The Orange County Classroom Teachers Association stands united in our commitment not just to preserve public education, but to strengthen it. Orlando students, parents and teachers love our public schools and that is the message we sent to President Trump and Secretary DeVos last Friday.
President Trump visited a voucher school in Pine Hills on Friday to promote his dangerous scheme that would divert funds from public schools that are already under-funded. Trump came to Orlando not to lift up public schools, not to roll up his sleeves and work with public school parents and teachers like a President should, but to push his anti-public education agenda under the guise of giving parents a choice. The only choice he wants is a private one.
Trump is a good salesman. He knows vouchers are a failure so he’s repackaging them as a tax credit. But we’ve been through this already in Florida, and we won’t fall for it again. Trump and DeVos are pushing a $20 billion backdoor voucher plan disguised as tax credits, even though the research clearly proves that vouchers don’t help children. Vouchers increase the cost of education by requiring taxpayers to fund both public and private school systems.
We reject the Trump-DeVos voucher schemes that do not serve all children and aim to privatize education. Private school vouchers fail students and communities by taking taxpayer dollars from public education to fund private and religious schools that are not held to the same standards as public schools. They do not meet the accountability standards for teacher qualifications, curriculum, or testing. Our students deserve more than a profit-driven approach to education. Our children should not be looked at as tools for corporate money making schemes.
We oppose charter schools that do not hold students to the same standards as other public schools; that selectively admit students; that do not disclose financial and academic information; and that deny their employees the right to bargain collectively.
The Trump-DeVos education plan is seen as a wrecking ball for public education. We need to strengthen, not weaken our public schools that 90% of American children attend. On Friday we stood as the resistance because we recognize public education as the cornerstone of American democracy. We need you to stand with us in this fight for the sake of our children’s future.
Learn more about vouchers:
Snake Oil and Vouchers Don’t Work, Lily Eskelsen Garcia
We Learned the Hard Way About Vouchers, Medium:
School Vouchers Are An Empty Promise, AFT:
Vouchers –One Pager, NEA http://cqrcengage.com/nea/file/aBQU09pjS8j/Vouchers-one-pager.pdf
Very Bad News About Vouchers, LA Times:
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