A Bad Proposition
2 Comments Published November 4th, 2007 in National and International Issues, Southern Utah Talking Points and Questions.If your experience is like mine, your phone has been ringing off the hook to get you to vote for or against Utah’s Referendum 1 about school vouchers. Billboards line the highways. Ads clutter the TV screen. Yesterday, we were surprised when one of our neighbors even made the long drive up our dirt paved lane to deliver a campaign brochure in person. She even had a campaign T-shirt on.
Without getting into the specifics of Referendum 1 itself (I’m against it … but that’s not what seems important just now) I’m struck by how much money and effort is being spent on the battle when that same money and effort would make such a huge difference in the actual education of Utah kids. The Deseret News estimates that $8 million will be spent on just this one campaign. Since only 250,000 people will likely vote on it, that’s over thirty bucks per vote! It would be over $8,000 per Utah school.
Maybe times have changed or I was wierd as a kid (probably both), but I would have put in a little more effort at school for a cool T-shirt. If we’re going to buy ad’s and T-shirts, why not spend that money helping kids get educated?
Once again, we have our priorities all screwed up.
I’m curious as to whether or not a program like Referrendum One would increase test scores and help children take education more seriously. Would it spur more educational competition?
I wonder if this would be a good option for North Dakota, where rural schools are being consolidated.
Thanks for the info and the perspective. I would love to hear more about why you don’t think it’s a good idea.
Well … You can hear a lot about why it would, or wouldn’t work, here in Utah.
The issue has become very emotional and it’s become a symbolic issue for the battle between people who believe that it’s possible for government to do something right and people who think the best government is always, without question, the least government.
I guess the reason I don’t want to start funding purely private schools is that I’m in the first camp. There are enough things dividing up America. Public schools, where we have to get along together somehow, is one thing that makes us a little bit united.
Something I keep in mind is that one very successful example of purely private education can be found in throughout the middle east. They’re called “madrassas” there. Somehow, I suspect that’s what the proponents of private schools really want here.