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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Vouchers.  $4B divided by 170K students comes out to over $23K per student.   Parochial and private institutions could rent the existing infrastructure and deliver a better product at a reduced rate.

Given projected declines in K-12 school age population in the coming years this would be a win-win for the overall Fairfax County budget as well.

Come on Board of Supervisors make the bold call and be seen as a “progressive force” in improving education in America. [/quote]

In this scenario of vouchers, would the only students remaining in public schools be those with significant disabilities, poor English proficiency, and very low income?  In this area, there aren’t enough private schools to accept vouchers- where would the students be able to attend? Or would they ultimately be forced  to stay in public schools, which would then be funded even less?  I don’t see vouchers helping in Northern Virginia. [/quote]
Private school supply is elastic. I’ve heard your argument before in another context and it’s just not true at all.

I recommend listening to a NYT “The Daily” podcast from the fall titled “Why So Many Parents Are Opting Out Of Public Schools.” It’s pretty eye opening and lays out why a lot of the equity-based programs, including the recurring comprehensive boundary reviews, are going to boomerang around on the county.[/quote]

I listened to both this and NYT/Serial's "Nice White Parents", and there's nothing new in either one.  It's just another way to send public money to private schools, it's just not always a traditional private school - now you also have the microschools, online education providers, and homeschoolers who will charge up to whatever voucher amount is available, primarily with no oversight or accountability. Vouchers are still basically just a way to divert public money to the people who are best able to afford private school in the first place or using taxpayer funds to support schools  that are not required to meet the same standards (nor accept the same students) as public schools are. Now add to that a bunch of venture capitalist starting up schools to siphon up public money by fear-mongering to parents. States that have implemented voucher programs have not shown better outcomes and include several of the worst-performing states in the country. The kids who were already going to succeed in public school will leave for private options, and the quality privates will continue turning away any students that cut into their profit margin or test scores.

I have a special needs kid at one of the county's CSS programs. Bright kid, needs extra help to reach the same outcomes, will graduate with an advanced studies diploma after taking part in the county's transition to employment program. We want them to be self-supporting and think it's a better investment now to get them educated with some extra effort so they aren't reliant on assistance after we're gone. We spend a lot of our own money supporting their public education with outside resources. Even if we got a larger than usual voucher as the podcast suggests, there are very few SN privates even in an affluent and populous area like NoVA. I know because we had them at one of the SN privates, which was then acquired by a PE education company, at which point the quality tanked and the long-time teachers who knew what they were doing left and were replaced with babysitters.

Education is an area that can't be run like a business. "Competition" doesn't drive school to succeed, and "elastic" supply does not equal quality - that PE education company could open a dozen more school and offer to babysit kids rather than teach them for the $30K/year voucher money.  Voucher and charter school states already have some that just sit your kid down in a cubicle to watch videos all day, and I'm sure AI will up the ante on that. If all your options are shitty, you essentially have no options.

Public education was broken deliberately for ideology and profit.[/quote]

There is nothing wrong with educational vouchers.  It's the same concept as food assistance.  Instead of being assigned a certain menu or list of approved items, people are (or at least were) free to buy what they want.  Some people will buy whole chickens, ground beef, eggs, blueberries, broccoli and rice.  Others will spend it up on frozen pizza, Oreos, corn chips and hot pockets.  Both will spend up to the limit.  Some people will cook and use the assistance to maintain health. Others will eat themselves and feed their children into morbid obesity.  In either case, it is assistance with the freedom to use it as desired.

I do agree with your last statement.  Government schools have been sabotaged so much that more and more people with a choice, avoid them.

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