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Originally Posted by wdmso
THE PROS OF SCHOOL CHOICE AND VOUCHERS
The primary benefit of school choice is that it gives parents the power to make choices for their children, based on their needs, interests and learning styles.
School choice encourages competition among area schools, which has resulted in raising the standard of education throughout all schools.
In areas with failing public schools, students have a chance at a better education when their parents have options for their schooling. The voucher program in Washington, D.C. increased student graduation rates by 21 percent overall and parents reported high levels of satisfaction with the schools.
Vouchers eliminate the need for parents to pay twice for their children's education: once with tax dollars and then again in private school tuition.
Many parents feel that it is not the government's responsibility to tell them where their children should be educated. School choice allows them to enroll their child in a school that better fits their religious, cultural or racial background.
A study shows that school choice and the school voucher program in Louisiana has resulted in reduced racial segregation. Many families have used vouchers to avoid the "school-to-prison pipeline" by getting their children out of racist or gang-dominated schools.
THE CONS OF SCHOOL CHOICE AND VOUCHER PROGRAMS
The voucher program takes money away from the public school system. The lower student population may not offset the decreased budget and this can undermine the value of public education. Many believe that families with the means to send their children to private schools should be responsible for those costs instead of taking money from low-income area public schools.
Many private schools are religious, and opponents of the voucher system believe it constitutes a violation of the separation of church and state.
Public schools are required to meet the needs of disabled and special-needs students while private schools are not, meaning those students are not able to use vouchers.
In some areas, students attending private schools did not perform better academically than public school students. In some cases, students showed no improvement in reading skills and suffered losses in math.
Parents don't always make better school choices for their children. It's important to weigh the pros and cons of each available school as some may not be better than the neighborhood public school.
Private schools can be insular, whereas public schools have a demographic mix of religions, socio-economic groups and cultures. Public schools are important for promoting democracy.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SCHOOL CHOICE
The Brookings Institution and the Center on Reinventing Public Education studied 18 cities offering public school choice and have published a report on how school choice is playing out for families in those cities. The data in their report, both pro and con, can help focus the school choice debate on facts rather than emotions.
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your "cons" apply to the failing schools, primarily. So are you saying we should force inner city kids to stay in failing schools, to make life easier on the people who work at the failing schools? Isn't this supposed to be for the kids?
school choice can exclude religious schools.
No strong arguments there. The people in the cities want it, because they know it will help their kids.