My Big Problem With Educational Savings Accounts

   This past week the Oklahoma Education Community rallied together to defeat  House Bill 3398 sponsored by Rep. Jason Nelson. This bill reduced to basics would have allowed children who met the qualifications of free and reduced lunches to have money deposited into an account for them to attend a number of schools or institutions that are not public. The amount of money would depend on a couple different factors. This bill is a voucher bill. There is no question about that fact. This bill sends public money to private institutions claiming the money follows the kid, voucher. I don't believe the bill sponsor would deny this is a voucher bill, and that is my big problem.
   This bill was defeated for a number of reasons. Private schools don't in and of themselves cure the ills of poverty. People who pay taxes and don't use other services aren't allowed to take that money with them to a private organization. Another may be people just believe it's unconstitutional to send public funds in any way to private institutions. There were other reasons each of them valid in their own right.
   So back to my big problem with the Educational Savings Accounts. What bothers me most is the word Educational Savings Accounts. The word was used as a cover for the word vouchers. Why was this done? Because the word voucher in a bill means its DOA, Dead On Arrival. I believe Rep. Jason Nelson knows this as well. I believe that Rep. Jason Nelson thinks that school choice is the best for education. That is fine with me, I have absolutely know problem with a person having a firm belief in an idea. What I have a problem with is our Representative Officials putting their beliefs above the will of the people of this state. I don't limit that to Rep, Nelson either. If an official knows that the majority of people don't support vouchers then there shouldn't be a voucher bill. If you have to try to give it a cute sounding name to slide it by a committee or people then it shouldn't even be considered. If that person believes in school choice, then they need to go out and convince the majority of people why its better.
   This plays back to my belief that representatives on both the state and national level have gone away from representing a certain set of people to believing they know better. It is a disturbing trend. One which is another problem of mine.