What people are saying:

• Facebook User: More propaganda from the Public School/Teachers Union industrial complex.
• Facebook User: Absolutely spot on.
• Facebook User: Republican messaging is tricky. Like Right to Work States that take away worker rights for representation through unions.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User RTW means not being forced to join a union to keep your job.
• Facebook User: Public schools can’t guarantee transportation. The district cut off a majority of our bus routes years ago.
  • Secular Education Association: Facebook User and this is why.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User PS schools also can’t guarantee safety of the children they are in charge of.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User agree!
  • Secular Education Association: Facebook User and this is also why. 🤦‍♀️
  • Facebook User: Secular Education Association which is also why we as parents should have the CHOICE of having our kids educated where we see fit and their funding follow.

    Vouchers only give a fraction of what schools budget per child. We’re saving you money AND protecting our kids.

  • Secular Education Association: Stephi Smallfry Yes. That’s the point.
    Vouchers often cost less because private schools are not required to provide what public schools are required to provide.

    Public schools must serve every child: disabled students, English learners, kids needing transportation, meals, special education, counselors, nurses, protections, due process, and accountability.

    A voucher does not magically cover all of that. It just pulls money out of the public system and hands it to private schools that can refuse services public schools are legally required to provide.

    So no, that is not “saving money.” That is paying less because you are promising less – and leaving public schools with the responsibility anyway.

  • Facebook User: Secular Education Association what? Bus systems were not cut off because of vouchers 🙄
  • Facebook User: Facebook User The bus system costs are a huge strain on schools. So expensive! Wish they’d go back to offering the service only to those living a great distance from the building. Students living 4 blocks from school still use the bus in our area.
• Facebook User: It is still the school’s choice. When all is said and done, those receiving vouchers will already be enrolled in private school. Those poor kids that are supposed to get the vouchers to escape the “failed government schools” won’t get accepted.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User who says only poor kids get vouchers? And who says they’d not be accepted? You’re just throwing a bunch of assumptions without proof out there.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User go back and look at Greg Abbott’s comments. I didn’t make it up.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User try explaining that to Republicans
  • Facebook User: Facebook User The R’s know this, that is why you will see that the majority of students that get to use a voucher are already enrolled in private schools.
• Facebook User: I do not want my tax dollars used to pay private schools or home schoolers, and I was a home schooler.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User I don’t want my tax dollars funding pedos. That’s why we homeschool.

    Parents pay into the system before, during and after our kids are school aged. We deserve to choose whats best for our kids and have our funding follow the kid.

    https://komonews.com/news/nation-world/mississippi-education-system-sees-dramatic-improvement-poorest-cost-per-pupil-demographics-income-reading-math

    Mercer Island School District faces $13.4M sex abuse claim

    https://www.king5.com/video/news/local/female-wrestler-sues-puyallup-school-district-over-alleged-assault/281-ecf837ef-2ce4-4a5b-b61b-7f8ccff2b8ba

    Why Puyallup schools agreed to $300K payout over claim 8-year-old was abused

    https://www.thecentersquare.com/washington/article_a8116096-ffcc-40fc-bd32-eb8ca62d2706.html

  • Facebook User: Facebook User we don’t all get what we want. Unfortunate your parents did not provide a good homeschooling experience for you. Modern homeschooling looks a lot different than in the 60’s though.
• Facebook User: It’s already happening 34 kids in a class and then everyone wonders why little Susie and Billy can’t read?!?! We are stretched thin!
  • Facebook User: Facebook User when my daughter went to public school, one class had 40! 40 kids. She said some kids had to sit on the floor. I’m not kidding, I’m not exaggerating.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User class size has been dropping for decades in public schools with no effect on achievement. That is one reason to favor vouchers.
• Facebook User: All lies.

  Vouchers provide choice, cost less per student than failed public schools cost, decrease class sizes and provide more funds per public student.

  The propaganda and fear mongering is ridiculous.

  • Facebook User: Facebook User Zero perspective Jeff. 🙄🙄🙄
  • Facebook User: Facebook User Tell us how it’s a choice when there are no private schools in rural areas.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User I am in a very rural area. Even here we have charter schools and private academies. One is even online. Some parents homeschool. Vouchers help fund alternatives which may or may not look like your idea of a private school.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User Vouchers do NOT cost less when 75 percent of those receiving public $$$ were already in private school. Try another lie…..
  • Facebook User: Facebook User state your 75% source. Choice is also about getting lower income students into quality education.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User , 73 percent in private or already home-schooled, according to Rand Corp., The 74, 12 News, AZ Republic. Or are these “fake news” as donny & minions love to claim? If lower income is the target ( which it’s obviously not in current GOP regs), cite the success rate.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User The Secular Education Association wants to control the money from taxpayers for power over children. SEA has no interest in empowering parents and students to choose the kind of education they want. SEA desires to monopolize education in the worldview they want qnd control.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User Don’t you assume it has to be private. Choice could also mean going to a different government school in a different district.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User 100% success rate or parents would put them back in the failed public system.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User , “lower income” inducent rate. We already know some private school students who got ” encouraged” out of private schools, so your 100 percent is obviously made up.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User your response makes no sense which doesn’t surprise me.

    Are you against education choice? Especially when it costs taxpayers less?

    What are you afraid of?

  • Facebook User: Facebook User I’ll try to simplify it for you. What rate of ESA applicants are lower income, since you seem to need “sources”. Also, if 74 percent of recipients were either in private schools or being home schooled before expansion beyond “special needs” ( who it was intended for originally), how does that SAVE any tax money, when they were not enrolled anywhere with state funds. Try to respond making some sense to serious questions, not just political talking points.
  • Facebook User: This is pure bullshit vouchers only streak our tax dollars and give it to rich people
  • Facebook User: Facebook User Not true…and you know it !!
  • Facebook User: Facebook User I’m not assuming anything. I see it with my own eyes every day.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User You always say the same thing in many posts, and it’s always untrue no matter how many times you repeat the lie.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User , my response not simple enough for you to understand?
  • Facebook User: Facebook User I guess not. I went to public schools.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User so you believe that parents that are already paying taxes AND private tuition keep their kids there when the private school isn’t providing quality outcomes.

    Got it. Keep preaching.

  • Facebook User: Facebook User Ah, the traditional “no response” response with no backup.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User but you said it was SAVING the state $$$. Lol…..
  • Facebook User: Facebook User , and don’t forget to dig for that “under-privileged” kid figure that are so successful with ESAs. Lol…..
  • Facebook User: Let’s just agree to let public schools push every kid through and claim it’s quality education.
  • Facebook User: So they accept all students regardless of the child’s needs? Behaviors, special education? If they are accepting public funds they should have to meet the needs of all students just like the public schools do.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User less? only because they suck money from PUBLIC schools
• Facebook User: I taught in a Catholic school- no special education and they don’t have to take everyone.
  • Facebook User: Rhonda Diefenderfer – Kochuyt looks like that was in 60’s. Catholic schools WANT to support everyone and make every attempt to. There were many children with special needs at the school we recently attended.
    However, you’re correct. They don’t receive government funds and therefore do not have a full resource room or therapeutic supports.
• Facebook User: WordUp
• Facebook User: Give equal tax dollars to all school children and all schools will be able to afford transportation and lunch. There will be true school choice.
• Facebook User: I was in both private school and public school. Private school first and then went to public school in 7th grade. The biggest difference that I noticed right away was that I went from a class size of 18 to a class size of 32. In public schools if you can’t keep up with the average you just get left behind. But now instead of holding kids back they just passed them without the knowledge they need to successfully complete the next grade.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User this.

    And if you’re advanced, you get in trouble attempting to work ahead while told to patiently sit.all.day waiting for others. There is no independence. It’s do as everyone does. The schools and classroom sizes are out of control.

• Facebook User: The public school monopoly is terrified of parents having power over their children’s education. The public school monopoly knows that if parents had an alternative they would take their children out of the failed public school monopoly.
• Facebook User:
• Facebook User: The public supports school choice because the public school system began to teach social issues ahead of core education such as reading, writing, arithmetic history, geography which many parents and taxpayers want.
• Facebook User: That’s because there is not enough funding and kids are not taught respect. I’m a retired public school teacher. Too many kids in a classroom because of underfunding and also parents not backing the teachers.
• Facebook User: Public schools create student learning failure. Rationally and credibly defend that to the funding public
• Facebook User: Public funds should be used for the good of the public, not diverted to the good of individuals. Example: If you don’t like the services provided by your local police department, should you be able to get a voucher to hire Pinkerton and give up police protection? Not all public schools are equal, but they are public. They deserve the exclusive access to public dollars.
• Facebook User: I’m a retired public school teacher and I had to buy a lot of my own supplies- my salary was not what it should have been with my years of education.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User the public school system needs reform and money. The kids deserve better
• Facebook User: The only schools that parents are pulling their children from are the low performing schools. The high-performing schools parents are trying to get their kids transferred into them. When are y’all gonna realize that? And then when you do look at your leadership from the school board to the superintendent to the principals. The teachers are probably outstanding, but not given the chance to perform.
• Facebook User: School choice all the way. People complain our public education is bad, can you imagine how bad it would be if they had complete control with no competition
  • Facebook User: You mean be like Finland or Germany? Bring it on!
  • Facebook User: Stephen Chene Germany is a hot mess!! Do not compare Finland to Germany. And be sure to look into all Finland has in place to create their system.. it looks nothing like the public school system in the US. Parents are not all willing to use the current US system until it ‘gets better’. Do your research.
• Facebook User: We did not “create” any crisis. Universities are now forced to offer remedial math and ELA programs because students are totally unprepared by their government schools.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User I taught in college. Students were equally unprepared when they had gone to some private schools. It was about the same percentage of students needing remedial courses, whether they had gone to private or public schools. It is always assumed in these anti-public school comments that only public school students need remedial courses. Not true. There are a number of weak private schools too.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User Perhaps although overall private schooled and even homeschooled students outperform their public school peers. Now an argument can be made that publics schools are forced to accept students with backgrounds that have ill prepared them for academic achievement. But they have shown themselves to be unable to overcome those challenges. Time to move on and search for better options.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User And what would you suggest? How do we move on? In my state, NC, 85% of all students go to public schools which have been defunded in every way for years in favor of private schools. We are 50th in the nation for funding public schools and almost last in teacher salaries.
    Should every public school be turned into a private school? Or wouldn’t it make more sense to work on improving public schools with adequate funding and livable teacher salaries, put caps on parental income for private school vouchers, make the private schools which take voucher monies accountable in the same way public schools must be transparent and accountable, and create a system where both public schools and private schools can succeed?
  • Facebook User: Facebook User Look up the Mississippi miracle. Money is not the answer. It has been misdirected for years. Look up proficiency exams from 100 years ago. one-room school houses did a better job.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User “Accountability” clearly doesn’t work. School are graduating students lacking proficiency in math and ELA yet they have high GPAs
  • Facebook User: Facebook User I was referring to financial accountability for private schools as well as being required to publish the EOG scores, which would require a common test with the public schools. All schools that take public monies, whether private or public, need to be accountable and operate under the same requirements.There are many excellent private schools, but I know several religious-based schools that graduate students who lack profiency in reading, writing and math, but their GPAs looked above average. I was on a admission committee for several years at the college where I taught. Grade inflation is rampant in both public and private schools. The GPAs did not match the realities, and many needed to take the remedial classes. If you think these classes are filled with only public school students, you are uninformed.
  • Facebook User: Facebook User the biggest issue is the lack of parent support and these kids all starting at different points based on how much a parent supports them. Kids who have parent support and are being taught inside and outside of the classroom by both teachers and parents are higher academically. So many parents now think that it is acceptable for children to only learn at school and do not expect their children to take accountability in their academics or lives in general. This plays a huge role in our education currently. Let’s discuss the actual problems.
• Facebook User: What percentage of incoming college freshmen need remedial classes? 40%!!! Even Ivy Leagues!!

  Why?? Because public schools just pass kids into the next grade. Even “graduate” them and send them off to college. Where large numbers need to PAY EVEN MORE to finally gain proficiency in reading, writing or math (or all three!!). Because their public schools failed them!!

  NY just hit around $40k per student in public schools. All while NOT improving educational performance. All while enrollment continues a decade long decline. All while admin spending and pay continues to INCREASE (but not teacher pay!?? Lol)!!

  • Facebook User: No, because private schools are stealing our tax dollars to give them to rich people. When public schools preform poorly it is because they are starved by a crisis manufactured to destroy them
  • Facebook User: Teachers would have more choices too. With so many flooding to private and charter schools they can now choose where they want to work.

    Choice is good for all

• Facebook User: This should actually read:

  WHEN THEY SAY ‘SCHOOL CHOICE’, THEY MEAN PUBLIC SCHOOL ONLY.

  No one ever gets a choice.
  All families must be lemmings.
  All children must learn the same.
  A monopoly school must house it all.

  Do people see the massive school issues that are right in front of us?!! Rather than argue school choice rights and supporting our communities, let’s advocate to improve the system…

  Teachers are in overcrowded rooms

  Curriculums are made as a ‘one size fits all’

  Students are forced to wait as the entire class is taught to the weakest link

  Every day is a test, test prep, and assemblies. When is there time for actual learning? And for teachers to enjoy the education process?

  Students are not thriving. This is evident in the lack of character development, joy, independence, and motivation as they head into adulthood.

  Teach to the student and not the pocketbooks of administrators. That’s the public school we want and need.

• Facebook User: Public Schools are abusive and 43 % of the children have medical issues caused by stress.