Vouchers and the Cost of Private Schools

A post at DemocracyForUtah concludes that vouchers aren’t a good idea, because they don’t cover the full freight of private school tuition. It is true that vouchers will not cover the full tuition cost at most private schools in the state. However, a few points should be included in the discussion.

The post uses the very expensive tuition at Rowland Hall-St. Marks to argue that private school can be beyond the reach of poor people, even with a voucher. I believe RW-SM is the most expensive school in the State. The gap would not be so big at others; at some, the tuition voucher would cover the full cost.

Most importantly, though, it is not the intent of the vouchers to cover all costs everywhere. The intent is to provide some help. Other costs beyond the amount of the voucher (which also would include transportation and school lunches) will have to be picked up by the parents or by scholarships through the private sector. The end result of expecting parents and the private sector to contribute is that more money flows into educating Utah children without leaning harder on the taxpayers. In many areas of government, such as government, we successfully provide incentives for the private sector to help fund worthwhile activities.

For what it's worth, the voucher would not cover the cost of educating a student at any Utah public school. In other words, the voucher amount is less than the amount of money that would have been spent on each child were he/she to attend the public schools. Regardless whether a child is rich or poor, the avoided costs to the school district are the same. So, yes, even rich people would get a $500 voucher (instead of the $3,000 voucher for the poorest). It takes a lesser incentive to get people with more resources to act.

Lastly, I don’t think poor people will look down their nose at the $3,000. Many parents work very long hours to fund private school tuition for children who were lost in the public system. If it means the parents have to work 400 hours less a year and can coach baseball, help their children with homework, sleep, etc. (or even in some cases – rare though I hope they are – sell less pints of blood), they probably think that’s a pretty good thing.