Voucher Programs
School vouchers are state-funded scholarships that allow students to attend private schools using the dollars that are allotted them by the government on a per student basis. Private schools that wish to participate in the program must meet specific criteria, and in some cases the students must meet eligibility requirements as well. Students are generally from lower income families, and attend low performing schools. Maine and Vermont have allowed state funding for private schools for nearly 140 years to students in rural areas. But the real push for school choice, via vouchers, started around 1989, and was fueled in large by economist Milton Friedman, who contended that the competition among schools, prompted by vouchers, would decrease costs, and increase student achievement (The Friedman Foundation, 2013). Given a choice of options, parents would send their children to the highest performing schools available and all schools, private and public, would be compelled to make improvements in order to attract students.
In the late eighties parents in Milwaukee, Wisconsin pushed for vouchers. They did not want to send their children across town to attend better schools, when there were plenty of private schools within their communities. In 1989, they got their wish and received vouchers that paid for all of the bulk of tuitions. Similar battles have been waged and won, across the country, in the years since, but the attempts to dismantle them are persistent (Bolick, 2003). Opponents criticize voucher programs because they feel that they divert money from other schools, and they reject any indications that students benefit from their use (AFT, 2013). The other major argument is concern that government dollars going to private schools violates the separation of church and state.
Although achievement is often similar between students of public and voucher subsidized schools, there is no doubt that students in schools of choice graduate at a higher rate than their counterparts in the regular school system (Cowen, 2013). Currently 4 states and the District of Columbia use voucher programs for low income students and low achieving schools, while 8 states provide vouchers for special needs students. Several states provide vouchers for both groups (NCSL, 2013).
References
AFT. (2013). Damaging Public Schools: School Vouchers. Retrieved from American Federation of Teachers: https://www.aft.org/issues/schoolchoice/vouchers/
Bolick, C. (2003). Voucher Wars. Washington, DC: Cato Institute.
Cowen, J. M. (2013). School Vouchers and Student Attainment: Evidence from a State-Mandated Study of Milwaukee's Parental Choice Program. Policy Studies Journal, 147-168.
NCSL. (2013). School Vouchers. Retrieved from National Council of State Legislatures: https://www.ncsl.org/research/education/school-choice-vouchers.aspx
The Friedman Foundation. (2013). The ABCs of School Choice 2013 Edition. Retrieved from The Friedman Foundation: www.edchoice.org
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