kane

I have a few questions about vouchers. So if I understand this correctly this would attach a dollar amount to a kid and the parent could send the kid to any school they wanted. Whatever school the kid goes to gets the money correct? So in theory this makes schools compete over students and the money they get for them. Here is are my questions:

1. If a school currently gets $7000 per kid from the government and the voucher will attach the same amount to the kid only allowing the kid to go wherever they want, how will this change much? The schools will not be getting any more money than the are now. They have a maximum number of students they can handle and chances are they are already near that number now so their budgets won't increase. So if the school do not manage themselves better it won't matter where the kids come from.

2. A very good school could, in theory, manage itself very well and make it a competition to get into it. They could then pick and choose their students and it would help all the students that go there because (hopefully) they will have picked the best of the kids. This is a nice idea, but then what it does is funnels the other kids all off on another school. So instead of the kids that aren't as bright being mixed in around the school district, they will all be in one school and chances are that school and all of the students there will suffer. Now competition says they will work hard to attract students, but if the dollar amount is the same no matter if the student gets D's or A's what would be their motivation?

3. There are problems with the voucher system that are geographical in nature. The town I live in has two middle schools. Parents could pick one over of the other, but there is only one high school. So if they want to send their kid to another high school they are going to have to transport them there. The next closest high school is about 15 miles away. There are about 4-5 others though within about 20 miles. If a student has no way of getting to one of those schools they are stuck here and if they end up stuck in a shithole school then they lose due to no fault of their own.

4. You could end up with some schools that are worse off with this. Say you have a town that has 5 middle schools in it. They are all in an area where the kids can take a bus or easily get there. 3 of those schools work hard and turn things around and become good schools that fill up fast. There are many students who will now be forced to go to one of the other schools simply because there is no room for them at the good schools. If those other schools are not run as well those students could suffer. To me it would seem to be a better solution to take charge of all of the schools and work hard to make all of them good so you got a good education no matter which one you went to.

One other thought. One of the things that helps determine the value of a home is the school district. I know people who have paid more money for a similar house just because it was in an area with good schools. That will not be the case anymore and it could effect the value of homes. Also just because you move to the nice neighborhood it doesn't mean your kid will get into the better school. That school could fill up and you are left having to figure out how to transport your kids to another town so they can go to a school that is not as good.

Anyway, just a few voucher based questions.