Private School Choice Helps Students, Saves Money? Lawmakers Say Too BAD; Lobbyists Make SHAMEFUL Claims
On consecutive days this week at the State Capitol, Colorado lawmakers once again killed two private school choice bills. HB 1295 and HB 1296 would have provided tax credits so families could choose a non-public school.
Even the fact that both bills would have saved public schools money on a per-pupil basis during these hard budget times didn’t convince Democrats in the majority on the House Finance Committee. They said too BAD and voted down HB 1295 and HB 1296.
More SHAMEFUL, however, was some of the testimony against the bills. According to the account of home education legislative analyst Treon Goossen, the CEA (teachers union) lobbyist made the unsupported claim that private schools and home schools provide an “inferior education.” And the CASB (school board association) lobbyist implied non-public schools would discriminate against students based on race or some other characteristics. As far as we know, no discussion was had concerning the exclusiveness of many “private” public schools.
The proof is in that private school choice benefits many children, and in the case of these two bills would no doubt save money for the state to serve other students. All the less reason to provide excuses for the BAD decisions of lawmakers and the SHAMEFUL claims of lobbyists.
March 8th, 2010 at 9:18 am
[...] at the GoBash blog, my Education Policy Center friends also highlighted some of the shameful lobbyist arguments used against this legislation (and its companion bill, HB 1295), which would have provided [...]