School vouchers benefit the wealthy, hurt public schools
To the editor:
Taxpayer-funded vouchers are a tax cut for the wealthy.
Nearly 70% of private school students who received voucher assistance were already enrolled in private schools.
Since 2023, the Florida voucher program has funneled around $1 billion out of public schools and into private schools.
It is no wonder the public schools are struggling, and why it will be easy to convince the public that public schools are a broken system and should be dismantled. We must remember that the defunding of public schools has been strategic and intentional.
You might not care since you don’t have children in school, thinking your taxes will be lowered if you don’t have to pay for public school. Do not forget, you will pay another way and not have the benefit of the world-class education promised to our community. By the way, private school tuition did not go down. Instead, it exploded, taking voucher money from the state and raising tuition, too!
In Lee County, there is little proof that charter and private schools improve educational outcomes and likely worsen them.
All they do is spread out the student population so students do not have to attend classes in trailers, because the county cannot build schools fast enough to keep up with its poorly managed growth.
Vouchers represent a redistribution of public funding to private entities, leading to fewer funds available for public goods. They benefit the wealthy at the expense of low-income and rural communities, rooted in a curriculum intended to indoctrinate children to narrow thinking, upholding racial, ableist, anti-LBGTQ, and religious discrimination.
Those schools have the right to exist, but public funds should not be supporting their discriminatory agenda.
Karyn Edison
Fort Myers