more children.

Salt Lake Tribune opinion by Paul Rolly
Oct. 24, 2007

Utah Rejects School Vouchers

Utah voters delivered a loud, strong message on Nov. 6 that they want their tax dollars reinvested in public schools, not private school tuition vouchers. By a 62% to 38% margin, Utahns rejected Referendum 1. Voter approval would have confirmed a law passed by the legislature last year to create the most comprehensive education voucher program in the nation.

"Utahns today made history," declared Kim Campbell, president of the Utah Education Association (UEA), "and sent a clear message: We believe in our public schools and want them supported." Campbell also said that, with the Referendum 1 now in the past, UEA now looks forward to working with the legislature on a pro-public education agenda that invests in smaller class sizes, more teachers and better learning resources.

The Utah referendum is the eighth statewide election  regarding private school voucher measures since 1972 and voters have convincingly rejected the proposition all eight times.

Indicating the vote may signal more trouble to come for Republican pro-voucher politicians, Salt Lake Tribune reporter Robert Gehrke reported http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_7456687 in an analysis published Nov. 14, "Not only did the voucher plan fail in every one of Utah's 29 counties, but an analysis by The Salt Lake Tribune shows it failed in nearly every district represented by the most ardent supporters of the voucher movement, in some cases by resounding margins."

Republican and Democratic state leaders have said the issue will not come up again in 2008 -- or the foreseeable future.

The Tribune's Gehrke reported that GOP House Speaker Greg Curtis, a voucher supporter, said, "'…we are going to do nothing [more] on vouchers. This is a done issue. It will not be debated next session.' Curtis also is reported as saying that in fact, the anti-voucher Utah Education Association 'ought to thank me. We've brought some finality to this issue.'"

The vote followed months of a fierce public battle, energized by the historic efforts of an army of volunteers, part of a coalition known as Utahns for Public Schools, who educated the public about the flawed voucher law and gathered enough signatures - more than 124,000 in all -- to put the Referendum 1 on the ballot. It had been 33 years since anyone succeeded in getting a referendum on the ballot in Utah.

Legislative Research and General Counsel estimated that, over a 13 year period, the bill would have cost taxpayers $429 million.

Here's more on the election results as reported in the UEA Update:

"With the eyes of the nation upon us, Utah voters today made history by rejecting the flawed voucher law," UEA President Kim Campbell said during an election night victory party in Salt Lake City. "Utahns have sent a clear message: We believe in our public schools and want them supported. We want to ensure Utah's future economic development with a highly-educated workforce," Campbell said. "We want our state resources focused on our public schools in order to meet the needs of all children."

Voucher proponent Patrick Byrne, the CEO of Overstock.com who poured millions of his personal fortune into the campaign, told news reporters Tuesday night that he felt the referendum was a "statewide IQ test" and that Utah voters had failed. He also accused Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr., who signed the voucher legislation into law, of being "missing in action" after polls showed the referendum would likely be defeated.

Pro-voucher supporters resorted to a myriad of dirty tricks during the campaign - everything from attacking teacher organizations like the National Education Association, to spamming e-mails which directed anti-voucher voters to pro-voucher websites, to a vote-buying scheme that caught the attention of more than one media outlet.

But in the end, the message the antivoucher Utahns for Public Schools coalition pushed in every community -- that investing in public schools ought to be the state's number one priority -- resonated with voters throughout the state. On election day, the referendum failed in every single Utah county.

The Utah Legislature passed HB 148 by a one-vote majority last February. Recognizing some of the flaws in the voucher program, the Legislature attempted to fix the legislation with a second bill, HB 174. Provoucher supporters argued that HB 174 could stand on its own regardless of what happened with HB 148, but the Utah Supreme Court ruled that if Utahns were to defeat vouchers in November, HB 174 would be defeated as well.

"Our work does not end here," Campbell said on election night. "We have much left to do to reduce overcrowding in Utah's classrooms, to involve parents more as partners . . . and to make sure there is a well prepared, quality teacher in every Utah classroom."

Florida Special Ed Voucher Plan 'Seriously Flawed'

An independent education think tank has released a report describing Florida's special education voucher program as "seriously flawed."

The report by researcher Sara Mead and released by Education Sector faults Florida's McKay Scholarships for failing to measure student performance or require participating private schools to provide special education services.

Mead's report concludes it is virtually impossible to say whether special-needs children using McKay vouchers to attend private schools are faring better, worse, or about the same as they had in their old public schools. It is also difficult to determine whether the McKay program is improving existing special-education services, since, unlike public schools, McKay schools are not required to provide these services at all.

There's No Proof Tax Money Is Not Being Wasted

The report explains, "Essentially, all a private school has to do to receive McKay vouchers is to sign up. Schools participating in the McKay program do not have to be accredited…they do not have to provide any evidence of the quality of their programs or student achievement…Taxpayers have no evidence that their money is not being wasted."

The Tampa Tribune quotes Andrew J. Rotherham, Education Sector Co-founder and Co-director, as saying, "The big surprise is that problems that have been recognized in the past still persist."

The Tampa Tribune article also reports, "McKay was chosen for the Education Sector study because other states are starting or considering similar programs, Rotherham said.

"'McKay is basically the model and also the largest,' he said. 'States more often than not repeat the mistakes other states make.'"

Parents Don't Have Enough Information to Make Good Choices

Although Mead finds no evidence that participating private schools are "skimming" students with the least severe disabilities, because students are generally represented in similar rates as exist among the public school special education population, she does note one exception. The number of McKay students diagnosed with ADD and ADHD is 2.5 times greater than among the state's total special education population. There is anecdotal evidence that parents seek this diagnosis simply to secure a voucher.

Mead denies that parents can provide adequate accountability, noting that "the lack of publicly available information about school performance undermines parents' ability to make good choices."

She also dispels the myth that vouchers would reduce the number of challenges to school district decisions regarding special education. There is no downward trend in the number of requests for due process hearings.

McKay has had a positive economic impact -- on private school operators. The number of private schools in Florida has increased 8 percent since 1999, when McKay and the now-defunct A+ voucher programs were enacted, while existing private schools have expanded their special education offerings.

The increased supply, however, is not geographically consistent. Twelve of Florida's 67 counties have no participating private schools, and another 14 have only one each.

More information is available at the Education Sector Web site here and the full report is here ( PDF, 15 pages).

June 2007