So glad we defeated a measure that would have changed the Ky constitution to allow public funding of private schools. That shut our R legislature up about that. But they’ve always got some other kind of nasty up their sleeves.
More private than religious. They're trying to privatize everything that is now public including our precious protected federal lands. Yellowstone, Glacier & other national parks will be sold off to the highest bidder to be developed, mined, & otherwise destroyed.
My tax dollars shouldn’t go to sending little Catholic kids to Mass unless it also pays for schooling Muslim, Jewish, Wiccan, Buddhist and every other “religion” known to humanity.
Agreed. Half the point of conservatives trying to switch everyone to unregulated church voucher schools is so they don't have to provide any learning disabled students with support. They want to be able to kick out any student with ADHD, dyslexia, or even just any kid having trouble with anything.
We had it prior to all this pulling wool over the ill informed eyes.
You had a few choices. Home School, private School or Public.
Now they are basically financially slitting the public schools throat. They will pick and choose students. Segregation anyone????
Heard Bridget Mc Kenzie, discussing women's issues, say that some women were holding down two jobs to pay for their children's school fees. No trouble paying for the necessities of life.
After the Brown decision to integrate public schools, private, religion-connected schools popped up in various states. PRIVATE to be Whites-only; RELIGION-CONNECTED for tax exemptions. In the late ‘60s/early ‘70s, the IRS began challenging those exemptions. “School choice” is about going pre-Brown.
When I voted against school choice here in CO, they had provided a lot of information about it which in turn made it easy to decline.
These red states have no idea what’s going on because I GUARANTEE they aren’t getting educated. They’re getting the propaganda. Please keep sharing info! Our kids 1/2
exactly. and private schools can select their students. they don’t have to accept those with disabilities, for instance. we taxpayers are being ripped off. we need quality public education for everyone!
Please remind Geg Abbott and Texas Legislature. They actually think we don't see this crap for what it is. Keep the young folk stupid and fill them with theocracy until they are old enough to vote!
Also of the opinion that the ultimate goal is to use it to destroy public education.
1) Create voucher program
2) Divert funds away from schools till they’re so dysfunctional that they cannot operate
3) Take away voucher program so you have to have be wealthy to afford an education
The Jesus of the New Testament was a created composite character (fictional). The gospel stories and epistles were likewise fiction. And, what most people today read as a bible is far from the original texts. Ruling slave owners created Christianity to pacify slaves & the poor.
Yup. I hear you. That sounds a lot like what happened to my friend Jay Gallus, only he was a kid preacher. The grown-ups around him would travel around, town to town, make him preach, make bundles of money from gullible believers & leave for the next town to fleece. He got sick of the scam & quit.
In the first actual village...
Two leaders emerged...
One advocated for ethics and morality
The other preached the need to worship "God" above all else and to kill anyone who doesn't...
those two dudes are still fighting it out today...
They passed HB 93 (school choice) in Idaho, against the will of the people. The majority of Idahoans voted NO and the governor signed it anyway. How many other states have been victim to this farce legislation? Is it in all states now?
Yes, clearly. My parents sent four children to Catholic school and never begrudged that they paid taxes that weren’t helping their own children’s education. Don’t we all want to live in a community of educated people?
Religion is psychological warfare. Religious belief sets off a process of mental deterioration occurring in stages. It begins with a corruption of the natural ego via indoctrination.
It works well for a friend in FL with a DD son. The state pays the family $20,000 in school vouchers. Their son gets an education geared towards his needs all year long. They're reluctant to leave FL because of this education option.
The notion that school scholarships or vouchers are for “rich kids” is a myth because top private schools don’t accept the $ because they want to be snooty & elite.
But the most exhausting problem in the US that the school voucher debate brings up is this:
If “all men are created equal” why are US laws all so jacked up that everyone spends their whole lives worrying about the crumbs that someone else is getting?
“Rich people” obsessively worry about people taking advantage of SNAP or Medicaid and “poor people” worry about people getting discounts of private schools.
Meanwhile the middle class pays more in taxes than anyone.
Scams for private and religious schools that the "wealthy" Americans send their children to. They have money. They can pay the tuition costs but they would prefer our government give them more privilege to suck money out of funds for our public school system. Be aware of this.
My experience in grade schools is that the charters start AFTER public schools and close BEFORE the end of the school year. They don’t have documented teachers and don’t have much of a curriculum. It’s ALL about the scam.
I support magnet schools because most of them concentrate on things you don't get enough of it public schools and there are kids who are just MADE for math or music or science and we'll lose out if we don't let them fly. But only a religious school with Jesuit discipline could justify the benefits
Magnet schools are NOT charter schools—they are a desegregation strategy to get kids from different neighborhoods into Title 1 public schools to decrease poverty concentration, using specialized instructional focus, like a language, science, or music. My kids did this!
The magnets I have known often focus on the arts and a few of the upper edges of science and math. I thought they drew exceptional students from wherever they could to drive the competition and give them exposure to excellence. I thought the funding was similar to the charters.
That would make sense if ALL the schools had basic resources.
But they don't.
So your fancy magnet schools that only serve a few kids get the best new tech, art supplies, plenty of teachers and counselors... And the rest of our schools starve for funding.
My very middle class kids went to a reading magnet in a very high poverty school mostly because at the time magnets were the only free all-day kindergarten option. They were designed to decrease poverty concentration and weren’t fancy, at least not in our district, and they’ve mostly closed now.
Yes. Basic resources are required but that's a different story. Take parts of TX right now... a new, giant business goes in and suddenly, there are employees with kids demanding the basics BUT there's no school there at all. It's not a fairness factor it's a logic problem. WHO SHOULD SOLVE IT?
Most importantly, these Republicans require poorly educated generations, filled with lies to stay afloat. Educated people with critical thinking skills don’t support them. So destroy the foundation.
Religion and politics both require something of an idiot base.
And about 45% of the population are gullible. They can be well educated, but something is wrong with their filter system. They lack the need to verify what they're told.
The latest understanding I have of it is 45% are gullible, 45% have their minds made up because of evidence and research, and 10% are on the fence and open to argument.
That 10% is where all the meat is and where all the campaign money goes. Cause you only have to sway a few people to have majority
Defund schools. Bash teachers as groomers. Defund special education so schools get “failing grades”. Cry CRT!!
Then trash entire school systems again. Now the GOP can create private, for profit schools so they can make money off kids because they destroyed the public schools. Their plan worked.
Republicans showed they have no self-awareness when they said that Kamala's plan to give vouchers to new home buyers would just cause home prices to go up an amount equivocal to the amount of the voucher.
WTF do they think is going to happen to private school tuitions when school vouchers start?
Money being funneled away from public schools is one reason why we can't have nice things, or better educated students. Teachers need better pay & benefits. Students & classes need the materials & tech; thus, more money. Students in the U.S. used to be taught English, Greek, Latin & ancient classics
U.S. grade schools used to teach Greek & Latin so that students could read the ancient classics as the rich & powerful had taught their own kids for centuries; a part of why the rich and powerful retained their edge over the masses. There are important life lessons in ancient classic literature.
I was miserable to have Latin as my first foreign language with a horrible teacher for 6 hours a week. It put me off from exploring it further. That is rather regretful, since my favourite teacher (history) also taught old Greek (6 pupils) and old Hebrew (2 pupils).
My school still has two of six entry classes (grade 5) learning Latin, but it's not the first language since everybody starts with English in elementary school (grade 3). You now can learn Dutch and Mandarin, though. Hebrew includes variations until modern Hebrew. It seems I want to go back...
So I actually have an issue with this stance in a broad view. I do not disagree that there are tons of situations where this happens, but I can say that my kids utilize a program like ESA and it’s been transformative for their education.
It would be much easier just to fund all the schools. You can give me 20 ESAs, but it doesn’t matter because the closest private school is 56 miles away — in the process of funding that ESA, they defunded local rural schools. Rural kids lose out twice.
Also, I agree with you that Rural kids lose out a ton. I have worked in rural areas for all of my career and have a deep love for them. However, i don’t think that broad strokes is fair when there are situations where an ESA would work best for that kid. Just my thought. Generally, I agree with ya.
I hear that for sure. But I will say that my local school does get money for my kids being on ESA, money they were never going to get because I was always going to homeschool due to my personal preferences.
I absolutely wish that more time and money went into our public schools but it’s just not in a lot of the areas at least near me and lots of kids, including kids with disabilities are being given a subpar education due to massive cuts and teacher shortages.
But also - there is massive cuts and teacher shortages because legislators would rather divert money to private education instead of investing that in public schools.
Agreed 100%. My best case would be full funding to public schools but it’s not happening in my kids lifetime. Right now this is the best case for my family right this second.
Completely agree and understand that priority one is what’s best for your kids, unfortunate that folks in positions of power have made the moves theyve made in regard to public ed such that people are left with private as their best option
The lack of oversight is a big problem for me, supposedly these are the same folks who don’t like unaccountable government spending but they’re all on board when it does to shoveling public money at private institutions and then leave the underfund public school to try to fill all the gaps
Absolutely. If we had a fully funded ed system, I would feel great about sending my kid to the local public but we don’t. EDU has been so polarized that it is now like Jess said where we are funneling into priv. And charters to the detriment of our future. I love the public system I grew up in!
But wouldn't it be great if education in every state was fully funded. Maybe cut some funding to military? Then each child, from every walk of life, could have as great an education as your kids. Instead of working to destroy the public education system, to perpetuate an ignorant electorate.
Totally agree that this would be a perfect world situation. Right now, my kids live in an area where they are being taught not to use preferred names or pronouns and where it is common place to call other kids slurs. So again, best situation with what we all have.
Sure, it helps some kids, and stories like yours will be used as anecdotal evidence that the system works. Here in Alabama, vouchers will be in the form of $7,000/family tax credits. The average tuition here is $9,000 per year, and you have to earn $150K to pay enough taxes to matter. It's a scam.
Religious schools receiving public funding is a violation of the first amendment. Change my mind.
Unless of course all Christian affiliated schools (lumping all sects of Christianity together) receive the same dollar amounts as each of Jewish, Muslim, Hindi, Buddhist, satanic temple etc schools.
I never had any kids. Shouldn't I be able to not pay ANY school taxes? My property tax portion to our schools is almost $7000/year. I'm on a fixed income now, that is under threat, I don't know for how long I can afford to live here. (western suburbs of Chicago).
Everyone needs public schools even people without children. They educate the people you need like medical professionals, lawyers, scientists, technicians, engineers, architects, writers. The uneducated are the incompetent.
Oh yeah well public school is just a scam to educate the people and provide a whole secular sector of support jobs with our taxes. Checkmate, lerberrrellll
Why did the so-called reps in Jeff City just give $50 MILLION in tax dollars to private and church schools instead of public schools? Are public school teachers not still buying their own supplies? Do churches pay taxes? Are government & religion supposed to be separate ?
It helps the rich pay for their kids expensive private schools. That's all vouchers and school choice is for, to ignore public schools and help those who have money.
Rich people and bigots choose to send their children to these schools to keep them away from the riff raf and minorities, So don’t let them fuckup public education to take away one more thing from the basic public,,,
I’ve despised that movement for 40 years. Another source of discrimination against the poor, especially blacks. Vouchers for private schools—reviving white flight “academies.”
In Arizona, the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program has faced criticism for allowing parents to use public funds for non-educational expenses, such as ski trips, luxury car driving lessons, and high-end appliances.
Investigations have revealed misuse of funds, including purchases like $10,000 sewing machines and $3,400 golf equipment. Additionally, fraudulent activities have been uncovered, with individuals creating fictitious students to divert over $600,000 from the program.
Not sure I agree. School Choice “ is the sign that our present system is Not educating children and no, I do not have a solution. I don’t see the present system as the be all and end all of the problem, but it’s a start 🥴🤔
There was some chatter here when it first came up (maybe lat month). Someone was considering starting a satanic church to get in the game (and report from within?). But if they are intent on BANNING BOOKS because of sexual and social content that they find objectionable I don't know how you'd do it.
I am not saying religious schools are a bad thing. But for example as of 2025, there are approximately 2,771 mosques in the US with around 300 of them associated with Islamic schools that serve over 50,000 students.
Given the history of violence against kids in regular old public schools and schools run by Jewish temples, I can't IMAGINE what would happen at a Muslim school, a school for Seikhs or Buddhists, Hindu kids...
My daughter went to a great preschool run by the local synagogue. That's the only non-Christian private school I've seen around here. We wanted our son to go there, too, but it wasn't wheelchair accessible. And every "Christian" school we talked to refused to take him because of his spina bifida.
Southern California. Actually, a lot of states don't hold private schools to accessibility standards because they're not even required to accept the student who need those accomodations.
We approved charter schools about 25 years ago. The first 10 years were rough and most folded. We added an oversight board and stricter regulations. The good ones survived. Basis was one of the top. Best test scores too. I’ve taught in all private , charter, public. Prefer charter. Good kids
It’s a way to subsidize the wealthy , so they pay less for their kids who are already enrolled to attend private schools. Just a point of fact , it’s extremely difficult to get your kid into a private school. There’s usually waiting list so the excuse that all kids would be eligible is mute
Exactly. And when a school gets a bad reputation and the richest parents start avoiding it, it causes a cascade and makes life even harder for the other kids.
And guess who will own those corps that will own all those charter schools??? Can you imagine a bigger heist than the entire school system of the United States???? Yes, it will starve public schools and close schools!!!
True they want taxpayers to foot the bill in my opinion if these parents want religious school then they can pay for it themselves. We have and need public schools you want private pay your self
Yes yes yes!! Public schools are necessary to ensure an educated nation for all. That’s why they don’t want to provide any money or support. They are doing everything they can to defund and demoralize anyone who will learn to fight against the agenda. Stop funneling every benefit to the elites!
and when you spend $4 billion on a "megachurch" then pay $200 million a year to a private security army to kick homeless people out from sheltering under the portico.........
On the other hand, we have something very like school choice in American higher education. But the proponents of school choice turn around and grumble because not every college is a Great Books program.
if you want your kids to learn religion, there are many chuches with Sunday Schools out there. Or you can do like Mom did, she worked in the cafateria, free, to pay for our Catholic education.
Right. Don’t be the lemming pushing to get your kid in the charter school lottery- be the person waiting their turn to tell your school board what’s right- or maybe be the one running for school board.
They have no real interest in delivering high quality public education. Their objective is to cripple it any way they can. The trick the Alaska Governor is using to short public school funding is demanding proven results before approving increased funding. Project 2025 is no friend /1
Always has been. They target school board elections with promises of reform; what they deliver are taxpayer-funded ‘private charter schools’ for very few kids. Douglas County Colorado voted ‘reformers’ in…then voted them out.
That said, I think the original charter school concept was a good one.
Yes. I support folks’ right to send their kids to private schools. I hate their efforts to create an exclusive educational experience for their kids by grabbing money from public schools, thus depriving the public schools of the funds that they desperately need to serve the rest of our kids.
Including in “liberal” areas, and including fancy Montessori schools. Listen to Nice White Parents (NYT podcast) about how wealthy (white) liberals are some of public schools’ worst allies.
Add to that—private and religious schools do not have to follow standard guidelines. So they take your money and your kid ‘may’ get an education, but no guarantee because they don’t have to answer to anyone.
That falls under the rules of the Department of Education, federal law, making it optional for federally exempt religious schools. And it pays to note: McMahon and Elon have already shuttered the department of education.
Frenchglen is a tiny town of about 90 people in south central Oregon They have a one-room public K-12 school. When I was there in 1995, there were 11 students enrolled. The nearest town with a private school is Burns, about 80 miles away. What good is "school choice" to parents in Frenchglen?
Like special needs kids with IEP’s who still require the state to provide services through the public schools. So the public school services them but gets no funding for the student.
To be clear, I'm talking about special needs kids who do manage to get into these "private" schools. They get transported to the public school near them for services, and the public school is mandated to service them. I know this as I was a Special Ed Due Process EA for a number of years.
Typically, those students are higher functioning, too. Religious schools usually tell families of more involved students that they don't have the resources for their child.
It's also a misleading name. Proponents imply that it means parents can choose what school their child will attend. What it really means is private schools continue to choose only those high-performing students who will help keep standards high and who will "fit in," socio-ethnically speaking.😏
I got news for people who think vouchers are the answer to school problems. I teach in a private school. There are only so many seats available. When they're full, that's it. Voucher or no, your kid does not get a spot. Nor does a kid paying full freight. We can't build more classrooms. 🤷♀️
That's a good point. It is de facto, but also being supported by the guiding hand of the state in the form of tax dollars. Which may not be de jure, but it's something in that direction.
💯 It's also socioeconomic discrimination. How can you send your kids to a school of choice if you can't afford a car? We need to put that money into the public schools.
That has always been the plan, if you love public education, call or email your congress person, and tell them not to vote against public education, because you can vote too.
Consumer choice is then a scam to have me only afford to buy at Walmart or Aldi because "the man" restricted my wages during my working LIFETIME, forcing me to live on Social Security now and TRY to make ends meet !!
Comments
The GOP has been after it since the 1970s.
Here we go.
You had a few choices. Home School, private School or Public.
Now they are basically financially slitting the public schools throat. They will pick and choose students. Segregation anyone????
These red states have no idea what’s going on because I GUARANTEE they aren’t getting educated. They’re getting the propaganda. Please keep sharing info! Our kids 1/2
Ohio awarded $993.7 million ! to send kids to private schools in 2023. It was $383.7 million more than 2022 and $30 million+ more than analysists predicted.
While voucher use grew in Ohio by 313%, enrollment at private schools grew only 3.7%, to 20,142 kids.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Jones_University_v._United_States?wprov=sfla1
1) Create voucher program
2) Divert funds away from schools till they’re so dysfunctional that they cannot operate
3) Take away voucher program so you have to have be wealthy to afford an education
I don't take the bible literal..
But damn...
That passage in the bible
About Christ throwing the money changers out of some church...
Those same dudes...
The money changers
Now rule our world...
Where is fucking Christ when you need him again...
Christianity Began:
I am NOT religious...
I am NOT a fan of organized religions...
I am although very spiritual
IMHO...
One does not need to go anywhere to worship one's spirituality
The temple of God is w/in use
And I use that word "God" very, very loosely...
Ya need to on this platform
No one else seems to think it's important...
Uhggg...
Two leaders emerged...
One advocated for ethics and morality
The other preached the need to worship "God" above all else and to kill anyone who doesn't...
those two dudes are still fighting it out today...
Timeline of the war that led to the creation of Christianity:
Florida has the school vouchers and still public schools still rank in top 10 for US schools now at #2.
Public schools don’t have the resources for anyone with special needs.
So it’s not like it’s making private schools free. It’s an incentive to keep kids out of the over-crowded public schools.
If “all men are created equal” why are US laws all so jacked up that everyone spends their whole lives worrying about the crumbs that someone else is getting?
Meanwhile the middle class pays more in taxes than anyone.
At the end of the day, we should not have let the right wing take down education in America.
But they don't.
So your fancy magnet schools that only serve a few kids get the best new tech, art supplies, plenty of teachers and counselors... And the rest of our schools starve for funding.
These people want to break each system so they can replace it with their's.
And about 45% of the population are gullible. They can be well educated, but something is wrong with their filter system. They lack the need to verify what they're told.
That 10% is where all the meat is and where all the campaign money goes. Cause you only have to sway a few people to have majority
Then trash entire school systems again. Now the GOP can create private, for profit schools so they can make money off kids because they destroyed the public schools. Their plan worked.
WTF do they think is going to happen to private school tuitions when school vouchers start?
The classics, I feel, should be mandatory reading. At very least some basic Greek myths, the Iliad, Odyssey, Aristophanes, and Sophocles.
Unless of course all Christian affiliated schools (lumping all sects of Christianity together) receive the same dollar amounts as each of Jewish, Muslim, Hindi, Buddhist, satanic temple etc schools.
If you don’t like it, homeschool or pay for your own damn decision.
Vouchers bankrupted our AZ schools. And the things these rich jerks come up with to get us to pay for… you wouldn’t believe.
Well educated people do not vote Republican.
Engineered ignorance is real.
Silence IS Complicity.
Cooperation IS Collaboration.
Keep notes. (Madame Defarge style)
Vive la Résistance!
I'm sure they exist. But generally, the vast majority, nope, all Christian.
Because I have a bad feeling if you had private schools teaching Islam, a lot of crazies will go out of their way to harm those children.
Bring back get-what-you're-given.
On your tax dollars.
Common Piper w
tax them.. because Jesus wouldn't stand for it.
But school choice is worse than that!
It's a SCAM to get poor families/public schools to PAY FOR PRIVATE/RELIGIOUS schools
A rich family w 2 kids in private school pay $20k in tuition and pay $8k in taxes
If they get 2 $5000 vouchers, they pay $8k and GET $10k which comes fr PUBLIC SCHOOLS
#HoraceMann
#SpinningInGrave
That said, I think the original charter school concept was a good one.
That’s all we need to know about Christian Academies.
...and ultimately shut down public education.
<<
not the parents or the community
so if the local k̶l̶a̶v̶e̶r̶n̶ school board chooses to decide
***for any reason***
that your little jimmy and janey have no place at nathan bedford forrest academy well
Yes it is!
This Has always been true!
People are so easily swayed!
Please question everything, even if it turns out to be true!
And a way for white people to not send their kids to school with “undesirables”.
Taxpayer dollars are for public schools.