Its About Putting Choice Back in Parents’ Hands

David Clark, House Majority Leader

The debate over vouchers and public education has been circling Capitol Hill for the past several sessions. This year, the education voucher bill, HB148, has passed through House committee hearings and will be voted on after it is debated today on the floor of the House.
The opponents of vouchers have cast the supporters of this bill as foes of public education, intent on crushing the public education system. I think this is a false and unfair charge. I am a supporter of public education and vouchers. In the past two years, I have voted for record spending increases in the public education budget.
Last session the Legislature increased education spending a record 12.8 percent. I have great respect and admiration for our teachers and the work they do. Both of my parents and my daughter are educators. They have often shared with me their insights, struggles and triumphs as teachers in the public education system.
I will vote for the education voucher bill. Those who support a voucher bill recognize that we expect much, maybe too much, of the public education system. The system is an umbrella that must stretch to provide an education for every child in our state. The needs of our state’s children vary wildly, from quick learners, to first-time English speakers, to those with special needs.
I believe that vouchers offer a modest solution to some of the difficulties public education faces in trying to serve a varied and wide-ranging student body. Vouchers, however, are not a silver bullet that will fix all problems for all people. They do offer a measure of choice to parents when considering what is best for their child’s specific needs.
The Legislature introduced some elements of choice in our public school system, by way of charter schools, some years ago. Vouchers further the ability of parents to make the best decision possible in their child’s education by including more options in the educational tool box.
Opponents of this bill claim that it only serves to provide a benefit to wealthy families for whom a private school education has always been a choice. This is untrue; the bill addresses the ability of a family to pay for a private school education by providing a scale on which vouchers would be given. Vouchers would range from $500 to $3,000 depending on a family’s income.
Others have argued that vouchers will have a negative effect on our public education system and may lead to its ultimate demise.
First, the vouchers will be paid out of the General Fund, not the Education Fund. This means that the money for vouchers would not come from the same pool of money that funds the public education system. It would, instead, come from the pool of money that funds all other state programs like transportation, Medicaid and the courts.
Second, for the first five years of the voucher program, the public school system would continue to receive the funds for any student granted a voucher. This would allow the Legislature five years to evaluate the voucher program while holding public education harmless at the same time. If changes need to be made to the voucher program or to the public education system, the Legislature will be able to address them during this period.
At the end of the day, everyone agrees that the interest of the child is what really matters most. Who is best able to decide the educational needs of a child? I submit that ultimately the decision is best left to the parents.

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