A voucher is a voucher is a voucher. It means shifting public tax money to private schools.
The Democrat-controlled Nevada Legislature rejected Education Savings Accounts vouchers, which would have allowed every family to have a debit card for education. It was hailed by conservatives as the best universal voucher program in the nation. But it will not be funded. However, the Democrats did allocate $10 million for tax credits, which allow wealthy individuals and corporations to donate to a private scholarship fund. What should have been paid in taxes goes to pay for private schools. A rose is a rose is a rose.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/business/article154497234.html

The difference between vouchers and tax credits is like the difference between the theif breaking into your house from a basement or a bedroom window. — Edd Doerr
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I do not see this. What is stolen? What is the analogy? Vouchers merely empower individual parents to have more control over the direction and spending of their education dollars. Parents (with vouchers) may choose to redeem their vouchers at a publicly-operated school. Parents may choose to redeem their vouchers at a non-public school. Tax dollars are still being spent on education. Nothing is “stolen”.
When public money is spent to educate the public’s children, then it is public education. No matter where the money is spent.
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Don’t be so blind as to not understand the analogy, Chas. Or is it don’t be so disseminating as to not understand the analogy? C’mon, tain’t that difficult.
Yes, public monies spent were public monies. Man that’s a tough one to figure out, eh! It doesn’t mean that a private school is a public school. Ay ay ay! Those private schools have demanded from the courts and NLRB that they be considered private entities. And the courts and NLRB have granted them that status.
And yes, it does matter where the money is spent. The public’s tax dollars shouldn’t be going to private schools as the states are constitutionally mandated to provide PUBLIC education not private schools.
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According to your seriously flawed logic, at the end of each tax year, every citizen should get a voucher that covers all the taxes they paid for the previous year: federal income tax, state income tax, state sales tax, property tax, etc. and then decide how and where they will spend that money to support:
A. their family
B. the state and local governments (this includes the military)
C. corporations
D. non-profits
E. infrastructure upkeep and improvements (roads, airports, bridges, railroads, the electric grid, etc.) Wait, I forgot, the Kremlin’s Agent Orange, that corpulent clown wearing baggy suits to hide his fat, the one that’s a malignant narcissist, the serial liar and champion groper of women, wants to give the infrastructure that the public already paid for to corporations so they can profit off of it and make the public pay for it again, and again, and again.
F. all of the above but with an emphasis on “A”.
I wonder if sending your kids to a gritty KIPP or Pearson summer camp school, where the children will be bullied without mercy, so mom and dad can take a cruise, counts as supporting the family.
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Not a rose. Vouchers are farts and a fart is a fart and smells just like a fart.
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I never said that anyone should get a voucher for all of the taxes that they paid, and then decide how to spend the money. That is nonsense.
Consider CHAMPUS (Civilian Health and Medical program for the Uniformed Services).
Military people (and their dependents) are entitled to free medical care at military hospitals. Operations, medicines, psychiatric care, etc. all free. However, there are times, when the military hospital cannot provide the proper care for the patient. There may some special need, that the military hospital cannot provide. There may not be space (beds) at a military hospital. There may be a number of reasons.
If there is a reason, that the military medical system cannot provide the care, in a timely manner, or if the hospital does not have facilities or staff, then the member can apply for CHAMPUS.
If the request is approved, the member ( or dependent) is given a voucher, which can be used at a medical facility outside of the military hospital system.
The cost to the taxpayer is usually identical, to what it would have cost to get the medical care in the military system. Sometimes, it is even less. Bottom Line: The military member, (or dependent) gets the care that they need.
Educational vouchers, can operate on the same basis. If a parent is not able to get the educational services that the child needs, for any reason, then the parent can apply for a voucher.
The cost to the educational system is unchanged, and might even be less. The child gets the educational service.
When the public’s children are educated on the public purse, it is public education.
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Charles says he “never said that anyone should get a voucher for all of the taxes that they paid, and then decide how to spend the money. That is nonsense.”
But no one said, you said exactly that. However, you said that parents should have vouchers paid for by taxes so they could send their children anywhere they want for an education – something that no other country on the planet does.
Opening the door where we give some citizens that have school age children the choice of how to spend even a fraction of the taxes we all pay, opens the door for all taxes collected to turn into a choice system for everything.
People will claim the right to decide how all of their taxes should be spent. Doing this opens a Pandora’s box that will turn into a nightmare. It already is turning into a nightmare. Students already show that most of the parents that take advantage of these vouchers earn above average and already had their children in expensive private schools. All the voucher does is free up some of their wealth to spend on other luxury items or to invest. Those vouchers will subsidize the wealth growth of already wealthy people who are mostly white.
The taxes used to support the community-based, democratic, transparent, non-profit public schools must only go to those schools.
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You say: Q People will claim the right to decide how all of their taxes should be spent END Q
The people already have this right. When citizens pay taxes into the public treasury, they have the right to determine how these funds shall be spent. They exercise this right, collectively, through legislation. The legislature/congress, who are the elected representatives of the people, deliberate, and then approve a budget, and the public’s money is spent.
Sometimes, individual citizens are given public money, to spend as they wish. This is how BEOG’s work. If a citizen is qualified to receive a BEOG, the citizen is given the cash, and he/she may spend it as they wish.
Consider food stamps(SNAP). Citizens are given funds (in the form of food stamps), which can be spent on food for human consumption. They may spend it all on soda pop, and junk food.
Consider GI Bill money. Veterans are given direct monetary grants, paid for by the public, to spend as they wish, while they pursue education.
The “government” does not determine the expenditures of the public treasury. The people do.
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From Charles, wacko logic, as usual.
The people have little or nothing to do with the legislation that is passed in state capitals and Washington DC.
The people vote for the representatives that end up in state legislatures and in the U.S. Congress. That’s as far as the people’s choices go. After that, the elected representatives make all the decisions often against the will of the people.
Often, during elections, the politicians running for office tell the voters what they want to hear and then do whatever they want once they are elected.
Donald Trump, the Kremlin’s Agent Orange, that malignant narcissist in the White House, the serial liar, the groping fool, a lifelong fraud, and con-man, is the perfect example of telling the voters endless lies and then breaking most if not all of them once elected.
For instance, “Trump broke 80 promises in 100 days.”
“One reason for this could be perceptions about his accountability. To become president, Trump made a lot of promises to a lot of people — 663, in fact. In just 100 days of what would be 1,461 days of a first term, Donald Trump has broken 80 promises he made before he was sworn in.”
https://thinkprogress.org/donald-trumps-100-days-of-broken-promises-a4c116bbb2b4
Tracking Trump’s Campaign Promises.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/trumpometer/
Trump’s promises before and after the election
“Donald Trump made a string of promises during his long campaign to be the 45th president of the United States.
Many of them made headlines – from banning all Muslims entering the US, to building a wall along the border with Mexico.
But as he and his White House team approach the 100-day mark of his presidency, it is clear he has shifted his stance on a number of key issues.”
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37982000
To be clear, the people to do not write the budget. The people do not vote on the budget. The President writes the budget and submits that budget to Congress. Congress revises the presidents suggested budget and then votes on it. If the vote is veto-proof, then that is the budget and the voters and everyone who didn’t vote that paid those taxes, has no vote on that budget.
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If you think that no other country on the planet, permits parents choices in directing their children’s education, then you are wrong. Three such nations are Chile, Sweden, and the Netherlands. There may be other nations which have some degree of school choice, I have not yet found any. see
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2017-01-30/little-global-evidence-suggests-school-choice-helps-performance
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Nothing to emulate there.
Sweden’s international scores dropped like a stone after adopting Choice.
Chile was declared the most segregated school system in the world by the OECD.
THE Netherlands can’t match Finland, which has neither charters nor vouchers.
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Omg, Charles.
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