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Comment on Florida’s private school vouchers soar, creating concern over impact on public schools

These aren’t closed systems. If private schools become more expensive (because vouchers will work like student loans), it will make the cost of schooling in general more expensive (faculty wages, materials, supplies, etc.).

Hell, just look at Arizona and you can see that there is a serve lack of understanding of the cost impact vouchers will have. They originally expected it to save money, now it’s half of their budget’s deficit. azmirror.com/…/it-costs-arizona-332m-to-pay-for-v…

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Bongo_Stryker@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
What? A real world example of school vouchers in action?

the program takes money away from the district schools that educate 90% of Arizona’s K-12 students and that universal vouchers are essentially a subsidy for wealthy parents who were already sending their children to private schools before vouchers were available to them.

How is this more choice? Seems like less.

“Failure to rein in these costs means critical areas of state government expenditures will be cut to balance the budget,”

So the actual result is a huge state budget deficit and less services for everyone. Huh. So why would anyone want this?

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wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
They won’t work like student loans. There is no debt other than what the government borrows. All they have to do is cap the vouchers at the price public schools pay per student and the locks the cost. Right now private schools are cheaper in 43 out of 50 states.

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- jacksilver@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  You should really read up more about how student loans caused the cost of college to grow so fast.
  
  In simple terms, they pumped more money into the system. For grade school, if private schools can charge families 10k per student, if you introduce 7k vouchers, then the schools know they can charge closer to 17k. It would be silly to not leverage the vouchers as a means to siphon government money
  
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  - wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Students loans are separate issue unrelated to school vouchers. Since you can borrow almost unlimited funds, schools went to town hiring more unneeded positions and increased the cost
    
    Student vouchers are limited in value. A school would only be able to charge the value of the voucher or the parent would choose public school.
    
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    jacksilver@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Most (I think all) school vouchers only subsidize the cost of private schools. Which in turn makes the situation more dangerous for costs to escalate. Unlike with student loans (which do have a hard cap), most voucher programs are for set amounts meaning schools can price gouge more effectively.
    
    Obiousky I won’t convince you otherwise, but I would recommend reading more about how voucher programs, student loans, and equity in education work. Private schools certainly have their place, but education is fundamental to the well being of any society so changes should be taken carefully.
    
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