Vouchers hurt all schools

I was raised Catholic by my parents and I am busily raising a daughter with faith in God in the Catholic tradition. I appreciate all of the moral codes that religion offers and the excellent school afforded my daughter by her school under the Archdiocese of Hartford, CT.

I have her in Catholic school because my wife an I promised to raise her as a Catholic when we were married. I also pay my taxes in a town that is well-known for having an excellent public school system. I would and will vote against "vouchers" that would allow me to count some of the costs of my daughter's schooling as taxes offered to my community and to my state.

Recently, I was speaking to a friend of mine who proposed me this argument in favor of vouchers and in favor of tax reductions based on the fact that I hold my daughter out of the public school. I answered his argument this way.

"Just because I don't drive down Stoddard Avenue in Newington, CT doesn't mean I should not pay taxes to help to improve that road." My taxes, as used on Stoddard Avenue go to the commonweal of the entire community and improve my town as a whole, whether or not I specifically use a particular road. The same goes with schools. Newington is known for having very good schools and that improves everything in my life from the value of my home to the quality of the people who inhabit my town. It also improves businesses, as children who stay in this community, or who return to it after college, add to the overall qualities of the businesses here.

My friend, who has campaigned for the office of Mayor of this town approved my argument. Our Mayor is an elected official who is not paid for his public service. He presides over town council meetings and the Mayor  and the Council hire a Town Executive to run day-to-day operations. We have an all-volunteer fire department and a professional police department. We're hardly New York City or Philadelphia.

But national politics and policies invade our town and our schools with the modern voucher system, promoting free market competition among schools of all types and providing schools with incentive to improve.

But this system completely ignores the improvement to the commonweal as well as the property value improvements of a public school system that achieves excellence through taxing all members of the society. And, once my daughter grows up, what happens to my voucher money? Do I need to leave town because now I must pay taxes for the various and sundry schools out there?

I am happy to defend the right of a Yeshiva or a private Islamic school like Al Noor in Brooklyn, NY as well as the numerous Catholic and Baptists schools around the country. I just don't want my tax dollars supporting them. This is not because I am intolerant—far from it. I believe in a separation of religion from the affairs of governments. And our government, long ago, decided that education is a right in the United States and, to fulfill that right, government must be involved.

A voucher system in Newington could only harm the excellent public schools we do have. And it would also take away from the other programs that the town has at these schools, like swimming lessons for town residents in the town's high school pool, as well as an annual business expo that takes place in a (dressed up) gymnasium at that same high school. The non-publich schools in the town just don't have those kinds of facilities, or if they have them, they are a lot smaller.

And, if my daughter's grammar school didn't have to compare itself to the outstanding public school, it would not offer the kinds of programs it does and it would not be teaching my daughter as well. Free market competition needs a bar above which all schools must be kept and that bar is best set by investments in public education. If the bar is set lower by the public schools, the religious schools won't have to be as good to attract students. Then, with the bar lowered, the religious schools don't need to be as good.

Vouchers for religious schools invite theocracy in education, at least. That tends to build intolerance in a mixed society such as ours and creates weaknesses where there needs to be strengths. In a world where our children, increasingly, will be competing against the children who are presently growing up all over the world, our investment in local public education is more vital than ever. As a member of my community, it is important that I help to educate children of all residents in my town and not just my own.