School Voucher Initiative

* Re “Public Schools Hope Voucher Initiative Earns an ‘F’,” Sept. 18.

In this article, John Hatcher implies that only the rich send their children to private schools and would benefit from this initiative.

Well, there are many of us who would not be classified as rich by any definition of the term (except maybe his) and yet we still send our children to private schools.

We would love to benefit from this initiative to make life a little bit easier.

If that was not bad enough, his second remark is even more ludicrous: “They [rich people] wouldn’t have to spend their money. They could spend taxpayer money.”

Taxpayer money is their money, Mr. Hatcher! Their money, my money and yours. Why not let us decide how we spend it?

Let’s stop charging taxpayers for school services they never utilize and give them a choice to educate their children as they please, with their own money.

GERALD DI BERNARDO

Santa Paula

*

The press is known for passing off editorials as news but this article sets a new standard.

The same old tired arguments were trotted out: Vouchers would take money from public schools, unqualified (read: uncredentialed) teachers would instruct our children, no accountability, etc.

One could argue all these points, but it all comes down to choice. Just why is the education establishment afraid to give parents some say in their own kids’ education?

Much of our success as a nation results from a tradition of competition to drive innovation and progress. Don’t we have enough faith in the ability of our public schools to compete against private schools in attracting students?

Taking money from schools? How about the fact that vouchers would also take children from public schools? Isn’t there a savings in not having to educate all the kids who leave?

But what about the public school teachers, they say. Ah! Now we’re getting to the real reason for such strident opposition.

One of the most successful education programs this country ever devised was the GI Bill after World War II. That program did almost exactly what vouchers would do. It gave money directly to the students and their selected schools, with minimal government control, allowing the ex-GIs to pursue the curriculum of their choice.

No doubt the current initiative will fail due to the enormous amount of money and effort from the educational establishment, aided and abetted by a biased press. The state’s children in failing schools will be the worse for it.

But who cares about them?

JOHN RELLE

Thousand Oaks