# School Vouchers - Would they work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 18, 2000, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417 "2000-10-18T15:44:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Satan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417/61 "2000-10-19T05:57:03Z")
Do I _disgust you_, The Ryan? I gave a simple criteria that would make me come right to the side of vouchers - Tell me how they are supposed to help the public school system. How do vouchers make the schools better. Enlighten me. Insulting people and whining yourself how we need to look out for the more wealthy people and vouchers are a neato way to do this does not come close to answering my question. My mind is not made up at all on this. I want what is best for our aschools, and will listen to any reasonable ideas to achieve this. And I’m still waiting for the reasons vouchers will achieve this. So how about it? * * * Yer pal, [Satan](http://www.members.tripod.com/jmspoofe/sdmb/satan.jpg) \*TIME ELAPSED SINCE I QUIT SMOKING: Six months, one week, three days, 3 hours, 57 minutes and 58 seconds. 7726 cigarettes not smoked, saving $965.82. Extra time with Drain Bead: 3 weeks, 5 days, 19 hours, 50 minutes. **I slept with a moderator!** \* ---
**Author:** ![Wrath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ee7513/32.png) [@Wrath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrath)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417/62 "2000-10-19T13:06:11Z")
JAG, Mr. Z., i’m always in good company. [soapbox] Competition is the most important element of a free market. When we compete, everyone struggles to win. Even the losers are better for the struggle. Muscles in competiton with gravity get stronger and bigger. I’ve been in favor of vouchers for ten years. Vouchers mean competition for money, which has consistently proven to generate the best product for the best price, across the economic board. I seriously doubt any “mass exodus” from “public” schools. I’m guessing, initially, 90% of the children won’t even notice. Parents will send their children off to school as normal, same school, same teachers, along with the check on the first day. Big deal. To add to that, in some areas, there isn’t much in the way of private schools, so for those communities it’s not an issue. Nothing changes. What will change is that entrepreneurs will start opening private schools, offering better education, better classroom experience, more and diverse classes, better teachers, all for the same money. Just like colleges. \*How in the world can that possibly be a bad thing? \* Currently, my children are in FL public schools, where there has been such an influx of kids that the schools have erected on school grounds these portables (flimsy trailor-like classrooms), right here in Lightning Alley, where the storms get pretty fierce. We are forced to purchase tissues, crayons, paint, glue, tape, and a host of other things that schools used to provide for us. Taxes keep going up, but the quality of education keeps going down. As a consumer, wouldn’t you want to get the most for your dollar? Don’t worry about the kids down the block, worry about your children, worry about their education, and worry about their future. If a better opportunity comes along, you take it. It a school can’t keep up, they will have to shape up. No more sloppy fiscal budgets. No more over priced union slacker teachers. Your child won’t be faced with problem, disciplinary-challenged kids because they won’t be there (and hopefully neither will the drugs and guns that go with them). Additionally, an entrepreneur will see the need for the type of school that is tailored to the special needs of “problem” children and open a school for just that purpose (some exist now), hopefully enabling the children to become better people when they mature, rather than leeches and problems to society later on. Currently, public schools cannot offer an effective solution to this problem. I can’t possibly imagine a voucher system \*not[/] working favorably in the interests of the people and the greater good. [/soapbox] ---
**Author:** ![SterlingNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@SterlingNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SterlingNorth)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417/63 "2000-10-19T13:41:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wrath \* > > I can’t possibly imagine a voucher system _not_ working favorably in the interests of the people and the greater good. Imagine Chile: > [@](#): > > [http://www.oneworld.org/ni/issue315/keynote.htm](http://www.oneworld.org/ni/issue315/keynote.htm) > The clearest possible illustration of this comes from the South. Chile introduced education vouchers in 1980 as part of the Pinochet regime’s radical adoption of the economist Milton Friedman’s free-market policies. The country became a laboratory for extreme monetarism and the envy of right-wingers like Reagan and Thatcher. School vouchers were themselves originally Friedman’s idea – he had proposed the scheme unsuccessfully in the US of the mid-1950s. But in Chile his dream came true. Private schools were subsidized by the State and competed against public schools run by local government. All students were given a voucher, though private schools had the right to refuse to accept the vouchers of children who could not afford top-up fees. > > There were three main results. First, there was a huge exodus of middle-class children into private schools, so that by 1990 only half the children from the middle-income bracket were going to municipal schools. Second, total spending on education in Chile plummeted even when parental contributions were included: from 5.3 per cent of GNP in 1985 to 3.7 per cent in 1990, as the State started to feel less sense of responsibility for education in general. Third, standards of achievement dropped – especially for students from low-income families.[sup]5[/sup] > > Results like these will not be trumpeted by the right-wing advocates of vouchers, who consistently aim to push their agenda by persuading the poor, whose children are likely to be served by the most dilapidated and ill-equipped schools, that such reform could give everyone access to the promised land of private schooling. And the most effective recruiting-sergeant for this cause is not the right-wing campaign itself but the unwillingness of governments the world over to fund public education properly. > **Endnote:** > [sub]Martin Carnoy, ‘Lessons of Chile’s Voucher Reform Movement’, in Selling Out Our Schools, Rethinking Schools 1996.[/sub] I also believe Venezuela tried vouchers and are now trying to reform the reforms. I’m going to look into this. ---
**Author:** ![Wrath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ee7513/32.png) [@Wrath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrath)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417/64 "2000-10-19T13:45:47Z")
You cannot _possibly_ be comparing our economic and social situation to that of Chile and Venezuala, can you? But, in fairness, does anyone know of a country where vouchers were tried and succeeded for the common good? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417/65 "2000-10-19T13:54:48Z")
Here in California, as you already know, there is a voucher propostion on the ballot. The proponents of prop 38 are currently running shameful, negative, and in my opinion, dishonest, tv ads. One claim is that 40% of L.A. public school teachers send their kids to \*private[i/] schools. I mean, how would they know this? Did they get a list of all teachers, call them on the phone and ask them a)do you have kids, and b) do they go to private schools? I don’t think so. I oppose vouchers for the following reasons. 1. Parents of poor kids will _still_ be unable to afford the private schools. 2. There is no public control of the price of tuitions. 3. On the off-chance a poor parent is able to scrape up the tuition money, the private school is under no obligation to accept the poor parent’s kid. 4. Public schools, already under-funded, will become an educational wasteland. I think we should fix the system, rather than gut it. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417/66 "2000-10-19T13:55:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Ryan \* > **You people disgust me. “The really poor people won’t be helped!” you whine. So the rich and middle class don’t deserve to be helped** Given that the major argument for vouchers is that it will help “the really poor,” if vouchers DON’T help them, that would seem to be a strong argument against the idea. ---
**Author:** ![Wrath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ee7513/32.png) [@Wrath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrath)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417/67 "2000-10-19T14:09:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by spooje \* > \*\*I oppose vouchers for the following reasons. > > 1. Parents of poor kids will _still_ be unable to afford the private schools. > 2. There is no public control of the price of tuitions. > 3. On the off-chance a poor parent is able to scrape up the tuition money, the private school is under no obligation to accept the poor parent’s kid. > 4. Public schools, already under-funded, will become an educational wasteland. > \*\* Some thoughts on your points: 1. How do you _know_ that private schools will be unaffordable? Some current schools may be, but new ones will compete for that voucher. 2. Many people are opposed to the idea of price controls on anything. Free competition in the market sets the price. if 90% of the people have ONLY $x to spend, businesses will compete for that $x. 3. That would appear true. “Public” schools would still accept them tho. 4. You have no proof for this statement, only fear. No one _wants_ their school to become a wasteland. IMHO, such an extreme would not happen. Schools (“public” and private) will still be able to function quite well on the dollars per student that they are currently spending if they are fiscally responsible (if they aren’t, they should get out, don’t you think?). ---
**Author:** ![Sandy\_Price](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@Sandy\_Price](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandy_Price)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417/68 "2000-10-19T14:11:33Z")
since we all pay very high taxes for the public schools (included in our property tax bills) I have often thought that it would be a good thing if our tuitions in private school could be a tax write off. This would then give everyone a chance of affording private school. Many areas have wonderful schools, but L.A. is not one area that does. When my kids were in private school we found that 2 County Supervisors and 3 Board of Education members had their kids in with mine. That should tell you something about the L.A. County problem. Many kids were the offspring of public school teachers. If vouchers should be approved, there is no reason for any parent to not question all the private schools to see what their agenda is. No one should find out after the fact that the school of their choice belongs to the “moonies.” Have we become so lazy that we can’t reasearch our life’s choices? Let’s get a tax break on private tuitition and we would have the money to find just exactly the right school for our kids. If we can’t find a good one, start one! ---
**Author:** ![JustAnotherGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/278dde/32.png) [@JustAnotherGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustAnotherGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417/69 "2000-10-19T14:29:25Z")
This is funny… kind of… I have been hoping to actually READ the proposed voucher program instead of speculating as to what it is based on the debates. I went to both [http://www.gop.com](http://www.gop.com) and [http://www.rnc.com](http://www.rnc.com)… all the links are nonexistant. They shouldn’t have given Gore such a hard time about inventing the internet, I guess he showed them! ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417/70 "2000-10-19T14:31:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wrath \* > > Some thoughts on your points: > > 1. How do you _know_ that private schools will be unaffordable? Some current schools may be, but new ones will compete for that voucher. > \*\* They are unaffordable _now_ for the poorer parents. Some kids are lucky to wearing shoes. I don’t forsee a new crop of less expensive private schools cropping up. And current private school tuitions will not be going down. And if a school recieves public money, which voucher money will essentailly be, they should _have_ to accept the public. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417/71 "2000-10-19T15:16:06Z")
I’m not entirely sure that increased competition and reliance upon the free market is the universal cure for all that ails us. I believe competition among health care providers has steadily increaseed over my 15 year working life, and my personal experience has been for premiums to steadily rise in inverse proportion to the quality of service. At the same time, I understand that perhaps the largest social statistic that has not seen improvement during the recent economic boom has been the number of Americans without any health insurance. I’m not convinced that privatization is always a panacea. I see significant problems directly resulting from the creation of the present day prison industry. No one has responded to the mention of taxes for police protection. Or how about fire departments? There are some functions that I personally believe are appropriately provided by the state, and which I do not believe are best addressed by free market forces. Certainly feel free to disagree with me. I’m not certain I want to risk significantly harming our present system (while readily acknowledging it’s shortcomings) and sacrificing the next generation of students on the hope/assumption that a certain number of private schools of a certain quality will “pop up.” Bet some areas might hear more popping than others. I’m not convinced that the current system is beyond repair. And I question whether vouchers would actually improve the present system. I’d rather try to improve what we’ve got, instead of making drastic overhaul and hoping for the better. I must admit, however, that school funding/administration/reform is certainly not something I am expert on. My limited experience, having done some research in my immediate area, is that the 2 really good non-religious private schools are VERY expensive (more than $8G), and extremely selective in their admissions. As an atheist, I can not send my child to a religious school. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417/72 "2000-10-19T15:24:34Z")
And like someone said, just because it’s a private school doesn’t make it better. I went to CAtholic school. I think I did much better in the public school setting. I have a learning disability. My school’s solution was to send me to a guidance counseler to talk about my “feelings”…oh, and to warn the kids who picked on me that I was “special”. (EXTREMELY pissed about that one). I remember sitting in the crappy room that was a makeshift nurse’s office (no nurse, just secretaries). On the other side of a divider, a nun was working with a learning disabled child, and insulting her. “Oh you’re so stupid, why can’t you learn like the other kids?” I remember feeling ill and wanting to walk over there and tear that old hag a new one. Our libraries were full of outdated books. The school was NOT diverse by any means-it was a White Catholic prep school. I remember having to write a Pro-Life essay in 8th grade-it HAD to be pro-life. I didn’t know what my feelings were on that subject. Yes, it’s a religious school, it has the right to do that. But if fucking sucks. My sister wasn’t learning jackshit in her social studies class because the teacher, a man, was burned out and bitter at not being able to teach at a public school. He took it out on the students. There were hardly any computers, gym was a joke, and no music or art programs. And tuition was so fucking expensive! Don’t kid yourselves-private schools aren’t always the answer. Let’s work on trying to BETTER the public schools we have first. ---
**Author:** ![Wrath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ee7513/32.png) [@Wrath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrath)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417/73 "2000-10-19T15:33:38Z")
Police and Fire departments are necessary elements provided by the state for the protection of the citizens; schools do not fall into this category. A voucher system is not an overhaul; it’s a change in the way funds are distributed. The basics and basis of the educational system remains the same. What’s more, there are minimal educational requirements for which all private schools must meet, or they will lose their licenses. Once the vouchers are distributed, and others are allowed to compete for that voucher, we will see more private, non-religious schools enter the market. Not right away, this takes some time; another reason why the voucher system is not a radical overhaul. Most communities will see no immediate effect, that comes later, and the entire country will keep the educational system in check, by voting with their feet (and vouchers). ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417/74 "2000-10-19T15:37:39Z")
From Wrath: > [@](#): > > 1. How do you know that private schools will be unaffordable? Some current schools may be, but new ones will compete for that voucher. We’ve had a number of posters from private schools put their own experiences here, I don’t recall any one of them saying that it was cheap. And again where the money for all these “new” schools going to come from, the vouchers certainly won’t provide it. Third, if you were building a private school, where are you most likely to put it? The inner city, or the burbs? There are way too many mights in this argument. 1. Many people are opposed to the idea of price controls on anything. Free competition in the market sets the price. if 90% of the people have ONLY $x to spend, businesses will compete for that $x. Tell that to the residents of San Diego (example I put in pg1 of this discussion). The free market is not the panacea you claim. 1. That would appear true. “Public” schools would still accept them tho. The same public schools that money has been siphoned away from? 1. You have no proof for this statement, only fear. No one wants their school to become a wasteland. IMHO, such an extreme would not happen. Schools (“public” and private) will still be able to function quite well on the dollars per student that they are currently spending if they are fiscally responsible (if they aren’t, they should get out, don’t you think?). Sure we do, the money for the vouchers comes form the public schools, take money away, what happens? They won’t have the money they’re currently spending if it’s siphoned away to subsidize private enrollment. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417/75 "2000-10-19T15:52:04Z")
> [@](#): > > A voucher system is not an overhaul; it’s a change in the way funds are distributed. The basics and basis of the educational system remains the same. What’s more, there are minimal educational requirements for which all private schools must meet, or they will lose their licenses. That’s not true, at least not in my state. The voucher initiative in California specifically exempts private schools from regulation, both in standards and local ordinances, maybe the one for your state is different, and if so i’d like to see a copy of it. As for your first statement in that post, I believe the basis for public education has been explained ad nauseum. > [@](#): > > Once the vouchers are distributed, and others are allowed to compete for that voucher, we will see more private, non-religious schools enter the market. Again you assume that this will happpen. Yet I haven’t seen a voucher initiative that’s anywhere near cost effective enough to provide the basic infrastructure for these new schools. So, new schools are going to “pop up” to take advantage of money that does not cover it’s costs? That’s not even sound economics. ---
**Author:** ![JustAnotherGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/278dde/32.png) [@JustAnotherGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustAnotherGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417/76 "2000-10-19T16:09:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*And like someone said, just because it’s a private school doesn’t make it better. > I went to CAtholic school. I think I did much better in the public school setting." > > I learned more in my public school, but that was then, this is now. Public school is alot worse than it was 15 years ago. Look at any studies. > > Also, don’t equate religious education to private education, they don’t have to be the same by a long shot. Also… it is a CHOICE!!! Can you get that through your skulls? It isn’t a requirement, it provides poor people with an OPTION. God forbid a poor person should develop a mind and the ability to choose, huh? No, no they are poor and thus stupid so we should decide what is best for them at every available alternative. > > “And tuition was so fucking expensive!” > > CATO Institute is a Republican think tank, but they have an interesting study on the matter which includes lots of outside information… the real cost of private school. No, the poor kids won’t be going to Harvard Prep, but the average cost of a private school is in the $3,500 range. > > [http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp-025.html](http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/bp-025.html) > > I could not find a copy of GW’s voucher program, but it is supposedly a mirror of his brother’s program in Florida… take a look. > > The private school CANNOT charge more than the voucher amount if it wishes to accept vouchers. They can charge for uniforms and books, but not tuition. > > ONLY those students of public schools graded an F can participate… this eliminates most wealthy and middle class students from participating, because the worst schools are in poor neighborhoods. > > [http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/daily/detail/0%2C1136%2C27500000000104771%2C00.html](http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/daily/detail/0%2C1136%2C27500000000104771%2C00.html) > "Don’t kid yourselves-private schools aren’t always the answer. Let’s work on trying to BETTER the public schools we have first. \*\* Umm, isn’t the whole reason for this because other efforts have FAILED, miserably? Also, keep in mind this would allow you to send your child from an F school to a higher rated PUBLIC school. It doesn’t have to be a private school and definately does not have to be a religious school. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417/77 "2000-10-19T16:16:33Z")
So we just throw more money into the private schools? Then, they won’t really be “private” anymore, will they? ---
**Author:** ![Wrath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ee7513/32.png) [@Wrath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrath)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417/78 "2000-10-19T18:26:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by stuffinb \* > So, new schools are going to “pop up” to take advantage of money that does not cover it’s costs? That’s not even sound economics. > \*\* Of course it is. Like ANY startup company (like an airline like JetBlue) there will be an investment made by one or several people to build a new school and compete for vouchers. Cost recovery will take years, but that’s how it works. No, no one REALLY knows if this would happen, and if it didn’t, the public school is still there, still providing the (wonderful) education they do now. And as for the schools that get less money as students leave, the voucher idea is based on the actual cost we currently spend per child for education, so if there were fewer children to teach, the school would not require the same amount of money, thereby forcing them to streamline operations. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417/79 "2000-10-19T18:47:22Z")
Wrath, do you really believe that school choice works so simply? Read yesterday’s [LA Times.](http://www.latimes.com/news/learning/20001018/t000099280.html) The voucher plan instituted in New Zealand, terrifyingly similar to Proposition 38, was a complete and total failure which resulted in further polarization of education. One needs to look no farther than today’s [Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/18/national/18LESS.html) for an additional voucher debunk. And don’t forget the Sensas-Utcha Institute for Holistic Learning! A great article about this _voucher debacle_ appeared in the Septemper 23rd Milwaukee Journal. I don’t have the link, so I will not quote the article at length. If you would like more information, please email me. > [@](#): > > William J. Perry said he just wants to teach the children. And if things had gone the way he planned, the disgruntled former teacher from the Woodson Academy, 5510 W. Blue Mound Road, would have gotten thousands of dollars from the Milwaukee Parental School Choice Program to do it. > Perry, who insists on being called Doctor Perry and said he reads books simply by laying his hands on them, claimed he was just a “fingertip” away from turning his vision for his school - the Sensas-Utcha Institute for Holistic Learning - into a reality… > > Perry had secured about 130 or so applications from low-income parents who wanted to enroll their children in his “institute” - even though he never secured a place for it to be housed… > > And the only thing that stood between Perry - who claims to speak 28 languages fluently - and the first of four $141,800 installments from the state was an occupancy permit from the city… > > One of the parents who planned to entrust her 17-year-old daugther’s education to Perry - who boasts of a PhD in metaphysics - said Perry her and several other parents that their children could stay at home and not be marked “absent” because technically they were still “present.”… > > “People didn’t expect me to go this far,” Perry said at his home, where a “PhD” from the American College of Metaphysical Theology in Minneapolis hangs on the wall of his office. According to the college’s Web site - [http://www.americancollege.com](http://www.americancollege.com) - students can get a “PhD” in subjects such as metaphysics, divinity and religious education for $199… > > “This is just a symptom of what we see in the whole choice school program. Some of these schools have found out to be non-existent,” Craney said. “These schools have no accountability. They have non-certified > teachers,” Craney said… All you need are investors and effiency will logically follow? Baloney. MR ---
**Author:** ![Wrath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ee7513/32.png) [@Wrath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrath)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2000, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417/80 "2000-10-19T18:55:56Z")
Okay, so, require licensing of teachers and the schools so that they meet minimum requirements (we do that now). A school voucher would only be payable to a state-licensed school, not a non-existent one. And yes, it can be that easy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-vouchers-would-they-work/37417.md?page=5)