Another good idea, gone wrong..., Warning: as the title hints... VENT

First off, let me preface this by saying that I was pro- school vouchers when I researched and read about the bill that was being introduced and the results from test school districts were impressive.

Then....

I went to visit a private school that I am thinking of sending Ashley to for Kinder next year. I liked the school, the principal, and the teachers. I was impressed with their scores on testing, but more so with kindergarten teachers. I really liked how they interacted with the kids and the environment of the school. Then, the principal was telling me that if we had lived in a certain city's school district then we would be eligible for a voucher and able to send our kids there for free. But, only if we lived in that particular school district. A modified version of school vouchers had passed in our state this past fall (somehow I missed this because I am usually up to date on issues)

When vouchers were first introduced, it was a program for ALL... it was designed to give everyone an opportunity for a good education regardless of where you lived, your race, or how much you made. Now it has turned into another social program for those under a certain income. So... the wealthy can afford to send their kids to a decent private school, the poor can send their kids to a decent private school for free, and once again the middle income family is left out. It will be a stretch for us to afford the tuition and we will have to make sacrifices. On top of that, we have to drive Ashley there when the targeted school district gets busing and is farther away.

What was wrong with the way the educational bill for vouchers was originally introduced??? They were having great results with it in the test areas, why mess with success??? I am sorry to vent, but this just makes me angry. Don't get me wrong, I am glad that some of the under-priveledged kids will have the opportunity for a good education that they otherwise would not have, but why target just those families? Doesn't everyone deserve a decent education?

I totally understand what you are saying. I wish there was a way to help the goverment see when they are messing up a good idea.

Oh I SO agree...

On a related but not really note.. My family and I have been waiting almost 2 months to get help with insurance (Medicaid or whatever). In the UP, it took a day. Here it takes months (I'm sure someone has waited longer than we have but this is my experience with it). And then after those months have passed, when they originally said "It'll cover back to Nov. 1st" and now say it'll only cover from Jan. 1st. So what about those times when Garred had to go to the ER cuz his sciatica was practically paralyzing him? Now we're stuck with those bills because we weren't first priority. I understand that we aren't quite as bad off as some people but we do NOT have the money for hospital bills... That's all I want is insurance that I can afford... Sorry to vent in your vent.. I hope I wasn't being rude, I was just relating to the situation. Sorry if my little vent is rude.

Not rude at all... I understand your frustration.

yep middle class familed always get the short end of it all.

What school are you looking into?

I do not feel comfortable posting the school name on the web, but I can send you the information if you are interested for Kaitlin.

IIRC (but it's all a fairly distant memory now ) their was some issue with the way the bill was drafted. If I'm also recalling correctly, the vouchers were being largely underused and not by the "target" population. Irrespective of that, you weren't the only one taken aback by the law change so that should make you feel better!

Despite the fact that my child attends a private school, I'm still on the fence about school vouchers for all. Perhaps a tax adjustment might seem in order, but the State paying for my choices . . . .well, I'm just not sure. I should justify this with the fact that I just saw on paperwork yesterday that our family income (if we were a family of 4, not 3) would qualify us income wise for some state programs. We are definately middle class. I do live in an area where our public school are considered better than acceptable with 2 of our elementaries earning an academic excellence standing last year. It's my choice to keep my kid off the public school bus (stories I know would give any parent nightmares), in a small school setting with a moral and academic standard I think suits her best. Because the State offers me a free, acceptable option, I guess I just don't get why they should pay.

Anyhoo, I remember reading about the issue and did a search. Unfortunately, I have to pay for any article older than 60 days and I think the changes were instituted before this past school year, so I couldn't get that for you. I did find this recent story, though. Hope it helps.


VOUCHER PLAN STARTLES CITY SCHOOLS
27,352 students would be eligible in Columbus
Published: Wednesday, December 20, 2006
NEWS 01E
By David Conrad
FOR THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Eligible for vouchers?

About 27,700 students who attend 73 Franklin County schools could apply for vouchers next year under revised rules being considered by state lawmakers. The new rules would expand eligibility to students whose public schools were in "academic emergency" or "academic watch" -- the bottom two grades of the state ratings -- at least two of the past three school years.

Columbus Public Schools

* Elementary schools: Arlington Park; Avondale; Beck; Brentnell Alternative; Broadleigh; Burroughs; Clarfield; Dana Avenue; Deshler; Douglas Alternative; East Linden; East Pilgrim; Easthaven; Fair Alternative; Fairmoor; Fairwood Alternative; Fifth Avenue Alternative; Heyl Avenue; Highland; Innis; Koebel; Leawood at Koebel; Liberty; Lincoln Park; Lindbergh; Linden; Linden Park I.G.E. Alternative; Literature Based Alternative at Hubbard; Livingston at Beck; Main Street; Maybury; McGuffey; Medary; North Linden; Northtowne; Oakmont; Ohio Avenue; Reeb; Scioto Trail; Scottwood; Siebert; South Mifflin; Southwood at Reeb; Stockbridge; Sullivant at Franklinton; Trevitt; Valleyview; Weinland Park at Second Avenue; West Broad; Windsor Academy

* Middle schools: Barrett; Buckeye; Champion; Clearbrook; Clinton; Crestview; Eastmoor; Hilltonia; Indianola Math, Science and Technology; Linmoor; Medina; Mifflin Alternative; Southmoor; Starling; Wedgewood; Woodward Park; Yorktown

* High schools: East, South

Groveport Madison

* Groveport Madison Junior High

* Groveport Madison Middle School South

South-Western

* West Franklin Elementary School

* More information about the Franklin County schools that would be affected by a state plan to make more students eligible for private-school vouchers can be found at Dispatch.com/web.

Source: Ohio Department of Education
The Hot Issue
Should Ohio provide school vouchers to allow parents to move a child from a struggling public school to a private one? Comment at dispatch.com.
Columbus Superintendent Gene Harris criticized legislative plans to expand a statewide voucher program without public debate or proof that the program was working.

Under the new formula, students from 70 struggling Columbus Public Schools will be eligible to use vouchers to pay for private-school tuition. This year, the first where vouchers were offered statewide, 29 Columbus schools were on the list.


"I certainly had no idea this was going to happen," Harris said. "You need to make sure a program is effective before it is expanded, and when you are making a change in public policy you should be having the broadest level of public debate."

Columbus has the most voucher-eligible schools and accounts for about 30 percent of the total 235 buildings affected across the state. The next closest school district is Cincinnati, with 28.

Rep. Larry Flowers, of Canal Winchester, and other Republicans stressed that lawmakers are not increasing the number of voucher slots and defended changing the law.

"I feel it's important that we give parents additional choices for their kids to get the best educational opportunity they can," he said.

Under current law, students could seek vouchers if they attended or were to start at schools in "academic emergency" or "academic watch" for three straight years. Those ratings are equivalent to an F and D, respectively, on the state rating scale.

The bill, approved by the House 72-21 and the Senate 21-12 yesterday, would include schools in those ratings for two of the past three years.

Gov.-elect Ted Strickland has not supported expanding vouchers or charter schools, and some are saying that Republican lawmakers rushed the change to enact it before he takes office. The bill now heads to Gov. Bob Taft.

Of Franklin County's 12 state lawmakers, 10 voted in favor of the bill, including House Minority Leader Joyce Beatty, D-Columbus.

Beatty said House Bill 79 was as good as she could expect, mainly for what it didn't do -- it didn't add voucher slots, increase the number of charter schools or require health-care pooling for school employees.

Two other Columbus Democrats, Sen. Ray Miller and Rep. Mike Mitchell, voted against it.

"Until we give the proper priority to funding public education, I'm not going to be supportive of alternative education schemes," Miller said.

The voucher program, called Educational Choice, provides $4,250 for students up to the eighth grade and $5,000 for high-school students. Every student in 73 Franklin County schools -- 70 in Columbus, two in Groveport Madison and one in South-Western -- will be eligible under the new rules, including, for the first time, two high schools: Columbus' East and South.

"I think it's a great thing," said Susan Zanner, executive director of School Choice Ohio, an advocacy group for vouchers and charter schools. "In the first year, we saw that parents wanted to be more involved, and I'm just thrilled that lawmakers were receptive to these increases in parent interest."

Robyn Taylor, president of Columbus Council of PTAs, expressed concern.

"I'm worried about the children that aren't going to receive these vouchers and will be left at these struggling schools," she said. "There needs to be more resources allocated to the schools the children are currently attending. Everyone needs to know that this is going to take a communal effort to fix."

Statewide, 14,000 vouchers are available, but only 3,141 took advantage this year. The change in the formula will make many more students eligible, though. In Columbus Public, about 13,000 students were eligible before, compared with 27,352 under the new rules.

Mark Real, president of the education-advocacy group KidsOhio.org, predicted the private schools would be overwhelmed.

"We found last (time) that many of the private schools in Columbus were only offering a handful of seats," he said. "It's too soon to tell, but I think we could be seeing a new problem here."

Some private schools are excited, though.

"We are sort of holding our breath and aren't sure what to expect at this point," said Troy McIntosh, assistant superintendent of Worthington Christian schools. "But we would love to have more involvement in the program. It depends on the grade level, but if we had 15 to 20 students apply next year, there's a good chance we could take them all."

The schools took three students last year, because of a lack of applicants.

Dispatch reporter Jim Siegel contributed to this story.

rmessinger@dispatch.com

I understand your frusteration. I believe they dropped the voucher program here in FL after a few years and it worked like you were saying I think. If your school got a low grade (they were graded each year with the standardized tests which were also a point of contention), then you could get a voucher to transfer to another school that had better grades.

I do not feel comfortable posting the school name on the web, but I can send you the information if you are interested for Kaitlin.

sorry did not mean to put you on the spot like that

Just wanted to send some hugs your way! I don't really know what to say, except is there another school that you could send Ashley too? I hope things work out!

Having grown up in poverty on social programs with middle class friends, I know I often had better opportunities---in so many ways! I'm grateful, but I do agree that the middle class gets shafted and overlooked. My mom was in the right income bracket for me to get CETA funded summer jobs as a teen---I worked apprenticeships at a daycare center and at a magazine, and the government paid me minimum wage (until Reagan ended the program). My best friends, whose parents were making just enough to pay a mortgage, worked at places like Burger King and washing dishes. I ended up doing those non-educational jobs too after the CETA program was stopped, but I remember thinking it was a shame my friends couldn't have had the opportunities I had. Also, I got income-based scholarships for college---my middle class friends had more difficulty paying for college.

This post has been edited by DansMom on Jan 18 2007, 12:48 PM

I do not feel comfortable posting the school name on the web, but I can send you the information if you are interested for Kaitlin.

sorry did not mean to put you on the spot like that

Oh no biggie... you didn't put me on the spot at all.

Thanks Cheryl for the article and the information. Does the school that Olivia attends accept school vouchers under Ohio Ed Choice? If so, what has been the reaction and and has it forced any changes in the school. That is my other fear... I like that this school has smaller class sizes. If they start taking vouchers, are the class sizes going to increase?

I too worked the fast food restaurants and struggled to pay for college myself as my parents had 5 kids and were barely making the bills each month themselves. So, I appreciate your honest comments. But, then when I hear how these programs gave you opportunities, I am glad that that programs were available for someone like you. Someone that didn't take the opportunity for granted and realized the potential these programs had to offer you. I wouldn't have wanted to take that away from you... so I really don't know what the right answer is. I guess I was just venting a little.

I can totally see the fustration there. I would be also.

Dee Dee, I wish I could say that funding college will be easier, but the middle class gets shafted there too. I feel your pain.

You know Dee Dee, I don't know. They encourage everyone to fill out a financial aid application requesting tuition assistance (if you are a practicing Catholic as it's a Catholic school) but that is through the diocese. Of course they ask you on that form how much you can afford to pay and my husbands response is "We'll pay it all if need be" so we did not recieve any assistance. I don't recall seeing any info on the Ohio Ed Choice. Also, we live in a rural area with very few educational options (without at least a 30 min each way commute) other than the public schools. It's public, Catholic or Nazarene for school choice. I know in the larger areas the magnet schools are very popular and are now filling fast so class size would definately be a concern in a metro, I would think.