A Kentucky student highlights problems created by school voucher schemes
As Kentucky voters consider a an amendment to the state’s Constitution that would allow the use of public funds to support private K-12 schools, one private school student is speaking out on why that’s a very bad idea.
One of the scariest things about Amendment 2 is that it basically serves as a blank check for vouchers to non-public schools with no clear place for the funding to come from other than public schools.
Tennessee policymakers should remember, too, that just as in Kentucky, the school voucher scheme is likely to funnel tax dollars from rural districts and send them to urban and suburban private schools.
Of course, that won’t stop Gov. Lee from trying again to pass a universal school voucher bill.
Democratic legislative leaders sent an outline of the policy agenda to members of the media. Among the items included are:
Ending the grocery tax
Free school meals for all kids
Expanded access to health coverage
Raising the minimum wage
Democrats have proposed free school meals before, but the proposal typically is shot down by the GOP-majority in committee.
Estimates of past proposals suggest the total cost would be around $500-$700 million a year. For reference, the state provided more than $500 million to the Tennessee Titans to build a new (smaller) stadium. Lawmakers also passed $1.6 billion worth of corporate tax breaks during the last legislative session. And, Gov. Lee insisted that nearly $150 million be “set aside” for his private school voucher proposal, a plan that failed to secure enough votes to advance in the 2024 session.
The point: We can afford to feed every kid who comes to school every day. Gov. Lee and the legislative majority just don’t want to.
A new California law seeks to prohibit “addictive content” from being served to children during school hours via cell phone apps.
Of course, there are all sorts of problems with implementation and enforcement.
But, the passage of this law points to an uncomfortable reality: cell phone addiction is a “new normal.”
We expect kids to be addicted to their phones, and are now entering the phase of attempting to “manage” that addiction.
Last year, Gallup found that over half of U.S. teens ages 13-19 spend an average of 4.8 hours a day on social media. Female teens spend an average of 5.3 each day on social media compared to the 4.4 hours average of teen males. A Common Sense Media Study found that 97% of kids 11 through 17 years old use their phones at school. The most popular usage among teenagers is TikTok at 32%, YouTube at 26%, and gaming at 17%.
Screens are everywhere. Devices – laptops, tablets, phones. Non-stop screen access for students – at home, school, in their rooms, at after-school activities and jobs.
While these devices offer convenience, educators (and some parents) are noting that 24/7 screen access is creating some problems.
I started Everyschool because I have come to believe that educational technology is not the panacea we’ve been told it is, and while some technology is transformative for some students, screens in schools have become yet another source of technology oversaturation in our children’s lives, often resulting in students being less smart, less happy, and less healthy.
She notes:
The reality is that we need to strike a balance. We should invest in technology that provides students with unique, high-level skills, while limiting tech that produces questionable outcomes, impairs human connection, and exposes students to unnecessary screen time. At Everyschool, we focus on identifying and eliminating problematic EdTech, but we also support incorporating transformative technology when developmentally appropriate into education.
Colorado, Kentucky, and Nebraska all have voucher votes on the ballot.
Peter Greene reminds us:
These are three different approaches to the question of taxpayer-funded school vouchers, but they share the unusual feature of putting voucher programs to a public vote. All school voucher programs in the U. S. were passed into law by legislatures, sometimes over strong objections of the taxpayers. No taxpayer-funded school voucher program has ever survived a public vote.
The third issue that the U.S. Supreme Court must address is that it needs to determine whether those who run charter schools are state or private actors. This is because the vast majority of people who run charter schools are private groups. However, these charters are defined by law as public schools and are supported by tax-payer dollars. If the Court rules that those who operate the charter schools are state actors, then because they must be non-sectarian, religious charter schools will be ruled unconstitutional. However, if the Court rules that charter schools are private actors, then religious charter schools will be ruled constitutional.
In Kentucky, the Commonwealth’s highest court found that because charter schools are operated by private actors, they are essentially private schools. In other states, that has not been the case. It will be interesting to see how the U.S. Supreme Court sorts this out.
Education has been a hot topic in Nebraska for months because of school choice legislation, now there is a microscope on it nationally, with the Trump/Vance campaign calling for the closure of the Department of Education. Teachers and education leaders in Omaha spoke out against proposed federal education cuts and elimination of the Department of Education.
House Speaker Cameron Sexton has floated the idea of Tennessee rejecting federal education spending because he’s not a fan of the strings attached to the nearly $2 billion the state receives each year to help fund public schools.
When asked to clarify, Sexton revealed that he wasn’t suggesting “doing without,” but rather that the state would simply pick up the tab.
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Vance just spoke at a Christian nationalist rally in Monroeville (a Pittsburgh suburb), and some of it was about education.
Greene notes the following remarks from Vance’s appearance:
Some of the stuff that they’re teaching in American schools in 2024, that that’s not just liberalism that is crazy and we’ve got to get it out of our schools or it’s going to poison the minds of our young people.
And, well, it’s just bizarre.
But not if you take it in the context of JD Vance and Donald Trump advancing a Christian Nationalist agenda.
Not because either of them actually care about advancing a Christian takeover of American institutions – but because acting like they are all-in helps them win the votes of the evangelicals that do.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona seems likely to move on after the election. After all, there will be a new President. And, even though Cardona is a member of the Biden-Harris team, his track record does not seem to suggest reason to keep him on should Harris win in November.
To be fair, he came in as Team Biden was leading an effort to return to normalcy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A recent piece in Politico takes a look at the challenges Cardona has faced – and notes a lack of action on what was once a bold vision for public education:
But he’s run out of time to build a post-pandemic vision that draws absent students back to classrooms, boosts lagging test scores, and reshapes American education. Despite a recent flurry of travel and fiery speeches championing Democratic issues, Cardona’s uneven tenure has clouded his prospects to influence the education industry or a potential Harris administration.
Cardona’s track record is more complicated. After pushing to reopen schools with $122 billion in expiring federal aid, the department is scrambling to recover from a botched debut of college financial aid forms that threatens to upend enrollment. Courts have scrapped affirmative action, stymied Biden’s efforts to cancel student loan debt, and blocked rules that extend campus discrimination protections to transgender students. Congressional Republicans have even called for Cardona’s resignation after he declined to condemn pro-Palestinian protest chants on college campuses.
Harris, who has close ties to teacher’s unions, seems likely to select a more vocal advocate for the concerns of educators. And, well, Trump isn’t exactly interested in education.
