Letter to the editor: School vouchers exacerbate problems

We are fortunate in that we can look to other states for the results of their school voucher system. Take Ohio; it had the fifth highest rated system of public education in the nation. After they went to profit charter schools and vouchers, they dropped in standing to the mid 20s. People in Ohio ended up paying billions of dollars for poorer outcomes.

In Arizona, school vouchers were suppose to save taxpayers money. Instead they blew a massive hole in their budget. Arizona has spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it’s now facing hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state programs.

Even Republicans in Georgia oppose vouchers. They realize vouchers drain funds from rural counties and redistributes to a few wealthier counties.

North Carolina is diverting $4 billion in taxpayer money over the coming years to pay for wealthy people to send their kids to unregulated and unaccountable private schools.

In Florida, they call it welfare for the wealthy families to send their kids to private schools.

Whatever state you look at, you find the same thing. Vouchers do not help poor failing school districts. The exacerbate the problem by taking the already meager funds from those districts and giving them to private and religious schools. And why are we using taxpayer dollars for religious schools to indoctrinate their students into one particular faith?

Gloria Gralewski

Manor