"If the state of Maryland cannot afford to spend taxpayer dollars on fixing aging school buildings and preventing class size increases, we certainly cannot afford to help subsidize tuition for those who are already enrolled in private schools," said Sen. Madaleno. "Budgets are about priorities, and it's disappointing that the governor is choosing to siphon funding from public schools to help private schools."
This is the second consecutive year that Gov. Hogan has decided to withhold school funding despite projected budget surpluses. Last year, he withheld $68 million passed in a bipartisan budget from thirteen counties that saw increased class sizes, eliminated educator positions, and cut programs. This year, he held back $25 million in funding that would have supported the maintenance of aging school facilities and helped counties pay for educator pensions without cutting funding levels for classroom instruction.
"We're disappointed that the governor is more concerned with winning a political argument with Democrats in the legislature than focusing on ways to improve our public schools," said MSEA Vice President Cheryl Bost. "It's yet another year of schools trying to do more for students with less help from the state than they expected."
As a result of Gov. Hogan's proposal to create a private school voucher program, a $5 million line-item in the budget was included to send taxpayer dollars to private schools. Advocates of the budget move argued that the funding would help students in "struggling" public schools leave for private sector options. However, the administration of that program so far shows that the vast majority of those who will receive vouchers already attend private schools: 79% of those applying and 71% of applicants who will receive vouchers attended private schools last year.
"This is a poorly veiled way of subsidizing private schools," said Bebe Verdery, Education Reform Director for ACLU of Maryland. "The truth is, this money would go a lot further to help low-income students if it was spent in our taxpayer-funded public school system to improve dilapidated buildings and support student programs."
If you pay taxes in a county and state you should be able to decide where the allotment goes for your children.
ReplyDeleteIf vouchers are offered they should be offered to everyone. I am tired of this BS. Under performing schools - whatever. My kid has suffered at the hands of liberal administrators with below average teachers in a "good school" my kid deserves that voucher also.
ReplyDeleteWhy is he giving out tax breaks if this is the case? Trying to turn us into Kansas.
ReplyDeletePrivate school parents already pay 100% of their share to the public school system and also 100% share again to the private school to send their child getting a little change from taxpayer dollars is not a bad idea and should be promoted even required
ReplyDeleteLay off some of the school administrators.
ReplyDeleteSCHOOL STATEWIDE VOUCHERS NOW!!Throwing good money into public schools, is bad policy! Public Schools have become political organizations institutionalized to indoctrinate socialist. Funding for public schools should immediately be switch to a voucher policy statewide. So that we can decide what schools GET the money! Force them to abide by policies that are educational only or we take our money to private schools to get a BETTER education for our kids. Public schools are wasteful overbloated tax sucking pigs that deserve to be taken to slaughter. Tell them NO!!! Tell em to CUT your fat cats, trim the bureaucracy and wasteful high cost Administration. Get an elected school board. And lets get on a slash-and-burn this wasteful crap to the ground!!
ReplyDeletehaving gone to both private charter schools and public ones I'll say this...they can be both good and awful..but in the end, no one's tax dollars should be sent to private schools that are not accountable to the public who fund them...this is precisely why our own founding fathers were vocally against private primary and secondary education. Every state in the US has a state constitution that ensure access to public education because, as was the case in European monarchies, private schools were both elitist and underperforming...here in Wicomico county, the private schools hire "teachers" with the lowest qualifications and then hide those teacher stats from the public..even though they take our tax money...meaning, we provide the welfare and they spend it on whatever they want. Bottom line, America has a long history of great public education going back to 1620...FUND the public schools, get rid of the bullshit standardized tests, and all for discipline of the students again, and force parents to be involved in their kids school lives....most of the problems would be solved...charter/private schools are just another way of creating a bigger entitled generation of losers....
ReplyDeleteMaybe a few private schools will close. The cost for those kids now overloading the public schools will cost the public schools a lot more than the additional monies received. Constantly amazes me how someone so incapable of logical thought as Sen. Madaleno is continues to get reelected.
ReplyDeletePrivate schools should never be funded with public funds. I'm not anti private school - some are wonderful, but the argument that private school parents pay taxes and should have this diverted to their private school just makes me angry. You choose to send your child to private school. If you can not afford it, don't expect me, as a taxpayer to help.
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