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October 13-19, 2000
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Updated 5:00 p.m. PDT
Eligibility and Uses
- In what kinds of schools can the vouchers be used?
- Does a child have to be in public school to get a voucher to attend private school?
- What schools are eligible to receive vouchers?
- Can those who already are in private school use vouchers?
- Can a child go to any school, public, charter, magnet, in the district or out of the district that is better than his/her school?
- Can excess voucher money from one year be used in the next year?
- Can excess voucher money be used for college?
- How do the parents receive the voucher money?
- What is the voucher money used for (admission/tuition, supplies, etc)?
- Up to how much money can parents receive per child?
- Does the amount change if there are multiple children in one household who are eligible to receive vouchers?
- Does the age of the child matter/ Is there an age limit?
- In the example of schools that have commitments to match funds for low income students, would those schools be required to match the voucher as they would for cash?
- Can the child switch from one private school to another?
- Can you use vouchers to switch from a public school to a charter school? To a magnet school?
- What happens if the child switches from one private school to another during the school year? From a private school to a public school? From a public school to a private school?
Financial Questions
- Will vouchers provide enough money for students to attend private school?
- What is the average cost of private schools in CA?
- Will vouchers cost the state more than it is paying for education now?
- Will vouchers cost the state less than it is paying for education now?
- Will vouchers affect federal funding for education?
State Authority /Accountability
- How are voucher-redeeming private schools accountable to the state?
- How would the state handle discriminatory acts of voucher-redeeming private schools?
- How would the state handle disgruntled parents of children who don't have access to and/or are not admitted to private schools?
- Will private schools be held accountable for student achievement by the state?
- Will private schools be accountable to the state for curriculum?
- Will the state be called upon to resolve conflicts between parents of students who don't want requirements forced upon them by private schools vs. parents who send their kids to private schools specifically for the requirements?
- If private schools aren't subject to the same codes as public schools, do they have to be accessible to students with disabilities? What are the bare minimum facility requirements that the state will allow?
Voucher Programs in Other States
- Are there other states that have voucher systems?
- Are the voucher systems in other states similar to that proposed in CA?
- Have vouchers affected other states' education systems positively?
- Have other states experienced race or class separation because of the voucher system?
- Have public schools in other states benefited from voucher competition?
- Has the voucher system been held to be constitutional in other states?
Legal Questions
- Do vouchers violate the constitutional guarantee of separation of church and state by funding religious schools?
- Can the state be held liable for any misconduct committed by a voucher-redeeming school?
- Is there due process for students expelled from voucher-redeeming private schools?
General Questions
- How many private school spaces are there for students?
- How does a private school become accredited?
- Will transportation be provided?
- Will information on private schools in the area be disseminated to parents?
- Will information on vouchers be disseminated to parents?
- Will parents of children who use vouchers for private schools be exempt from certain mandatory practices like "parent volunteer hour requirements" or the like?
- Will the money for "free lunch" and "reduced-price lunch" programs that low-income children are eligible for at public schools also be available at private schools?
- Will the money come from the allotted voucher money, or from elsewhere?
- Do private school teachers have to be credentialed? What percentage of private school teachers are? Will information about the percentage of each private school's teachers that are credentialed be made available to the public?
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