William Phillis: Voucher expansion

To: Superintendents, Principals, Treasurers and other interested persons
From: William L. Phillis
Re: Voucher expansion
Date: January 27, 2006

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In addition to the Cleveland Voucher Program, HB 66 authorizes 14,000 school vouchers. Now the Speaker of the House, according to a January 25 article in the Dayton Daily News, wants to expand the voucher program so that any student in any academic emergency district would have access to a voucher.

43 percent of the students in the Dayton school district attend private or charter schools. Expansion of the voucher program will shift more Dayton students to private schools.

The goal of some state officials is to privatize the entire state school system. They may not realize that the public system is an essential factor in the maintenance of the political democracy. The so-called choice movement (breakup of the public school system) will result in a stratified society.