Ohio's McVouchers: Buying Votes with Taxpayers' Dollars

Yesterday I received a message from the OEA expressing incredulity that the new budget bill would result in a pay cut for school employees across the board, since the money that was originally contributed to pensions by the BOE would now be deducted from employees instead.  Duhhh.  I've been jacking my jaw on this issue since SB5 first reared its ugly head from the abyss that Columbus has become.

Well, here's another good one, for anybody who can connect the dots.  School Choice.

Vouchers have had a long history since Milwaukee and Cleveland experimented with them shortly after the release of "A Nation at Risk".  Families can enroll their children at a private school, including parochial schools, and receive "up to $4,250 per year at the elementary and middle school level and up to $5,000 per year at the high school level."   

Average cost of tuition for an elementary student in a Catholic school:  $3383.  Actual cost of education:  $5436.  One little-known secret is that parochial schools DO receive state and federal funding per-pupil.  The US Department of Education reports tuition as such:


For the 2003-2004 school year, private school tuition* averages were:

• $5,049 for elementary schools;
• $8,412 for secondary schools; and
• $8,302 for combined schools.

* Tuition weighted by the number of students enrolled in schools.

I am by no means trying to single out or persecute any type of private school, but the text below raises a red flag and some uncomfortable questions.  I copied this from Sandusky Central Catholic's website. (My bold)


We appreciate the sacrifice you make to provide a quality Catholic Education for your children. While we make every effort to control costs and "do more" with less, the cost of education per student is significant. It is important for you to know that Sandusky Central Catholic School receives generous support from our three Sandusky Parishes as well as our Education Foundation. In addition, we receive state funds for certain programs, and community support for our students and parent fundraisers, including the Scrip program, also help defray the cost of education our children.  

Because of this generous support and additional funding, our parents are never asked to pay the actual cost of educating their children at SCCS. When reductions made possible by the above mentioned programs are taken into account, your "family responsibility" may be as little as 35% of the actual cost of education. There are also programs available to finance the amount due over a period of time and Tuition Assistance is also available based on need.
 
Simply put, combining the sacrifices our families make with the support of programs we have established, cost should never be an obstacle to attaining the educational experience at Sandusky Central Catholic School. We believe SCCS provides a superior academic education that is faith-based and supports the Gospel values you share with your family. We will continue to strive to make it convenient for your family to be a part of our family. 

  But that's not all.  This is the demographic data for the students enrolled at SCC from the National Center for Educational Statistics.  Please note the ethnicity table at the bottom. 

My point being, private schools cater to WHITES.  I may raise some hackles by saying it, but it looks true.  Many of the southern "Christian" schools were started not as a form of religious indoctrination, but as a way to avoid desegregation.  While Catholic schools are present in many urban areas, their population is still at least 68% white.  Again, their stated purpose may be to help students become spiritually closer to God, but their actual impact is to shield those students whose parents choose to pay tuition from mingling with their peers of color.

So who cares if people want to send their kids to private schools?  It's their money, right?

Well, not any more. 

See, some of that voucher money is mine.  My tax money.  Yours, too.  We pass levies to support our local PUBLIC schools, but our "leaders" have figured out how to give their loyal tea-drinking supporters a raise on OUR dime.


Here's a little parable.  Once upon a time, there was a greedy public school teacher, shame, shame.  Her neighbors, devout Catholics, could never get that rhythm thing figured out and had 10 kids.  Since they were also quite wealthy and voted for Republicans every time, they naturally wanted to protect their children from encountering the common rabble, so they sent them to the Acme Catholic School.  They sold candy bars, magazines, wrapping paper, tulip bulbs, and all the other fundraisers to subsidize their childrens' souls.  And there was that public school teacher next door, who never had to beg people to buy things because her two kids went to public school and she just said no when they brought home Christmas card catalogs.

One day a savior named John came unto Ohio.  (His last name rhymes with stick.)  (And other things.)  He was wise enough to see the injustice of making people pay for a religious school for their children.  Everyone makes mistakes, thought John, even the framers of the United States Constitution. 

So to set things straight, John decided to take from the rich.  Apparently,in John's view, the rich include public school teachers, nurses, firefighters, police, Medicare and Medicaid recipients, practically everyone is just too rich!  If they could just give a little, like take a 10% salary cut or pay for their own medicine, then John could balance the budget. 

Random thought: Crocodiles cry to lubricate their eye sockets before they swallow a zebra.

So what John did was to offer vouchers.  Any family who opted for anything other than a public school for their offspring could receive a voucher of $4250 per child in elementary or $5000 in high school. 

The teacher's neighbor with 10 kids just received a pay raise of $42,500.  And lived happily ever after, voting Republican each and every time.

Meanwhile, the "rich" had to try to augment their reduced incomes by selling magazines and candy bars in airport parking lots.  Until they were arrested for soliciting in a restricted zone.





Further reading:

Private vs Public debate
Wikipedia Private Schools
             In many parts of the United States, after the 1954 decision in Brown Board of Education that demanded US schools desegregate "with all deliberate speed", local families organized a wave of private "Christian Academies". In much of the US South, white students have migrated to the Academies, while public schools have become in turn more heavily concentrated with African American students. See List of private schools in Mississippi. The academic content of the Academies is College Preparatory
Sandusky St. Mary NCES Data