(Chuck Muth) – After re-watching the Rory REID/Brian Sandoval gubernatorial debate on education – in which it seemed the operative phrase in every answer from Rory was “my plan” and from Brian “but again” – I’ve come to the conclusion that Rory is either a complete ignoramus on the issue of school vouchers or a serial prevaricator.
Probably a little of both.
Rory constantly whinnied that Sandoval’s voucher plan would only benefit the 4 percent of parents who currently pay to send their kids to a private school. He claims those parents are the only ones who would benefit from $6,000 school vouchers while costing the public school system $100 million in vouchers that it presently doesn’t have to pay.
1.) This is total bullsh*t.
2.) Why should parents who are paying taxes to fund a public education system pay twice to send their kids to a private school to educate their children?
3.) Depending on the details of Sandoval’s plan, if it’s structured along the lines of Assemblyman Ed Goedhart’s EIEIO voucher bill, parents who are already paying to send their kids to private schools would be phased into the voucher system gradually and wouldn’t get immediate relief.
4.) Which means if adopted today, the 4 percent of parents who currently send their kids to private schools would NOT be eligible for the vouchers; only the 96 percent of students currently trapped in the “public option” schools would benefit.
As it is right now, only wealthy families can afford to both pay their taxes to fund the Mansions of Mediocrity otherwise known as our public schools, as well as the tuition to send their kids to private schools where students learn more than how to roll a joint and load a handgun.
Middle-class families and most of the minority community, while possessing the “right” to send their kids to private schools, lack the financial ability to do so. School vouchers will provide the 96 percent of families who do not currently possess the means to obtain an equal opportunity to send their kids to better schools.
Which reminds me, Rory also falsely claimed it costs $15,000 a year to send your kids to a private school. While that might, indeed, be the tuition for some elite schools, many private option schools today cost well under the $6,000 voucher limit proposed by Sandoval.
And once vouchers are approved, a ton of new private schools will open – along with a ton of new classrooms in existing private schools – which will drive the cost of a private education DOWN, not up. That’s just the way the free market works, which is exactly the way the free market is supposed to work.
Look, Rory opposes vouchers because he thinks the government’s prime directive is to operate public schools rather than to provide an equal opportunity for a quality education. Rory’s wrong. And if Nevadans elect him, our kids will continue to suffer because of it.
And by the way, what was with the constant references in the debate to his wife Cindy – who DESPISES school choice and was the leading advocate for banning charter schools in Nevada while on the state Board of Education a couple years ago – helping him write his education plan? Is this another Bill & Hillary deal where if Nevadans buy one, we get one free?
Perish the thought.
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