School Vouchers
Teachers unions continue to oppose school vouchers and recently the Utah legislature passed a voucher law in February of this year. The state teacher’s union is calling its members to help repeal this law in a November 6 referendum. The head of the Utah Education Asssociation is drumming allies to pour cash into his cause. Many of the appeals are to out of state supporters. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles has been trying to improve L.A.’s struggling schools. His crusade has been stymied at every turn by standard union obstructionism. The union fights change and any small concession on extra pay or benefits. Recently, the LAUSD board refused to approve a Villaraigosa backed charter school operator request to open eight high schools. The reason –his teachers belonged to a different union that the UTLA Minority kids continue to be stuck in substandard schools.
Hillary Clinton slammed private school vouchers recently and stated that vouchers would lead to the creation of tax-payer financed White Supremacist academies-or even a government funded “School of the Jihad”. President Bush on the other hand has long favored laws that require states to provide vouchers.
In my opinion, inter-city children would benefit since poorer families cannot afford better schools that might be available. Competition between schools is increased leading to greater efficiency and better results in all schools. Parents now pay twice once to the public schools and again to their private schools. The leading critic is the teachers union and with their hugh amounts of dollars, it is difficult to establish a voucher system. Hopefully, someday this scenario may change. Parents who have children in private schools should pay attention to what people like Hillary Clinton and other Democrats say about vouchers and their schools. Gary E. Marsella