While supporters of public education were appalled by the Supreme Court decision awarding public funding to religious institutions, conservatives were disappointed that the decision did not go far enough to clear away any barriers to vouchers.
Martin West, a professor at Harvard, expressed his chagrin in this article in Education Next. West was mentored at Harvard by choice advocate Paul Peterson. Peterson has trained a generation of younger scholars who reflect his views on school choice, including West, the late John Chubb, Terry Moe, Jay Greene and Patrick Wolf of the University of Arkansas. Peterson is known for his influential protégés, who have formed a powerful cadre favoring school choice.
Now that the Court has a clear majority of five conservative justices, will separation of church and state survive? Not clear. One more Trump appointment to the Supreme Court, and Petersen, West, et al, can throw a party to celebrate their success at undermining public education in America and enabling every religious school–schools that teach creationism, schools that exclude children of other faiths, schools that exclude children with disabilities, schools that discriminate against LGBT children, schools that offer subpar education, schools that have no certified teachers–to get public funding. What a victory. Sad.
Education Next is funded by rightwing foundations and the reliably conservative Hoover Institution.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Could someone explain to me how giving away government money for people’s personal choices is a “conservative” position? So since food, housing and transportation are just as fundamental as education, do conservatives now support the government passing out money so everyone can have their choice of dining options, houses and cars? And it better be a lot of money, because we certainly want the poor people to have the same choices as rich people, amiright?
People receive food stamps (SNAP), and are able to make their own choices, as to which food they wish to buy, as long as the choices are for food for human consumption. If a food-stamp recipient wants to buy Cheetos and soda pop, that is OK.
People receive Section 8 housing, and are permitted to obtain housing as they see fit.
I ride publicly-operated busses and subway trains, paid for with tax dollars, I can ride or not ride as I see fit.
College students get BEOG money, and they can use the funds on tuition, expenses, books, or any expenditure they wish.
Giving recipients choices in how to spend their publicly-supplied money, is a conservative position.
Charles,
Destroying democratically controlled community schools is not a conservative position. It is an anarchist position. A school is not a grocery store or a bus or a taxi. Do you expect the government to give you a voucher for police and fire services? Why not?
“People receive Section 8 housing, and are permitted to obtain housing as they see fit.”
Um, yeah, maybe. Within a very narrow range of generally sub-standard housing that accepts Section 8 vouchers.
Basically the same with food stamps – all the food you choose to eat, so long as you can choose it on $5/day.
“I ride publicly-operated busses and subway trains, paid for with tax dollars, I can ride or not ride as I see fit.”
But I don’t want to ride the bus or the subway. Why can’t the government just give me a voucher for a car? Why don’t I get a choice???
Whatever happened to allowing the poor to have the same choices as the rich?
I do not expect any government to give me a voucher for police/fire protection. Because I have an ADT alarm, I do get a rebate and discount on my homeowner’s insurance. You might consider that a “partial voucher”.
The reason that I expect no voucher payments for police/fire protection, is that the commonwealth of Virginia, and Fairfax County are specifically charged to provide these services to the community. There is a common good served, by the community pooling resources to provide these services. Expecting a voucher for police/fire protection is absurd.
No one is saying that schools are taxis or food service. That comparison is absurd, as well.
When I was in college, I received BEOG’s and GI Bill payments. These were provided by taxpayers. I was given complete freedom to choose my education, my course of study, and the balance of the funds, I was free to spend on any item I chose.
The public college in my town, Western Kentucky University was not destroyed, by my receiving BEOG’s. In fact, the college benefited from my receiving this public money, and choosing to attend the publicly-operated college.
Providing choices to students at the university level, is inherently democratic. Each student can choose his course of study. The institutions which provide educational services, are chosen in a (basically) free market. Institutions which cannot deliver quality instruction will fail. Institutions which satisfy the needs of the students, and deliver quality, will thrive.
This system works exceedingly well, at the university level. There
is no reason to believe that providing parents/students similar choices at the K-12 level, will not produce a similar result.
In a free market of education, no matter the level, there will be successes and failures. Inherent in the right to succeed, is the right to fail. Schools which cannot survive the discipline of the marketplace, will fail. That is the cruel reality of the market.
Giving individual parents and students control over the direction and spending of their education dollars, is inherently democratic and conservative.
Forcing students to attend a failing government-run school, based solely on their zip code, is fascism.
Charles, the rebate on your homeowner’s insurance does not come from the government.
Public schools are common goods like fire and police.
No more comments today. You have exceeded your quota.
“The reason that I expect no voucher payments for police/fire protection, is that the commonwealth of Virginia, and Fairfax County are specifically charged to provide these services to the community. There is a common good served, by the community pooling resources to provide these services. Expecting a voucher for police/fire protection is absurd.”
The exact same thing applies to K-12 education. The commonwealth of Virginia and Fairfax County are specifically charged to provide K-12 education services to the community. There is a common good served by the community pooling resources for these services. Expecting a voucher for education is absurd.
Your comparison with higher education (as has been pointed out ad nauseum) is falacious because the commonwealth and the county are not charged with providing that service. That is an individual choice.
Charles, once again, I’m afraid, you fail to understand the terms of this discourse. And your analogies are patently illogical. I have neither the time nor the inclination to school you on this. That said, you might want to educate yourself on the notion of a “public good,” which goes all the way back to the Roman Republic’s idea of “civitas.”
Do you, by any chance, read books?
Yes, I think the government should give out fire department vouchers and after they are used, you would be out of luck — your house would just be allowed to burn down.
This is actually a very conservative position: conserves water and gas for the fire trucks. Also conserves future heating oil and electricity cuz there is no longer any house to heat or electrify.
A very sensible position, all in all.
Q Your comparison with higher education (as has been pointed out ad nauseum) is falacious because the commonwealth and the county are not charged with providing that service. That is an individual choice. END Q
I disagree. The Commonwealth of Virginia runs a university system, supported by taxes paid by the residents of this state. See
https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/top-public-universities/s/virginia/
Residents (and non-residents) may attend these colleges, and be supported (partially, they all charge tuition), by the public.
And, what is “falacious” about comparing K-12 education with higher education? Publicly-supported education is publicly-supported, whether at the grade school, high school, or university level.
Students receive BEOG’s and are able to have control over the spending. What is the difference between a BEOG for college costs, and a voucher for K-12 costs? Explain it to me.
Charles,
Take notice. I am not going to permit you to post the same comments over and over. If you don’t have a new thought, don’t post the recycled ones.
K-12 education is mandatory. University education is not. Every state Constitution requires the state to provide a universal system of common schools, public schools. No state Constitution requires the state to provide higher education.
K-12 education is a public good, like police protection, fire protection, public parks, public beaches, public roads. They are free and open to all.
Period.
Please stop saying the same things repeatedly.
Message received. Publish what you wish, censor what you wish.
You said:
Q No state Constitution requires the state to provide higher education. END Q
I believe you are wrong. There are many states in which their state constitution mandates provisioning for higher education. These may be universities, vocational/technical/schools, and “Normal” schools (teacher’s colleges, for the training of teachers).
For example:
(From the Arizona state constitution):
State Constitution Education Clause Language
Arizona
“The legislature shall enact such laws as
shall provide for the establishment and
maintenance of a general and uniform public school system, which system shall include:
1. Kindergarten schools.
2. Common schools.
3. High schools.
4. Normal schools.
5. Industrial schools.
6. Universities”
Florida:
Florida
“The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of
the State
of Florida. It
is, therefore, a paramount duty
of the state to make adequate provision for the education
of all children residing within
its borders. Adequate provisi
on shall be made by law for a
uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality
system of free public schools that allows
students to obtain a high quality education a
nd for the establishment, maintenance, and
operation of institutions of
higher learning and other public education programs that the
needs of the people may require.”
Note: Florida recently amended the Constitution to incl
ude a class size limit and early childhood education.
Hawaii:
Hawai’i
“The State shall provide for the establishmen
t, support and control of a statewide system
of public schools free from sectarian control,
a state university, public
libraries and such
other educational institutions as may be d
eemed desirable, including physical facilities
therefor.”
Nebraska:
Nebraska
“The Legislature shall provide for the free in
struction in the common
schools of this state
of all persons between the ages of
five and twenty-one years.”
Utah:
Utah
“The Legislature shall provide for the esta
blishment and maintenance of the state’s
education systems including:
(a) a public education system
, which shall be open to all
children of the state; and (b) a higher educat
ion system. Both systems shall be free from
sectarian control.”
Washington
“It is the paramount duty of the state to ma
ke ample provision for the education of all
children residing within its bor
ders, without distinction or
preference on account of race,
color, caste, or sex.”
“The legislature shall provide for a genera
l and uniform system of public schools. The
public school system shall include common
schools, and such high schools, normal
schools, and technical schools as may hereafter be established.”
Here are the relevant portions from the state constitutions:
Click to access Molly%20Hunter%20Article.pdf
And every state, has a public university system, set up by legislation, to provide for publicly supported universities, technical schools, community colleges, and so forth.
Clearly, higher education is not free in those states. It should be.
K-12 education is free and public and enrolls all who seek to enter.
Q I’m afraid, you fail to understand the terms of this discourse. And your analogies are patently illogical. I have neither the time nor the inclination to school you on this. That said, you might want to educate yourself on the notion of a “public good,” which goes all the way back to the Roman Republic’s idea of “civitas.”
Do you, by any chance, read books? END Q
@markstextterminal:
What am I failing to understand? What about my analogies is illogical? If you do not wish to enlighten me, maybe someone else can.
I have over twelve(12) years of public service. Air Force, State Department, Commerce Department, Defense Department (civilian), and that does not include the contract work I have done on federal projects, including the national weather service, and my ten years in Iraq/Afghanistan, supporting the global war on terror. I have been shot at, and been in artillery barrages.
I well-understand the concept of “public good”.
I have been reading books for nearly six decades. I read books in English, French, Russian, and German. I am currently reading “The worth of War” by Ginsburg, and “The Dirty Dozen” (about the twelve worst Supreme Court rulings in history).
Charles,
Most of what you know about schools comes from reading reactionary publications and you are sadly misinformed.
Q Clearly, higher education is not free in those states. It should be.
K-12 education is free and public and enrolls all who seek to enter. END Q
No publicly-supported education, whether K-12, university, vocational/technical, community college, junior college, or any other instructional program, is free in any state.
Education is a service which is supplied to the public, and paid for by tax revenues. No state, no government, can ever provide anything to the people, unless the state takes money from the people.
“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to take from you, everything that you have”.-Gerald R. Ford.
In most states, the higher education is supported, at least in part, through tax revenues. The balance of the costs are paid by the students/parents in the form of tuition.
State universities are a regressive form of taxation. All citizens pay taxes to the universities, but the tuition often make attending the colleges out of reach for lower-income families.
As Milton Friedman said ” Why should families in Watts, subsidize families in Beverly Hills, who send their children to UCLA?”
Charles,
News flash! Public schools, K-12, are free, paid for by taxpayers because public education is a PUBLIC GOOD.
Exactly, Dienne.
But note that voucher laws are sold with the rhetoric of poor people “having the same choices as rich people,” but are never funded at a level that make possible the same choices as rich people.
Yes, and that’s always the strawman argument raised when people oppose vouchers – “why don’t you want the poor to have the same choices as the rich?” If we really follow that “logic” to conclusion, there would be no rich or poor, which, in fact would be fine with me, but seems a very odd argument for a conservative to make.
“Conservative” as it is self-applied as a ideological descriptor has lost its mooring to the dictionary meaning of the term and is now floating aimlessly at sea.
My grandfather — a farmer who raised a family during the great depression — was a true conservative. He never threw away anything that he thought he could use on the farm.
He also supported public institutions like the Grange and public schools and understood the importance of looking out for neighbors and the rest of the community.
He would not recognize most of today’s Conservatives
SDP,
Today’s “conservatives” are anarchists, wanting to blow things up, not conserve what took generations to build.
They believe in disruption. Disrupting other people’s lives. Not conservative.
“Conservative” only in the sense that they’d bring back the Monarchy if they could.
Time to quit calling them that.
Yes!
Reactionary Regressive Anarchists who would like to return to a time and place in America that never was nor ever will be.
I’d like to know what mind altering substances those folks take. Must be very powerful. . .
. . . Oh, wait, I know that drug, known by its initials g-o-d!
Another good piece on the influence of tech companies in schools:
“It gets very problematic when industry is deciding the content and direction of public education,” said Jane Margolis, a senior researcher at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The Idaho bill read, in part, “It is essential that efforts to increase computer science instruction, kindergarten through career, be driven by the needs of industry and be developed in partnership with industry.”
“When a reporter apprised him of the bill’s language, Mr. Smith of Microsoft seemed taken aback, saying he had not endorsed it. “Broad public education should not be grounded first and foremost in the needs of any particular industry — or in the needs of industry as a whole,” he said.
This is mostly the fault of lawmakers. They’re overly impressed with these people and they believe every word they say. They have to stop fawning over CEO’s.
Can religious schools win public founds for religious texts that teach only one religion? Will local public schools be destroyed as the American ideologues divide us into separate religious, racial and language groups? Is a voucher a hidden barrier to wealthy investors having to pay taxes?
Robert Manley,
The tax credit program for private school vouchers is a tax dodge for wealthy individuals and corporations. If they make a contribution to a designated scholarship fund, they write off the taxes, thus depriving the state of money needed to fund vital services. They may get an even bigger break if they take a federal tax deduction and make money.
I don’t understand why people don’t understand that RELIGION is PERSONAL. I for one DO NOT like others telling me that I have to worship their INVISIBLE frend. Remember the HOLY WARS, which were NOT so HOLY? .
Thanks, Diane, Chiara, Jon, Dienne.
Jon, instead of drinking the KOOK AID, read some books about the history of WARS because of religion.