SB 10, a bill on private school vouchers, passed by the one vote of Speaker Glenn Richardson late last Friday night. I was unable to be there but Dave caught all the action and the spirited debate in the House that lasted for hours. I will send out the final copy of the bill later this week. I have been advised by the staff of the House Ed committee to wait a few days while they catch up online. I have already had several calls about parents who want to put their children back into public school for a while to take advantage of the private school option.
Now that its all over.... will you consider it for your child?
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Like many others, I have very mixed feelings about this bill. I think it is very important that we continue to support our public schools, as they will provide education to most of our poorer and most severely challenged students. We should continue to work towards the maximum level of inclusion possible in these public school settings. At the same time, we must keep in mind that each student is an individual with individual needs. Some students just cannot thrive in the public school situation. For these students, these funds provided by SB10 are beneficial, even if the private school situation isn't covered 100% by the funds. Even if you are low income, it is much easier to come up with $3000 toward a $12,000 private school than it is to come up with the full $12000. Every little bit helps. We have to be sensitive to the needs of these families to make sure that other funds are available to make sure that they are able to make up the difference and provide the best academic atmosphere for their youngsters. We also need to place safeguards to insure that these schools remain high quality facilities where students are not just being warehouse, but rather are having whatever potential abilities they have optimized. My child was not able to be successful in public school. It took two years to get approval for release of funding in California to make the private program that he needed available to him. Unfortunately, he passed away before he could take the opportunity. His parting gift from both the public school and the agreed upon private school was to give him the sense of achievement of knowing he had made it there, so he was given an honorary student diploma three days before he passed away, a small gesture, but in it they achieved the goal of optimizing the quality of life of a child. This is what we must keep fighting for, making sure that whichever option they choose, public or private, we give them our best and bring out their best, whatever that may be for each.
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