- April 25, 2024
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Dear Editor,
Schools begin; vouchers should end.
School days, dear old golden rule days. Indeed 90% of our children attend public schools in the United States. Not only do they learn standardized curriculum from highly qualified teachers, they also build diverse communities within the school system from K-12, guided by the golden rule and good citizenship.
In conflict with public schools, the “school choice” voucher system diverts taxpayer funds from public schools to primarily religious schools that fund the education of a few select students. That creates a church-state separation issue — whether disguised as a scholarship, a tuition tax credit, or an education savings account, it violates the fundamental principle that taxpayer funds should never pay for religious education.
There are also systemic problems with the voucher system. When public schools are underfunded, teachers are burdened with out-of-pocket expenses and funding gaps appear, meaning schools are not receiving the amount of money they need for children to succeed. Furthermore, most private religious schools do not provide the same civil rights as public schools do, including protections against discrimination on the basis of religion, disability, and gender.
Stop diverting billions of taxpayer funds to voucher schools that educate the few. Use those funds to support our highly qualified public school teachers. Without favor, they will improve and protect our public school communities through an educative, diverse and equal public school system.
Sheila Zinkerman
Ormond Beach
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