Ring True?

Well, it happened again. How many times can you feel good about announcing something that you very well know is a lie, or, at the very least, a deception? Now I know I’m just a Basicguy, but that just doesn’t seem, right. Maybe it’s OK to the privileged, or those who have told themselves that the means justifies some grand end. But somehow I can’t help but think it violates something… something good… something we shouldn’t lose or allow to slip from our grip. It’s something worth latching onto and never letting go. Do you know what I mean?

Here in my current home state (which isn’t the state of my home), a political issue is topping the news and water-cooler conversations. Here it’s known as Referendum 1. It deals with providing vouchers to families with students in the public schools, who have a desire to try a private school instead. The voucher awards $500 to $3,000 per student depending on the family income. Even at the highest amount, it is less than half of the total allotted to students in this state. So, those opposed to the voucher (mostly educators, both state and national), advertise that $459 million dollars will be siphoned out of the public schools. You can imagine what that number looks like to concerned parents. Of course they will vote against it. However, the ad doesn’t explain that more than half of the funds stay with the public schools, even though their class sizes diminish. Basically speaking, there is something devious about their selective information campaign.

If that was all the anti-voucher folk were saying, I’d think the voucher proponents might have a chance to refute the message. However, added to the multi-million dollar deficit lie is the suggestion that teachers in the private schools are not required to have certifications. False! So, parents in this state have to consider a huge loss of funds and ill-prepared teachers. They’d obviously wonder why anyone would even suggest a voucher plan that fails so miserably—a plan that was drafted and passed by the state legislature and signed by the governor. They must not have done their homework. I guess the only ones who know how to do the homework are the teachers—the same ones who have an invested interest in doing anything they can to not give private schools more money—who probably fear the competition.

Well, I don’t know about you, Basicguy’s like me are probably just not thoughtful enough to figure all these weighty things out. That being said, it sure seems strange that most of the people opposed to vouchers are public school teachers and the NEA. If there were a broader support for the opposition it might not look so odd. It might ring more true. As it is, every time I see a public school teacher of the year on TV proclaiming that Referendum 1 is bad for my home state, I’m basically saying to myself: “You mean, it’s bad for you.” Now that rings true for me.