Bobby Scott Warns: The GOP Push For School Vouchers Will Only Help A ‘Handful Of People’

Forbes Breaking News

During Tuesday’s House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) questioned experts about the effect of school vouchers on public school students.  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00The ranking member of the full committee, Mr. Scott, is recognized for five minutes.

00:05Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I've always been intrigued by the strategy of

00:10dealing with totally dysfunctional schools by helping a handful of people

00:15with a voucher get away and leaving the vast majority still stuck behind in the

00:23failing school system. Did nothing for the vast majority of students except give

00:31them less resources than they had to begin with.

00:34Ms. Levin, can the private schools charge more than the voucher amount?

00:43Yes, and they often do. They also have been shown to raise their prices when

00:48vouchers come to their state. And who pays the difference between the voucher

00:51amount and the tuition? That's on the backs of families as well as other

00:55non-tuition expenses, making them only accessible to the wealthy.

01:04When these voucher programs start off, is there any explosion in private school seats?

01:12Yes, there's often fly-by-night private schools in strip malls and other places

01:17that aren't suitable that rise up to take advantage of the funds.

01:21Has that quality been assessed for the new schools?

01:25Yes, they're often low quality and they often close. I believe about research shows that

01:30about 20% of schools close within a few years. In Florida, it's 30%.

01:36So that when they actually get there, they don't have any better opportunity than they

01:46had to begin with.

01:47That's correct, and they also don't have rights.

01:51And we'll get to rights in just a second. Do the schools have their own admission standards?

01:56They do, and voucher laws are written to explicitly allow them to keep those standards even if

02:01they're discriminatory.

02:03Mr. Banks indicated that he's an example of that. He said he was denied twice to the school

02:07he applied to. What oversight is there on admissions policies?

02:12There's basically none.

02:17Is there any guarantee that those who get a voucher can get into a private school?

02:23There is not, and I've spoken with many families that may have started with high hopes, especially

02:27for students with disabilities, and then found that there was no school that would accept

02:30their child.

02:32And then what happens to them?

02:35Then they remain in public schools, which now have fewer resources to serve them.

02:41Do schools set their own discipline standards?

02:44They do, and in most places private schools are not subject to anti-bullying laws like

02:49public schools are.

02:51Can they expel students?

02:53They can for things like their sexual orientation, their disability, their academic achievement

02:58ability, their English language ability, and many other things that would not be allowed

03:01in public schools.

03:02And what happens to those students?

03:04Those students depend on public schools, which again now have fewer resources.

03:09And tell me about the civil rights protections, you said even if discriminatory?

03:13That's right.

03:14Civil rights protections are substantially lower for private school students than public

03:19school students.

03:20I know employment law was mentioned, which is different than the rights for students.

03:23You mentioned Title VI.

03:26Disparate impact cases can only be brought by the Department of Education.

03:30Are Title VI cases brought against private schools?

03:34Title VI only applies to schools that receive federal financial assistance, and that is

03:39an increasingly low number of private schools.

03:42Is acceptance of a voucher federal funding?

03:47Isn't that a question about whether or not they're even subject to any of the civil rights

03:54laws like Title VI?

03:56Correct.

03:57Private school students do not enjoy the protections of many federal civil rights statutes, including

04:02Title VI, unless there's federal funding.

04:10You mentioned segregation.

04:12I recall the, as you've suggested, the battle cry of segregationists was give us states'

04:21rights.

04:22How do states' rights help enforce civil rights?

04:27States can enact civil rights laws that go beyond federal law.

04:30Again, they largely, such as special education laws, wouldn't apply to students who take

04:34a voucher.

04:39What oversight is there for private to be able to determine, for us to determine whether

04:45or not there are good schools or bad schools?

04:47I imagine there's a great deal of variability.

04:53Very little, and again, decreasing with each passing year.

04:57That's a deliberate choice, and we know why.

05:00It's because the results are not good.

05:02Are they subject to the NAEP tests?

05:06Most private school voucher programs have very little or no testing requirements.

Category

Transcript

Recommended