Burgess Owens: “I would like to note first that this amendment represents blazing guns of an ambush of what was supposed to have been a…”

“I would like to note first that this amendment represents blazing guns of an ambush of what was supposed to have been a bipartisan compromise. This is a partisan ambush, this amendment. We agreed several years ago that a good alternative to public schools, if one wanted to test them out and try to make them more accountable or more innovative, was charter schools. Charter schools was supposed to be the alternative, and not vouchers. Vouchers are a waste. Vouchers are fraud really. It misleads parents in the most frustrating situations. Nobody wants vouchers except frustrated parents in inner-city communities who want to have a better education for their children, and they have been sold this bill of goods. They have been swindled into thinking that vouchers are the answer. Most of them think that vouchers are going to pay the full tuition. They are not told that vouchers will only pay a small part of it. I think at most vouchers, under this system, will be able to contribute maximum of $1,500 in some situations, in most situations less. Tuition is far greater than that. The parents do not know. There was a woman who came before the committee who testified from New York. She thought she would get $8,000 per child through the voucher system because New York estimates it costs $8,000 per child in the public school system. She will not get anything near $8,000 if her child is in this voucher system. It is a fraud. It is a swindle.”