The Arizona legislature is trying to damage public education again by introducing irresponsible legislation to create vouchers, all in the name of change or reform. Download a summary of Arizona education voucher bills this session. (PDF)
In recent years "change" in education has been defined, by conservative proponents of vouchers, as providing a small percentage of parents an opportunity to choose a private institution over a public school for their child. Parents are free to make choices for their family however; this choice should never be made at the expense of Arizona's taxpayers.
Any "change" instituted by allowing vouchers would mean draining funding from our public schools. Vouchers increase public education costs by requiring taxpayers to fund two school systems, one public and one private. Statistics show that vouchers generally go to children who were never in public schools, thus taxpayers are paying their tuition.
Vouchers undermine accountability for public funds. Private schools have almost complete autonomy with regard to how they operate - who they teach, what they teach, how they teach, how they measure student achievement, how they manage their finances, and what they choose to disclose to parents and the public.
Those public school students who use vouchers run into exclusionary admission policies at parochial and private schools. Catholic schools turn away nearly two out of three applicants. Exclusive private schools reject nine out of 10 applicants.
A great education should never be considered an option or "choice." Every child has the fundamental right to a quality education. Vouchers will only increase the disparity by draining our already inadequate resources from public school classrooms for a very small percentage of Arizona's students.
If it is change that Arizona wants we've got some suggestions:
- Reduce class sizes so that teachers have a manageable number of students in classrooms
- Provide adequate funding for programs that support all students' desire to achieve a high level of performance
- Provide time for teaching professionals to collaborate with their colleagues when determining instructional curriculum
- Create a Professional Standards Board that addresses professional development, teaching standards, and teacher assessment
- Establish a living wage for education support professionals who ensure that our students arrive at school safely, eat a healthy lunch, and learn in a clean and comfortable environment
For Arizona to achieve these and many other necessary changes it will have to invest in public education. Arizona will have to quit running from its reality. We live, work, and learn in the fastest growing state in the nation. It is time to invest in our future by investing in public education.
Conservatives claim that those on the left and/or the "establishment" propose solutions to address the need for improved student achievement that are meager and much more expensive. But, based on the numbers released by EdWeek earlier this month Arizona falls $2.7 billion behind the national average in K-12 education spending. In the end, if Arizona chooses not to invest more in education it will harm the future economic status of our state.
Usually school choice proponents will say that charter schools and voucher programs are too new to show the results they've promised. How long is long enough? Arizona is ranked first in the nation for "School Choice." We've given them their run and it's not working.
Let's try investing adequate resources in public education for a while and see what happens. Let's give Arizona's children the state-of-the-art education they deserve, no matter their economic status or geographic location, two things that will never be accomplished by offering private school vouchers or charter school alternatives.
Contact your legislator and tell them that vouchers hurt public schools.
John Wright is president of the Arizona Education Association and a certified classroom teacher. He can be reached by visiting www.arizonaea.org.
