[Vision2020] School Choice

[Thomas Hansen]

To put it in more understandable terms:

Refusing to assist in subsidizing a program (public education) because you
do not participate in that program; yet, accepting funds from others
(government funds to include those funds subsidized by participants of
public education) to assist in your pursuit of a private education is wrong.

Simply put, "You will not financially assist me in my public educational
pursuits, but you expect me to financially assist you in your private
educational pursuits."

Pell Grants are made possible through tax revenues, those very same tax
revenues that "private schoolers" feel thaey should not have to pay.

Simple enough?

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho 

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce and Jean Livingston [mailto:jeanlivingston@turbonet.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 7:15 AM
To: vision2020@moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] School Choice



In response to arguments about the means of funding private and public
SCHOOLS, and ignoring the difference between Pell Grant funding of students
who choose to ATTEND a particular public OR private school -- in his
instance a public one -- Tom Hansen wrote the following illogical rebuttal:

     "The original argument was that those that do not participate in (or
attend)
public schools feel that they should not have to subsidize public schools
(via property taxes).
     Being a graduate of a public university, I was a recipient of a couple
Pell
Grants (government funds provided to students for the purpose of aiding them
with their tuition, etc.).  These funds are ot (sic) given directly to the
school,
but given to the student.
     So, to "connect the dots" as you say, students (or parents of
students),
identified in my first paragraph, feel that they shouldn't have to assist in
the payments for public education, but those students (or parents of
students) who attend public schools should assist in the payments for
private education.
     You can't have it both ways, Mr. Douglas.
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho"

Selectively connecting a few dots among many, while skipping the lines
between omitted dots, results in a very different picture.  Mr. Hansen's
looks like an orange, rather than Mr. Douglas' original apple.  If anything,
Pell grants are closer to the model of  "competition for student dollars
among schools" that the private school proponents advocate, though Pell
grants are limited greatly by financial need, unlike some of the proposed
"voucher" systems.

Bruce Livingston


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