Let parents decide; it’s their money

Let parents decide; it’s their money

After reading your obvi- ously one-sided opinion on Oct. 4, I strongly disagree with all of your arguments. I believe that parents should be able to use the taxes they pay for education to give their children the very best education that that money can buy.

For too many years parents who wanted their children to have a good education were forced to pay twice — once for the public education which went unused and a second time for a private, often faith based, education. Many of them accepted this onerous double charge because they knew their children received a better education overall than they would have received in the public schools. Every child should have the opportunity to receive the best education they can afford and not pay twice for it. If the goal of our society is to educate our children, then it should not matter where that is done, and the parent’s taxes should pay for it regardless of where it is achieved.

One point not considered in your editorial is that private schools are often far less expensive to operate than public schools and private school parents get far more value for their dollar. When you consider the higher costs and lower outcomes per student, why wouldn’t more parents opt for vouchers to help their children?

You stated “It could reverse ongoing gains in public school student achievement,” but gave no reason. It leftt me wondering, if many students leave, wouldn’t the teachers be able to give each remaining student more time and thus improve the supposed ongoing gains? And if public schools were actually showing the improvements you touted why would the parents want to leave in the first place?

Another of your points, “it could propel some school districts to the precipice of fiscal collapse,” also made me wonder why, until I remembered all the recent new school building programs which we taxpayers are paying for now and for a long time to come. I also wonder if this isn’t a bit of scaremongering by the editor, because if our children’s education is improving as stated above, why would parents move their children to a private school even if vouchers are available to do so? Also, since many private and parochial schools have closed, the space available has been markedly reduced, limiting the number of students able to leave the public schools, which makes your point of an “exodus” seem lacking in reality.

Your claim that “it could raise serious constitutional challenges to the state’s commitment to separation of church and state” is just plain constitutionally incorrect. The often claimed “wall of separation” is a figment of the liberal progressive and atheist minds. The Constitution forbids the state to favor any one religion, but does not forbid religion in our state’s schools, as the Supreme Court has often affirmed. In my view, allowing religion back into our schools might just move us back to a higher moral plane and a more civil society.

I strongly support a free market system including one in education, and fully support an expanded voucher system to give our parents the choice for how to use their tax dollars to get the best education for their children. We should extend the voucher program to all children in every school district across our state and throughout our country.

Michael J. Novak, Austintown