Voucher supporters argue that with all the failing schools in America, vouchers are necessary in order for kids to receive the best possible education. Vouchers introduce competition, and parents will pick the best schools just like they pick the best cars — and then everyone wins. But is that really true? Is there a genuine need for vouchers to help kids attend private, religious schools and would those schools really provide a better education than secular public schools?
Origins of School Voucher Programs
Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman proposed a voucher plan some forty years ago, but it was received little enthusiasm. In the 1980s, the feasibility of a voucher system was studied in Great Britain, but after heated debate the legislature rejected the idea. Today, voucher programs of some sort have been proposed in at least 20 states as well as Congress. Some state constitutions explicitly prohibit government aid to religious schools, which would seem to prohibit voucher programs which include religious schools, but one of those states is Wisconsin and judges there approved a voucher scheme. So it's not clear that issues of constitutionality will prevail in the face of religious and partisan fervor.Courts on Voucher Programs
Unfortunately, Supreme Court decisions have been all over the place in this area. Programs to pay for textbooks in private schools have been upheld, as have funds for transportation. In Mitchell v. Helms decided in 2000, the Court approved a program for educational materials to go to religious schools, even if those materials could be and are diverted for religious purposes. All that was important was that the aid be granted in an even-handed manner. But other programs, like those providing remedial education for children attending private schools, have been struck down.Who Advocates Voucher Programs?
Traditionally, support has come primarily from the Catholic Church, an institution with the largest system of private religious education in America. At the same time that they are increasing demands for state subsidies, they are also increasing demands that parochial schools be used as tools for Catholic evangelization. Clearly, they are looking to have government financially sponsor their attempts to spread their faith. Catholics have been joined by libertarians and right-wing Protestants. The former think that free-market reforms are the ultimate solution to ineffective schools. The latter are hell-bent on destroying public, secular education in favor of their own brand of religious indoctrination.Although voucher programs don't receive quite as much attention in the early 21st century as they did in the late 20th century, the Christian Right hasn't given up on their desire to use private, religious school vouchers to undermine secular public education. Their libertarian allies also haven't give upon on the idea that government funding for private schools would create competition with public schools, leading to improved education for everyone all around.
Defenders of strict church/state separation and secular government also defend secular public education by opposing schemes to use vouchers to funnel public funds to private, religious schools. Secular public schools are an important foundation for secular democracy in America, bringing together children of diverse backgrounds into a common educational system and experience. Sending school funds to private, religious schools would undermine secular government as well as secular education.
