Is it time for private school vouchers in Montgomery County?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This topic always makes me laugh. What is the most liberal place on the planet? Many would say the Netherlands. Legalized pot. Prostitution, legal. Free needles for addicts. And yep - direct pay (vouchers) for parents to choose their schools. The takoma Park crowd never takes liberalism to its logical conclusion with education. If you simply voucher the 16,000 per student MCPS supposedly pays to educate our kids in a supersized, filthy school (here’s looking at you Wootton) kids would largely be better off. But it proves MCPS is a Democratic Party jobs program more than an education system. Hard to fathom 3 billion a year to fund such a poor excuse of an education system but here we are. Public schools need to exist but be much smaller and more responsive. Never going to happen with powers that be in the county.

You are confusing classical liberalism (which we would call libertarianism) with progressive politics. Some overlap but actually quite different.

[Anonymous]

Yes - I’ll take a voucher. DD is a 2e and has an IEP which MCPS isn’t even trying to follow. And it’s not super complicated.

A voucher for private would be cheaper for them than having to go to court. (And me…and my kid who is an emotional wreck from not getting support she needs.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hell no. I don't want a single dime of my tax dollars supporting religious schools given the hatred and bigotry that organized religions espouse. People who want to send their kids to private schools, especially religious schools of any creed, can suck it up and do whatever they need to do to pay for that purely personal choice.

I'm also opposed to vouchers for charter schools, as many of those are run by for-profit companies.

+1, keep religion and profit out of education.

Yup. And the evidence shows that voucher programs not only undermine public schools but the kids who use them fo not fare better than their peers in public school academically.

Depends on the schools.

I have family in other parts of the country who attend charter schools. They LOVE it! They were open all last year, with only sporadic closures due to Covid outbreaks. It is easier to ‘pivot’ (and MCPS loves to say) because the schools are smaller and it is easier for them to adjust to changes.

MCPS is just too large and inefficient. Too much waste and too little unaccountability.

I'm super annoyed with MPCS (and MoCo in general), but this bolded part is very true. Harder to steer a container ship than a little skip.

Having stated that, I'm torn about this. I would love to have school choice, but at the same time, public schools need to be supported. Many lower income people don't have the option, and it's not because of money, necessarily, but logistics and the support a smaller charter school lacks.

IMO, MCPS is too big, and maybe it needs to be bifurcated. OR, the other thing is to vote the BOE out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes - I’ll take a voucher. DD is a 2e and has an IEP which MCPS isn’t even trying to follow. And it’s not super complicated.

A voucher for private would be cheaper for them than having to go to court. (And me…and my kid who is an emotional wreck from not getting support she needs.)

I've seen posts by people who said they moved to MCPS out of private because the private couldn't accommodate the SN. Public schools are required to offer IEP. Privates are not.

So, not sure why you think a private school would be better at providing the IEP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would you take your child out of MCPS if there was a private school voucher program so Montgomery County residents had school choice?

Let me guess you are paid by CATO to post this stuff here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would you take your child out of MCPS if there was a private school voucher program so Montgomery County residents had school choice?

Sure, if you want to ruin any chance of an average family getting their kids a great education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Privates are recruiting again.

Really? Which ones? The privates I know are getting record number of applications. Privates that used to accept almost everyone now have very low acceptance rates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you take your child out of MCPS if there was a private school voucher program so Montgomery County residents had school choice?

Sure, if you want to ruin any chance of an average family getting their kids a great education.

yeah, giving families MORE choice really ruins that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent with special needs, I am frustrated that MCPS keeps not implementing his IEP. There are private schools that have staff that would be able to provide what MCPS agrees my child needs. MCPS will not approve private placement at public expense without a huge legal fight. I would take a school voucher in a heartbeat so my child could receive an education.

Private placement would cost several times the amount of any voucher.

So a voucher would be less expensive for the county and it would give my child the educational services he is legally required to receive. I would be willing to make up the difference just like I am with the below market rate for a private provider for the compensatory services MCPS is providing my child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes - I’ll take a voucher. DD is a 2e and has an IEP which MCPS isn’t even trying to follow. And it’s not super complicated.

A voucher for private would be cheaper for them than having to go to court. (And me…and my kid who is an emotional wreck from not getting support she needs.)

I've seen posts by people who said they moved to MCPS out of private because the private couldn't accommodate the SN. Public schools are required to offer IEP. Privates are not.

So, not sure why you think a private school would be better at providing the IEP.

There are privates who have smaller specialized programs for students with disabilities. They also have staffing where MCPS has so many vacancies right now. Finally, it’s all the disharmonious meetings with school staff. I would rather leave and have my child educated by professionals who care about his development and needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is clear that MCPS doesn’t care one iota about keeping our kids safe in school buildings.

I hope parents demand change and if that doesn’t happen, we should fight for vouchers.

+100000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you take your child out of MCPS if there was a private school voucher program so Montgomery County residents had school choice?

Sure, if you want to ruin any chance of an average family getting their kids a great education.

yeah, giving families MORE choice really ruins that

Again, please provide a list of secular private schools that will accept the voucher for the entire tuition.
Maybe add to that the number of available openings.
Are you really suggesting that if ALL families want private school choices, the options are there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you take your child out of MCPS if there was a private school voucher program so Montgomery County residents had school choice?

Sure, if you want to ruin any chance of an average family getting their kids a great education.

yeah, giving families MORE choice really ruins that

Again, please provide a list of secular private schools that will accept the voucher for the entire tuition.
Maybe add to that the number of available openings.
Are you really suggesting that if ALL families want private school choices, the options are there?

why would there be a list for something that does not yet exist?

[Anonymous]

"is it time to push a new controversial topic in Moco to see if we sow some division and discord?" asked Kenny, the new intern at the Federalist who was looking for something to do besides himself in the men's bathroom.

[Anonymous]

This is almost too laughable. Watching the social experiment that you voters have placed upon the MCPS system over the past two decades and its' now expected results, you want to run away from what you have caused to happen. Why don't you stay and fix what you screwed up? Get your buts out there and run for office instead of hiding behind an anonymous board spouting about how this is so horrible. And for goodness sake, DO NOT VOTE the way you have in the past, that is how we got here. So thankful I am finished with MCPS, it has become a total s t show and the parents that got it there are walking around going "but, how did this happen?"