One of the dumbest “academic papers” I’ve ever seen has been published by an organization called the Florida Policy Institute.
The outfit should issue a public apology for this piece of trash, which claims that vouchers are costing the government schools $3.9 billion a year.
The two doctors of philosophy who wrote the report arrived at this figure by adding up the funding for three voucher programs that are used by 369,273 students.
This is “diverting” that amount of money from the government schools, the report claims.
Apparently, the authors are incapable of using common sense or logic. They simply are rehashing the old and discredited idea that private schools “drain money” from government schools.
But, as the prestigious James Madison Institute once said, “the purpose of public education funds is to fund the student’s education — not the education system.”
Education is piece work. Government schools are given a certain amount of money per student.
If a child doesn’t go to a school, the school is not paid to educate the child. It couldn’t be any simpler.
It’s like saying if a child doesn’t get sick he is cheating a doctor out of the money his parents would have paid for treatment.
An even better comparison comes from former Education Commissioner Jim Horne, who told Eye on Jacksonville, “It’s like McDonalds saying you have to pay us for your hamburger even though you got it at Burger King.”
The report also makes the ridiculous claim that government schools are underfunded because Florida is ranked low in teacher pay.
But there is zero evidence that teacher pay is related to educational outcomes.
Furthermore, teachers in government schools have gotten record pay increases in recent years — thanks to the Republican-controlled state legislature and governor.
The report also blames vouchers for government school closings.
Duh. If you don’t have enough students to fill a school, you close the school. What would the Florida Policy Institute recommend: paying teachers and staff for showing up to work in schools without students?
Actually, reliable studies have found that voucher programs save money for taxpayers and, via competition, bring about improvement in the government schools.
Liberal organizations like the Florida Policy Institute simply dislike giving choices in education to parents because government schools are a fund-raising apparatus for the liberal Democrat Party. Teachers give a portion of their pay to unions that are a major source of funds for Democrats and when Democrats are in control of legislatures, they increase teacher salaries, renewing the cycle.
Thus, the faulty report recommends that the state “increase investment” in government schools.
This shoddy research paper also claims that vouchers “have a negative impact” on academic outcomes.
In fact, the source they cite – from the liberal Brookings Institution — says recent research “strongly suggests they actually lower academic achievement.” Other research, of course, shows the exact opposite.
In 2023, an article published by the James Madison Institute said, “Out of 52 analyses on the fiscal impact of private school choice programs, 47 were found to generate overall savings for taxpayers. An additional study in 2018 found that school choice programs generated $12.4 to $28.3 billion in tax savings.”
When facts and logic are taken into account, the report by the Florida Policy Institute is light on academic soundness and heavy with political rhetoric. Give it an F.
