Effectiveness of school vouchers still in question
By Charles Haynes
Senior scholar, First Amendment Center
12.31.00
On church-state issues, George W. Bush's honeymoon period may be over before it starts.
Inauguration Day is still weeks away, but the president-elect is already promising to make his proposal for school vouchers a priority early in his administration.
The Bush plan would require failing public schools to give parents vouchers to pay tuition at private schools — including religious schools — or give parents the option of sending their child to a different public school.
Leading Democrats (and some Republicans) have lost no time in declaring the voucher idea a "nonstarter." In their view, vouchers are unconstitutional schemes that use tax dollars to support religious schools. Moreover, they argue, taking money away from public schools in order to improve their performance makes little sense.
The battle lines are clearly drawn.
Since voucher programs have fared poorly both in the courts and at the polls in recent months, some in Congress have urged Bush to pull back from proposing a federal program, at least until the Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of including religious schools.
But the president-elect intends to go full steam ahead, convinced that the more choices parents have, the more accountable public schools will be.
Is there any "common ground" on vouchers? Not much — at least not until the Supreme Court decides whether or not religious schools may be included.
If the court gives the green light, then the public-policy debates on vouchers in Congress and state legislatures are likely to produce some new agreements.
Look for the number of voucher experiments to proliferate around the nation, especially in poor districts with failing public schools. These plans may be well received in many neighborhoods, given the growing number of African-American and other minority parents who support vouchers (even though many of their national leaders continue to warn against such plans).
Apart from the First Amendment issue of church-state separation, the big question about vouchers is: Do they work?
Volumes have been written for and against vouchers by a bewildering array of "experts" on both sides.
But if you want to get beyond the rhetoric, I recommend the objective and fair-minded analysis issued by the Center on Education Policy (CEP), an independent think tank in Washington, D.C.
After examining research on voucher programs and listening to a panel of opponents and proponents, the CEP concluded that "current information is inadequate to accurately determine whether vouchers improve student achievement levels or other outcomes."
In other words, we don't know yet if voucher plans will work. We need more studies based on extensive evaluations and unbiased research.
Much is at stake for public schools and the nation in the upcoming debate on vouchers in the Congress and in the court. That's why policy-makers need to heed CEP's advice and do the needed research to answer the unanswered questions about vouchers.
As the center puts it: "Without objectively addressing all the issues relating to current voucher programs, the debate will remain polarized and divisive, thereby undermining efforts to reach the shared common goal — improving student achievement."
For a complete copy of the center's report "School Vouchers: What We Know and Don't Know … and How We Could Learn More," visit the CEP Web site at www.ctredpol.org
Your questions and comments are welcome. Write to:
Charles Haynes
The Freedom Forum First Amendment Center
1101 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22209
E-mail: chaynes@freedomforum.org