California voters, parents and teachers do not
support school voucher programs because they hurt students and schools
by draining scarce resources away from public education. California
voters overwhelming rejected voucher initiatives in 2000 and in 1993.
All voucher proposals reduce funding to neighborhood
schools, meaning fewer textbooks, fewer teachers per student and more
overcrowded classrooms. At the same time these programs cost taxpayers
millions of dollars and increase bureaucratic and administrative costs.
Voucher programs provide no accountability to
taxpayers. Both initiatives proposed in California would have created
unregulated voucher schools that receive taxpayer money, but would have
been allowed to make financial decisions in secret without any
financial audits. In addition, voucher school operators would were not
required to have any training or experience educating children and
voucher school teachers were not required to have a credential or even
a college degree.
There is no link between vouchers and student
achievement. Studies continue to show there have been no significant
improvements in student achievement in voucher schools. In fact, the
most dramatic improvements in student achievement have occurred in
places where vouchers do not exist.
Vouchers do not give parents real educational
choice. Participating private schools may limit enrollment, and in many
cases may maintain exclusive admissions policies and charge tuition and
fees far above the amount provided by the voucher. Unlike public
schools, private and religious schools can — and do — discriminate in
admissions on the basis of prior academic achievement, standardized
test scores, interviews with applicants and parents, gender, religion,
income, special needs, and behavioral history.