School Vouchers: Who Benefits?

* If voucher proponents would study the recent voucher proposal and apply it to south Orange County, they would realize that vouchers will not help those who truly need the help.

Here in South County we have a significant amount of low-income residents, particularly in San Juan Capistrano.

If these residents were to have access to the proposed $4,000 voucher, they would be hard-pressed to find a private school whose tuition would be covered by this $4,000. They would also be unlikely to come up with the difference.

Consequently, the large majority of these children would stay in public school. In the meantime, their wealthy neighbors in Laguna Niguel who are paying $8,000 or more a year to attend St. Margaret’s would soon be receiving $4,000 to subsidize the education of their children at what is one of Orange County’s best schools.

H.R. Richner is right (Letters, July 2). Vouchers would change our current educational system. It would turn into a system of “steal from the poor to give to the rich.”

This is one of the many reasons why vouchers are not the answer to this complex problem.

MARYANNE ROSE

Laguna Niguel

* David Estes’ Aug. 15 letter on vouchers seems to be a classic case for private school education.

This alternative has always been available for those parents who have special concerns regarding their children’s learning. The public schools were never designed to teach those ideas specific to one particular group but were intended to produce an educated populace to be good citizens, able to take part in a democracy. Universal values such as honesty, ethical behavior, compassion and so forth are valid values to be taught to everyone in a democracy. Students can be excused from classes that teach sex education, for instance, if that is the parents’ desire.

My four children all went through the public schools and are all good, interested, informed citizens of our democracy. I am a widow, and I am most happy to have my taxes supporting education for children, but I am not willing to have my taxes support schools that teach ideas that I believe are not supported by educated scientists or religious values that are not mine.

MARY D. NIENOW

Santa Ana