Letter: School scholarships constitutional

In response to Our Views: “A dedication, not free money,” Dec. 22: Advocates of the Student Scholarships for Educational Excellence (SSEE) program very deeply respect the constitution. We believe that it deserves to be highly regarded. However, there is an honest — and very passionate — dispute about how it is interpreted.

We believe a literal reading of Louisiana’s Constitution allows for public education programs to be delivered through means other than traditional public schools. There is no language prohibiting such funding in the state’s constitution.

Currently, the state is meeting its constitutional requirements by paying for all students who attend public school. Schools that claim to be “losing money” are still paid for each child they educate. When students and their parents choose to attend another school through a scholarship, the money — paid by taxpayers — follows the student, allowing parents a choice in their child’s education and for the state to continue funding public schools based on the number of students they educate.

This year, as in past years, the state’s Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) funds all sorts of nontraditional schooling in the state, including Type 2 charter schools, education for children expelled from public schools who must attend programs run by the Office of Juvenile Justice, the Louisiana Schools for the Visually Impaired and Deaf, the Louisiana School for Math and Science, and university lab schools — which leaves room to also include the scholarship program.

The constitution itself says in the children’s code that “parents should make the decisions” regarding the “educational training” of the child. Parental choice allows the constitution to be interpreted in a way that works for the people it is supposed to govern.

The writers of the original article are correct — supporters of educational choice are very ardent about quality options, because the educational foundation we set now will affect both the future of Louisiana and our country.

Louisiana’s children deserve better. Its constitution promises better, so it’s time to deliver on that promise.

Kevin Chavous, senior adviser

American Federation for Children

Washington, D.C.

Comments

1) Comment by DMJ - 22/01/2013

Want public money for school? Send your kid to a public school. Want a private school education for your kid? Find some private money. Not a very hard concept to understand.

2) Comment by Ivy - 21/01/2013

Wait, why are we entertaining letters from folks who don't live here?

3) Comment by 1ryben - 21/01/2013

Why is someone in D.C.so worried about our kids? Is this not a red flag of sorts?......... I would like a road voucher please. You see, the roads I use are terrible. Lets build toll roads, or invite private companies to build them, better yet, allow these new vendors to takeover the terrible, bumpy, "failing" roads. They won't have to pay for the initial infrastructure, just overlay. Use concrete, asphalt, who cares? there's noLet them choose which types of vehicles get to travel on these roads, big trucks, oversized loads, denied. Only motorcycles and up to mid sized passenger cars, a few pickup trucks to say we allow "trucks" but no dualies. Strict limits to the number of cars allowed on these roads, too many cars have been proven to be detrimental to the flow of information, I mean transportation. Should we check to be certain that these roads are built to code? Oh no silly, they're privately run roads, they are obviously better, we said so and don't worry, if it turns out that we were wrong...free market will close down the roads for a lack of demand. Only temporarily though, we'll let another group rename the road and reopen it. Oh, no, we won't actually repair the road silly, but look, new signs. Wait, don't like toll roads? Don't qualify for the transportation opportunity scholarship? Your roads were just fine but you say they haven't been repaired in years? We've been giving you the same amount of money per vehicle. So what if the public roads are more expensive to operate because you are left with the vehicles that need more expensive highways. Look at what we've done to help these few people, we are transportation geniuses! Everyone deserves nice roads...wait...you say we haven't actually improved the roads? But look at the traffic flow...pretty signs......look, the roads were failing and we had to do something....you status quo people just stand in the way.

4) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 21/01/2013

A couple of caveats... THIS Kevin Chavous is apparently NOT the Kevin Chavous who was arrested in DC for soliciting. This Kevin Chavous IS the one who said, on national television, that "America doesn't know what America doesn't know. I mean, how could anyone argue with this guy? His business, is Kevin Chavous. This former democratic party politician appears to be more than willing to sell himself to the highest bidder, and to perjure himself for the cause of profit. Check out the man's videos... he is truly, a legend in his own mind!

5) Comment by [e-mail] - 21/01/2013

I'm with Noel Hammatt on this one; Mr. Chavous is obviously in pursuit of an agenda that suits his own situation. Nothing more, and I'm reminded of an old Spanish proverb, i.e. "The braying of a donkey does not reach heaven." meaning of course that one should not heed such remarks.

6) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 21/01/2013

Shucks, let me assist here... Mr. Chavous is much better at being a Spin-Doctor than he is an attorney. The claim he is making is NOT based on the Constitution, and of course, is not actually IN the Louisiana Constitution. And the Children's Code is NOT part of the Louisiana Constitution. And any good attorney should know that know that, and perhaps he does. Reference to the "Children's Code" is key, but I suspect any counselor (lawyer) worth his salt should be able to determined the meaning of this statement: "Except as otherwise specified in any Title of this Code, the provisions of the Children's Code shall be applicable in all juvenile court proceedings, and only to such proceedings." Mr. Chavous as a paid perjurer? Seems pretty clear to me. Any counselors out there wanna quibble with me on this?

7) Comment by prbeav - 21/01/2013

Unbelieving, I am delving into Article VII, Paragraph 10 of the LA Constitution. It ain't easy, but so far, I feel the work is worth it. I suspect Mr.Chavous has an agenDUMB (thanks Mr. Finklea for the neologism) and does not mind mendacity. If anyone already knows, please kick in. So far, I have not found the word "parent" in the constitution.

8) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 21/01/2013

Not sure it is worth taking apart the actual letter here, but for a start, ask yourself where have I heard that "We believe" comment before... hmmmmm. For a description of the truth about WHY schools claim to be "losing money" to this public funding of private and religious schools, see http://bit.ly/VaGgu7 and then you might realize why Mr. Chavous is so anxious to dispel the truth about how much vouchers costs your local public schools. But to see how Mr. Chavous really plays the dis-information game, you might want to go search the Louisiana Constitution (updated through the end of 2012, and find the quoted text he provides in "The constitution itself says in the children’s code that “parents should make the decisions” regarding the “educational training” of the child. Parental choice allows the constitution to be interpreted in a way that works for the people it is supposed to govern." Here, I'll make it easy for you. Here is the link to the Constitution of Louisiana, updated through the end of 2012. http://bit.ly/13W9Xk7 Like most so-called "reformers" Chavous lies.

9) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 21/01/2013

Mr. "Senior Advisor" Kevin Chavous is actually the Executive Counsel for American Federation for Children, one of several billionaire funded Astro-turf groups masquerading as non- profits. The DeVos family fortune began this organization after a pre-cursor organization ran afoul of state laws in numerous states. The DeVos family is mostly associated with the Amway pyramid marketing giant. Richard Devos co-founded Amyway, and his legacy now comes to haunt public education. Current EBR Superintendent praised the DeVot when he was in Michigan, and actually promoted a very similar sounding privatization of public education when he was in Grand Rapids in his "state of the School" address in 2010. At any rate, it would be interesting to find out how much money is being made from the schools set to grow and prosper as a result of the public dollars flowing into these schools. Remember, none of these schools have ANY accountability to the general public when it comes to your tax dollars. Just a point worth noting while reading the above from a paid political operative for the DeVos family fortune.

10) Comment by postscript56 - 21/01/2013

Also, I'd love to hear from all the "strict constructionists" their opinion on a Washington, DC lobbyist deciding what the Louisiana legislature meant by "parents should make the decisions" regarding "educational training." Do you think legislators meant vouchers when that was written and voted on? Is this something open to interpretation or not? Does the meaning of "public school" change with the times or not? Or is it a case of OK when my guy does it but not OK when your guy does it?

11) Comment by postscript56 - 21/01/2013

"We believe a literal reading..." That's the problem right there. When the radical right want it their way they just re-interpret the English language to mean something that supports their position. Like calling vouchers "scholarships." Like claiming "public school" is really any school. Like claiming "parental choice" is a funding concept. If you've got to twist it around or redefine it to make it work for you, then it's a false argument.

12) Comment by twinkie1cat - 20/01/2013

1. Vouchers are not scholarships. You earn scholarships by doing something well or by being a member of a certain group of people. Being poor or middle class cannot count because Jindal is intentionally making very high percentages of people in Louisiana poor................2. The constitution of a state cannot conflict with the Constitution of the United States. Otherwise we would still have slavery and segregation. The Constitution also says the government cannot support religion or interfere with religion. Giving tax money to schools so they can teach children to be Catholics or of other religions is against the Constitution.............3. The Louisiana Constitution says that public school money cannot be used for private schools. No matter how you dress it up, call it scholarships or lie about the money going to the student instead of the school (if it did, the student could spend it as he wishes). You still cannot stop the vouchers from being public money going to non-public schools. It is putting lipstick on a pig and calling it a parakeet...............4. Parental choice has to consist of allowing parents to make choices from among quality programs that meet standards at least as high as those of the public schools. As it is charter school teachers don't even have to have college degrees. Jindal has also arranged for these fake public schools to not be evaluated under the same standards as the real public schools. Therefore, there is no way to tell if the taxpayers are getting value for their money..............5. I won't touch too much on selective admissions and student dumping, common practices at the charters and parochials except to say that public schools are not allowed to dump or pick and choose students except at magnets. 6. I could kill off the charters and parochials within a month by sending them a nice big batch of multihandicapped and/or severely autistic students. If they cannot educate severe special needs children and live up to the standards of IDEA for staffing and services they are not really schools!!!!!!! They are segregation academies left over and modified from the 1960s to include black children. Parents should be able to choose from quality public schools based on special programs, magnets, alternate curricula (pre-approved to meet certain standards) or other services and these could include both highly structured, militaristic schools and schools that free the children from uniforms and extreme rules and nurture creativity and individualism. That is parental choice. Here in Louisiana I doubt if you can even find a school that is uniform-free. That would be an excellent start by itself instead of making American children dress like little communists or Catholics.

13) Comment by Bighug - 20/01/2013

How is it OK for my taxes to be used to pay a Catholic Church to educate a child when I am not a Catholic? Even if I were Catholic, it would not be right. It would be up to me to decide to give to the church. This goes for any religion, not just Catholic