He says when you're new there, they usually pick on you, take your lunch money, beat you up. At a nearby public grade school, those attitudes anger Principal Sheila Williams. She touts three years of significantly improved reading and math scores, an emphasis on security, individualized instruction for students as proof of her school's success. It kinds of, kind of gets my hackles up when I hear people put down the public schools without having come to them. You know, I'd put myself, our school up against a private school in this area any day, and I don't think that we would come up short.
Public schools say the voucher program takes needed resources away.
The public school system pays the transportation costs of voucher students. The voucher program is funded by state funds the plaintiffs say would otherwise be used in the public schools, but the Catholic schools deny the charge that the voucher program is a financial windfall for them. The voucher is valued at 90 percent of the tuition charged. Our tuition is significantly below the cost of the education that is provided. There is no benefit to our schools.