Counterpoint on School Choice

 Dear Friends and Neighbors,

On Tuesday, March 19, 2024 I posted this article:  Why the negative vote against school choice?  (https://voteforcanright.blogspot.com/2024/03/why-negative-vote-against-school-choice.html)

There were many responses, but one was particularly well said. It was from a Republican activist, who gave me permission to share it.  Here it is:

As a homeschooling parent, what I don’t get is how they don’t see you can just refuse the money. Many of us need either our property taxes abolished (fat chance) or to get this ESA (Education Savings Account) money to afford religious schooling for our kids. It’s not fair for us to pay public school taxes AND private school tuition when we don’t use public schools. I have relatives in Texas forced to send their kids to public school because it [school choice in the legislature] didn’t pass yet and already are seeing corrupting effects on their kids. It’s terrible. Also they are naive if they think somehow not taking the money makes them immune to government interference. California has proven this is not true as they don’t give any money but can still heavily interfere with homeschooling. 

Also there is power in numbers. If the majority of public school students go to private schools then the teachers unions will die (they are arguably the greatest threat to the republic), and policymakers will also start to prioritize listening to groups lobbying for home school rights and private school rights more.

Basically right now, the word of the leftist teacher’s unions goes farther in Austin than the conservative Homeschool Association, pass school choice and that flips. A large religious private school association might even form to fight elections to win more rights and a bigger piece of the pie against the teacher’s unions, once all the new funding comes their way.

We need a counterforce against the teacher’s unions and school choice would create that. If we lose a few SCOTUS slots in the coming years they may very well rule California can ban homeschooling despite home schoolers not taking any money. A leftist judge cares not for such distinctions. Besides this doesn’t give any money directly to schools, it gives it to a parental bank account, an “education savings account” that they can then use on schools. Many parents ALREADY do this, you ALREADY can open an Texas ESA and self fund it for a tax free investment account which grows over time and you can use on private schools. So if it were going to magically create strings it’d have done so many years ago.

I hope you find this viewpoint helpful.

Robert