Despite Poor Academic Results Groups Sue to Grow Private School Voucher Program
A few weeks ago a pro-school privatization organization, Institute for Justice, announced a lawsuit against the State of Nevada over the impact of AB 458 to private school vouchers recipients, scholarship granting organizations and businesses receiving tax incentives.
Though pro-voucher advocates are framing the suit as “saving vouchers,” in reality, the voucher program did not lose funding. The controversy over some students losing their scholarships is actually the result of a single scholarship granting organization interpreting a law passed this legislative session (AB 458) differently than all other scholarship organizations. Certain families who went through this organization for their voucher funds were the only ones whose funds were not renewed, leaving those students in limbo as the law’s purpose is clarified by the State.
To be clear, AB 458 did NOT cancel funding for the voucher program but only ended the requirement that funding for the controversial program grow by 10% each year. Given that growth in public education funding often struggles just to keep up with inflation (approximately 2%), automatically growing a voucher program with scant accountability and poor results just doesn’t make sense.
Businesses are also suing on the claim that they would not be able to increase their contributions to vouchers because there is no increase in tax incentives. However ,they could choose to continue supporting private school tuition through donations without having to receive any incentive if it’s a cause that they deem so critical.
Ultimately, the courts will decide if the legal argument holds water, but the policy and evidence behind limiting the program’s growth is sound.
Voucher programs don’t work – both in Nevada and nationwide. The latest results from the Nevada Department of Education showed that more voucher recipient scores decreased than increased year-to-year, mirroring similar trends across the nation. For example, Louisiana has seen consistent abysmal results – with voucher recipients performing worse and numerous private schools fraught with poor school ratings, fraud, and cheating scandals.
Lack of accountability in voucher programs has continued to raise red flags. Nevada private schools have no requirement that their teachers be licensed. An analysis by ENN found that of the schools that made the information available, less than 50 percent of teachers were ever credentialed in the state of Nevada, while some schools had no staff with Nevada licenses.
A look at the number of teachers who are licensed at private schools that have Opportunity Scholarship students enrolled. **This chart only includes data from schools who make staff information publicly available. Numbers exclude theology teachers and support staff.**
And the overwhelming lack of accountability – uniform testing, treatment of students with unique needs (private schools are less likely to accept students with an IEP), anti-discrimination, and other issues closely monitored in our public schools – means poor outcomes and underqualified staff may only be the tip of the iceberg. North Carolina, for example, is grappling with testing issues, discrimination against LGBTQ students, and questionable academic content (with one popular textbook claiming the KKK was fighting to protect morality and slaves were treated well by their slave owners). One can argue that teacher quality, curriculum, or treatment of students is the prerogative of these schools because they are private, but if private schools are now operating using public taxpayer dollars, we must demand more.
Ultimately efforts would be better spent advocating for increased dollars for our public schools to ensure all our students have access to a quality education regardless of religion, sexual preference, gender, race or income.
To learn more about national efforts to fight private school vouchers, check out the new Public Funds Public Schools campaign supported by Education Law Center, Southern Poverty Law Center and the SPLC Action Fund.
About Educate Nevada Now
The Rogers Foundation, a Nevada leader in support of public education, joined with local, state and national partners to launch Educate Nevada Now (ENN) in 2015. The organization is committed to school finance reform and improved educational opportunities and outcomes for all Nevada public school children, especially English language learners, gifted and talented students, students with disabilities or other special needs, and low-income students.
|
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education and commented:
Forest Gump Logic: Stupid is as stupid does!!
Are the vouchers being used as a way to fund Catholic Churches?
The Heartland Institute associated with the Koch’s, quoted Kentucky’s Catholic conference as saying, choice has improved educational outcomes across the board in other states.
In California, the superintendent of Los Angeles Catholic schools joined the Pahara Institute.
At Loyola, a professor in pastoral studies described a corporate takeover in the ministry of U.S. Catholic education.
scary mix: school reformers and Catholic ministry
My description- Prosperity Catholics-
More can be learned about them at the National Catholic Reporter in an article that features a profile of Tim Busch. Other topics covered include Legatus (founded by Domino Pizza’s Stephen Monaghan) and Trump’s Steve Bannon.
The Catholic school chain Cristo Rey is in almost 1/2 the states. Reportedly, they incorporate blended learning and they purchase Common Core aligned curriculum. The Gates Foundation gave them $12 mil. and taxpayers in Ohio fund their voucher students at $6,000 a student.
What is wrong with Nevada? Aren’t Nevada politicians aware that voters in every state around Nevada are dead set against diverting public funds to religious and other special interest private schools? Here are the referenda: California, 1982,1993, 2000; Oregon, 1972, 1990; Washington, 1975, 1996; Idaho, 1972; Utah, 1988, 2007; Arizona, 2018. The average vote against tax aid to private schools was 2 to 1 in those states.
Maybe the following info. is just a coincidence. Percent of population that is Catholic (Wikipedia)
Nevada- 25%, Oregon- 12%, Wash.- 17%, Idaho-10%, Utah- 5%, Ariz. 21%.
Of the states you listed only one has a higher percentage than Nevada, California.
The Milwaukee Sentinel Journal has very good articles about vouchers and the Catholic school and parish experience that resulted.
The Gates Foundation gave $12 mil. to a Catholic school chain that is now in almost one-half the states.
One article in particular at the Manhattan Institute (Koch-linked) appears to show a preference for Catholic schools over charter schools. Speculating- Catholic schools have fewer unionized teachers. In contrast, charter schools have been unionizing.
Have you ever been there?
What isn’t wrong with Nevada?
The single worst thing about ed reformers is how they mislead the public. They CONSISTENTLY sell these programs dishonestly as “small” or “experimental” and when they get their foot in the door they ALWAYS expand, whether the experiments succeed or not.
They’re not “small” and they’re not “experimental”. Neither one of those things is true.
If you want to privatize public education, and you DO, then RUN on that.
That they got away with this bait and switch they did, where they sold vouchers as “better” schools and then when that wasn’t true they smoothly and uniformly switched gears and started selling “choice” for choice’s sake should have discredited them. But no. They all marched along to an entirely different slogan. They didn’t miss a beat.
Ohio ed reformers actually took this one step further. They expanded vouchers (again) while contributing NOTHING to the public schools in the state, then they EXEMPTED their preferred private schools from the garbage tests they insist every public school kid take. They have now set up two tiers of schools- the disfavored public schools and the preferred publicly-funded private schools. We get the garbage fads and gimmicks they sell, and the private schools get the funding.
It would be better for public school kids if they would stay out of our schools completely.
We don’t need any more “help” – please stop helping us.
Misleading the public is deformers ‘ forte.
It is their gift and their talent.
You can’t blame them for wanting to do what they do best.
Doesn’t matter what state. Vouchers and charters were never meant to educate children. They were meant to destroy public schools with private profiteering. There are a few reasons:
1) To narrow curriculum and reduce critical thinking skills
2) To destroy teacher unions, because they tend to vote with Democrats.
3) To enhance the ability to private industry and investments firms to profit from education, its ancillary supplies, software, computer technology and books.
4) To develop inconsistency in the curriculum, creating a lack of uniformity and a patchwork of different facts and literacy, through which to control the population more easily.
And, in the case of Nevada, they do this over and over and over again, revealing that good education can’t possibly be the motive.
The Manhattan Institute (linked to the Koch’s) posted a paper that can be read to indicate a preference for vouchers for religious schools over charter schools. Readers of the article can deduce the reasoning for the preference. “Catholic Schools and Truth Decay”, by Max Eden.
I agree with you, Pam. As you state, the goals are to control the 99%, to destroy worker associations and, thirdly, to cannibalize the children of the poor and middle class for profits.
Bill Gates is the most reprehensible capitalist the nation has ever known.
When we travel, we mostly fly Southwest &, invariably, when travelling to the Silver State, there’s a paid advertisement, “Be a hero!” which tells the reader to be a teacher in Clark County–&–wait for it–by NOT having to be an education graduate, but a college grad who takes a smidgen of “training” (2 wks.? 5 wks.?) &, like Clark Kent, becomes…SuperTeacher!
Smells like T.F.A., eh?