Program aims to help low-income kids go to private schools

[TexasTowelie]

Principal Dallas Bumgarner of Elvaton Christian Academy hopes a new state fund to help families pay for private school tuition will boost enrollment for his school of about 50 students.

What was once a bustling school with 140 students dwindled during the recession as parents strapped for cash turned to public schools.

The state allocated about $5 million to help low-income families pay for private schools throughout the state for the fiscal year that began July 1.

The program may boost enrollment for some county private schools and attract new families to other schools.

Read more: http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/schools/ph-ac-cn-privateschool-scholarship-0709-20160710-story.html#nt=oft12aH-1gp2

[Rhiannon12866]

1. They need to go back to the way it used to be

With all parents, including the wealthy, actively supporting their local public schools...

[TexasTowelie]

2. Agreed.

The time that America had the best public schools was when all the children had to attend whether they were wealthy or poor. The wealthy would insist that the quality of education had to be high so their children would get into college and the children were safe since they didn't want their own children to be hurt (except if they were playing football).

[Rhiannon12866]

3. Strange, since I was just having a conversation about this earlier today

One problem with the way they do things now is that schools are so unmanageably enormous. There used to be neighborhood schools where people knew each other, took it personally and cared about the teachers and the students.

I should talk, graduated from boarding school myself. But it wasn't my idea and I fought it and lost. We moved a lot and my parents always chose where they were going to live depending on which area had the best schools. But since I went there, the school system has more than doubled in size, have had to expand the high school and have built two additional much larger buildings to accommodate the lower grades which used to fit in one original building.