by Sandeep Johar

Created on: February 17, 2009

All parents have the right to send their children to a parochial school of their choice. However, that is a choice based on economic conditions and commitment to the faith. To work an extra job to pay the tuition is a viable way to exercise the choice, to expect the other taxpayers to pay for the choice is not acceptable.

What is the idea of the proposed school vouchers? Essentially a parent who wishes to send a child to a parochial school would receive money from the government to pay for that school. This would be in the form of a voucher, so that the money transfer is directly from the government and does not pass through the hands of the parent. However, essentially the government is handing a check to the parent to use.

The children in any community have a wide set of needs and requirements. Some have limited English language skills; others have learning disabilities and other special needs. Our society designed the public school systems to ensure that all children in the community have access to a basic education. Private and parochial school systems have no such requirements. They are designed to serve the needs of their masters (whether the church or a private company) and not the needs of the community.

Local homeowners pay property taxes to provide the bulk of the funding that goes into the school systems. They pay these taxes with the desire that the money is used to ensure that all children receive an education. They do not pay the taxes so that a particular child has access to a school of his choice.

The local homeowner wants his money used responsibly. The school boards are accountable to the community. They are representatives of the community charged with spending the money according to the needs of all the children in that community. The parochial school boards have no accountability to the community and do not need to answer to the community.

Once the homeowners money starts flowing out of the school system, one of two things will happen: the school systems will decline or the tax rates of the home owners will decline. Schools are capital-intensive institutions. If the number of students in the schools decline, the capital requirements of buildings and salaries do not decline proportionately. Ten percent fewer students do not equate to ten percent fewer music teachers or math teachers. Therefore, school services will need to be cut or tax rates will need to be raised.

Lastly, parochial schools have a religious agenda. Members of the community that are paying the taxes may or may not agree with the religious agenda. Paying taxpayer monies to religious institutions goes against the constitutional separation of church and state. The purpose is immaterial. Taxpayers should not be paying for services offered by a religious organization.

In summary, to take the homeowners monies and transfer them to private entities does not meet the objective of building a community that is committed to the education of all its children. It does allow a particular parent to exercise a choice. However, even without school vouchers, the parent still has that choice. They simply have to work to pay for the choice and not expect a hand out from the government.

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