HURON The Huron School Board has announced its stance on the school voucher program, stating that accountability and reporting must be included.
Huron Superintendent Kraig Steinhoff recapped the Oxford Languages definition of a goverment-funded school voucher that is redeemable for tuition fees at a school other than the public school that a student could attend free.
My public school experience began in the fall of 1986 when I attended an elementary School in Clark, Steinhoff said. My parents were educators. My mother was an elementary school teacher, and my father began as a teacher and coach and later became a principal and superintendent. Being a second-generation educator and superintendent, I have witnessed the importance of public education and understand the struggles and achievements we face in preparing students to reach their full potential by graduation.
I stand in opposition to school vouchers unless the same accountability and reporting are required from those receiving the voucher, he said.
As a superintendent in South Dakota, Steinhoff said the district must show accountability and data reporting for the number of days school is in session, enrollment records, attendance data, Title 1 programs, students with disabilities and homeless students.
Additionally, public schools growth and measurement are documented and made public annually, Steinhoff said. The students must take the state assessments for specified grade levels. The teachers teach the approved state content standards. We dont get the option to deny public school enrollments and must accept all children and provide for their educational needs.
Private schools and alternative instruction (homeschooling) are essential options for families to choose the best fit in education for their children, he added. However, accountability and reporting must follow the school voucher.
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