Voucher News Release

News Release

LULAC National Re-Affirms Support of Public Education and
Denounces School Vouchers

CONTACT, Selena Walsh, (202) 408-0060

For Immediate Release, 1/27/98

Washington--LULAC National President Belen Robles today expressed her strong support for public education and her dismay at statements made by Texas LULAC representatives that seemed to offer tentative support of school vouchers.

"We have a responsibility to invest in the future of our children and our schools, and using scarce taxpayer dollars to subsidize private and religious schools with vouchers is a very poor investment strategy," stated Ms. Robles. "LULAC National's position on this issue has been very clear and remains so: We in no way support school vouchers or any other scheme designed to siphon funds from our public schools for the benefit of private and religious institutions. Nothing said by our Texas representatives should be interpreted as an endorsement of vouchers by the LULAC organization, period. Turning our backs on a proud two-hundred year tradition of public education is not the way to fix those schools that suffer from crumbling facilities, overcrowding, and low test scores. Instead of pouring our time and energy into developing plans to abandon public education, we should be focusing on solving the problems we currently face and improving the classrooms that educate 90 percent of our nation's children.

We have a tremendous amount to offer our children and there are a number of positive steps that can be taken to improve the quality of our public schools, including early childhood development, professional development for teachers, relief for crumbling and overcrowded schools, support for bringing technology into all classrooms, and support for renewing neighborhood schools."

LULAC'S NATIONAL POSITION ON VOUCHERS:

Vouchers will benefit private and religious schools at the expense of neighborhood public schools. Vouchers will divert public funds from democratically controlled public schools that are open to all students into private institutions that are not accountable to the public and admit only those students they select.
Vouchers will divert vital resources away from public schools. Nearly 46 million children attend public schools. America's tax dollars should be invested in public schools where 89 percent of school age children are enrolled.
Vouchers raise serious constitutional problems by allowing the federal government to fund religious schools. Whether labeled a "scholarship" or a voucher, the bottom line is that these federal subsidies are a form of government support that will pay for religious instruction and advance the sectarian mission of the schools. Such schemes violate the First Amendment guarantee of separation of church and state and would result in an unconstitutional public subsidy of religious organizations.
Vouchers do not guarantee that students will be given admission to a particular school. Private schools choose whom to admit. They may discriminate on the basis of gender, religion, and physical disability. In short, private and religious schools accept or reject students based on virtually any criteria they set. Federal funds should not go to schools that discriminate against students.

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