Vouchers

Rick called Utah's referendum on school vouchers to our attention a couple of times, as I recall.  I awoke this morning to the following editorial in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  I reproduce it here not because I agree with it--I am not competent to address this controversy in an expert way--but because I thought some MOJ-readers would be interested in hearing another point of view.

Why vouchers fail
Voters once again reject using taxpayer money to subsidize private-school tuition

Voters in conservative Utah have soundly rejected one of the pet causes of the modern conservative movement, with 62 percent voting Tuesday to kill a school voucher program enacted by the Utah Legislature.

That outcome may have surprised some, but it mirrors the results of two similar referendums in 2000. That year, 71 percent of voters in California rejected a proposal to use taxpayer dollars to subsidize private school tuition, and 69 percent of Michigan voters did the same.

In fact, in every part of the country and every time the question has been put to them, voters have rejected the concept of private school vouchers. They have done so in blue states such as California, and in the reddest of red states such as Utah. People are sending a message, and it's not one that opponents of our public school systems want to hear. They're telling their political leaders that they believe in public schools and are committed to making them work.

There's no question that the public school system faces critical challenges, particularly here in Georgia. Far too many kids drop out before they get a degree, condemning themselves to a lifetime of struggle in poor-paying jobs. Far too many who do graduate lack the skills and know-how to compete in a rapidly globalizing, knowledge-based economy.

But to their credit, the American people understand that vouchers would address none of those problems. To the contrary, using taxpayer dollars to finance private education would bleed money, students and political support from public schools. Vouchers would represent an act of surrender, cutting large numbers of children adrift to fend for themselves.

It is true that in many cases, the public school system has grown too rigid and bureaucratic. But through charter schools and other approaches, that is beginning to change.

It is also true that a big part of the problem has been a lack of parental involvement and commitment to their children's education. In fact, when you find a student struggling in school or dropping out altogether, the odds are good that you'll also find parents less than engaged in that child's schoolwork.

Vouchers can't fix that. In fact, while voucher advocates claim to be fighting on behalf of students who are being failed by the current system, a voucher system would leave those students far worse off.

If you believe voucher proponents, parents who don't care enough to check their kids' homework — or who themselves lack the education to do so — would somehow be transformed into motivated, sophisticated shoppers in the education marketplace, using tax vouchers to place their kids in exactly the private school environment best suited to their needs.

It is a fantasy, and most Americans understand that, even if many of their leaders do not.