The Benefits Of School Vouchers

Do you want your tax dollars going towards the education of children attending private schools? The debate as to whether or not the government should be involved in the financial affairs of private schools is one that has been raging for a while now. There is a large percentage that believe funding private schools, and giving tax breaks to those whose children attend, will provide more children the opportunity to obtain a better education. The other side, that also represents a large percentage of the population, believes that this will take away from the very integral public school system. Which side is right? The honest truth, the government should not fund; nor, provide tax breaks to private schools or the parents of the children who attend. The merit for these two opposing viewpoints are shown by two opposing articles. The first article was written by the National Education Association (NEA), and is titled “Tax Credits for School Choice
This article was written by Dr. Gary Jason of California State University, Fullerton. The first major point made by Dr. Jason is that, even though the United Sates has doubled it’s spending on public schools, the American public education system has dropped in ranking relative to that of other nations. Stating that the solution to this is a concept called school vouchers. This article claims that this vouchers would allow parents to have more of a chose as to the school they wish to have their children attend. The second point this article makes uses a study by social scientist Greg Foster to show that the academic performance of students attending voucher schools is significantly greater than that of students attending public schools. Dr. Jason the cites another study that showed an improvement in the academic standards of public schools that were being threatened by these voucher