By Carol C. Brown
01/20/04 -- When Congress reconvenes Jan. 20, one of the first items on its agenda will be an omnibus appropriations bill that contains a $14 million voucher program for the District of Columbia.
Meanwhile, new reports on existing voucher programs in Cleveland and Florida show that the voucher concept is not working.
And in another setback for voucher advocates, a state judge in Denver overturned Colorado's voucher law on the grounds that it usurps local school boards' authority.
On Jan. 6, District Judge Joseph Meyer upheld his earlier injunction halting the program. That means the voucher program cannot go forward, as voucher supporters had hoped, pending a decision by the state Supreme Court.
At a time when public schools are facing tougher accountability measures than ever before -- due to the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and various state laws -- Congress has no business imposing a voucher program on the District of Columbia or anywhere else.
Unlike public schools across the nation, private schools in D.C. that accept voucher students would not have to comply with the same annual testing requirements, hire "highly qualified" teachers, or issue report cards on student achievement.
And when Congress has failed to provide the promised funding to implement NCLB, it makes no sense to divert federal dollars to private schools.
Further, there is no guarantee that students in D.C. -- or anywhere else -- who receive vouchers will do any better academically than their counterparts who remain in public schools.
In fact, a study released in December on the Cleveland voucher program found that public school students, on average, made larger academic gains overall than students who used vouchers to attend private schools. Overall, however, after four years, there were no statistically significant differences in academic achievement between students in the voucher program and those who remained in public schools.
This finding disputes the key argument made by voucher proponents -- that vouchers lead to higher levels of student achievement.
Voucher advocates also have insisted that voucher programs are for poor, minority students who would not otherwise have the resources to attend private schools. Again, this study undercuts these claims.
Students who received vouchers actually were less likely to be African-American or to qualify for the free school lunch program than their counterparts in public schools.
In fact, because of the lottery system used to select voucher recipients, non-minority students and families whose children already attend private schools disproportionately ended up claiming vouchers.
That's because many families who won the voucher lottery did not use their vouchers.The private schools near their homes often didn't have any openings or didn't offer special education or other services they needed. Or they couldn't afford the tuition and out-of-pocket expenses not covered by the voucher.
The Cleveland study, conducted for the state of Ohio by the Indiana University School of Education, was the only ongoing, unbiased review of a publicly funded voucher program in the nation. Unfortunately, the state has not provided the funds to continue the study.
Cleveland's voucher program serves about 5,200 children at an annual cost of more than $16 million. Florida's three voucher programs serve 24,000 children this year at an estimated cost of $135 million.
A report issued Dec. 11 by Florida's chief financial officer, Tom Gallagher, found the state's voucher programs riddled with mismanagement and other problems, including "potential abuse or possible criminal activity."
Gallagher's report says private schools participating in the state's "opportunity scholarship" program, which provides vouchers to students in poorly performing public schools, and the McKay program, which provides vouchers to students with disabilities, need to provide only minimal assurances of their financial stability.
Among the many lapses cited in the report: Due to lack of administrative oversight, there have been cases of private schools accepting vouchers for students enrolled in public schools. The state education department doesn't have a database to adequately track funding by private schools, parents, and students. Private school personnel don't have to pass criminal background checks.
Many of these problems also afflict Florida's "corporate tax credit scholarship" program, which provides generous tax credits to businesses that make donations to private organizations that provide vouchers to poor children. The audit found many of these organizations don't have processes in place to properly account for the scholarship funds.
The audit says one of these organizations, called Florida- Child, maintained poor financial records, had an inadequate system of determining whether vouchers went to eligible students, failed to verify whether children who received vouchers were actually attending school, and had no system of budgeting and cash management.
Criminal investigations of FloridaChild and several other private schools and organizations are being conducted.
It's not surprising that abuses and mismanagement would surface when there are little or no financial controls in place.
In addition, there are no stated academic standards for private schools that accept vouchers under any of Florida's three voucher programs.
The state does not know what curricula the schools use or whether the teachers are certified. The state does not require these schools to be accredited. According to a study conducted by the Palm Beach Post, 33 percent of the 1,193 Florida schools accepting voucher students this year are not accredited by any organization.
Florida does not require the private schools participating in the corporate tax program or the McKay program to administer standardized tests to their students. It does require students receiving "opportunity scholarships" to take the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test but has not published a comprehensive report on the results.
It should be clear to everyone concerned with education by now that vouchers don't work. They divert public dollars to private schools that aren't accountable to the public. At best, they help a few children while leaving many behind. They do nothing to raise student achievement. And they undermine public education.
Vouchers are not living up to the promises made by voucher advocates. It's time to spend the taxpayers' money on educating the nation's children in public schools that are accountable to the public.