Should Cities and States Adopt School Voucher Programs?

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Giving public funds to consumers in the form of vouchers is not a radical idea. Existing voucher programs include food stamps, low-income housing vouchers, the GI Bill and Pell Grants for college students, federal day-care grants, and Social Security. Social Security, for example, distributes about $400 billion annually to millions of seniors to spend as they wish. The seniors spend their retirement tax dollars on the goods and services of their choice, including donating some to charities, churches, temples, and mosques. Yet there are no complaints that Social Security leads to excessive regulation of stores frequented by seniors or threatens to violate the separation of church and state.


There can be little doubt that the schools parents would choose under a school choice or voucher  program would be different from those currently funded with tax dollars. The 2004 Phi Delta Kappa International/Gallup Poll found 57 percent of parents with children now attending public schools would send them to private schools if vouchers were available. A survey by Public Agenda found 55 percent of all parents and 67 percent of inner-city parents of public school students would choose private schools if tuition was not a concern. The Harwood Group found about 80 percent of African-American families would choose private schools.