Impact of School Voucher Initiative

A Sept. 25 letter writer says, “Everyone will lose should the school voucher initiative pass.” Well, I believe everyone will gain (especially students).

He maintains parents will discover $4,000 will not pay for private schools. The average cost is $4,200. He also claims public schools will lose revenue. The state pays about $6,500 per student to the public school system. It will be saving $2,500 per student. He maintains private schools will lose autonomy. Wrong again--these schools were teaching long before public schools were in business and will be teaching long after the public school system has destroyed itself.

Private schools score higher across the board than public schools. The writer says that private schools of dubious quality will spring up. I have witnessed students being taught in basements and scoring very high points on SAT tests. Learning is what we in private and public schools should be after, whether it is in the Taj Mahal or in a basement. The future of our country depends on what we teach our children.

H.P. TERUSA

Burbank

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The Times’ Sept. 24 article on the voucher issue does not even begin to calculate the immense damage to our educational system that Prop. 38 would cause if enacted. The $4,000 given to every schoolchild in the state, regardless of wealth, would bankrupt the public schools. Because there would not be enough seats in private schools for all who would enter, we would soon see a large number of fly-by-night “voucher schools” spring up like mushrooms, all ready to take that $4,000. These schools would not have any accountability to the taxpayers, would not have to hire credentialed teachers and could turn away any child for any reason. So much for this initiative as a panacea for “school choice.” It is nothing but a handout to those who can already afford private schools.

Let us, instead, devote our energies to improving the public schools with higher teacher salaries, smaller class sizes and increased funding for every child in the state.

LINDA WINTERS

Culver City

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I am against school vouchers because they most benefit the wealthy who already have kids in private school. Even more disturbing to me is the use of vouchers for kids to attend religious schools where academics are only part of the education and an even bigger part of the program is religious indoctrination. I view this as a violation of the separation of church and state. We already have religion in our politics, where our forefathers did not want it. The doctrine of separation of church and state was based on experiences in Europe, where religious orders held greater power over the people than the governments. If this proposition passes, I believe it will be tied up in court and finally voided, but only after great cost to taxpayers and our children.

JAIME RASCH

West Hollywood