Good afternoon everyone. I'm looking forward to our discussion.

Thank you Killingly, CT for your question, it is an excellent one. I think that in many parts of the country there is in fact a movement toward ensuring schools, public schools, serve as centers of their community. This goes beyond the education of our students, but also involves other services, such as adult education, community forums, even using our schools as sites to provide health services in some cases. These sorts of activities can help all taxpayers to feel more connected with their schools even if they do not have children attending those schools. While some parents may feel as though private schools do offer the support you mention, we believe that public schools in fact offer a far broader array of services, in addition to education, to all students. And the schools reflect the entirety of the community they serve because they accept all children.

Thank you Debbie. NSBA has been fortunate to work closely with our state school boards associations, like South Carolina, to collaborate in our efforts to defeat vouchers wherever they are proposed. You've asked the million dollar question. Or more fairly the hundreds of millions of dollars question -- which is how much proponents of vouchers, led by a relatively small number of backers and funders, have spent in their attempts to enact voucher programs in state legislatures and ballot initiatives. Considering that many of these wealthy individuals are businessmen, they can't be too pleased with the paltry return on investment. For all their tens and hundreds of millions spent over the past 20 years, a very small fraction of America's students use taxpayer funded private school vouchers today and only a handful of programs exist. Ninety percent of America's students still attend public schools, which is where the resources and commitment of our elected leaders should be. After failing countless times to convince voters to approve vouchers, proponents have begun to try to elect lawmakers that support vouchers and have not been reluctant to spend freely to do so. As you know South Carolina has endured lots of money from out of state groups for this reason, but still without any payoff as the legislature continues to stand in support of public schools and reject vouchers and tuition tax credits.

Both the Democratic candidates remaining, Senators Obama and Clinton, are on record opposing private school vouchers. Senator McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee, does support school vouchers.

Good question Orlando. One of the reasons vouchers continue to struggle with voters and lawmakers is that participating private schools are not publicly accountable to taxpayers even though vouchers are funded by taxpayers. Unlike public schools, private schools do not have to accept all students, do not make their budgets public, have open meetings like school boards, do have to meet state or federal academic standards or requirements, and do not have to make student achievement results publicly accountable. This stands in stark contrast to the rigorous public accountability that public schools face. In NSBA's view, private schools that receive taxpayer dollars should be held publicly accountable.

Thank you Texas. All existing voucher and tuition tax credit programs have been created statutorily by state legislatures or Congress (in the case of the Washington, DC program). No state has created a voucher program through department of education regulations. But we certainly have seen the voucher lobby adapt to countless defeats by altering voucher proposals. Often proposals are targeted to a limited group of students, such as those attending public schools that may be struggling academically. Arizona recently passed a program targeted to children in foster care, even though the state's foster care lobby did not want or support the law -- it was pushed instead by voucher advocates who think they can eventually win broad or universal voucher programs by first chipping away at the wall with small, more politically palatable programs. But the end goal is private school vouchers for all students, including the millions already attending private schools. The best, most proven strategies for defeating vouchers has been to publicize the opposition, inform the public and lawmakers about the facts and work with a coalition of other organizations -- education, business, religious, civil rights -- to defeat the proposal. Public school advocates have won far far more of these fights than the voucher lobby. Check NSBA's Voucher Strategy Center website for more information: http://www.nsba.org/novouchers.

Another good question. Research is clear that teachers are the number one in-school factor in raising student achievement. Small or manageable class sizes that allow teachers to devote more time with individual students, especially those who may be struggling, is important. We know that parents prefer small class sizes too. So how do we get there? It takes resources of course. Vouchers unfortunately do not help in that respect because they drain dollars from public schools, oftentimes to subsidize the tuition of students already attending private schools. Greater parental involvement, well qualified and supported teachers, safe and secure learning environments, high standards for all students, strong leadership at the district and school level and adequate resources to fund schools are the components we need for success.

What is motivation behind the big money supporting vouchers? In some cases it may be political. There is a correlation behind some of the groups that support vouchers and oppose unions, and teachers unions are among the most vocal opponents of vouchers. The rationale is that by weakening and defunding public schools the unions are also weakened. There's also a financial side to this that can't be ignored. Education is big business... hundreds of billions of dollars spent each year and private firms see the possibility of profiting financially.

Yes. There have been 11 votes on a specific voucher or tuition tax credit proposal or program across several states in the last 30 years. Voters have rejected every single one of them and by huge margins. Just last November, Utah voters repealed by a 62% to 38% vote a universal voucher program the legislature had created. The most recent rejections have occurred despite voucher advocates outspending public school advocates. The more people learn about vouchers the less they like them.

Thanks everyone for your questions and your time.