Education Reform In The News

VOUCHERS TEST WORTHY
Editorial, USA Today, November 16, 2000

        Voucher tests worthy Following decisive defeats of school-voucher ballot initiatives in California and Michigan last week, the nation's largest teachers union couldn't wait to schedule a wake. So at a news conference Tuesday, the National Education Association declared the voucher movement dead.

        But the union's postmortem is as presumptuous as it is premature. No election setback will erase the gut-level logic powering vouchers nationally. Namely, the compelling argument raised by parents whose children are trapped in failing schools: Why should they be forced to sacrifice their kids' educational future to schools that the government itself repeatedly has failed to fix?

        The question deserves an answer, and the local and state governments now experimenting with limited voucher programs are providing one. Those programs will determine the future of vouchers. Not defensive teachers' unions. Not overly broad and expensive state ballot initiatives such as those defeated last week. Not the next president. And that's good news indeed.

        With legal responsibility to educate children, states are in the best position to test whether voucher programs can rescue students from failing schools while guarding against the threats that vouchers pose. Among them: the danger they will starve public schools of adequate funding, squander taxpayer funds on private schools that lack accountability, or violate the constitutionally guaranteed separation of church and state.

        A handful of ongoing voucher programs are demonstrating that these problems aren't intractable. The challenge is designing flexible programs that are focused on providing temporary relief to children in the nation's worst schools. Among their lessons:

        Keep the focus on failing public schools. Florida's "A+" plan provides annual vouchers of about $3,400 to students in schools ranked as failing by the state twice in four years. But the designation isn't permanent: Schools can get off the failing list, terminating new voucher offers. That prevents the formation of fly-by-night private schools and encourages school improvement.

        Protect public school funding. In the 10-year-old Milwaukee program, serving about 10,000 students, the state protects public schools from funding losses. In Florida, the Pensacola students left behind received an extra $1,200 apiece in support from both the state and local school district.

        Maintain separation of church and state. Wisconsin gives tuition money directly to parents to spend on private or religious school. And religious schools must let voucher students opt out of religious activities.

        The hardest task for voucher programs is evaluating the quality of the voucher schools or testing the children who attend those schools at public expense. Currently, neither program even attempts this, a flaw in both.

        But each beats voucher proposals that shortchange students in failing schools. The federal voucher proposal touted by Texas Gov. George W. Bush doesn't guarantee needy students adequate tuition for private school. The voucher referendum defeated in California provided windfalls for parents with kids already in private schools.

        Vouchers should be used surgically. Not as an entitlement for all, but as a lifeline for children not receiving the education to which they are entitled. Today's debate: Failing public schools California, Michigan ballot failures don't nullify potential for success.

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