Vouchers for Secondary Education in the United States Assignment | Online Assignment

The draft of your paper is not on the same topic as the outline you submitted and I approved. The topic of the outline was subsidies to higher education (college), whereas the draft is on vouchers for secondary education (high school). In lieu of rewriting the paper on the approved topic, I would like you to write a brief “bridge” between the two, describing the programs currently used to subsidize higher education in the US and New York State and explaining which, if any, elements of your draft carry over to the issue of higher ed subsidies and what new issues aris

Vouchers for Secondary Education in the United States

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Vouchers for Secondary Education in the United States

Introduction

Secondary education ranks as one of the pivotal life undertaking and a crucial stage within the education system. However, despite the essentiality of secondary education, researchers agree that across global economies, there exist varied challenges within education systems (Michelman, 2017; UN, 2020). Human capital is essential for economic development (Hungerman & Rinz, 2016), and research shows education, especially secondary education, in societies as useful in supporting growth. Likewise, the United Nations recognizes education as useful, forming part of its sustainable goals. Hence, with human capital improvement as an essential aspect of economic growth, the funding of schooling helps meet the skill/expertise demands (Krueger & Ludwig, 2016). Subsidizing education through voucher programs forms one of the government’s ways involved in shaping economies and human capital. This report examines vouchers in secondary education, detailing the background, benefits, and disadvantages.

Data Presentation and Historical Trends of Secondary School Vouchers

The adoption of voucher programs ranks as an evident aspect within the USA education system,  a progress that has existed across many years. Moreover, according to EdChoice (2019), there has been a considerable rise in voucher uptake numbers, across the various voucher programs. Of the different voucher alternatives available to the multiple families requiring support towards secondary education funding, the widely adopted plan, as shown in the figure below are tax-credit scholarships, of which by 2020, total numbers are 299,050 across the using states. Through this summary statistic, it is evident that as a community, there has been an increasing level in the utilization of tax-credit scholarships, with the proportion seen as highly increasing as from 2010, much more than as seen in the past years. During this period, there is a much steeper trend, evidencing the more adoption of vouchers across the respective 18 states reported as exhibiting the various voucher programs. Likewise, the second most voucher utilized across the states is the traditional voucher, of which by 2020, reports show their total being 218,000 (EdChoice, 2019). finally, across the states, ESAs ranks as the least adopted, comprising 21,738 as of 2020.

figure 1: Different voucher types and their numbers

Source: EdChoice (2019)

According to Michelman (2017), the range that one gets in typical or traditional vouchers is $2,000-$5,000 annually, where the overall value of $10,000  annually ranks as the national average. Similarly, on ESAs, the program allows takers in covering needs in addition to tuition, with the money well deposited in accounts that are government authorized. Some of the uses of these ESAs include catering for tuition in addition to other associated expenses ranging from online courses, and transportation linked costs (Michelman, 2017). Across states, traditional vouchers have also increased, with student numbers using the vouchers rising. The figure below shows the trends.

figure 2: traditional voucher numbers and direction over the years

Source: EdChoice (2019).

As of 2019, a sum of 18 states is reported as having voucher programs, all of which total 29 (EdChoice, 2019). Moreover, across the utilizing 15 states, inclusive of Washington DC, there is an estimated number of recipients for vouchers of 192,660.  Since gaining prominence in the 1990s, the traditional voucher has continued being adopted over time, with evident numbers seen as of today. As seen from the graphical depiction, there is an evident rise in traditional vouchers update, with more growth seen as of 1997, rising from below 20,000 to around 80,000 by 2010.

Benefits of Vouchers in Secondary Education

One major benefit proposed by researchers is that school vouchers are the importance of positively improving a country’s education. Through the voucher program, there is evident progress and improvement in the education system, an aspect that has risen over the years. With education as an essential aspect of human capital creation, vital for economic development (Hungerman & Rinz, 2016), funding measures have had positive social, political, and economic implications. In the US education system, two major sub-groups entails the private, as well as the widespread public schools (Fiddiman & Yin, 2019). Hence, with the operational and administrative demands across these schools, voucher programs serve a vital role in allowing the successful accomplishment of these obligations. Moreover, with improved services attributed to accessibility to funds coming from payments, there is the evident creation of good learning environments, well equipped with necessary resources. Also, with voucher payments, better hiring of teachers and the provision of better training  occurs, within the secondary school education system. This contributes to quality and improved education system.

A second pivotal benefit attributed to voucher programs is in ensuring equity, by ensuring that all community members students, e.g., low-income earners, have access to education (Fiddiman & Yin, 2019; Michelman, 2017). Education is an essential aspect of humanity and is recognized as the 4^th sustainable goal by the United Nations as a tool for life improvement (UN, 2020). Hence, through the ongoing voucher programs, there is the evident allowing opportunities for the various children across the USA, irrespective of family background and social status in accessing education. The fact that there exists wealth differences in the USA, makes it possible that private schools highly becomes highly accessible to rich families somehow leading to the sidelining of the various low-income families. Hence, aim in accessing quality education, evident in private schools, the government’s voucher programs ranks as an essential platform to supporting students from overwhelmed families.

Thirdly, government voucher programs are pivotal in supporting democracy in education planning, by allowing parents an inherent ability in choosing their children’s educational direction. With the multiplicity in people across various ethnic groups in the USA, e.g., Hispanics, African Americans, persons of Asian descent and even whites (Bryc, 2015), there is the provision of choosing capacity, through the available vouchers. Fiddiman and Yin (2019), says voucher programs vary, one of which is Tax credit scholarships and Traditional private school vouchers. Hence, with these plans, one can decide on the preferred secondary schools, given the funding capacities attributed to the provided vouchers. One can decide on enrolling their children in private secondary schools, or when available, decide on following public schools. And with education recognized worldwide by the united nations as one of the fundamental human rights (UN, 2020), the inherent allowing of parents the choice capacity is essential for promoting community equality in education access.

Adverse Implications of Vouchers in Secondary Education

Krueger and Ludwig (2016), explains that subsidizing education exhibits multiple impacts, some of which have adverse outcomes. In the voucher programs across the USA, there are evident multiple outcomes, which emerge as adverse, on the society, and students themselves. First, there is a risk that voucher programs lead to draining public funds from the various public schools within the USA. According to Fiddiman and Yin (2019), there exist varied voucher programs, of which private school vouchers have been adopted towards allowing the public to fund their tuition across private schools. With the allowing of parents an opportunity to efficiently pay for the different rising tuition costs in the pre-selected private schools, there is the overall outcome of draining funds from the existing public schools. The massive shifts in accessing private school education hence have adverse implications on public schools. Compared to education savings accounts, as one of the key voucher types, which gives the funds to respective parents in their accounts towards usage in meeting their education expenses (Fiddiman & Yin, 2019; Michelman, 2017), private school vouchers promote the shifting to private schools.

Other authors recognize vouchers as adversely resulting in secondary education costs inflating (Michelman, 2017). Despite the evident outcome of the provided vouchers supporting students, there is an evident rise in voucher volumes over time, resulting in inflated secondary education expenses. There is evident soaring in tuition costs, attributed to the subsequent rise in voucher allocations. In essence, with the rising voucher volumes, there is an overall outcome in that with the programs, the subsequent wealth is transferring from the various USA taxpayers into the public secondary institutions. Hence, as much as there is supporting the diverse students across the various states, there are the inherent increasing burdens on the families across the USA. Due to demand-supply measures, increased proportions in Americans seeking voucher programs have led to increasing prices.

Conclusion

The promotion and successful adoption of voucher programs in secondary schools across the multiple states in the U.S have significant implications. There has been an evident rise in voucher programs uptake, with tax-credit scholarships ranking as the widely available to most Americans. Through the systematic assessment, there is the apparent conclusion that existing policies supporting voucher programs remain indefinite. As a developed nation, the voucher initiatives have been somehow successful, attributed to the well-established operational and institutional infrastructures with the US. Evident benefits are accruing to distinct populations, while in some, there is a minimal impact likely attributed to issues of social stratification. In essence, the success and benefits arising from voucher programs remain attributed to specific implementation contexts, quality program designs, and existing associated institutional factors. Failure in these facets diminishes the effectiveness of voucher programs.

References

Bryc, K., Durand, E. Y., Macpherson, J. M., Reich, D., & Mountain, J. L. (2015). The genetic ancestry of African Americans, Latinos, and European Americans across the United States. The American Journal of Human Genetics, 96(1), 37-53.

EdChoice. (2019). Fast Facts on School Choice. EdChoice, last modified May 28, 2019, http://www.local.edchoice.milesherndon.com/our-resources/fast-facts.

Fiddiman, B., & Yin, J. (2019). The Danger Private School Voucher Programs Pose to Civil Rights. Center for American Progress. Retrieved from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/reports/2019/05/13/469610/danger-private-school-voucher-programs-pose-civil-rights/

Hungerman, D. M., & Rinz, K. (2016). Where Does Voucher Funding Go? How Large-Scale Subsidy Programs Affect. The University of Notre Dame. Retrieved from https://www3.nd.edu/~dhungerm/Where_Funding_Go.pdf.

Krueger, D., & Ludwig, A. (2016). On the optimal provision of social insurance: Progressive taxation versus education subsidies in general equilibrium. Journal of Monetary Economics, 77, 72-98.

Michelman, B. (2017). Vouchers, School Privatization, and the Threat to Public Education. ASCD: Priority Express, 23 (3).

UN (2020). United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: 4 Quality Education. United Nations. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/