Who needs public schools?

Many people believe that Sarah Palin is a champion of students and families with special educational needs.

I think it’s just another issue that Palin needs to “address” as part of the campaign.  Palin states that if parents of special education students decide to send their children to private schools, the government should foot the bill.  What Palin is promising to do in a McCain administration is not realistic, nor is it in the best interest of any tax-paying American.

Funding for the special education programs in our nation’s schools have always been lacking, (as funding for general programs have been).

How is education funded in this country? By the tax-payers.  Districts or towns use the money collected from the property tax to pay for their departments of education.  This is why in wealthier districts, the property taxes are higher, and schools and students generally perform better than areas of poorer populations. In many areas, particularly rural and less populated districts, there are not enough tax-paying citizens to financially support the needs of the schools.  In these instances, the state subsidizes the cost of the schools. (This is not to say that states don’t give districts additional monies for their expenses.)

How do schools pay for the special education programs that the students in their community need?   Schools are allocated a certain amount of money for the number of students that they have.  In NYC, special education students are given extra money to pay for the services that they need.  Fortunately, for the many students of special needs in NYC, we have the funding and ability  to provide for most special ed students.   However, smaller areas, towns, villages, etc. do not have the same funding available.

Which brings us back to what Palin is proposing… that all families are given the choice to send their child to public or private schools for students of special needs.  All expenses will be incurred by the tax-payers.  The question is: if tax-payers’ monies cannot even pay for the needs of schools NOW, how will they be able to pay for the needs of the potential thousands of students who will choose to attend a private school?  There are schools in VT that have had to close because they could not afford the gas prices to bus children to the school.  Where does Palin propose to find the money to support her outrageous promise?

Given the choice between a private and public program, many parents of special ed students will choose the private programs.  It is not that parents shouldn’t be given a private school option IF their school districts are unable to provide for the students.  If school districts are able to provide comparable programs, services, and education to special ed students, then the school districts should not have to pay for the private school tuition.   In these instances, if parents choose to send their children to private school, then the parents need to pay the costs of the education themselves.

Case in point:  in the late 1980s, a VP of Virgin Records who lived in NYC, decided to send his son to a special education boarding school in Massachusetts.  Even though the city had programs and schools that were able to meet the needs of his son, the VP chose to send his son to a private institution.  While his son was in Massachusetts, the VP and his wife filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit against the city.  They believed that the city was responsible for paying for the education of their child.  A few of years ago, the suit was finally won by the VP and his wife, and the city had to pay millions of dollars to this family.  They donated the money to an after school agency, but that is not the point.  The point isn’t even that the city had to spend millions and time in fighting this lawsuit.  It is that these parents CHOSE to send their child to a private school DESPITE the fact that the city had programs that were comparable to the private school.  Why should the city have had to pay this family anything if they chose not to send their son to a public school?

The fact is, if parents of special education students are given the option to choose private or public education for their children, then the same privilege should be extended to all families of all students.  Why shouldn’t any other parent get to decide what type of education they prefer for their child? Why shouldn’t the government pay for the private education of ANY child?

Oh, what the hell!  In the name of McCain and Palin, let’s just shut down public schools, and give vouchers to every family.