Applications to private schools soar

Lack of faith in public system cited

SEATTLE (RWN) - The number of applications to private high schools has doubled in the past year, Education Department figures released today show. Last year, there were 40,000 applications for private school. This year, it's 80,000 applications.

Experts are split on what it means.

Those who have asked for more funding for the public school system say that it's a sign that the system is collapsing under its own weight and that there isn't enough money to sustain a quality system. Those who believe in private education say the numbers are an indication that the public believes the public schools are failing and that only a privatized education system can save things.

"The fundamentalists - and the Congress that appeases them - are making their presence felt with these numbers," said Carmine Orleans, the president of the National Association of Public Schools. "Public schools have seen central government funding fall 35 percent in the last three years - teachers are being let go, students are sharing books and the facilities are in disrepair. Where has the money gone? To the private religious schools."

Last year, Congress passed the Fairness in Schooling Act, which allowed parents to move their children out of the public system and into private schools with the tax money allotted to the public school following the student.

Sen. Jack Aboud (F-Ore.) championed the bill, saying it was "only fair to the student that funding be portable."

The vote passed 31-28 in the Senate and 140-125 in the House.

"These numbers show what a good job we've been doing and how we can listen to our constituents," Aboud said today. "We have given people the tools to educate their children the way they want to, not the way the government tells them to."

Education Department statistics indicate that more than 5,000 new institutions - most of them fundamentalist-sponsored - opened after the bill's passage.

"Therein lies the problem," Orleans said. "The fundamentalist movement is being much more aggressive about setting up schools, offering cut-rate tuition, for instance. It's attractive, until you realize that students spend most of their time learning Islam, and not, say math."


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