The Georgia Association of School Psychologists is opposed
to the establishment of a school voucher program for the students of
Georgia. School vouchers are a method of partially funding private education
with public school funds. The basis of this formal position is that removal
of funds from the public schools and their redirection toward private school
programs constitutes a severe disservice to all of Georgia's students.
Vouchering diverts funds allocated by federal and state governments from the
students attending public schools.
A number of organizations have provided a great deal of information about
the issues of school vouchers and, as a result, have taken stands in
opposition to school voucher proposals. These professional educational
organizations include: Council for Exceptional Children, Georgia Association
of Educators, National Coalition for Public Education (representing 37
national and state level education oriented groups), National Education
Association, National School Boards Association, and Professional
Association of Georgia Educators.
The Georgia Association of School Psychologists has specific concerns about
the impact of school vouchers on students. These areas of concern are
summarized as follows:
Funds diverted from public schools and their programs jeopardize
general educational services available to all students by:
- limiting the funds available to design and improve the public education
programs
- limiting the amount of money available on a per student basis to provide
instructional materials, including textbooks, equipment, technology, and
other instructional aids
- placing a disproportionate burden on the public school systems in
providing appropriate educational services to all enrolled students
- resulting in different achievement standards for children enrolled in the
public and private settings
Access to federal and state programs for low income, disadvantaged
students:
- would not be assured since supplemental and remedial programs are not
legally mandated in nonpublic school settings not receiving federal and
state funds
- would not independently guarantee access to nonpublic school settings as
it is likely that the value of the voucher would be insufficient alone to
allow enrollment in a nonpublic school setting
Exceptional students identified and served by the public schools might have
their IEP mandated services jeopardized. Since private schools are
not legally required to meet all of the service and support requirements
established by the reauthorization of IDEA, it is a concern that such
students might:
- not be accepted by the private schools and therefore place a more
disproportionate burden of services for these students remaining in the
public school setting but with an overall reduction in available funds
or
- if enrolled, not receive appropriate direct and related services as
determined by a student's Individual Educational Program
or
- if enrolled and under the current provisions of IDEA, would provide
appropriate services but based on funds provided by the public school
systems in addition to school voucher funds, also serving to limit funding
to meet the student's IEP goals
Student Achievement
- there is no consistent evidence from the several programs using a
school voucher model in the United States (e.g. Wisconsin, New York, Ohio,
Florida) that indicated significantly improved student achievement
Accountability
- private schools are currently under no consistent method of public
accountability; while subject to scrutiny and question by their
constituents, public schools do have public accountability and standards
(including curriculum and staff certification)
On the basis of these concerns, the Georgia Association of School
Psychologists takes a position in opposition to the establishment of a
school voucher program in Georgia. With this position, the Georgia
Association of School Psychologists joins many professional educational
organizations in reaching this decision. The Georgia Association of School
Psychologists urges that solutions to concerns in the public schools be
addressed from within the public school programs rather than by steps which
serve to remove vital funds needed by all of Georgia's students.
Supporting Documentation/ Research:
Hadderman, M. (2000). Educational Vouchers. ERIC Digests, Number 137.
Kahlenberg, R. (2002). The problem of taking private school voucher programs
to
scale: the next issue in the voucher wars. In The century in brief series.
New York: Century Foundation Press.
MacIver, M. A. (2000) Seeking justice in educational opportunity: an
analysis of the
evidence on school vouchers and children placed at risk. Journal of
Education for
Students Placed at Risk, 5(4), 397-412.
Study: voucher students perform same as public school peers. (2004) Black
Issues in
Higher Education, 20 (24), 8.
Summary/ Opinion:
Simplicio, J. (1996) School vouchers: panacea or Pandora's box. Education,
117, 213-216.
Latham, A. S. (1998) School Vouchers: Much debate, little research.
Educational
Leadership, 56 (2), 82-83.
Other Position Statements:
National Education Association (2002). NEA on Vouchers: Opposed
http://www.nea.org/lac/vouchers/vouchposition.html
Position on School Vouchers and IDEA Reauthorization. (2003). Council for
Exceptional
Children 2003 Policy Manual, 139.
