Vouchers

Some have questioned how much politics is involved in schools. Recent development in Arizona can help answer this question. For years Arizona had a school voucher program which allowed disabled children, students living on Indian reservation, students attending low-performing public schools and a few others to participate in the voucher program. The previous republican governor expanded that to all students. The new incoming governor now wants to undo the expansion. Arizona now has the nation’s most expansive private school voucher law. It allows parents of the more than 1.2 million school-age children to get 90% of the state money that would normally go to their local public school and use it for private or other school costs. That amounts to about $7,000 for a non-disabled student. The new program has only been effect for 6 months and 30,000 students have signed on but this number is expected to rise to 50,000 this year. If they are going to cancel they best do it fast because it is very difficult to take away a government program. In our area the people most interested in vouchers are inner city parents who want to send their children to schools in the suburbs.