Vouchers: Neither poison nor panacea
By Lynn Harsh

When it comes to the recent voucher decision handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court, our members have wildly different opinions. Many of you are asking questions, and I do not pretend to have all the answers, but I will give you my two-cents worth. I realize some of you disagree with me, and if you give me permission, and write concisely, we will publish a handful of the responses in next month’s newsletter.

The questions below are paraphrased for purposes of clarity and to maintain a “G” rating for this newsletter.

Question: Will education vouchers solve America’s education problems?

Answer: No, but we can’t “fix” education until we “fix” who makes the decisions about education. The people who make the decisions are those who control the money. Vouchers move us toward the indispensable American fundamentals of marketplace competition and the right of individuals to make choices for themselves and their families. Freely entering and exiting a particular education institution must become a right of the education consumer, and creating numerous options for students must be the right of educators and other entrepreneurs. This is the best and fastest way to “fix” what ails education.

Question: Don’t you think vouchers will be a boon for private schools?

Answer: Some private schools, particularly non-religious institutions, will be in better financial positions. But vouchers will cause great conflict for others. Admitting students with vouchers means accepting money with strings—strings that have some consequence to particular private institutions. (The first “string” will likely be testing.) Still, it is not the job of government to protect private schools from making ill-advised decisions by preventing parents from exercising educational choices.

Question: Vouchers will lead to the undermining of religious private schools, don’t you think?

Answer: Some schools will probably take money that ends up compromising their religious or academic standards. This is foolish. But the parties responsible for balancing government requirements for vouchers against a private school’s mission are the school’s governing board and the school’s patrons. It is not government’s job to keep private institutions from making unwise decisions or to protect them from competition. We have far too much of that “nanny nonsense” now. I cannot rationalize allowing government to continue running an education monopoly because some private schools will make bad decisions.

Comment: Vouchers mean government control of private schools. This means, in the end, nobody will really have free-market choices.

Response: History is not on your side. When the free market has been allowed to operate, choices spring up all over, often in unusual places. Highly motivated people in a free society find ways to meet their needs and the needs of others—even when that means bucking government and the status quo.

This can be seen in the millions of homeschoolers today, who directly benefit from a relative handful of “weird” people who, decades ago, paved the way.

It will be a bit messy getting there, because schools must find an equilibrium point where what they provide matches the value consumers/parents place on that product. Some volume is required, meaning the education marketplace will be slow to open up and be price competitive. But it will happen, partly because technology makes education more accessible and less costly.

If we do not force schools to compete with each other, the losers are those who cannot economically override the system. People who can, leave the system or home school. Those who can’t are stuck.

Question: Since money bypasses elected school boards, what about the taxation without representation concern?

Answer: What about it? It stinks! It stinks now when the education decision-makers take our money and then are nearly unreachable and untouchable. It is less stinky as we move closer toward putting the consumers in the driver’s seat.

For the “public good,” this nation mandates education for all children, collects taxes from most every citizen to implement the edict, and enforces it through the power of law. As long as this is the case, parents and children affected by the law must have genuine choices.

Question: Why don’t we just separate the state and school altogether?

Answer: Go get ‘em. Except for deeding property to communities so they could build a schoolhouse, our forebearers never envisioned government getting involved in the education of children at all. But here we are, and the question is, where do we go from here?

Many people believe that children will turn into uneducated heathens if government doesn’t assume the responsibility to educate them. This is an elitist attitude. Now that civil rights legislation protects equal opportunity, it seems to me we have little to worry about if the private sector assumes more responsibility for educating children.

Question: How can you expect parents to make wise choices about what school their child should attend when most of them don’t even care enough to show up for parent-teacher conferences anymore?

Answer: The high quality and relatively low prices I pay for food are the results of a small percentage of consumers who take the time to be aggressive price shoppers. Grocery stores operate on a small profit margin and cannot afford to lose even five percent of their business, so they compete vigorously to provide what their shoppers want. The majority of us, therefore, benefit from the wise choices made by a very small number of people.

Likewise, schools cannot afford to lose even a small percentage of their revenue base. If the money follows the child to the school chosen by his or her parents, and leaves at the same time the child does, the school will respond to deficiencies immediately. This means many children will benefit from the active and conscientious involvement of a relatively small number of people.

Furthermore, when educators communicate the indispensable value of parents, and the structure of the school supports the words, many more parents will engage once again in their children’s education.

Question: Why aren’t you worried about the separation of church and state guaranteed in the First Amendment?

Answer: What constitution are you reading? Related to religion, the First Amendment of the American Constitution says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof....” Many parents are denied an opportunity to freely exercise their religion because, while the law (and their own conscience) tells them they must educate their children, they do not have the economic wherewithal to put their children in schools that do not undermine their religious beliefs.

Furthermore, government is not establishing religion when it gives money to parents. It is the parent who will make the decision regarding whether or not the voucher will be used in a religious institution. The Supreme Court rule mandates that vouchers are not an option in locations where religious schools are the only private school choice.

Question: How do you expect public schools to compete with private schools? They have so many more regulations.

Answer: Uh-huh. And the solution is to hobble private schools comparably? How about if we unhobble public schools instead?

Comment: Vouchers will make our public schools “dumping grounds” because everyone else will leave.

Answer: Really! Then everyone should leave and the school should be closed. No child should be in a dumping ground and no teacher worth his or her salt would work there.

Living Liberty is the Evergreen Freedom Foundation's monthly newsletter. It provides updates on the issues and projects EFF is currently working on. You will also find commentary on state and sometimes federal government issues.

Living Liberty is available for our members only. Please click here if you would like to become a member.

Contact: Marsha Richards, Communications Director, (360) 956-3482

Evergreen Freedom Foundation P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507 Phone: (360) 956-3482, Fax: (360) 352-1874 Email: effwa@effwa.org