School vouchers: ignoring a bigger problem

To me, the Milwaukee school vouchers seem to be a blind solution to a much bigger problem. After reading this case study, I felt pretty strongly against spending tax payer dollars on a select few to go to better schools (and in many cases religious schools.) I think that what we should be spending our money towards (like some said in this article) programs that work and the public schools in general to make it better. This article even specifically says how the money could be spent leaving left over funds. The money for example could be spent on the program 'Success for All' and would serve 56.665 kids with over 1 million dollars left over. The money could be beneficial to more than the 6050 that served in 1999. It could be used to benefit more students and even the teachers (who in my mind deserve more for what they do.)

School vouchers do not guarantee a better education. I mean just because you put a kid in a private school doesn't mean he/she for sure will do any better. That is completely ignoring other influences in his life, it's not guaranteeing a better life or education by any means. I mean I guess I could see it as beneficial possibly in that it could create connections that could be beneficial later in life, but it doesn't mean that all or even most kids will have this benefit. This program does not necessarily guarantee that a kid feels like he/she feels like they fit in (as someone of a different class, who may not have the same expensive clothes.) It doesn't necessarily provide the ability to afford extracurriculars like a lot of the other kids could. It doesn't provide a life outside of school that is the right atmosphere for studying or even an environment that will keep a kid healthy (eg free of toxins that lead to asthma or healthy food.) I think a better option would be to put money towards having a program that benefit the public schools and do other things like provide after school programs for tutoring, free extracurriculars or even summer camps. I think adding things like this would be way more beneficial to kids than vouchers. I think the studies at the end of the survey prove that.

The only time that I could see the voucher program as a viable solution would be during a transition time while they are working on figuring out where to spend the money in public schools.