Thomas Hetland in Voice of the People Feb. 14 explains that if you divided up the tax dollars from public school funding, every child in Chicago would have $2,600 to attend elementary school. Just where will we find elementary school buildings for these children? Everyone cites the Roman Catholic school system, but these schools could not physically accommodate the additional thousands of students.
Who pays the salaries of the staff to locate, negotiate rental agreements and open the necessary buildings? The only students who will be better off with vouchers are the ones already enrolled in private schools. If the area you live in doesn’t already have an operating private school that could accommodate hundreds of new students, then there will be no education for your children.
The public education system needs drastic revision, but vouchers will not accomplish any of the claims being made for them. We already have a system that allows the affluent to make a school choice. Vouchers will subsidize that choice and not provide any education for children born to poor families. If an educated people is necessary for the operation of our democracy, then we are dooming our country with this specious talk of “choice.”
