Families who do not send their children to government-financed schools should not be required to pay taxes that support universal education. Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Sample 1:

Families who do not send their children to government-financed schools should not be required to pay taxes that support universal education.

When families send their children to non-public (that is, parochial and private) schools, they must pay tuition and other school expenses. Spending additional money on paying taxes creates an even greater financial hardship for these families. They must make sacrifices, trying to have enough money to pay for school in addition to other bills. For example, my friend Amalia is a single mother with an eight-year-old son, Andrew. Because they survive solely on her income, money is tight. Amalia works at least 10 hours of overtime each week to cover Andrew's school expenses. This gives Amalia and Andrew less time to spend together, and she is always so tired that she is impatient with him when they do have family time. Clearly, this extra expense is an unfair burden for hard-working parents like Amalia.

While some people may consider parochial or private school to be a luxury, for many families it is essential because their community's public schools fail to meet their children's needs. Unfortunately, due to shrinking budgets, many schools lack well-qualified, experienced educators. Children may be taught by someone who is not a certified teacher or who knows little about the subject matter. Some problems are even more serious. For example, the public high school in my old neighborhood/neighbourhood had serious safety problems, due to students bringing guns, drugs, and alcohol to school. After a gang-related shooting occurred at the high school, my parents felt that they had no choice but to enroll me in a parochial school that was known for being very safe.

Unfortunately, even when families prefer public schools, sometimes they can't send their children to one. These families are burdened not only for paying expenses at another school, but also by being forced to pay taxes to support a public school that they do not use.

Sample 2:

Families who do not send their children to public school should be required to pay taxes that support public education.

Every child in my country is required to attend school and every child is welcome to enroll at his/her local public school. Some families choose to send their children to other schools, and it is their prerogative to do so. However, the public schools are used by the majority of our children and must remain open to everyone. For example, my uncle sent his two children to a private academy for primary school. Then he lost a huge amount of money through some poor investments, and he could no longer afford the private school’s tuition. The children easily transferred to their local public school and liked it even more than their academy. The public schools supported their families when they had no money to educate their children.

Because the public schools educate so many citizens, everyone in my country-whether a parent or not-should pay taxes to support our educational system. We all benefit from the education that students receive in public school. Our future doctors, fire fighters, and teacherspeople whom we rely on every day - are educated in local public schools. When a person is in trouble, it’s reassuring to know that those who will help you-such as fire fighters-know what they’re doing because they received good training in school and later. Providing an excellent education in the public school system is vital to the strength of our community and our country.

Our government must offer the best education available, but it can only do so with the financial assistance of all its citizens. Therefore, everyone-including families who do not send their children to public school-should support public education by paying taxes.

Sample 3:

Undoubtedly, mass government-funded schooling is a ubiquitous feature of modern society. To finance such a system, governments have levied taxes, namely property taxes, in order to pay for the associated costs. However, taxes should not be paid by parents or guardians who choose alternative schooling arrangements for their children because doing otherwise is undemocratic and financially burdensome.

Forcing parents to pay for public schools, which their children do not attend, is undemocratic. Just as parents have a choice in which school to send their children, they should also have a choice in which school to fund. Doing otherwise would make it difficult to operate and maintain private schools, which are the ideal choice for many families. For example, a number of faith-based schools that were once operating in Toronto, my hometown, had to close their doors recently because parents could no longer afford rising tuition costs. Such school closures force some parents to relocate to other parts of the city and others to send their children to public schools.

Related to this reason is the fact that forcing families to pay for schools that their children do not attend may cause an undue financial hardship for them. This is because they would have to pay for monthly tuition costs, in addition to taxes that finance public schools. For example, my uncle had to recently remove his two sons from their private school because he could no longer afford the costs. He was paying about $4,000 yearly in property tax and another $10,000 or so in tuition. If he were not obliged to support public schools, his children would still be in the school of their choice today.

All in all, forcing families whose children attend private schools to pay the bill for public schooling is fundamentally undemocratic and financially onerous. Governments should support private schools, as well as the families whose children attend them, by giving parents the freedom to support whichever school they see fit.