An example of just how heated and bizarre attitudes about vouchers are was evident at a recent protest in Austin, Texas, decrying scholarships for private schools. What made the protest bizarre is that the scholarships that were being protested are financed completely by private funds.
Dr. James Leininger of San Antonio used $45 million of his own money to finance the CEO Horizon Scholarship Program in San Antonio. The program gives money to students who live in the low-income Edgewood School District.
According to the Associated Press about 800 to 1,100 students have participated in the program, though not all of those students have been accepted by private schools.
This is a horrifying development to some in Edgewood, especially teachers unions. Diana Herrera, president of the Edgewood Classroom Teachers Association, summed up the anti-voucher argument quite well saying, “I don’t care if the words are going to be tax credit, opportunity scholarship, parental choice. Vouchers by any name will not be accepted.” Parents will simply accept the state school of their choice and learn to like it — even if their kids don’t learn much else.
Edgewood Superintendent Noe Sauceda complained that the students who took the CEO Foundation scholarships took $2 to $4 million annually away from the district since state funding is predicated on student enrollment.
But as Mary Havel of the CEO Foundation pointed out, if there are fewer students then presumably the school district’s expenses should also be lower (which is why funding is linked to student enrollment in the first place).
Leininger and The CEO Foundation should be saluted for doing their best to help poor students route around the damaged stated educational system in Texas.
Source:
Voucher foes rally at Capitol. The Associated Press, February 22, 2001.