"3. Do you agree with the school's philosophy, i.e. Jewish student at catholic school"

Funny that you say that. The public schools in my area are so crappy, I enrolled my kids in a private Christian school for k-5....and I'm Jewish. That was the best option I had. When they reached middle school I could no longer afford private school and enrolled them in public. Every day they came home and told stories of fights at schools, kids being robbed of the valuables, and classrooms so out of control with disciplinary issues that there was no learning going on. Int

Fortunately we have a robust "magnet schools" system, and I was able to move them out of "neighborhood schools" into magnet schools. I did not move them because of the teachers or the curriculum, I moved them because of the disciplinary issues. The magnet schools have the ability to expel students who don't want to be there or don't follow the rules, the neighborhood schools do not.

The answer is to bring back "reform, schools". Disruptive kids should not be permitted to stay in the mainstream classroom. The districts refuse to address the disciplinary problems citing the "schools to prison pipeline". The result is the bad kids end up in prison anyway, but not until after they graduate.

As for "giveaway to the wealthy", I see your point. In my case, private school tuition was FAR LESS than what the county spends per pupil. I know that can varyI would be in favor of a policy that allows a voucher ONLY if the private school accepts it as payment in full. Years ago there was something called an "Opportunity Scholarship" that worked that way. As for the concept that this is gutting school budgets, do the math. Florida is spending around $10K per student. If they give $8500 vouchers, the state is SAVING $1500 per student. Unless that $10K wasn't REALLY being spent on the kid at all. Hmmmmmm.

Skilled labor shortages? Public schools haven't taught job skills in decades. In red states OR blue states. The push is to expand social justice oriented curriculum, ----- studies, African American studies, Women's studies. That's all great but isn't going to help fill skilled tech positions.

At least in the 50's kids had an opportunity to learn REAL job skills in high school. Auto shop, wood shop, Electronics, Welding, Print Shop, Typing, Home Ec, Bookkeeping ... those were all offerings when I was in school in the 70's. Kids graduated high school with actual job skills beyond analyzing literature. Yes, those are blue collar skills but that is where many of the labor shortages are.

Not every kid is college bound, and even for those that are, learning to work with their hands enhances their lives.

#24 Thats great, but I bet that curriculum requires kids to ride buses to an alternative vo-tech school, not your local HS. That is not the same thing. By 9th grade, many kids don't have their careers planned or know if they are going to college. They need a variety of elective offerings at their LOCAL HS that provide real work skills.

Florida schools where I live are completely focused on "academic excellence", which is great too, as long as the kid is college bound. I work with a lot if inner city kids who can recite Maya Angelou, use integrals to calculate the volume of a pear, speak enough Spanish to order a meal and analyze a modern art piece, but they don't go to college end up working at McDonalds. They cannot address an envelope, understand credit and interest rates, use proper grammar, hit a nail with a hammer, turn a wrench in the right direction.

#25 You are correct private schools are less likely to have vocational curriculum. As I said in a previous post, I didn't send kids to private school because of the curriculum, it was because of the discipline issues, which is another topic entirely.

#26 I don't want to go back to the 50's and your attempt to frame my remarks this way is pathetic. "School teaches reading, writing, math skills, and critical thinking so that kids are prepared for post secondary training programs, college, or apprenticeships." Funny thing, that is what schools did in decades past. That is NOT what schools are doing today, at least not well.

Y'all are so effing predictable. Even when agree with you you fight me. no reading comprehension.

It's the whole moronic play of "us" vs "them" that is so tiresome here. The assumption that if someone does not drink the koolaid and agree with every single thing you are told you MUST believe, then they are your enemy and must be cast out. . You can't even comprehend that free thinking people may agree with you on some topics and disagree with you on others. In Drudgeretort world everyone is either "us" or "them" .it is pathetic. Nobody actually wants to have an intelligent discussion here, it is all about shushing shaming and silencing others with childish insults, feeling superior because you are part of the majority voice. So sad, the lot of you are, unable to think for yourselves, simply parroting MSM.

Truth, in this thread, YOU were fair, and I appreciate that. My frustration was directed at other posters.

As to Floridas offerings, your link doesn't tell the whole story. Iin my county, kids who want vo-tech classes can't get them at their neighborhood high school. They have to transfer to a separate school, a "skills center" 20 miles away to take these classes. That school has its own set of limitations. It does NOT offer AP classes or have sports teams. Kids have to choose a career track and stick with it. A kid studying cosmetology, for example, cannot take a wood shop class. It is a good thing that kids have these opportunities, but it's not at all the same thing we had in decades past.

As to reform schools, that is not " giving up on students" it is removing disruptive students from the mainstream classroom so that those who want to learn can do so without constant interruptions. The kids who are removed are grouped together in an intensive program designed to address their needs, with the hope that they can be "reformed" and reintroduced into the mainstream classroom. Are you too young to remember when reform schools were a thing?