[Vision2020] School Choice

[David Douglas]

Tom Hanson states:

"I assume (by your judgement) that those students that attend private 
schools should not be eligible for any type of government assistance (such 
as Pell Grants, previously listed during a similar debate)."


I'm afraid I don't see the connection.  Maybe I'm missing something.  PELL 
grants to my knowledge are tax funded college tuition payments of some sort. 
  Could you help me connect the dots as to how that applies to the funding 
model of voluntary funding of public schools?  Or how making a distinction 
between tax supported (or voluntary public supported) educaction and the 
private/home school support should somehow make a difference in college 
funding elegibility?  I'm not saying there's no connection, Tom; I just 
don't see it and I haven't seen the other discussions.  If PELL grants fall 
into the same model then sure; if not then what's the relevance to this 
funding model?

My take about PELL grants (with the dots I currently have connected) is that 
if something is funded by taxes, then, at first blush at least, there is 
nothing wrong with _considering_ accepting money for which you are eligible.

Now whether I think it's good for the entire public to fund something things 
not strictly _necessary_ for government to fund (law-enforcement or defense 
are such necessities), as opposed to all those in favor of a benefit 
_voluntarily_ undertaking to fund it themselves...well that's a different 
matter.  The government funds lots of things I derive some benefit from that 
I would rather it didn't. The whole social security fraud complete, with its 
two sets of ledgers, comes to mind.  I don't consider someone opposed to SS 
as being wrong or inconsistent if they start cashing their monthly checks at 
the end of the month when they turn 62.

There may be other reasons (strings attached, some schools excluded, etc) 
not to accept Federal help for college.  And perhaps it is a sufficiently 
eggregious funding model (like corporate welfare, mohair subsidies, and 
unconsiounably selective farm subsidies) that beg for people with spines to 
refuse.  But whether PELL grants fall in either catagory, I can't say at the 
moment.  Maybe you can help me see from what I've written, why I would think 
that home/private school kids should act differently than their counterparts 
on this issue--based on the proposed funding model, or being in favor of the 
proposed funding model.

Cheers,
David

>From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen@moscow.com>
>Reply-To: <thansen@moscow.com>
>To: "David Douglas" <ddarrel_douglas@hotmail.com>, <sdredge@yahoo.com>,   
><vision2020@moscow.com>
>Subject: RE: [Vision2020] School Choice
>Date: Sun, 9 Feb 2003 20:14:45 -0800
>
>David Douglas states:
>
>"Would you find (or fund) this model acceptable if it were changed to a
>strictly voluntary system of contributions?  That way the folks who send
>their kids to private school or home school wouldn't merely have the choice
>of what to do, they'd have a funding model they found acceptable as well."
>
>
>I assume (by your judgement) that those students that attend private 
>schools
>should not be eligible for any type of government assistance (such as Pell
>Grants, previously listed during a similar debate).
>
>Tom Hansen
>Moscow
>
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