Voucher program causes controversy for parents
Debate between supporters of tax credits from the state that would help pay for private secondary education and opponents who insist public funds should be spent on public programs remains an unsolved battle that has made its way to Cache Valley.
These tax credits, also known as vouchers, are supported by people who think parents should get to choose which forms of education their taxes go toward. Whether at private, public, charter or home schools, they want their tax money go where their children go, rather than just to public education.
“[Parents] pay twice, even though they’re not using the other system,” said Ann Desjardins, founder and director of the Cache Valley Learning Center, a private kindergarten through eighth grade school in Logan.
The way the system is set up now, portions of property tax and state income tax from Utah residents go toward paying for public education. Parents who aren’t satisfied with public schools pay for them even if they also pay tuition at a private school, Desjardins explained.
After taxes are paid, the budget for public education is set and schools are allotted money based on the number of students enrolled. A figure known as the Weighted Per-Pupil Unit (WPU) is the amount each school gets per student and accounts for about half of the funding schools receive, according to the Utah State Office of Education Web site. Last year’s WPU was $2,280.
Supporters of tuition vouchers would like to see the WPU given to parents who want to send their kids to private schools, Desjardins said.
“The parents should be in charge, not the state,” said Ruth Lehenhauer, a school voucher supporter who previously ran the Utah Coalition for Freedom in Education in Logan.
Opponents say vouchers will take money away from the already under-funded public education system, Utah Education Association local leader Gary Dunn said.
In 2003, Utah ranked 51 in the nation for the amount of money spent per student in public education, ranking behind Puerto Rico and Idaho, according to the 2004 U.S. Census. The state spent $4,860 per student while the national average was $8,019.
Utah has the most children per capita, Dunn said, which puts great stress on the public education system and supporters of tuition vouchers are selfish for wanting to pick and choose where their tax money goes.
“The taxes I pay aren’t mine; they belong to the government,” he said.
Dunn said citizens don’t get to choose which roads or government programs their tax money funds and public education should be no exception.
What it comes down to is spending public money on private enterprises, he said – a practice that he thinks is unconstitutional.
Everyone benefits from public education, he said, even those who attend private school.
“It [raises] the standard of living for everyone in the community,” Dunn said.
People misunderstand those who oppose vouchers, he said, by thinking that they’re against parental choice.
“That’s not true at all,” he said. “Parents can send their kids wherever they want; they just shouldn’t expect the state to pay for it.”
The truth about vouchers is bleaker than many realize, Dunn said. In recent legislation, none of which has passed, the tax credit was set at around $2,000. The cheapest private schools cost about $3,000 per year, he said, with some private schools costing upwards of $5,000. The Cache Valley Learning Center, for instance, has a yearly tuition of $5,100.
The vouchers wouldn’t sufficiently cover the tuition costs of private schools for low-income families to be able to send their kids there anyway, he said. Ultimately, the vouchers only help the people who can already afford to send their kids to private schools.
“It’s really a deceptive thing,” he said.
Supporters believe the flawed public education system doesn’t meet the needs of all students because many learn best from methods not taught at public school, Desjardins said. The curriculum lumps children of different learning abilities into one classroom and teaches them the same way. Desjardin started the Cache Valley Learning Center in 1992 because “I just knew I could do better for my children,” she said.
Vouchers especially appeal to families in very low-income areas where the public schools are particularly bad. It could give parents more options for their childrens’ futures, Desjardin said, and would in turn lessen the number of students in public schools.
“I think it would be wonderful if everyone could go to their neighborhood school and get what they needed for their child,” Desjardins said. “I don’t ever see that happening.”
Fewer students in public schools may seem like an OK alternative, but in actuality, the fewer students enrolled, the less funding a school gets, and budget cuts have to be made in other areas like teacher’s salaries, Dunn said. The costs of running a school don’t diminish just because there are fewer students.
“It’s not going to cost any less to heat the buildings,” he said.
If the education system had more competition, public schools would be forced to straighten up, Desjardin said.
“If schools were operating more like a business, then they would respond to the issue,” she said.
At Desjardin’s school, kids are taught based upon ability, not age or grade level for topics like math and reading. There’s one 4- year-old kindergartner enrolled at the Cache Valley Learning Center who reads at a third-grade level, she said, and to leave him in a classroom where students are learning about sounds wouldn’t help him at all. She said this form of ability grouping is the best way to teach.
Dunn said he would hate to see the voucher system instituted, since it could lead to “an elitist society” because private schools can be selective on who they admit, emphasizing that less-intelligent, unmotivated, low-income or special needs students could be excluded.
Both sides are clearly concerned with the potential ramifications of action or inaction. Legislation for publicly-funded school vouchers have been pushed in recent years, but have yet to be passed in Utah. Some privately funded scholarships based on financial need are available through organizations like Children First Utah.
mof@cc.usu.edu