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Colia Clark on Education |
A: OPPOSE - Charter schools should not be funded with public education dollars. I will help to reverse the pattern of robbing the public education budget in order to build the Charter School Movement. Our children's future is not for sale.
Voucher allotments opened the road for the plans underlying the policy of the Reagan Administration to begin the downsizing of public education. The Reagan policy is best expressed by one of his educational advisers commenting on the financing of higher education: "We are in danger of producing an educated proletariat. That's dynamite. We have to be selective on who we allow to go through higher education." The spirit of this comment is reflected in government funding of the Charter School Movement which places a quality education for all Americans at risk, with no access.
On the other hand, black parents with children in newly desegregated schools were upset with the poor quality of public education and wanted the resources to place their children into private schools with the hope for a quality education.
The Reagan Administration responded to this crisis by offering vouchers of up to $1,000 to aid parents who needed income to keep their children in the all-white Citizens' Council schools. Given an open gate for funds, black parents also applied for vouchers to help underwrite a private school education for their children.
A: OPPOSE - It is important that the separation of church and state is protected. It is urgent that the nation which boasted of being "a melting pot" respect the religious preferences of all of its citizens. Prayer in school means prayer for some and pain and disrespect for others. Each citizen is sacred and infinitely precious -- leave prayer out of school and in the heart of each individual.