Not a liberal as stated by the fact that I am in favor of school vouchers, just not the ****ty version we got stuck with.

I'm just not a fan of Abbott. The political games he played with school funding and teacher salaries drastically changed my opinion of him.

On an individual family scale, you are correct. Which is why I am for vouchers. If my great, rural school district goes south, I want a way out that doesn't involve selling my home.

On a societal scale, it's not great for kids who have ****ty parents. Which is why my wife struggles with it. You have less resources available to the kids who can't or won't be accepted elsewhere. The biggest reason private school works is because parents are committed to their kids learning.

On top of that, you are still requiring public schools to teach these kids when they end up "homeschooled" or are at a poor-performing private schools. They can come back to public and are going to have fallen behind. Now it's again the teachers that have to deal with the issues.

To believe that vouchers have no negative issues is absurd. There will be abuse of the system. There will be private schools that pop up and do not perform well. Kids will fall through the cracks and come out worse than before.

one MEEN Ag said:

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Realistically, Abbott was hamstrung by a democrat/weak republican congressional house. Abbott settled for getting his foot in the door on private school. Revisit in probably 4 years see how its going.

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Abbott himself is also a weak "republican"

Sq 17 said:

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People are against because some people just think it's a terrible idea in general
When actual specifics come out more people are against because the Voucher crowd is not in agreement on what the solution is

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Why do you think it is a terrible idea? What is your analysis that leads to that conclusion?

Can someone actually explain how this is helpful to anyone that doesn't receive a voucher? I completely agree that there are plenty of issues in the public education system, but I don't see how these vouchers actually address any of the problems. I will continue to assume that this is just a money move by someone with ties to the government. If you actually want to have meaningful change let's end robin hood.

Bad public school > citizens unite and establish a private option facilitated by vouchers > public school improves or dies.

That is simplified but that's the idea. Money in the market is a powerful motivator. Even public schools are all about the money.

For that to actually happen you would need buy in from a large percentage of the families. Imagine if those people just started investing some time and money into the existing school instead.

stallion6 said:

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Sq 17 said:

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People are against because some people just think it's a terrible idea in general
When actual specifics come out more people are against because the Voucher crowd is not in agreement on what the solution is

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Why do you think it is a terrible idea? What is your analysis that leads to that conclusion?

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I will start with I said some people think it is a terrible idea I did not state my opinion

Issues with vouchers in no particular order

Private schools do not and will not take the harder to teach students So the special ed kids and behavioral problem will be left behind

People who are opposed to vouchers think school choice with in a district is a mirage
In Houston River Oaks elementary is a very good elementary school and it is basically full so not sure how any extra desks could be allocated to kids looking to choose a better school
In Spring Branch Memorial HS is very nice and I am pretty sure the parents who paid big bucks to live inside the Memorial Zine would appreciate kids from all over the district trying to enroll


Good private schools have waiting lists of people who are willing to pay full price. If a state subsidy came along the price over 3-4 would increase and make the voucher meaningless because the new out of pocket tuition would be the same as the old tuition

Depending on how the bill is written It might be possible for parents or local church leaders to pull their kids out of the local ISD and pocket the voucher money while not educating their children

lead said:

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Bad public school > citizens unite and establish a private option facilitated by vouchers > public school improves or dies.

That is simplified but that's the idea. Money in the market is a powerful motivator. Even public schools are all about the money.

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The bill won't allow the money to go to a school built within the first two years of passing.

ChrisHansen said:

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Can someone actually explain how this is helpful to anyone that doesn't receive a voucher? I completely agree that there are plenty of issues in the public education system, but I don't see how these vouchers actually address any of the problems. I will continue to assume that this is just a money move by someone with ties to the government. If you actually want to have meaningful change let's end robin hood.

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This bill does nothing to improve systemic educational outcomes. And it holds public schools to a higher standard when it comes to accountability.

SociallyConditionedAg said:

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lead said:

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Bad public school > citizens unite and establish a private option facilitated by vouchers > public school improves or dies.

That is simplified but that's the idea. Money in the market is a powerful motivator. Even public schools are all about the money.

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The bill won't allow the money to go to a school built within the first two years of passing.

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So it can only go to existing private schools in 2026?!

How does that refute what he said?

Quote:

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Private schools do not and will not take the harder to teach students So the special ed kids and behavioral problem will be left behind

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That would be a hell of a point if there weren't private schools that do take special needs kids and if there weren't a crap ton of special needs kids getting hosed by their public schools.

Real improvement requires honest assessments and saying the truth even if it sounds mean. There are a lot of kids mainstreaming doesn't work for and trying to make it do so comes at the detriment of other students and teachers.

I am wrong my nephew went to a school that specialized in exceedingly dyslexic kids and Asperger's.

That being said to my other point that schools doesn't have any desk and the voucher would be wiped out by tuition increas and my nephew functions at a much higher level than most students you'd find in a typical ISD special Ed program

agclassof08 said:

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On an individual family scale, you are correct. Which is why I am for vouchers. If my great, rural school district goes south, I want a way out that doesn't involve selling my home.

On a societal scale, it's not great for kids who have ****ty parents. Which is why my wife struggles with it. You have less resources available to the kids who can't or won't be accepted elsewhere. The biggest reason private school works is because parents are committed to their kids learning.

On top of that, you are still requiring public schools to teach these kids when they end up "homeschooled" or are at a poor-performing private schools. They can come back to public and are going to have fallen behind. Now it's again the teachers that have to deal with the issues.

To believe that vouchers have no negative issues is absurd. There will be abuse of the system. There will be private schools that pop up and do not perform well. Kids will fall through the cracks and come out worse than before.

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All things to think about, but the public school system you're referencing doesn't exist. When you say public schools will have to deal with kids that fall behind. Do you mean by giving them a puzzle class or just inflating their grade? Because that's what happens now, even at good public schools. The entire senior class at Marlin wasn't eligible to graduate a year or so ago.

So yeah, there's things that can go wrong with the private school system but the upside is exponential.

Farmer_J said:

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agclassof08 said:

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On an individual family scale, you are correct. Which is why I am for vouchers. If my great, rural school district goes south, I want a way out that doesn't involve selling my home.

On a societal scale, it's not great for kids who have ****ty parents. Which is why my wife struggles with it. You have less resources available to the kids who can't or won't be accepted elsewhere. The biggest reason private school works is because parents are committed to their kids learning.

On top of that, you are still requiring public schools to teach these kids when they end up "homeschooled" or are at a poor-performing private schools. They can come back to public and are going to have fallen behind. Now it's again the teachers that have to deal with the issues.

To believe that vouchers have no negative issues is absurd. There will be abuse of the system. There will be private schools that pop up and do not perform well. Kids will fall through the cracks and come out worse than before.

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All things to think about, but the public school system you're referencing doesn't exist. When you say public schools will have to deal with kids that fall behind. Do you mean by giving them a puzzle class or just inflating their grade? Because that's what happens now, even at good public schools. The entire senior class at Marlin wasn't eligible to graduate a year or so ago.

So yeah, there's things that can go wrong with the private school system but the upside is exponential.

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Wasn't it like 8 students were eligible to graduate, so they canceled the ceremony? And the eligible students felt short-changed, because they lost out on a commencement ceremony because their classmates were idiots?

ETA: just check, it was 5 of 33 seniors met requirements. After the negative publicity, they pushed the ceremony out into June so more students could 'qualify'.