Vouchers are a bad idea, and the public doesn’t support them. Time after time, vouchers have been put on state ballots, and every single time they have been defeated. They were defeated overwhelmingly in Utah in 2007, with 62%-38% of the vote, and defeated most recently in Florida in 2012, by a vote of 58%-42%. Yet, with the help of the far-right ALEC and its model legislation, several state legislatures have created voucher programs without going to the voters. Even in states that explicitly ban the use of public funds for religious institutions, the legislatures have coined some euphemism like “opportunity scholarship” or, as in Nevada, “education savings accounts.” A voucher is a voucher is a voucher.
I tweeted this message; I hope you will too: Should taxpayer $ go to religious schools? @ACLUNV says no & Nevada agrees. Support separation of church & state! http://bit.ly/1XhsFyg
Here is an appeal from the ACLU:
Last week we filed a major lawsuit against the state of Nevada to stop the voucher program that diverts taxpayer funds to religious schools. The program was passed by the Nevada Legislature and signed by Governor Sandoval this year.
Parents have a right to send their children to religious schools, but they are not entitled to do so at taxpayers’ expense. Do you want your tax dollars going to fund a parent’s preferred religious school choice? We don’t and that’s why we are suing to stop it.
Proponents of the new program bristle at our use of the term “voucher” instead of their preferred description of “education savings accounts,” but we do that because we know better — these accounts will do nothing to save education, but will in fact destroy education across the state. Is it any wonder why this program was written and proposed by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)?
In just three short days we have seen those who seek to dismantle public education and divert education money to private religious purposes attack us and the plaintiffs for daring to thwart their plans. They are even attacking Ruby Duncan, the lead plaintiff and longtime civil rights, education, and welfare rights champion. What these pro-voucher forces don’t know is how firmly we believe this voucher program violates the separation of church and state and how resolute Ruby is in standing up for kids and providing them the education that they deserve. Ruby was honored when a school was named after her to recognize all the work she has done in making sure every child is educated and now they want to question her motives.
Share this victory with your friends, family, and any allies that believe that liberty is only possible when the separation of church and state is secure.
Sincerely,
Tod Story
Executive Director
ACLU of Nevada
P.S. Lawsuits are hard work, they require resources, and take time, but we are in this until the end. We need your help in ensuring we can fight this battle all the way to the Nevada Supreme Court. Donate now to help provide the resources we need in this battle — and in all our efforts to protect your rights.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Freedom of religion means that my tax dollars don’t go in other people’s church’s collection plates.
No it doesn’t mean that! Welfare recipients and state employees get your tax money and put it in offering plates all the time. The Supreme Court (in Zelman) declared that public money CAN reach a religious school as long as parents are making the “religious” choice and they also have other choices.
Freedom of religion means that you are free to worship/not worship as you choose without governmental interference. And it means that government will not prefer any one religion or religion in general.
Right now, I believe an exclusive support of non-religious schools is a violation of the religion clauses of the First Amendment.
In Zelman (2002, re Ohio voucher program) the SCOTUS established a 5-point test to determine whether a voucher program is constitutional. I believe the main point of contention will be point 1, the program must have a valid secular purpose. The court ruled ” the valid secular purpose of the [Ohio] program was ‘providing educational assistance to poor children in a demonstrably failing public school system.'”
How about a “demonstrably failing voucher system”?
I guess the question becomes “failing according to whom and by what standards?” As you know, the Ohio school choice system came in because many of the public schools were failing by academic standards, but their are other standards. Many parents measure a good education by different standards and might even prefer a school performing lower academically to one that is strong on nurturing character and citizenship. Why shouldn’t parents be given this choice.
The Zelman decision not only recognized that the state was not the only entity that could run a school that served the public’s educational interests, but that in line with Pierce (1925), it recognized that the state lacked the power to require children to receive a particular philosophy of education.
Religion is a private business. If religious establishments wish to remain free of accountability to the government of the people as a whole, just for one example, under that extraordinarily strong definition of privacy that excuses them from property taxes, then they must not expect to take funds whose distribution demands a public accounting.
Right! Many are fraudds anyway.
I thought they all admitted the savings accounts were a mechanism to get around state law and put in vouchers. Why would they “bristle” at plain language unless they’re trying to mislead their voters?
What do you mean by: “A voucher is a voucher is a voucher”? Vouchers are a specific way of allowing public money to be used for educating children for the public in privately operated schools. Tax scholarships, savings accounts, etc. are different ways. To prefer one over another is normal.
Shouldn’t Nevada’s families be allowed to select their own educational system? A just published poll – of nearly equal numbers of democrats and republicans – found that 61% of Nevada voters support the Education Savings Accounts. The poll (sponsored by a pro-school choice organization) is available here: http://www.federationforchildren.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/NevadaPoll9-2.pdf
Not every means of supporting school choice is a voucher – not that they are all bad!
Craig,
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
A voucher by any other name is a way of transferring public money to nonpublic schools, in some states, to religious schools that are expressly prohibited in the state constitution. If you think religious schools should be funded by the public, change the state constitution.
Ravitch writer,
Yes, many state constitutions need to come more in line with the current reading of the Federal Constitution. The reason many school choice plans are, as you say, operating in violation of state laws, is that the state leadership recognizes the veracity of the Supreme Court’s reasoning. You are right; the nineteenth century state Blaine Amendments that often block religious school choice should be changed to reflect our more mature understanding of religious liberties.
And Yes, vouchers are a way of transferring public money to non-public (private) schools… and different ways have different names. By the way, why use public accountability to define a “public” school? Why not view all schools that fulfill the goals for which the public supports education as a type of public school? Maybe call them “publicly supportive”?
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Craig,
This is a site that supports public education. Did you notice? The overwhelming majority of readers don’t believe in transferring public funds to religious schools. We think it is a mistake. It segregates our communities. There is a good reason why Thomas Jefferson called for a separation of church and state. Can you tell me of one state that has passed a referendum to support vouchers for religious schools? Just one.
Ravitch writer,
I am not big on referendums, but I can show you a growing number of states that through the democratic process now support school choice. But why do you fear religious schools segregating our communities? Most desegregation movements have been religious movements. Perhaps if American children had more access to good religious schools that gave them a better moral foundation that secular schools can deliver, there would be less crime, greed, and public discord. Modern society is built upon the educational foundations we now have… I let you judge whether we are progressing.
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“Ravitch writer”?? You do realize Diane maintains this blog herself, right? She doesn’t have a stable of writers that write under her name. Unless something is specifically attributed to another writer, you can assume Diane wrote it herself.
Dienne
I would love for this to be true, but since there are so many posts, I have decided she must have a team working with her… even if she puts the finishing touches on each one. I need more convincing! >
It’s not for anyone to convince you, it’s for you to prove otherwise.
Dienne
I am not too pigheaded! If you have first hand knowledge that Dianne is the sole author of her blog, let me know. If this is the case, I will be very impressed with her productivity. I know I could not keep up her pace!
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Referenda have consistently voted DOWN “school choice” in the form of vouchers, tax credits, etc. Voters do NOT support them. Anywhere.
Craig: Why would Diane lie about not having a staff?
Where did I ever claim that Diane lied? I assume many large blogs have teams that write under one well known name. With the rate that Dr. Ravitch’s blog produces diverse posts, and with the assumed fullness of her writing and speaking schedule, it make sense to me that she has help. (Additionally, many posts seem too emotional and shallow to come from her educated mind). I have nothing invested in saying she doesn’t write everything on her blog, I just felt funny addressing my response to her when I didn’t think it was her… thus, “Dear Ravitch writer…” And if a representative of the blog (Diane if she does it solo) corrects me, I will stand corrected! >
Craig,
Stand corrected. I have no helpers. No assistants. No researchers. Just me and the typing skills I learned in junior high and the history I learned under the mentorship of Lawrence Cremin.
Oh, brother. You must a shill of some kind. Parents NEVER choose the private schools–private schools ALWAYS pick the kids, and then they soup up the curriculum so they can get the easy, high-achieving kids. That is how these ridiculous private schools brag about how “rigorous” they are. They don’t have to take any of the so-called riff-raff.
You obviously know zip about the Nevada constitution. Public schools there MUST be funded.
Susan:
A shill?! Actually, most religious schools don’t want my help (they don’t want state money that would likely bring state intrusion) and my organization has been unfunded for six years. However, I believe religious liberties and the public good call for equal funding of diverse parent chosen schools – with minimal state oversight.
As to private schools picking their kids, there is some element of truth to this. Partly, this is created by the public schools system. When tuition based, schools must appeal to parents who can afford the tuition. This has forced schools to become college prep. I would expect greater school diversity to appear when funding is no longer tied to the need to attract wealthier families.
“Picking” needs to go both ways. Mission driven schools must be able to focus on children that support their mission, but families must have the right to choose a school without undue discrimination. As to Nevada’s public school funding, it is good that they fund “public schools” for those who want to attend them.
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Until very recently, with the perverse promotion of Corporate Core, state and federal governments have never had nor legitimately sought “the power to require children to receive a particular philosophy of education”. There has always been the maximum freedom, within reason, for parents to choose private institutions of education for their children.
What state and federal governments have always been required by their constitutions to do is to require publicly funded institutions, organizations, and facilities of all kinds, along with private contractors receiving public funds, to be accountable to the people for the democratic principle of equal protection under the law.
And, yes, there is a particular philosophy pervading that provision of equal protection, but I don’t think it serves the purpose of the people to subvert it.
The problem with vouchers is it ties every kid to Common Core and high-stakes testing. If you get the Catholic, Lutheran and Christian kids in the system of “government controlled private schools” the game is over, no one can escape the high-stakes testing, but the super rich. Vouchers are a game of smoke and mirrors and control over the kid. One World Order here we come!
Mr. Engelhardt is the head of SACE – Society for the Advancement of Christian Education. SACE is an educational organization dedicated to strengthening the Christian community by making Christian schools available to all families. It is also dedicated to strengthening the nation by supporting the move to a “plural” system of public education – a system that allows families to choose good educations within the world-view framework of their choice. (Keep it up Craig, and soon we will NO religion for our kids! You might want to read the Doug Wilson.)
It should be a slam dunk to eliminate vouchers in Nevada. The constitution there REQUIRES public schools be funded.
There has been an enormous unprecedented national attack against the Nevada ACLU already.
It is obvious that the ALEC powers that be and the trolls on this thread are paid operatives. As are the 100s of strategists very interested in pushing this new super voucher in Nevada. The energy to protect this garbage is largely coming from outside the state.
This voucher has one requirement – 100 days of public school attendance. Then checks for just about anything “educational” will come on a regular basis or collect in an account to be used later.
Most private schools in Nevada are religious. If the money is to be used by a private school it is most likely a religious institution.
And the ways this “parent self-policing” voucher can lead to abuse and fraud are too numerous to write here. The Treasurer regulating this is an extremist and not able to track or regulate it. The informational meetings are a circus and run by a former employee of the local Koch brother think tanks who now works for the crazy Treasurer.
This voucher is bad on so many levels and I believe should be of national concern because what happens in Vegas is not going to stay in Vegas.
Vouchers are a device for injecting a particular type of market dynamics, the dynamics of private individuals competing in a zero-sum game for individual commodities, into a realm where those dynamics do not belong and where they are ultimately destructive. That is the realm of cooperative, public, social institutions that must rise above the myopia of short-term private interests if they are to sustain themselves at all over the long haul of history.
A correspondent on Facebook passed along a link to the following essay —
Kern Alexander • “Asymmetric Information, Parental Choice, Vouchers, Charter Schools, and Stiglitz”, Journal of Education Finance, Fall 2012.
To which I added —
Yes, that and the fact that parents of school-age children at a given time are not the sole stakeholders in public schools, so why should their vouchers outweigh all other votes as to what sort of schools we should have?
As has been famously said, “The child is not the mere creature of the State; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations” (Pierce vs. Society of Sisters, 1925). This is one good reason parents should individually have a say in their child’s education! However, even in this case, this did not mandate the funding of private schools.
However, the political process has apparently determined that the public’s education system would include parentally chosen private schools. Whether the “system” has followed the law is yet to be seen!
For those who think voucher is great, please take a look at Milwaukee WI specifically. We are ground zero for voucher and charter schools. Yes, the majority are religious schools, but they have problems with student performance and segregation just like any other schools in urban areas. They use the voucher to keep their churches & schools in business. Then there are other vouchers that are not religious schools. Those are a major gamble for parents as there is no accountability of any kind, so, buildings may be horrible, teachers may not have degrees or certification and they disappear in the middle of the night.
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