Public schools are just beginning to feel the effects of the voucher system. With fewer students and less money, they must make hard decisions. They have to let personnel go and perhaps even close schools.

Nobody should argue against school choice, which is provided by vouchers. It gives parents more options for their children’s education. However, our legislators are using public tax money that had been used to support public schools to support vouchers. Also, our Governor has told our Auditor, Rob Sand, that he cannot review the cost of vouchers. This is only concerning because two states, Florida and Arizona, found that vouchers have contributed to a budget crisis.

We should consider that 60 percent of Iowans did not want their tax money used to support vouchers and private schools. However, I believe their opinion would change if the legislature would do what it should do. It should not take voucher money from public schools. It should fully fund public schools and provide school choice by taking money from other budget areas.

To be fair, the taxpayers should know that our legislatures over many years have underfunded public schools each year by millions of dollars. So public schools have been challenged every year to provide their students a good education. The result of fully funding public schools could well be amazing. But that requires a legislature that realizes you can’t educate on the cheap.

A great concern is the move by our Governor and legislature to cut property taxes. That is a major source of funding for public schools. So this is a double whammy — vouchers and property taxes. However, we know cutting property tax is a welcome act.

One certainty is that we have a Republican governor and a legislature who have said and have demonstrated that they are the fiscally responsible party. Therefore, it must be true that they can afford vouchers, afford tax cuts and still fully fund public schools. If that is not true, then we can no longer see our legislature as a beacon of fiscal responsibility. They are spending money they really don’t have and cutting services to do it. We have to believe they have the money for public schools or they would not be paying for vouchers and cutting property taxes. They are too fiscally responsible to do otherwise.