Question: FAQs - Do vouchers work?
Giving government funds to private schools, especially religious schools, is very unpopular with those who believe in a strong interpretation of the separation of church and state. After all vouchers are government funding. Vouchers are very popular with parents who seek educational options other than a mediocre public school.
But the real question is "Do vouchers work?"
Answer: From a parental point of view the answer is almost universally a "yes". They feel that their children are happier and learning more in school. Choice program parents are more involved with their children's education.
On the other hand educational outcomes are mixed. Test scores seem to show no perceptible increase in the case of children who have transferred to private schools under choice programs.
Many voucher programs have been around for some time. I encourage you to read the progress reports and to explore the issue in depth. Public education has a profound effect on every aspect of American society. Our tax dollars pay for public education. Therefore we have a right to demand that it function efficiently and effectively.
What about the loss of tax dollars from those students who left public school for private ones? Actually the public school head count stays the same! So even though there are fewer students the funding stays the same. You have to hand it to our politicians and bureaucrats. They know how to get less from more!
How have Voucher Proposals Fared at the Polls?
In 2000 voters in Michigan and California defeated voucher proposals which were on the ballot in both those states.
Michigan Turns Thumbs Down
Despite heavy spending by proponents, voters in Michigan soundly defeated Proposal 1 by a margin of 2-1 on November 7, 2000. Amway founder Richard DeVos was a strong supporter of the school reform initiative which actually had several objectives. A voucher program, teacher testing and maintenance of school budget funding levels were all combined in an attempt to attract support for the proposal. In the end worried taxpayers and a coalition of teachers' unions and politicians scuttled the proposal in the polling booths. The idea of state funds being given to parochial and private schools generated a negative reaction from voters. Apparently they reasoned that the voucher program would divert scarce funds from needy public schools. Many voters also did not like the idea of state funds going to church-related schools.
California Shreds Vouchers
Voters savaged any chance of passing Proposition 38 with a resounding 70% voting against the voucher initiative. Proposition 38 was widely considered as one of the most imaginative education reform efforts in the nation. Among other things it would have given a $4,000 voucher to any K-12 student who wished to attend a private school.
Analysis
What does this mean for the voucher movement which has gained so much popularity over the past few years?
Imaginative education reform proposals in both Michigan and California were effectively blocked by voters who would rather try to fix their ailing public education systems than give money to private schools.
Voters are intrinsically afraid of using state funds to pay for parochial school tuition. The idea of separation of church and state is too deeply ingrained in the American mindset to permit state funding of church-related schools at this time.
The vehement opposition which these two education reform proposals drew from the teachers' unions indicates that those unions are much more interested in preserving the status quo than they are in seeking genuine reform of our public schools.
Resources
Alliance for School Choice
Milwaukee Parental Choice Program: Fourth Year Report
