School Vouchers

We are ready to represent the best custom paper writing assistance that can cope with any task like School Vouchers even at the eleventh hour. The matter is that we posses the greatest base of expert writers. Our staff of freelance writers includes approximately 300 experienced writers are at your disposal all year round. They are striving to provide the best ever services to the most desperate students that have already lost the hope for academic success. We offer the range of the most widely required, however, not recommended for college use papers. It is advisable to use our examples like School Vouchers in learning at public-education level. Get prepared and be smart with our best essay samples cheap and fast! Get in touch and we will write excellent custom coursework or essay especially for you.

School Vouchers


The book of Exodus tells the story of the Israelites, who, losing hope as they waited for Moses to return from the mountaintop, began to worship for the golden calf (McDonald, 00). For Americans, especially low-income Americans, this story provides an important context for one of our greatest challenges-the education of our children.


Too many low-income families have lived in communities where the public school system has been struggling for years. These families, unfortunately, have had no choice in deciding where to send their children for schooling. For a family of four in 001, the national poverty level was at $17,650 (Caire, 00). Many of them are at or below the level. What options do these families have when it come to their child’s education? Do they even have a choice?


Webster’s dictionary defines choices as selection, the right to choose. In a neighborhood of complete poverty and low achieving schools, most parents believe they don’t have the right to choose an education for their children. Many of them don’t realize that there may come a choice.


Write my paper for me!!!


School choice is an up and coming movement. Broadly defined, it is any policy designed to break the link between the residential location and school attendance zones in order to reduce the geographic constraint inherent in traditional public schooling (Goldhaber & Eide, 00). The choices can include magnet schools, open enrollment, and interdistrict choice programs. Charter school growth also represents a significant expansion of choice for the public (Goldhaber & Eide, 00). Even still, the conversations about choice are evolving. Parents can now try to get school vouchers to help them choose the academic paths their children may go.


The concept of school vouchers was proposed 50 years ago by an economist, Milton Friedman (Viteritti, 00). Friedman was condemning the public education system in the United States (Viteritti, 00). With parents being given the option to choose, failing public schools would be forced to close. Friedman predicted that better run private schools would replace schools in a marketplace that would have little or no tolerance for academic failure (Viteritti, 00).


Friedman’s predictions were not that far off from the truth. Greene (1, 001) found that abysmal test scores, alarmingly low high school graduation and college entrance rates, limited education opportunities within and outside schools, and racial and economic isolation have quilted the education landscape on may inner-city communities (as cited by Caire, 00). These atrocious conditions have led many parents to pursue alternatives to the traditional public school system, including vouchers.


In 001, the United States House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation to overhaul the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (Rosentha, 00). The No Child Left Behind Act sets new demands for states and school districts to improve student achievement. More than $6 billion has been authorized for K-1 education (Rosentha, 00). This new legislation focuses on the federal role to close the achievement gap between disadvantaged students and their peers. The changes under the No Child Left Behind Act include Testing and Accountability, Public School Choice, Title I, Reading First, Technology, After-School Programs, and Flexibility and Accountability (Rosentha, 00). Each one of these policies focuses on improving the education of today.


In 00, President Bush called for a federal income tax credit of up to $500 to help families transfer a child out of public schools identified by the state a failing under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (Robelen & Walsh, 00). This credit, 50 percent of the first $5000, would be given to parents who opted to send their child to a private school or another public school (Robelen & Walsh, 00). The credit may also be used to help compensate for private tutoring, books, and computers that help improve a child’s education (Robelen & Walsh, 00).


For the 00 fiscal year, a Senate panel has unanimously approved a spending bill that would provide nearly $ billion above President Bush’s request (Robelen, 00). Though the president had not yet signed this bill, it was expected he would do so (Robelen, 00). Several programs will benefit from this plan. Title I will receive an increase to $11.85 billion and $.1 billion will be allocated for improving teaching quality (Robelen, 00). With the increase in funding for improving schools, schools that are at the failing level may actually have a chance to improve.


Under revisions to the No Child Left Behind Act, greater pressure has been put on states and districts to turn around poor performing schools and give families options when schools don’t improve (Robelen & Walsh, 00). This would give parents that live in disadvantaged communities would have similar options that affluent parents have.


The main factor under the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act includes a criteria for what makes a failing schools fail. If a school fails to make adequate progress set by the state for two years, the districts must offer an alternative for the students (Robelen, 00). After the third consecutive year of failing, the district must allow families to select a provider of supplemental educational services (Robelen, 00). These services can include anything from hiring a private tutor to sending the child to an after-school program.


U.S. Secretary of Education, Mr. Rod Paige, has made the quality of education his mission and he is hoping to broaden the accountability process (Keebler, 001). In an article by Keebler (001), Mr. Paige is quoted saying,


“Our system of elementary and secondary is failing to do its job for far too many of our children�a failure that threatens the future of our Nation, and a failure that the American people will no longer tolerate.”


Many agree with Mr. Paige. Supporters of school choice and the voucher system feel that the lack of adequate choice will bring about an end to the public school system (Viteritti, 00). Viteritti (00) found that supporters also see choice as a way for poor people to escape low-performing, inner-city schools. Shokraii (16) found that African Americans are the highest supporters of school vouchers (as cited by Goldhaber & Eide, 00). Private schools who participate in the voucher program have become more racially and ethically diverse (Caire, 00).


The opponents of school choice and vouchers argue that choice and vouchers will bring an end to public schools (Viteritti, 00). They also believe that private schools frequently exclude students who have special education needs, disabilities, behavioral problems, poor academic performance, or the wrong religious affiliation (McDonald, 00).


If school choice and vouchers were offered back in the 50’s, it is possible that the conflicts in the South may not have occurred. The nine African American students who were turned away from Little Rock Central High School might not have had to go through the pain and torture they went through if they had a choice that was not forced by desegregation. The American Indian children might not have been forced to loose their culture if there was school choice. Not only were they forced to institutions they did not want to go to, but also they lost their heritage.


The children in the South Bronx, where Jonathan Kozol did his research, might be able to receive better educations if there was school choice. Kozol believes that the education that these children receive is compared with the level of interest the government puts forth for them. The average salary of the educators in the South Bronx is only $44,000, where the average salary 0 minutes away increases to $84,000. The government spends significantly less money on the children of the South Bronx than in the more wealthy communities. From reading Saving Grace, it is apparent that the children Jonathan Kozol work with have a desire to learn. If they had the opportunity, I believe many of the children would take advantage of it.


Parents in affluent communities have always been able to choose the education paths for their children. These parents have higher incomes and the majority of them also have college educations. Low-income parents are ‘stuck’ sending their children to the local schools. Many of these local schools are failing. Numerous parents in the low-income communities don’t have the education to advance out of the neighborhood that they live in.


House of Representatives members John Boehner of Ohio and J.C. Watts, Jr. of Oklahoma are in favor of school choice (Robelen & Walsh, 00). In the article by Robelen & Walsh (00), Boehner and Watts were quoted,


“Low-income parents in disadvantaged communities with failing schools should have the same education choices that affluent parents have.”


Currently, there are five large, tax-supported school voucher programs in the United States (Caire, 00). Vermont, Maine, Wisconsin (Milwaukee area), Ohio (Cleveland area), and Florida all currently have some form of the voucher program in place. For the 18-1 school year, Vermont provided tuition for 6,505 students through reimbursements to the parents (Caire, 00). Maine provided tuition for private schools for rural families that do not have easy access to public schools (Caire, 00). The 1-000 school year had 5,614 students from 55 communities receiving vouchers to attend private schools (Caire, 00). Milwaukee has the largest tax-supported school voucher program in the United States (Caire, 00). The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program serves low-income families in religious and nonreligious private schools (Caire, 00). Also growing is the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program (Caire, 00). In an article by Caire (00), it was found that in the 16-17 school year, 1,4 students participated in the program, but by the 001-00 school year, the participation rate was over 4,000. Florida currently is operating two different programs the Florida A+ Opportunity Scholarship Program and the McKay Scholarships for Students with Disabilities Program (Caire, 00). The A+ Program provides scholarships to parents who attend a public school that has been failing for two years; this scholarship will enable parents to send their children to a private or public school of their choice (Caire, 00). Caire (00) also discusses the McKay scholarship, which serves parents who determine that their disabled children are not making adequate progress at the public school level.


Arguments against the school choice movement, as well as vouchers, are valid. It is my opinion, though, that families should have a choice on the education of their children.


Schools without adequate support, both educationally and financially, do not always provide the best education for a child. My husband and I, along with his ex, choose to send their daughter to private school because of the public school system where she lives. We spend thousands of dollars each year to ensure that Brianna gets an excellent education. We are very fortunate that we have the money to be able to provide her with a better education, but if we didn’t, she would be stuck at a school that is not satisfying the academic standards we want.


As a person going into education, I feel that an education system that has failing schools only helps to contribute to failing in life. People need to have choices in life and they should begin with education. Wealthy families get to choose where they live, what cars they drive, and where they shop. Families who are not as fortunate should have the same choices and opportunities that advantaged families have. If we are to make this society better, we need to improve the foundation of education.


Families and communities shape children. Each factor has an influence on how a child develops and who they become. Education needs to be a strong foundation, helping a child learn and advance in a world where one needs an education to survive.


It is not acceptable for schools to fail. We, as a society, cannot accept failure. Failure only produces failure. Our society needs to be one that every child is given the opportunity to succeed. If it means that school choice and vouchers are the answer for academic success then school choice and vouchers should be in place. I know I would rather support a movement that will have a positive influence on the education of our youth versus watching the youth of today failure because of inadequate education.














References


Caire, K.M. (00). The truth about vouchers. Educational Leadership, 5, 8-4.


Goldhaber, D.D., & Eide, E. (00). What do we know (and need to know) about the


impact of school choice reforms on disadvantaged students? Harvard Educational


Review, 7, 157-176.


Keebler, B. (001). The man who promises to leave no child behind. Momentum, ,


16-0.


McDonald, T. (00). The false promise of vouchers. Educational Leadership, 5, -7.


Robelen, E.W. (00). Few choosing public school choice for this fall. Education Week,


1.


Robelen, E.W. (00). Senate, Bush $ billion apart of education spending. Education


Week, 1.


Robelen, E.W., & Walsh, M. (00). Bush proposal Give tax credit for K-1 tuition.


Education Week, 1.


Rosentha, I. (00). No child left behind. Technology & Learning, .


Viteritti, J.P. (00). Coming around on school choice. Educational Leadership, 5, 44-


48.


Mind that the sample papers like School Vouchers presented are to be used for review only. In order to warn you and eliminate any plagiarism writing intentions, it is highly recommended not to use the essays in class. In cases you experience difficulties with essay writing in class and for in class use, order original papers with our expert writers. Cheap custom papers can be written from scratch for each customer that entrusts his or her academic success to our writing team. Order your unique assignment from the best custom writing services cheap and fast!