On Monday the 8^th of November, the Atlanta Journal ran an editorial promoting school vouchers; surely a hot topic in the meetings of the Governor’s Education Reform Commission. I think the Journal has made a major mistake in their logic.

Our own state constitution states "the provision of an adequate public education for the citizens shall be a primary obligation of the state of Georgia. Public education for the citizens prior to the college or postsecondary level shall be free and shall be provided for by taxation." (Italics mine)

There are several issues here that we should all consider. Much of the current "hype" about vouchers is false. Private schools, by their very nature, are "elitist" in that they only accept enrollment from the students they choose. In other words, they can pick only the top students that apply. History has shown they almost never choose students with special needs. Doesn’t this tell us something when they try to brag about standardized test scores? In the studies I have read there has actually been very little difference in student performance, in spite of being able to choose their students.

The reasons for differences in student performance at any school are well documented. The leading "improver" is reduction in class size. The smaller the class, the better the performance! Simple! Even we can do that if we choose.

A Gallup poll in September of 1998 concluded that 88 percent of parents nationwide would rather spend their tax dollars on smaller classes in the public schools than on a voucher program. Remember too, that parents of students are only a portion of the taxpaying public.

Crafty legislators have proposed vouchers given to parents as an attempt to circumvent giving the tax money directly to the private schools (mostly religious in nature) in much they same way they avoided confronting the "prayer in schools" issue by creating a "moment of quiet reflection." If you can’t beat the system, find a way around it, I guess.

If our tax money were to be given, indirectly through parents, to the private schools, what accountability do we taxpayers have for the way that money is spent? If a voucher program were started, would there be a plethora of private schools established just to take advantage of the money available? Remember the fly-by-night trade schools started when the GI Bill came around? Remember reading matchbook covers that promised a bright future, and encouraged veterans to apply?

If you were there, or perhaps studied the history of our last 50 years, you might remember when President Eisenhower declared our public schools were a matter of national defense. We seem to have forgotten this, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the routineness of the space shuttle launches, and the comfortableness of a healthy economy. I believe we need to again re-emphasize public education as a matter of national survival. I don’t think we have any choice! Tomiswho@mindspring.com