Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Ed Emery bill would make all Missouri students eligible for vouchers

During a Senate committee hearing Wednesday, Sen. Ed Emery, R-Lamar, announced he was changing his education savings account bill, which had been limited to students with disabilities.

Under the new version, all Missouri families would be able to create savings accounts to cover the entire cost of sending their children to private schools, charter schools, virtual online schools, or for tutoring.

From all appearances, though the new version of the bill has not been placed on the Senate website yet, the new bill may even make home schoolers eligible.

From KOLR's report:

During a Wednesday Senate committee hearing, a number of free market and politically conservative groups lined up to support the proposal, including the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and the Missouri Century Foundation.

Also testifying in favor of the EDU measure were school choice advocacy groups such as Ed Choice, Families for Home Education and the Missouri Education Reform Council. One private citizen, Lisa Smith, said her children were forced to attend failing public schools for nine years.

Scott Kimble of the state School Administrators Association is against the measure, and points to a study of a voucher program Governor Greitens praised.

“That survey which was conducted by a pro-voucher group, found that Arizona’s voucher program, the program that the governor specifically referenced in his state of the state address, disproportionally served white students and those from more affluent families,” said Kimble. “The entire Arizona population is 41 % white, yet 76 percent of those participating in the voucher program are white. The median household income in Arizona is $50,000, yet over 60% using the voucher program are in higher income brackets.

5 comments:

Harvey Hutchinson said...

That Arizona study simply means:
Lies!
Damn lies!, and
Statistics!!

Harvey Hutchinson 303-522-6622 voice&text 24/7

Anonymous said...

To Swnator Emery, Harvey,and all those who believe in voucher...

Make the CHARTER AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS that allow these students with vouchers to attend, meet all the MANDATES that PUBLUC SCHOOLS must meet. Also, don't allow these schools to "pick and choose" who can attend their institutions.

Put them on the sane playing field and you will see that PUBLIC SCHOOLS are the best in the USA.

Anonymous said...

@3:04 Make sure and let Swnator Emery know what PUBLUC SCHOOLS have done for you!

Anonymous said...

Good old Ed Emery, the hater of public education! His bills are a disgrace to the area. Thank you for all your efforts to tear down education for all of your constituents!

School Teachers care nothing for kids said...

Every single one of you bottom-feeding school teachers care absolutely nothing for whether your charges get a good education or not, just in maintaining an educational monopoly.

There should be options as to where parents send their children. If you are going to claim that taxes should be spent on "free" public education then the ultimate decider of where tax money should be spent on individual children should be the parents of that child. Therefore, there should be vouchers available for charter or private or religious schools or even home-schooling.

The end result will be that the babysitting arrangements shall no longer favor teachers unions but parents, and then there will be a movement for reform to where results of basic literacy shall overcome considerations as to what you teaching drones insist needing to be done to keep you employed.

Ed Emery represents the interests of his rural district, which is why he is re-elected until he term-limits out to be replaced by another just like him. Get over it.