A controversial yet extremely enticing, challenging, and a must know debate going on is the debate revolving around the school voucher system. School vouchers, which 15 states have a system in place for, is a system that directs tax dollars to families to pay for tuition to attend private schools.
It doesn’t seem like a bad idea, helping families who may not be fully capable of paying for private school by giving them some money to pay for the tuition. However, is it really fair?
A good portion of the taxes you pay go to publics school, why do the private schools that aren’t government-funded get money? Tax dollar money for public schools now gets given to private schools, can that be called fair?
Our conference with Profe. Canales, one of our beloved Spanish teachers, was extremely insightful.
He stated that the school voucher system is “unfair, as it takes away from public schools” and gave us insight to several schools just north of us.
Most of the high schools in Portland have been built for a long time now, the buildings are old and are in need of renovation or a brand new building entirely.
“Think about the schools in Portland, those buildings are much older then ours. Some schools don’t even have proper air conditioning. What about in the summertime, with no air conditioning, with poor insulation, those rooms will be so hot,” stated Profe. Canales.
That’s the core of the controversy, these school voucher systems take away from public schools and takes away opportunities. Profe. Canales had even more to tell, and brought up our school’s highly prestigious robotics team.
“It could be a class… If there was a class for robotics, it would allow more students to come in as entry level.” Profe. Canales is on the right track, as there is unlimited potential on what the money can be used for, having non-government funded schools rip that money away isn’t right.
Although there is validity to the rise of school vouchers, it will always hinder a public school’s ability to provide the best possible education for its students.