School vouchers come in many forms, but all of them would provide parents with money to spend on the schools of their choice. We all want to provide our children with the best education possible -- but are voucher programs tools of change or misguided panaceas?
In the right-wing Bizarro Universe, everyone loves vouchers. Here in the real world, people hate the idea. Voters in more than two dozen states have rejected vouchers or other forms of private school aid subsidies at the ballot box. In most cases, the votes weren't even close. States don't any more conservative than Utah, yet when the legislature there passed a voucher plan, residents quickly mobilized and put the question on the ballot. In November of 2007, vouchers in Utah were creamed, 62 percent to 38 percent. Responding to this, voucher booster Patrick Byrne asserted that the people of Utah must be stupid.
I don't think people in Utah are stupid. I think they are smart for realizing that public schools serve 90 percent of our children. They are smart for refusing to pay taxes to support a private system that is not accountable to the public and that can kick your child out for any reason -- including that he or she is the "wrong" religion.
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