School choice proponents are cheering last week’s “landmark education decision” by the Supreme Court. After a decade of debate, justices have ruled that it is constitutional to use tax dollars to finance private- and parochial-school vouchers.
President Bush himself cheered the ruling, as did most conservatives, and he reminded one and all that school choice was a cornerstone of his education platform during the 2000 campaign. Backers of the decision in Congress also did a celebratory jig.
I wish I could be more ecstatic about the ruling. But knowing how voracious the federal bureaucracy’s appetite is for power and control, for me, it’s far too early to celebrate.
In fact, I think this decision may well destroy the remaining vestiges of quality primary education in America.
Our family, like many other families, opted out of the public school nightmare years ago. Most of my kids have gone to parochial school. My wife and I didn’t mind bearing the burden of extra cost because we believed a religious education experience would be better for our kids, and because we believed the overall learning environment was superior.
There were other benefits to this private education. The schools our children attended were generally cleaner, more orderly, less violent, more community-oriented, more drug-free, more responsive to parents, and more free to adopt and utilize proven traditional education curriculum.
In short, they were independent enough to respond to the needs and wants of the families who paid the bills. In short, these schools were much more accountable. In short, Washington didn’t write the rules.
With the high court’s approval, though, now it is possible that the use of tax money to finance the cost of sending former public school children to private and parochial schools will become widespread. That should worry all parents – of public and private schools – because Washington’s interference is what has contributed to the delinquency of public primary education. The leadership of the leftist teacher’s unions can share a healthy portion of the blame as well.
Since the Supreme Court ruling did not forbid it, Washington’s education nazis will likely be following voucher students into private and parochial school classrooms where they were formerly unwelcome. Why? Because of this truism: There is no such thing as federal money without strings attached.
My fear is that private and parochial schools will now be inundated with kids who aren’t used to the discipline, religious values, morality and subservience missing in public schools. That means those values will eventually be eliminated, under the guise of “tolerance.”
My fear is that Washington will be able to direct how its voucher money can be utilized. That means all the leftist, socialist, anti-American drivel that has ruined public-school curricula will become mandatory.
My fear is that private and parochial school boards will become enamored with the possibility of an influx of new money, forgetting that the money comes from Uncle Sam’s education nazis. That means they may forget their original mission – teaching reading, writing and arithmetic – and may replace it with “feel-good” curricula that produces adults who can’t spell “feel good.”
My fear is that private and parochial school boards will become dependent on all this new voucher money. And when they do, my fear is they will ultimately lose the independence that made them successful places of primary learning to begin with.
Congress should move immediately to protect the existing independence of current private and parochial schools by prohibiting the fascist education nazis from using the excuse of federal tax money to control curricula.
Otherwise, for our kids, it will be “game over,” because there will no longer be any serious educational choices left to parents – except dumb and dumber.
