A “voucher” is any scheme by which the state, directly or indirectly, diverts funds from its coffers, or uses money that the state would otherwise collect in taxes, to subsidize private schools. Educational and school vouchers are taxpayer-funded subsidies used for private schooling or services with limited or no accountability to taxpayers.
Raise Your Hand Texas – Vouchers and Neo Vouchers
Problems:
Myth vs Reality
“Vouchers are taxpayer funded subsidies for private schools with no accountability and restrictive admissions policies. Private and religious schools are not required to comply with statewide academic standards, open record laws, or the state accountability system. Unlike public schools, private schools have no obligation to serve students with disabilities or other learning needs.”
TFN – School Vouchers – Not Good for Kids, Not Good for Texas
Accountability
“Because they are private schools, voucher schools have limited public accountability and operate under different rules than public schools. For instance, voucher schools do not have to follow the state’s open meetings and records law. They do not have to provide information on staff qualifications, student suspensions and expulsions, graduation rates, and so forth to the public. Their meetings are not open to the public.”
Democracy and Education Research Group – What’s the Difference?
Solutions:
Texas already has a parent trigger and we believe this is sufficient enough to hold public schools and educators accountable
Bill Moyers – Interactive Map: Voucher Schools Teaching Creationism
Bill Moyers – Public Schools for Sale?
Bill Moyers – Public Education: Who Are the Corporate Reformers?
Truth Out – ALEC Admits School Vouchers Are for Kids in Suburbia
Truth Out – Back to ALEC, Back to (Private) School
The Nation – ALEC Exposed: Starving Public Schools
Slate – Sweden’s School Choice Disaster
Alternet – Nevada’s New Voucher Plan Is Designed to Bankrupt Public Schools
Truth Out – Post-Katrina Reforms in New Orleans Continue to Disenfranchise African-Americans, Poor
Truth Out – Education Reform in the New Jim Crow Era
United Federation of Teachers – The destruction of New Orleans’ public school system
Naomi Klein – The Promise of Vouchers
Naomi Klein – The Shock Doctrine in Action in New Orleans
Common Dreams – Challenging Charter Schools and the Privatization Agenda in Washington State
Commondreams – How School Privatizers Buy State-Level Elections
Commondreams – In Victory for Public Ed, Colorado Boots Koch-Backed School Board
Salon – 4 ways privatization is ruining our education system
Dallas News – Texas Senate OKs school vouchers, but bill faces tough House vote
Why Milwaukee Voucher Students are Returning to Public Schools
Raise Your Hand – Texas Parent Trigger Laws: Is the Game Worth the Candle?
National School Boards Association Urges Congress to Reject Vouchers
Texas Freedom Network – President Condemns Texas Senate Passage on Second Reading of Voucher Bill
Texas Freedom Network – Clergy Statement Opposing Vouchers
Star Telegram – Don’t confuse tax credits with school vouchers
US News – School Vouchers: Legal, Depending on Where You Live
People for the American Way – A Model to Avoid: Arizona’s Tuition Tax Credit Law
AZ Central – Tax credits hide where our education dollars go
Brookings – When winners are losers: Private school vouchers in Louisiana
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