Private School Student Urges Voters to Reject School Voucher Amendment
Louisville high school senior highlights harms of using public funds for private schools
School vouchers - using public money to pay for private school tuition - are on the ballot in three states this election. Colorado, Kentucky, and Nebraska each are asking voters to weigh in on redirecting public school funds to unaccountable private schools.
In every state where this issue has been on the ballot, school vouchers have been rejected by voters.
In Kentucky, a student at Louisville’s Trinity High School (a private, Catholic school) took to the state’s largest newspaper to ask voters to reject school vouchers.
His summary of the issue is simple and accurate:
One of the scariest things about Amendment 2 is that it basically serves as a blank check for vouchers to non-public schools with no clear place for the funding to come from other than public schools.
So, zero accountability for the schools receiving public money. And, no alternative but to raid public education dollars to fund the project.
The initial total cost of school vouchers in Kentucky is expected to be $199 million.
One challenge with the proposal facing Kentucky voters is that the plan would redirect public funds from rural districts to residents of Kentucky’s more populated, urban areas. As the article notes:
What’s important to remember is that, in Kentucky, 65% of non-public schools are found in Louisville, Lexington and the general Northern Kentucky area. Out of 120 counties in Kentucky, 89 have no access to a non-public school, and well-run, accredited non-public schools aren’t going to magically appear in those counties after the passage of Amendment 2. So, the “school choice” amendment would in fact offer students in these areas no “choice” to go to a different school.
Neighboring Indiana should also offer Kentucky voters a cautionary tale:
The voucher scheme in Indiana was expected to cost taxpayers about $54 million. The new cost is in excess of $300 million, and the program’s cost grew about 263% in just five years.
Maybe such a large cost increase wouldn’t be so bad IF the money resulted in better student achievement.
Researchers examined an Indiana voucher program that had quickly grown to serve tens of thousands of students under Mike Pence, then the state’s governor. “In mathematics,” they found, “voucher students who transfer to private schools experienced significant losses in achievement.” They also saw no improvement in reading.
Vouchers bust state budgets, result in local property tax increases, and fail to achieve positive results.
I'll add that Trinity costs $16,400 in tuition a year. That's not including the various additional fees for technology and sports to the best of my knowledge. Also as it is now there are quite a few programs available for people who are interested in having their child attend a Catholic school that provide tuition assistance. I won't say that every student who applies is able to get their entire cost covered but there is a significant amount of help already for these schools. My daughter is probably going to attend a Catholic girls high school in Louisville next year and we're getting tuition assistance that cuts the price in half. JCPS has a lot of issues (as does Louisville as a whole) but school vouchers are not going to fix them.