“Only the strong, the rich, and the dying think truth is a necessity; the rest of us know it for a luxury.” ― Christopher Buehlman, The Blacktongue Thief Daily, I spend about 2 hours taking my freshman daughter to high school. Metro Nashville Public Schools allow students to attend a specialized school outside their zoned school. She attends Nashville's School of the Arts for literacy.
Regarding your question as to what was won in the voucher legislation not passing, I refer to your daughter’s answer about looking toward the future. She sounds very mature. Those of us who oppose vouchers are doing just that. If vouchers become part of private education, eventually, those in charge of public education will want to regulate those receiving the vouchers. In fact, we’ve already seen this desire in Rep Powell's amendment to HB390, which was withdrawn, but still shows intent. The amendment was to make voucher recipients have to take TCAPs, make teachers and admin of voucher recipients be evaluated on the same schedules/standards as public school teachers, and make schools receiving vouchers follow all the rules that public schools do. Essentially, private schools will be turned in to public schools. And since homeschoolers are considered private schoolers because most operate under Cat IV religious umbrella schools, that means even our homeschools would be subject to this. We know that what the government funds it runs. The only way to have true educational freedom is to have an option that the government doesn’t control. That’s what we believe was won. Even if those regulations didn’t come for a few years, we know they are coming, so we will oppose vouchers every time they come up. Because we want future generations to have the freedom in education that we have now and more.
I’d also like to add that I enjoy reading your blog and hearing your perspective. You present an intelligent point of view, and I appreciate the ability to have civil discourse, even when we don’t agree :)
Regarding your question as to what was won in the voucher legislation not passing, I refer to your daughter’s answer about looking toward the future. She sounds very mature. Those of us who oppose vouchers are doing just that. If vouchers become part of private education, eventually, those in charge of public education will want to regulate those receiving the vouchers. In fact, we’ve already seen this desire in Rep Powell's amendment to HB390, which was withdrawn, but still shows intent. The amendment was to make voucher recipients have to take TCAPs, make teachers and admin of voucher recipients be evaluated on the same schedules/standards as public school teachers, and make schools receiving vouchers follow all the rules that public schools do. Essentially, private schools will be turned in to public schools. And since homeschoolers are considered private schoolers because most operate under Cat IV religious umbrella schools, that means even our homeschools would be subject to this. We know that what the government funds it runs. The only way to have true educational freedom is to have an option that the government doesn’t control. That’s what we believe was won. Even if those regulations didn’t come for a few years, we know they are coming, so we will oppose vouchers every time they come up. Because we want future generations to have the freedom in education that we have now and more.
I’d also like to add that I enjoy reading your blog and hearing your perspective. You present an intelligent point of view, and I appreciate the ability to have civil discourse, even when we don’t agree :)