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Vouchers fail, privitization provides solution
By Mike Murray
murrmich@mscd.edu

The public school system is in a state of distress. It is unfair and, for the most part, grossly unsuccessful. One proposed solution – the public school voucher system – has received opposition, but its flaws need to be recognized.

Theoretically, the public school voucher system, which addresses public K-12 institutions, allows students and parents to choose better schools. Unfortunately, it has only created more problems. The real solution is corporate-funded institutions side by side with public ones.

The reason the school system needs drastic changes is that schools are unequally funded. In Colorado, schools such as Cherry Creek and Arapahoe High School receive some of the nation’s highest funding levels. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are many urban schools that cannot fiscally support themselves.

Some inner-city schools do not assign homework because they cannot afford to give every student a textbook. There are schools that help finance trips and install projector systems in every classroom only a few miles away from schools with metal detectors and broken desks. This is unacceptable.

Colorado is known for being the first to pass progressive laws, but more can be done. We need to step to the plate – right now.

The public voucher program is not the answer. This system is designed to give students a choice. They can choose to get a better education and to have books. The problem is that private schools created by this program are just as underfunded as public schools. Private teachers by and large are less qualified than public educators, and efforts to bring accountability to this system are weak at best. But it is a step in the right direction.

So if the voucher system and the public school system are flawed, the answer is simple: corporate-funded high schools and colleges. We need to create a system in which, through tax breaks, corporations are encouraged to create technical institutions. American companies spend billions of dollars educating people in foreign countries every year. Now it’s time to bring the buck back to the States. We need to encourage large corporations to create private institutions that fulfill basic educational requirements and teach students skills.

These institutions would not be publicly funded in any way. However, the students of these institutions would still have to pay taxes to support public schools. This would lower the number of public schools and increase the funding for them.

In addition, each school in the state of Colorado would receive equal funding based on the number of students, not the community in which it is based. Top-performing schools could be eligible for additional grants if they maintain a high standard.

Private high schools would only be required to teach the first two years of high school and these requirements for the first two years would be determined and maintained by the Colorado Department of Education. CSAP testing would not be allowed.

Instead, each institution would be given statewide exams created by the department for each class. Upon completion of the first two years at the institution – potentially geared toward a specific field – the student would begin training in his or her job of choice. Corporations would receive tax breaks for maintaining a high standard, encouraging them to be competitive.

Students deserve to have a competitive edge. Allowing students to enter the corporate world earlier would afford them the opportunity to compete in foreign markets. This system would encourage American businesses, increase and equalize funding toward public institutions, and allow students to be educated at a higher level in a specific field.

Voting time is coming around; it is our duty to help pass laws that will eventually allow for the creation of this system. It is time to realize the world is changing and our school systems are being left behind. Let’s allow our corporate backbone to carry us into the future.