Why do all voucher bills look like they were written by lobbyists or vendors as opposed to actual student advocates?
Here are three features missing from all voucher bills in #txlege that would actually make them student and family focused rather than school focused:
1) The school would not be allowed to charge more than the voucher value for tuition for their students using vouchers.
2) The school would set a cap of how many vouchers it would take, then accept ALL applicants, and serve their needs, up to that cap (using blind lottery for oversubscription)
3) The school would provide an ongoing list of all students using vouchers forcibly removed from the school to the state to be used to establish a metric for rating the school's ability to continue to serve students who use vouchers
Would these features would make vouchers less attractive to some private entities? Maybe, but if the purpose for vouchers is to give choices to families, then why are we concerned about how existing private entities feel about vouchers? The ones that want to participate in program would adapt. The others would continue selecting their student body as before.
Thank @KingForTexas for holding the line for public schools!
It’s not choice so much as it is about accountability. Public schools get $6,210/student w/strings attached. Private schools get $8,000/student carte blanche.
Public schools take all kids. Private schools get to pick.