Vouchers and School Policies

"Since the creation of the program, the BOOST advisory board said, about a dozen private schools have decided not to take vouchers because they were unwilling to give the state assurances they would not discriminate." (Bowie, 2017)

This quotation is disappointing, saddening, and unsettling. Trinity Lutheran Christian School in Joppa, Maryland lost its voucher funding after it became known that the school's handbook contained discriminatory language even though schools which receive voucher funds are mandated to pledge non-discriminatory admissions procedures. Trinity Lutheran Christian School had agreed to this condition both last year and this year, but now it shall not be receiving any voucher funds for the current school year. The currently-enrolled students who are receiving voucher funds are permitted to take the voucher money and switch to other schools. While Trinity Lutheran Christian School's board offered to change the handbook language to comply with state law and not discriminate in admissions, BOOST was not satisfied as the school handbook had contained this phrase while the school had been held responsible under the pledge. Trinity Lutheran may re-apply next school year to be a school which accepts voucher funds, but it will be required to release information about enrollments and admissions. 

Considering the current climate of the United States and the marginalized and oppressed communities which still have not found equity, equality, or justice, this article resonated considering one of our upcoming topics is vouchers. Most importantly, this article demonstrated the importance of evaluating actions compared to words; especially, consideration of those actions before and after higher tiers of involvement become involved is important.

It will be curious to see if this sparks an investigation into the other private schools receiving voucher funding. Additionally, it will be worth observing if Trinity Lutheran Christian School applies to receive voucher funding next year or if it chooses to keeps its admission and enrollment records sealed. The question moving forward from this situation is whether or not private schools accepting public school funding will be subject to the same educational court case outcomes as public schools when the situation concerning discrimination lawsuits. 


Reference:
Bowie, L. (2017, October 13). Private school loses state voucher money over anti-LGBT policy. Retrieved October 14, 2017, from http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/bs-md-school-voucher-discrimination-20171012-story.html