Comments on: Arizona School Vouchers http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2005/03/arizona_school_.html Dispatches from a Small Business Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:39:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Rishon Rishon http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2005/03/arizona_school_.html/comment-page-1#comment-991 Rishon Rishon Sun, 10 Apr 2005 10:50:43 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2005/03/arizona_school_.html#comment-991 <strong>Coyote Blog and School Choice</strong> I recently added Coyote Blog to my blogroll. It's a great blog all around, and one of the the great things about it is he shares my opinion of school choice - that there's something in it for everyone, and... Coyote Blog and School Choice

I recently added Coyote Blog to my blogroll. It’s a great blog all around, and one of the the great things about it is he shares my opinion of school choice – that there’s something in it for everyone, and…

]]> By: Fluffy Bunny http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2005/03/arizona_school_.html/comment-page-1#comment-990 Fluffy Bunny Mon, 04 Apr 2005 15:54:25 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2005/03/arizona_school_.html#comment-990 <p>I am a proponent of public schools. Society has a responsbility to make sure that every child gets an education. Moreover, public schools contribute to, if they aren't the base of community identity.</p> <p>Having said that, the argument both for and against school vouchers rarely addresses the real issue, how do we make sure our children are getting at least satisfactory educations? School vouchers would help those kids whose parents are involved and want to send their kids to betters schools. But it does nothing for the children whose parents couldn't care less. Those children are generally the ones who need help the most.</p> <p>In addition, school vouchers would have an ancillary benefit to allowing parents to get their children into better schools. Municipalities with "bad" schools suffer economically because people don't want to move there because they don't want there children going to those "bad" schools. As a result, housing prices decline, which hurts property taxes, which hurts the schools, and so on.</p> <p>If municipalities with "bad" schools had school vouchers, they would attract more people to come and live there. This is just a theory. It isn't substantiated by any research, just a hunch.</p> I am a proponent of public schools. Society has a responsbility to make sure that every child gets an education. Moreover, public schools contribute to, if they aren’t the base of community identity.

Having said that, the argument both for and against school vouchers rarely addresses the real issue, how do we make sure our children are getting at least satisfactory educations? School vouchers would help those kids whose parents are involved and want to send their kids to betters schools. But it does nothing for the children whose parents couldn’t care less. Those children are generally the ones who need help the most.

In addition, school vouchers would have an ancillary benefit to allowing parents to get their children into better schools. Municipalities with “bad” schools suffer economically because people don’t want to move there because they don’t want there children going to those “bad” schools. As a result, housing prices decline, which hurts property taxes, which hurts the schools, and so on.

If municipalities with “bad” schools had school vouchers, they would attract more people to come and live there. This is just a theory. It isn’t substantiated by any research, just a hunch.

]]> By: Max Lybbert http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2005/03/arizona_school_.html/comment-page-1#comment-989 Max Lybbert Wed, 30 Mar 2005 01:58:07 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2005/03/arizona_school_.html#comment-989 <p>Well, haven't teachers asked for more money per pupil, and smaller class sizes for years?</p> Well, haven’t teachers asked for more money per pupil, and smaller class sizes for years?

]]> By: Michael H. http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2005/03/arizona_school_.html/comment-page-1#comment-988 Michael H. Tue, 29 Mar 2005 20:22:21 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2005/03/arizona_school_.html#comment-988 <p>The real reason why teachers unions and other pro-public school advocates hate the idea of letting students leave the public schools is because the political support for public schooling might evaporate. People who send their children to the public school might voluntarily vote for raising taxes for better schools but parents with children in private schools would probably vote down such a measure.</p> <p>I send my child to private school and it is ridiculously expensive. I am not asking for a voucher, but a tax deduction would be good. I think I am saving Fairfax County a lot of money by sending my child to private school (and average cost and marginal cost are almost identical for schooling). But there is no doubt that sending my boy to private school killed off any disire for me to ever approve an increase in spending for Fairfax County schools.</p> The real reason why teachers unions and other pro-public school advocates hate the idea of letting students leave the public schools is because the political support for public schooling might evaporate. People who send their children to the public school might voluntarily vote for raising taxes for better schools but parents with children in private schools would probably vote down such a measure.

I send my child to private school and it is ridiculously expensive. I am not asking for a voucher, but a tax deduction would be good. I think I am saving Fairfax County a lot of money by sending my child to private school (and average cost and marginal cost are almost identical for schooling). But there is no doubt that sending my boy to private school killed off any disire for me to ever approve an increase in spending for Fairfax County schools.

]]> By: Don Lloyd http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2005/03/arizona_school_.html/comment-page-1#comment-987 Don Lloyd Tue, 29 Mar 2005 20:09:08 +0000 http://coyote-blog.com/wordpress/2005/03/arizona_school_.html#comment-987 <p>"...Per the proposed law, the average voucher size per pupil is $4000. So, for every student that leaves, the state will spend $4000 but save $5347, meaning that every student that leaves actually increases the money per pupil that can be spent on those left behind...."</p> <p>You have to be careful with this argument. Average cost and marginal cost are quite different things. For the school to save money by losing students it is going to have restructure its operations to a smaller scale, reducing labor and real estate. Laying off teachers is at least as likely to be a cost as a savings, especially in the short term, and it would likely be a matter of luck to find private developers willing to pay a premium for a distress sale of real estate.</p> <p>Regards, Don<br /> </p> “…Per the proposed law, the average voucher size per pupil is $4000. So, for every student that leaves, the state will spend $4000 but save $5347, meaning that every student that leaves actually increases the money per pupil that can be spent on those left behind….”

You have to be careful with this argument. Average cost and marginal cost are quite different things. For the school to save money by losing students it is going to have restructure its operations to a smaller scale, reducing labor and real estate. Laying off teachers is at least as likely to be a cost as a savings, especially in the short term, and it would likely be a matter of luck to find private developers willing to pay a premium for a distress sale of real estate.

Regards, Don

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