Preliminary Look at Transfer of Money to ?

 

 

 

     Let's recall the push to 'improve' public schools by focusing on measurement of student achievement via testing. The testing movement has been rife with problem, with schools being closed and transferred to private entities to run. Recall the punitive measures for public schools whose student achievement scores did meet 'expectations' of ever increasing scores. Now, let's recall the ever-increasing number of charter schools who operate under the guise of being 'public' schools, receiving public tax dollars, but having the luxury of being free of many of the mandates that public schools must adhere to. Similar to the public schools, some charter schools' (and private schools) achievement test scores meet unreasonable political expectations and some do not. The only federal voucher school program is located in DC. Their student test scores indicate that after a year in private school, voucher recipients' achievement test scores were worse when compared to scores of student who continued enrollment in the DC public schools. I have written previous posts about how research shows time after time, that student achievement scores are related to socioeconomic conditions, ie students from low income backgrounds USUALLY have lower achievement test scores regardless of the kind of school they are in and students from middle and upper income backgrounds USUALLY have higher achievement test scores. The political cry to improve public education has been an attempt to rewrite the story of public schools as Republicans have tried for years to ruin them to accomplish their goal of segregating schools along lines of income and race.

     Enter 2017 with a new president and education secretary. Trump has vowed to reduce the federal government's role in public education. DeVos has repeatedly favored private and charter schools, ignoring the research showing they offer little difference in benefit to children, with some research showing their is actually a regression in achievement. The difference, however,  does lie in choice. Together, it appears, Trump and DeVos will attempt to shift significant dollars away from public schools and transfer it to private and charter schools, through the use of vouchers to parents. The story goes like this: parents choose the school they would like their child to attend; the public school relinquishes the federal, state and local dollars per child for each child who chooses to attend a private or charter school. All in the name of school choice. Here is Maine public schools have been besieged with continuous budget reductions/cost shifting which will only be exacerbated by further reductions of federal, state, and local dollars per child times however many children claim a voucher.

     In reality, that number of dollars in the form of a voucher hardly covers the cost of tuition to a private school. Here in Maine a sampling of private schools show a tuition range from $58,000 to $57,500 to $30,555 to $38,000 to $28,000 per year for a high school student. There are fees in addition to tuition. A voucher will not cover the cost of a private school tuition and fees. Who will be able to supplement the voucher amount to make up the difference? Most families will be hard pressed to do so and some families will just not be able to achieve that. The end result will be students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds will populate private schools. Foreign students whose families will pay a higher tuition to attend American private schools will also populate the private schools. And a few students whose families are able to 'borrow' money for tuition and fees and/or qualify for financial aid from the private school. End result:  private schools whose student population is segregated along social class (higher income) and public schools whose student population is segregated along social class (lower income).  The exact goal the Republicans have been trying to push through for years.

     A second Republican goal has been to reduce the size of the federal government and specifically reduce/eliminate the role of the federal government in education. Republicans have also said education should be locally controlled and that states have a role in setting education policy for their states. Question: will the public education of children from wealthy communities be equal to the public education of children from less wealthy communities? I think we all the know the answer.

     So Trump and DeVos now embark on presenting their proposed education budget to Congress. Their budget that slashes $9.2 BILLION in funds for higher education (ex. funding for college work-study programs would be cut in half) and public schools K-12 (ex. transfer to private and charter schools from public schools about $400 MILLION plus another $1 BILLION to require public schools to have policies that favor choice programs). Let's hope that Congress is much more responsible to the American public. This amount of transfer of public funds will result in schools segregated along income and racial lines and will continue the erosion of public schools.