In December a state trial court judge sided with the plaintiffs, ruling that the program violated the state constitution's local control provision by giving Colorado school boards no «input whatsoever into the instruction to be offered by the private schools» that
accepted voucher students.
Only three of the schools that
accepted voucher students in the program's first year enrolled 10 ormore 3rd graders.
The Wolf / Kisida / Rhinesmith survey found that most private schools that opted not to
accept voucher students were very concerned about threats to their «independence, character, or identity.»
These case studies take a close look at some of the private schools
accepting voucher students.
Meanwhile, some states have required private schools
accepting voucher students to participate in state testing systems, blurring what had been a distinction between the two approaches.
Private schools that
accept voucher students struggle to make ends meet, but are strikingly mission focused, often with a crusader's zeal to educate every child that comes through their door, bearing a voucher or not.
As
they accept voucher students, what if anything has changed in these schools?
We find Deb O'Shea, St. Pat's principal, who withstands criticism about her school's decision to
accept voucher students, arguing that it has changed the school for the better.
Such policies also create incentives for schools that do
accept voucher students to change their educational programs to match what the state tests.
Nearly every private school in Arizona is willing to accept tax - credit scholarship students while only about one - third of Louisiana private schools are willing to
accept voucher students due to the program's regulatory burden.
Due to the LSP's high regulatory burden, two - thirds of Louisiana private schools do not
accept voucher students.
Schools that wish to
accept voucher students may not set admissions criteria for voucher applicants.
That's in direct conflict with the opinion of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R - Rochester, and the bill he backs that would force failing public schools to close and private schools to stop
accepting voucher students.
-LSB-...] voucher supporters observed that many private schools in Louisiana chose not to
accept voucher students, and those that did had -LSB-...]
I would note, however, that Lighthouse Christian School, now eligible to
accept voucher students, is one of the most diverse schools in Madison, both economically and racially.
In order to resolve some of the mixed findings and make progress in answering the question of voucher effectiveness, we need to recognize and study the variation among schools that
accept voucher students.
A majority of schools across the country that
accept voucher students are religious schools — many run by evangelical Christian churches.
Not exact matches
Father Satish Joseph, associate pastor of Immaculate Conception, estimates that twenty - five to thirty families left the school the first year that
vouchers were
accepted, with enrollment falling to 190
students the second year.
This year, Immaculate also began
accepting the Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship, a different kind of
voucher that allows
students on Individualized Education Plans to attend private schools and receive a
voucher worth up to $ 20,000, depending on the severity of a child's disability.
Who is most likely to be willing to abandon control over their admissions,
accept tiny
voucher amounts as payment in full for serving the lowest achieving
students, and be willing to take the state achievement tests?
Even if government accountability is not the norm for government programs, some people may still favor requiring choice schools to take the state test and comply with other components of the high - regulation approach to school choice, such as mandating that schools
accept voucher amounts as payment in full, prohibiting schools from applying their own admissions requirements, and focusing programs on low - income
students in low - performing schools.
Participating private schools with unacceptable ratings are barred from
accepting new
students receiving
vouchers for the following year.
In Louisiana, we have seen many life - saving schools
accept students using
vouchers, just as we have seen a small number of fiscally or academically irresponsible schools
accept such
students.
Because they were more interested in promoting equality of opportunity than simply consumer choice, sociologist Christopher Jencks and law professors John Coons and Stephen Sugarman proposed placing some constraints on how
vouchers could be used: Disadvantaged
students would receive larger
vouchers, and regulations would prevent any school that
accepted vouchers from imposing tuition and fees beyond the value of the
voucher.
In Chile,
students are found in four types of schools: elite schools that do not
accept vouchers and charge considerably more than the
voucher; for - profit
voucher schools; nonprofit (usually religious)
voucher schools; and municipal schools.
In 2012 — 13, Youngstown Christian had the third - largest number of
voucher students — 284 — among the almost 300 private schools in the state that
accept them.
'» He fired half a dozen staff members in the early days after
voucher students were
accepted.
Cleveland's Saint Martin de Porres High School
accepts students who use state - issued
vouchers to escape failing public schools.
Yet given the political maelstroms of
vouchers — not to mention the research scrutiny — it comes as a surprise that few analysts or advocates have asked about the private schools that
accept scholarship
students.
Schools in Louisiana
accepting large numbers of
vouchers, which are worth up to the equivalent of the state's per capita public school funding, must admit all
students assigned to their schools.
[1]
Students selected to receive a
voucher could attend private schools that agreed to
accept the
voucher as payment, which was more than half of all private schools in the District.
Douglas County requires that sectarian schools
accepting vouchers must let
students opt out of religious services, making any distinction between religious status and use less relevant.
Schools taking a smaller number of
vouchers also
accept all
students and administer the state test, but do not have a calculated performance rating.
Moreover, schools wishing to admit
students selectively rather than
accepting all comers may participate in a donation rebate program that generates less revenue than
vouchers while also involving less regulation and less interaction with the state.
Private schools that elected to participate by
accepting vouchers as payment also had to administer the Louisiana state assessment to
voucher - receiving
students and were graded by the state using the same A-F scheme the state used for its public schools.
Private schools can decline to participate in
voucher programs, but if they agree to serve
students on
vouchers, in most cases they must
accept all comers.
Also,
students in
voucher -
accepting schools systematically could do better than lottery losers and still
vouchers might lower overall system performance.
Unless these assumptions are made explicit, however, measures of
student performance are weak arguments, for the reason I gave:
students in
voucher -
accepting schools could do worse and
vouchers could still be good policy.
Among non-participating private schools, 28 percent said that the inadequate scholarship amount played a role in their decision not to
accept LSP
students, and 43 percent expressed concerns that the
voucher amount would not keep up with increasing costs.
Who is most likely to be willing to abandon control over their admissions,
accept tiny
voucher amounts as payment in full for serving the lowest achieving
students, and is willing to take the state achievement tests?
Whereas a majority of private schools in Florida and Indiana
accept students participating in school choice programs, only about one - third of private schools in Louisiana
accepted students paying with a
voucher.
We asked them also to survey private schools in communities served by four of the country's most prominent
voucher programs (city - specific programs in Milwaukee and Cleveland, statewide programs in Ohio and Indiana) to ascertain how both participating and non-participating schools view those programs and their regulations and how heavily they weigh program requirements (and other constraints) when deciding whether to sign up for and
accept the programs»
students.
Examples of the schools
students can «choose» include: a Milwaukee school that
accepted $ 2.3 million of taxpayer funded
vouchers but abruptly closed in the middle of the school year; a school in Florida where classes were held in public parks once the school was declared unfit by the fire marshall; or hundreds of schools that teach creationism in science classrooms.
Students accepting vouchers would not necessarily receive all the services listed on the IEP that they currently receive in their public school.
Most
voucher programs also permit schools to discriminate in their admission policies and do not have to
accept a
student with a disability.
A 2016 report conducted by the Government Accountability Office found that of all the
voucher programs across the country, only four required private schools to
accept all
students with
vouchers, space permitting.
Voucher programs are governed by different laws in different states, but most allow private schools to
accept taxpayer dollars yet reject
students with
vouchers for a variety of reasons, ranging from disability to ability to pay.
Contract with a certified public accountant to perform a financial review for schools that
accept students who receive more than $ 300,000 in
voucher grants
Private schools
accepting vouchers fail to accurately inform parents about the types of services they provide
students with disabilities.
This testing disparity exists even though private schools receiving
vouchers can and frequently do refuse to
accept students with special needs, while public schools, laudably, may turn no one away.