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July 5, 2002/Tamuz 25 5762, Vol. 54, No. 42
Just say 'no' to vouchers
BARRY COHEN
Editor
I attended a Presbyterian day school and a Catholic high school and went to public school only for seventh and eighth grades. Despite my own experience, I can't support the U.S. Supreme Court's determination in Zelman vs. Simmons-Harris on school vouchers.
In a 5-4 decision June 27, the Court upheld a taxpayer-funded school voucher program in the city of Cleveland that enables children to attend religious or secular private schools, magnet public schools, charter schools or suburban public schools.
Arizona doesn't need a voucher system. Our state already has a private-school tuition tax credit that allows individuals to donate up to $625 a year to private-school scholarship organizations and use that sum as a state tax credit. Vouchers, on the other hand, draw public funds from all taxpayers, including those who disagree with subsidizing private education.
Elaine Schreiber, chairwoman of the local Jewish Community Day School Consortium - established to promote a culture of day-school education - likes the tuition-tax-credit system and worries that vouchers would change the way scholarships are distributed.
She argues that the current system enables the awarding of scholarships to a cross-section of the students in the Valley Jewish community, and that the financial-need requirements of voucher programs are stricter and more limiting.
I am concerned also that vouchers would drain resources from an educational budget already spread paper-thin and threatened with future cuts.
Funding for Arizona's public education is a zero-sum game. Voucher money directed to non-public educational institutions would be taken from a public educational budget that ranks 48th in the nation in per-student funding, explains Chris Thomas, legal counsel of the Arizona School Boards Association.
Additionally, there is no proof that students who use vouchers to go to private school perform better than those who attend public schools. According to a 2001 study by the United States General Accounting Office, "Researcher teams for Cleveland and Milwaukee (school systems) found little or no statistically significant differences in voucher students' achievement test scores compared to public school students."
In our nation's history, public schools have helped create a unique culture, as people of different races, religions and ethnicities have learned about one another.
I regret not spending more years in public school. Though I gained a superior academic education, I lost learning from a diverse student body.
While I am not yet a parent, I would welcome the opportunity to send my child or children to public school. A voucher system would jeopardize the likelihood that an effective public system will be waiting for them.
Contact the writer at barry_cohen@jewishaz.com.
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