Tell Your Representative to Oppose H.R. 610, Which Would Voucherize Federal Funding for Public Schools.
H.R. 610, which was introduced at the end of last month by Representative Steve King of Iowa, would transform federal funding for public schools into funding for a voucher program to subsidize private schools in states, and it would gut nutrition standards for school lunches.
Please contact your representative and tell them that you support public schools, and you support healthy children.
Dear Representative ________________,
I am writing to ask you to please oppose H.R. 610, which would distribute federal funds for elementary and secondary education as vouchers rather than grants to public schools, and which repeals nutrition standards for school lunches.
Public education in the United States is the bedrock of economic prosperity and of an informed electorate. Yes, there are schools that perform poorly. But generally they are under-resourced, not inherently bad. By repurposing federal education funds to subsidize private schools, we are compounding that problem. And we are creating a new one, whereby block grants that don’t necessarily keep up with the cost of private education put low income youths in danger of not being able to afford to go to school.
Moreover, repealing nutrition standards for school lunches is no way to decrease cost. Nutrition standards exist for a reason, and replacing relatively wholesome foods with foods that are even higher in salt and sugar does not represent a savings, but rather a losing cost shift: it may cost the government less in daily meals in schools; but it will cost more in health care, where a dollar doesn’t go nearly as far.
Better would be legislation to increase funding for public schools, to work to address the inequality created by bad funding formulas at the state level, and to improve nutrition standards in order to keep children out of a much more costly cycle of medical treatment. So please speak out against, and vote against, H.R. 610.
Best,
_______________________
