Don Wycliff’s Sept. 28 column about school vouchers continues to focus the arguments for and against school vouchers on the wrong things. Arguing about parents’ rights, states’ rights or threats to the constitutional freedoms of choice keeps Americans who are truly concerned about alternatives to the public school system trapped in a never-ending web of glossy rhetoric. School vouchers aren’t the answer for political reasons now or in the near future, regardless of whether or not vouchers will improve overall academic performance.
Right now the states could strengthen private schools if the legislatures really had a commitment to do so. They could fully fund the programs they mandate but for which they provide no money. Every private and parochial school must meet the same fire and building code standards as the public schools, private schools must complete and turn in health and immunization forms, and the list goes on totaling nearly $50 million a year in unfunded mandated programs for private and parochial schools just in Illinois. And each year, the Illinois House refuses to fund the programs it mandates.
School vouchers are a red-herring issue.
Focus on unfunded mandates if you really want to see some improvements in schools that could better attract students from floundering public schools.
