Mercedes Schneider writes that the legislature in Tennessee is coming closer to passing voucher legislation that would provide $7,300 per pupil to attend a private or religious school.
Governor Bill Lee is making this happen because he found nearly $1 million in prizes that he could hand out to undecided legislators.
The students eligible to get a voucher would be in Nashville or Shelby County (Memphis).
Among 57 private schools in Nashville, only 17 would accept students with a voucher of $7,300, and of course the decision belongs to the school, not the family or the students.
If the schools didn’t like the students they accepted, they can toss them out.
Schneider notes:
The Tennessee voucher saga continues to unfold, but already it holds the same promise as does walking through a field of cow patties after dark in your best shoes.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Bribery by another name.
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What is so terrible about non-public schools selecting who may attend? Ivy League colleges get more applicants, than they have spaces for incoming students. So these colleges select who gets to attend.
Non-public K-12 schools should also select who may attend their schools.
Why the double standard? Why the outrage?
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Ivy League colleges are private. Some have 10 applicants for every seat. Public schools must find a seat for every student.in NYC, there are very popular high schools that have more applicants than they have room for. Those who don’t get in are guaranteed aspot at another high school. Private schools don’t have that responsibility. Nor do charter schools. Nor do religious schools.
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I do not understand your comment.There are many private colleges in the USA. Some have more applicants than seats available. That is why they select the students that they want, and deny admission to others.
There are many private, non-public (K-12) schools in the USA. Some have more applicants that seats available. That is why the select the students they want, and deny admission to others. No non-public school is under any mandate to accept all applicants. This is how they are supposed to operate.
Non-public schools operate under a different set of rules and procedures than public schools. And this is good.
Public schools, are (generally) required to accept all students. Since these schools are tax-supported, that is how they are supposed to operate. Some public (and charter) schools conduct lotteries, or use other criteria to determine their selectees.
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You are repeating my point, Charles. Public schools belong to the public and are responsible for finding a seat for all who apply. That’s why they are public. That’s why we pay for them. Private schools have no such obligation. That’s why they are not public and why we should not pay for them.
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hear, hear
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Private schools and public schools operate under different rules. Agreed. Are you suggesting that no student in a private school, should receive any financial support from the government/taxpayers? None at all?
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I am suggesting that no private school in the K-12 sector should receive a penny, a nickel, or a dime from the public.
Public schools are free to all.
Anyone who wants a private education should pay for it.
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Message received. How do you feel about families with children in non-public schools, receiving state-provided transportation, and books, maps, and other peripherals? All of these have been sanctioned by the Supreme Court.
And should home-schooled children be permitted to participate in extra-curricular activities, like band and sports? The family is paying school taxes, and not sending their children to the public school.
The SCourt ruled that special-needs children can be sent to a private school, and that the school district must pay the costs. (In areas where there is no adequate public school for the child).
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I oppose payment of tuition for K-12 schools. The only textbooks that should be publicly funded are those that meet state standards, not religious texts or fundamentalist indoctrination.
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Nothing is wrong with a private sector business that doesn’t answer to the public refusing to serve all their customers, but not when those private sector businesses are taking public money (taxes) away from public schools that answer to the public.
Most public school districts have elected school boards that not only answer to the public at least once a month in public meetings but also have to answer to the public every time there is an election. Public schools by law must be transparent in what they do and how they spend the public’s money.
Private schools have a CEO and maybe investors that expect a return on their investment and they don’t have to answer to anyone, especially the public even though the public is paying for those high management salaries, inflated rents and paying for the property the private school is built on and the public gets NOTHING back and has no control. Those schools operate in secret and tell citizens who question what they are doing to go away.
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The Tennessee voucher saga continues to unfold, but already it holds the same promise as does walking through a field of cow patties after dark in your best shoes.
This resonates with anyone familiar with cow patties in pastures. Not very pleasant surprises await you.
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Laura, very appropriate analogy for the merde TN’s DeVos loving Gov. Lee has dumped on Tennessee children. Lee likes to play up his Christian brand, until he needs TN’s premier car dealer & porn addict to sell his voucher scheme.
http://tnedreport.com/2019/04/bill-lees-wingman/?fbclid=IwAR1oRLacBsMCPIyLmoS2fEYb2ItMvfVw2qzN7ZjG-drA5Hy9W9kD_keEmeE
https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/pith-in-the-wind/article/21021445/lee-beamans-multimilliondollar-divorce-case-includes-allegations-of-emotional-abuse-use-of-prostitutes
Lee Beaman has been the font of evil in TN for a long time—I’d hoped his ex would strip him of his fortune,
but I guess that was a vain hope.
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It is not ironic, but sad, that evidence continues to grow that students in voucher schools lose ground compared to their peers who remain in public schools.
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