School Vouchers

Here are a few of my thoughts (in short) - let me know yours:

1.) Overall - I like both public and charter schools (I’ll even throw in private schools just for fun). It's nice to have a choice – right?! Well, as long as the choice is an educated one! // I am writing this not to take sides – in fact this brief smattering of opinions is simply shared to discharge some of my thoughts regarding the upcoming vote regarding school vouchers. (*Remember: I taught in the public school system for 8 years, received a MA in Educational Leadership and Administration, a Ph.D. in instructional psychology, and currently continue to work with public and private educational entities.)

2.) First, let me state: both public and charter schools in Utah, for the most part, do offer/ provide quality educational opportunities (depending on how you define quality).

3.) However, that being said, the numbers for Utah just don't add up. With most charter schools being free, and admission based on a lottery system (except for families who already have children there - they get first priority, as do faculty children [hmm, much like BYU]), and with the schools themselves requiring greater funding to further establish themselves (thus opening their doors to more students) I don't think this vote really helps either side. What we need in education is a systemic change - an overhaul of the system (well, maybe not totally = Utah is rated in the top 10% of schools in English, Science, and Math for college entrance exams, and on national testing scores (grades k – 12); however, we are also rated as one of the worse funded educational systems (school funding has a majority allocation from property taxes which comes from individual families, and with Utah having larger families/ putting more kids in school per tax payer, there is less money to fund schools - this is an interesting phenomenon, considering as I mentioned before that Utah public schools are helping Utah students reach some of the highest levels of achievement.) At any rate - with a vote impacting only 3% of the populace and $3000 not really being a great supplement for a poorer family, and without any actual money going to directly help charter school facilities ($3000 * X = ? Not much) I can't see why they (charters) are going for this (unless it is just to get the ball rolling - politically speaking – being a device to shake things up?!) Seriously the numbers just don’t add up for me (now, I don’t claim to be a mathematician), but to blindly accept the following, as those who are pushing for a yes vote have claimed, “on average, Utah spends $7,500 per K-12 pupil per year. The average cost of an education voucher is anticipated to be $2,000. If one can purchase $7,500 in savings with the investment of $2,000, that is a deal one should take” just doesn’t make sense to me. The numbers are not that cut and dry – and anyone who has worked with educational finance, government funding, etc. knows what I am talking about. Besides, would you buy a $10,000 car, if someone gave you $2000?! The average private school cost to middle and lower income families is around $10,000 – which means if they received $2000 then they would only have to pay an extra $8000 to send their kid to that school. But wait, what if they have multiple kids?! And I have to raise the question, is the education they are receiving at the private school really worth $8000 more?! Are their children learning that much more?! Are they that much more prepared for college, life after high school, etc.?! Also, what about special needs children. Do all charter and private schools include special needs children in their lottery selection?! If they do – do they have the resources do fully support these students?! Will $2000 cover their cost – sorry, the short generalized answer is no – special needs students are more expensive than typical students.

4.) To be honest, public schools (in my opinion) is what made America great - free education for everyone -- it's what made our society what it... was (“is” would be an arguable statement) - successful. But now that globalization has become so prevalent, and evident in our lives, and with the further demise of our own society (look at the current divorce rate, drug and alcohol abuse situations, even the war on terrorism, perhaps we do need to shake some things up - hence the reason I could see myself voting yes. Nationally, things really need to be shaken up - but Utah?! I really feel Utah is doing better than most states - however, Utah is also very complacent and obviously still requires change and evolution. Again, for me the voucher prop just doesn't seem to be very comprehensive or well thought out, and the timing is off - hence the reasons I might vote no.

5.) Finally, my other worry is about teacher certification. Depending on pay and benefits, etc. would the better teachers jump ship to charter/ private schools if the numbers did make an impact?! If they do, will that be the ultimate demise of public education, and what made America great?! Also, it seems Charter programs really should be held responsible for who they hire, and ensure their teachers have had the training that public schools require (or simply that make teachers, well, effective teachers). In my former years (the not so distant past) I thought that anyone could go teach (yes, I know that sounds insulting - and strange coming from someone who has invested so much in education) but now (after my few years of experience and observation of teachers) I realize how wrong I was. It takes special people, possessing a special desire to touch and build, train, and educate to really be effective teachers. I am obviously leaving our University professors out of this definition - bc as you and I both know, most university guys do not have the training to be "called professional educators" - they are rather "professional academiens" (interested in research, expertise in a single area, with little time or interest in refining how they teach/ their teaching pedagogy [in fact I would venture to say that most professors don't even know what pedagogy means])?! We need good, quality teachers, where-ever we place them - but allowing Charters to hire just anybody, seems a little risky, not to mention it would then require those individuals learn how to teach while on the job (sure we all do this to some extent) but the on the job experience (reflection in-action) is difficult, takes time - which usually a teacher doesn't have. Ultimately the charter schools should then shoulder the responsibility of training up these hires, engage them in professional development, to ensure their teachers are as qualified as they should be - but again, most charter schools don't have the time, money, resources to do this, so... you can imagine the ramifications.

I haven't finalized my thought process regarding how I am going to vote - in fact, what I shared above is just a smattering of what I was thinking about, and again what we really eventually will need is a systemic change of our educational system. I do, however, feel the best idea would be to "test" those voting to make sure they understand what they are voting on - it would be rather interesting (and somewhat amusing) to see the reaction of people if only a few hundred people passed the test, thus being permitted to vote, consequently deciding the outcome of something that so many seem to be concerned about.