Is it time for private school vouchers in Montgomery County?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Vouchers would, by far, benefit people who can already afford private schools the most. Some people like me, who are willing to have our taxes support public schools for the common good, will be deeply incensed if our tax dollars are spent to decimate the quite decent public school system in order to support religious schools and the wealthy.

+1

No vouchers. I don't want to subsidize rich people's private school tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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?"

Translation: "Larlene Hunter Chad did not get into a magnet program and so we sent them to private school and I am very bitter."

[Anonymous]

Vouchers wouldn’t cover the entire amount of a private school so ultimately this would benefit only well all families. Secondly, I have a problem with taxpayer money funding religious schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

how much does it cost? What schools have this type of program?

[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?

It would hollow out public education so that private would be the only option but the right loves to privatize everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Vouchers wouldn’t cover the entire amount of a private school so ultimately this would benefit only well all families. Secondly, I have a problem with taxpayer money funding religious schools.

But at least the wealthiest people would get a break!

[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.

Wait, what? Average kids in MCPS are not getting a 'great education'. Not on your life. Most are barely even getting an 'adequate education'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:YES, please. Students and parents deserve a choice.

MCPS is SO dysfunctional. Feels like it is beyond repair.

You already have a choice to send kids private.

MCPS is still a top 1% school system nationwide

Charter Schools are by and large a failure, voucher programs are more giveaways for privates and those who seek to destroy government and the administrative state like insurrectionist Steve Bannon, and the ROI on privates is 0. So no

Only if you are wealthy. Why is it that just the wealthy get 'school choice' in Montgomery County. Let's have school choice for ALL families.

[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?

It would hollow out public education so that private would be the only option but the right loves to privatize everything.

If any of them could actually run a business effectively privatization might be effective in some. Industries. But the people behind this are like Wharton's D list.

[Anonymous]

It will never happen.

Property taxes support public schools, not schooling for children. Your taxes go to support the local school whether you use it or not. Like paying for roads and bridges that you never drive over. Like supporting fire departments and police departments in parts of the county you don't live in. They are public services that are made available to residents in the county whether you use them or not. If you move your children to private, you do so because that is your choice. Then you become like your neighbors who are childless or whose children are older and have left school. They still pay taxes to support the public schools and so should you.

Choosing to move your children to a private school is not a reason for the county to give you a rebate on your taxes. You didn't pay the taxes because your children were in the public school system. You paid taxes because owning property in the county provides taxation support for the local public service. There is absolutely no reason for the county to rebate any of those taxes because you choose not to use the public service provided.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

An earlier poster suggested an amount per student that would transfer with the student as a voucher. Even as a ball park guideline, surely those who champion vouchers can compare this amount with the tuition and fees that area secular private schools charge.

[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.

Wait, what? Average kids in MCPS are not getting a 'great education'. Not on your life. Most are barely even getting an 'adequate education'.

Says an anonymous DCUM poster

[Anonymous]

One who graduated public and one we pulled out of and put in a $50k private their freshman year in HS after the MCPS cluster f*ck that started with Covid.

I would have over $200,000 toward retirement and other expenses, but we don't, because MCPS is still such a mess. Oh well, will work a few more years. Vouchers are not the answer, because saving me the $$ won't help the publics, only hurt them. And it won't help most who can't afford the $50k to attend. And, the privates do not have enough space for all the MCPS public school students.

What MCPS needs is to clean house, everyone in Central Office needs to go, esp those who claim Special Ed, but all they do is hurt special Ed students and programs. Also, clean house of the Board of Education. They do not do any oversight, they listen to what MCPS tells them and then agree. That is the only way we will get any change of course/corrections to the once mighty school system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One who graduated public and one we pulled out of and put in a $50k private their freshman year in HS after the MCPS cluster f*ck that started with Covid.

I would have over $200,000 toward retirement and other expenses, but we don't, because MCPS is still such a mess. Oh well, will work a few more years. Vouchers are not the answer, because saving me the $$ won't help the publics, only hurt them. And it won't help most who can't afford the $50k to attend. And, the privates do not have enough space for all the MCPS public school students.

What MCPS needs is to clean house, everyone in Central Office needs to go, esp those who claim Special Ed, but all they do is hurt special Ed students and programs. Also, clean house of the Board of Education. They do not do any oversight, they listen to what MCPS tells them and then agree. That is the only way we will get any change of course/corrections to the once mighty school system.

+1 I pulled one child out of public before COVID. I found a private that had much smaller class sizes, a great disability support counselor, and provided my child with a scholarship to make the option something we could afford (still strapped and cut in savings but doable).

I have one that I wished I could have pulled out at the same time but we could not afford two tuitions. He has multiple disabilities but suffered severe regression during online learning. An audit of his grades shows a school system that modified his educational expectations to the point he is failing major tests but still is being passed through. As a parent, I see that his needs are not being met and he is being denied even a minimal education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

An earlier poster suggested an amount per student that would transfer with the student as a voucher. Even as a ball park guideline, surely those who champion vouchers can compare this amount with the tuition and fees that area secular private schools charge.

I'll take a swing at it. Any school you would remotely consider sending your kid to would laugh in your face if you offered to pay with a 15k voucher.