HARTFORD - It's a scheme to funnel public dollars to private and religious schools that shows disregard for the needs of public schoolchildren and insensitivity to the burden on local property taxpayers.

That is how parents, teachers, school administrators, school boards, and civic and religious leaders - members of the Citizens Alliance for Public Education (CAPE) - today summed up the voucher provisions of "An Act Implementing the Governor's Budget Regarding Education" (Bill No. 5020). They delivered their comments before the Education Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly. (The provisions of Bill No. 5020 that describe the governor's proposal can be found here.)

Reverend Fidelia Lane, CAPE chairperson and a retired Congregational minister, said, "Our state legislature needs to support our students in our public schools. State lawmakers must reject the governor's proposal on vouchers. They can't ignore the deep cuts in state aid - the $46 million reduction in the education cost sharing grant to municipalities beginning July 1 - that Governor Rowland is advancing at the same time he is pushing vouchers."

Donna McGuire, president of the Connecticut PTA said, "The way to ensure that every child has an equal and valuable education is to invest in our public school system. Vouchers are an attempt to abandon our public schools where 90 percent of our students are educated. Vouchers draw critical financial resources away from public schools, where these resources are needed to address record high enrollments, teacher shortages, maintaining and modernizing school facilities, and improving indoor air quality."

David Larson, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents, said, "There is absolutely no evidence that vouchers improve student learning. The public school superintendents in Connecticut feel that the state needs to adequately fund public schools. Public schools that are adequately funded are the bedrock of our democracy."

Rosemary Coyle, president of the Connecticut Education Association, said that under the governor's proposal, the schools with the greatest needs are likely to see the greatest drain in resources. "If state education aid is taken away from local public schools, then programs will be slashed or local property taxes will go up. Scarce state funding must be spent on improving public schools - on priorities proven to work, such as reducing class size and ensuring a well-trained workforce. Voters want good schools for all, not tuition vouchers for a few," said Coyle.

Patrice McCarthy, deputy director and general counsel for the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education, said, "At a time when our schools most in need of improvement lack the necessary resources, CABE is deeply concerned with any proposal that would further reduce the scarce resources available to those children - the state's most vulnerable and academically needy youngsters."

Roberta Cooper, deputy director of the regional office of People For the American Way, explained, "The Governor's attempt to play off the children of the state against one another is disturbing. To reduce resources to the very districts that need them most in order to provide public funding to private and religious schools  - in any guise - is inappropriate and works against the best interests of the citizens of our state - present and future. Education is not an issue to be manipulated for political end."

David Waren, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League in Connecticut, said, "From a public policy perspective, there are two fundamental reasons to oppose the governor. First, the governor's proposal per student is not going to cover the costs of most private school tuitions. Therefore, the suggestion that it will help urban students is disingenuous. Furthermore, the private schools will be free to cherry pick the best students, leaving to already overburdened public schools those students who cost the most to educate. Second, we are concerned that public tax money could be used to fund schools promoting ideologies that many would consider extremist. The alternative governmental oversight of curriculum would dangerously entangle government in private religious affairs."

Sharon Palmer, executive vice president of the Connecticut Federation of Education and Professional Employees, said, "It is shameful that the governor has chosen to attach this voucher proposal to recently enacted federal legislation - the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). ESEA or Title I programs are designed to help the most educationally needy children. We know that non-public schools will not accept these students. This proposal is a sham."

Teresa Younger, executive director of the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union, said, "Every student has the right to an education. That education should be equal and adequately funded. Our concern with the proposed program is that it does not offer a choice nor does it solve the problem of low-performing schools. The option of giving public tax money to private schools, a majority of which are parochial schools, is a direct violation of the First Amendment relating to the separation between church and state." Younger continued, "The separation between church and state works to assure everyone's religious freedom. Public funding of religious schools would require citizens to use their tax dollars to support the religious beliefs of others. That kind of monitoring by the state is exactly what the First Amendment would not allow because the state cannot violate the free exercise of religion. The Connecticut Constitution has an "Establishment Clause" in Article 7, which states that no person shall be compelled to join or support... any congregation, church, or religious association. Additionally, when we remove monies from the public school system to provide for this choice, what is happening to those students left behind? What happens when the right to an education that is public is not a true choice?"