GREAT answer—thank you for this very important information. I knew that my State Senator was being disingenous when he said that the $7K voucher w/ each departing student would not affect the county school system budget. I’ll share this crucial info w/ my fellow Hamilton Co citizens, including a letter to Times Free Press, ASAP.
How do I respond to supporters of vouchers when they say that the the county schools will not lose money, because the county will have LESS students to support, since those students are leaving the county schools?
Great question. Here's the deal: There are fixed costs. Unless a HUGE number of students leave, the county will still have the same number of buildings, bus routes, etc - they can't heat LESS of a building because 20 students leave that zone - The fixed costs are roughly 50% of the total cost. So, even IF (unlikely) the district can eliminate some teaching positions (financial savings) - the district still has to run busses, heat and cool schools, etc. Those costs are borne by taxpayers.
GREAT answer—thank you for this very important information. I knew that my State Senator was being disingenous when he said that the $7K voucher w/ each departing student would not affect the county school system budget. I’ll share this crucial info w/ my fellow Hamilton Co citizens, including a letter to Times Free Press, ASAP.
How do I respond to supporters of vouchers when they say that the the county schools will not lose money, because the county will have LESS students to support, since those students are leaving the county schools?
Great question. Here's the deal: There are fixed costs. Unless a HUGE number of students leave, the county will still have the same number of buildings, bus routes, etc - they can't heat LESS of a building because 20 students leave that zone - The fixed costs are roughly 50% of the total cost. So, even IF (unlikely) the district can eliminate some teaching positions (financial savings) - the district still has to run busses, heat and cool schools, etc. Those costs are borne by taxpayers.