Hillsdale College in Michigan accepts NO government funds. They discovered that if just one of their students had a government scholarship the college would be under federal regulations. Therefore in order to escape the federal orbit only privately sponsored students are admitted.

Dangling government money in front of school boards and state educational officials caused Goals 2000 to become established in the public schools. While told the program came with no strings a flurry of regulations followed. Once accepted, a dependency on these added monies developed together with increased Outcome Based Education.

The same thing will happen with many fund starved private schools. No school will be forced into the voucher system but money is a very effective bribe, and hard to resist. It is a common practice in politics.

Those private grade school institutions not accepting vouchers will probably be forced out of business because they can’t compete with all the extras provided in the public/private school partnerships. Parents and schools standing on principals only will find it very difficult to survive against the other tax subsidized (formerly private) system.

The voucher program creates a very unequal hybrid system. Parents paying the private school dues are also taxed for public schools as well. Voucher students will come equipped with $4000 of government money not available to the parents who are charged double for their children’s education.

More attention will have to be given the undereducated voucher arrivals at the expense of holding back the instruction of more advanced students.

Lawyers will have a field day following problems already present in the public arena. The ACLU will sue religious institutions as well as anything else not in tune with their left-wing agenda. Claims of racial, gender, and transgender discrimination in the form of campus clubs will take the focus away from education. Students provided with free meals in their former districts will demand the same at the new facility. Only Spanish speakers can cause confusion in schools where parents want English spoken.

No one has to accept a voucher but what will be accomplished when they do? Parents know something is wrong in their present schools, not many have tried to identify the reasons. They don’t realize the $4000 will transfer problems in the public system to the once well regulated private sector. There will be no nucleus left to represent the individual academic excellence or religious freedom once the norm in public education.

We will have come full circle.

If the government really wanted to improve public schools the solution is simple. They could reinstate proven curriculum from the past or emulate much less expensive methods used in private instruction. But that would mean eliminating the Department of Education’s social programs.

Since these options aren’t even addressed it should be evident student achievement isn’t the motivation which governs administrative decisions.

Nancy C. Thomson, 9/1/00