A few years ago, we enrolled my son in a private school. Challenger, to be specific. Some good friends had done the same with their son, and it seemed like the right choice. However, tuition was a tough bill to pay every month (around $200.00), and we got behind on some other bills. Push came to compromise and we had to pull him out of Challenger and enroll him in *gasp* public school. This was hard for us, as we did like Challenger and our son was doing really well (even if it was kindergarten)

We lived down the street from Millcreek Elementary and figured it was as good a choice as any other. We discovered a very nice little school, with small class sizes because young families can’t afford the home prices in the area (we were renting). We discovered that our son’s kindergarten teacher had a budget of $200 for the entire year, where we were dumping that much each month into Challenger. So, we did what any parent who wants to see their child succeed would do, we pitched in. My wife became a room mother and we helped out with treats and everything we could manage.

We fell in love with Millcreek, my wife became the PTA president, and even after we moved to the west-side, we “windowed” my son in and will continue to do that, so long as the school stays open (you hear that Granite district?).

Still, being a Libertarian I do think schools would be better-off out of the hands of the government. Needless to say, I dreamed about the day vouchers would become a reality, as they seemed a step in the right direction. As the PTA president, my wife has suffered some slings and arrows regarding our pro-voucher position, particularly from the Utah PTA, who basically said that if you’re a member of the PTA, you were to vote anti-voucher. They do remember that PTA is an all-volunteer organization, don’t they? Who are they to tell us how we were to vote? I did sign their petition, though, to put the decision on the ballot, rather than letting the legislature just pass it into law. I figured, let both camps campaign and allow the people to decide.

Unfortunately, now that I look into the proposal, I can see that this voucher thing isn’t the panacea I dreamed it would be. Hell, it’s not even a band aid…

First off, $3000/year? That’s it? Who does that benefit? The voucher people say there are schools whose annual tuition is as low as $5000/year… sure, parochial schools! Geez, you try to raise your kids as secular-humanists… (thanks to The Simpsons for that line) That doesn’t give those of us who make an average salary that choice of education you’re trying to promote. There’s no way, now that I pay a mortgage rather than rent, that I could afford to send my son back to Challenger even with a $3000 voucher. Also, why can’t parents who choose to home school their kids get this money? Shouldn’t they be entitled to a tax break if they’re not using the public schools?

It seems to me that the people who will most likely take advantage of the vouchers are people who can already afford private school. So, in other words, the rich benefit with a tax break in the form of a voucher while the rest of us stay where we are. Hmmmm… yep, sounds like Republicans sponsored this bill.

Still, the anti-voucher camp is struggling to get their facts straight, it seems, and that’s annoying me when I see their commercials. So a couple of quick facts:

The money for these vouchers is supposed to come from the “public” fund, not the “education” fund, so theoretically the schools shouldn’t lose money. Of course, we’re talking about a legislature that funds education last, after their own salaries, so they’ll likely give all the $$ they can to the public fund and cut education after a few years of this.

Accreditation isn’t the responsibility of the state government when it comes to private schools. It’s up to the parents to look into the credentials and curriculum of the schools (and I believe that should be done whether it’s a private or public school) and decide whether or not to send their kids there. Once again, if accreditation was mandatory, parents wouldn’t be free to home-school their children if they choose.

Meanwhile, the pro-voucher camp is appealing to our emotions a-la Hannity-style (they’re fine Americans). First they did a survey where they asked folks if they were pro or anti voucher. If a person said “anti,” they would retort with: “well, you know who else is against vouchers? The NEA, who supports the homosexual agenda.” And now they’re saying that Utah’s legacy is to support private schooling. WTF? Who came up with those lines of bullshit?

So the anti-voucher camp is spouting out facts that have nothing to do with the bill, and the pro-voucher camp is pissing me off with their bigoted and spurious appeal to the conservative class. Now I want to vote for vouchers as punishment for campaigning with bad data, and I want to vote against vouchers as punishment for insulting my intelligence…

In the end, and to wrap this long post up, I’m thinking I’m going to vote against vouchers to say, “now go back and do it right!” (yeah, like they can manage that)