The Voucher Debate: One Year After the Supreme Court Decision

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The Voucher Debate One Year After the Supreme
Court Decision

• Clive Belfield
• National Center for the Study of Privatization in
  Education
• Teachers College, Columbia University
• www.ncspe.org

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Cleveland Scholarship Tutoring Program

• Almost all the CSTP recipients went to religious
  schools
• CSTP potentially offends the Establishment clause
  of U.S. Constitution
• In June 2002, U.S. Supreme Court majority opinion
  declared the CSTP as
• A program of true private choice neutral in
  all respects toward religion part of a general
  and multifaceted undertaking by the state of Ohio
  to provide educational opportunities to the
  children of a failed school district
• Justice Thomas
• Failing urban schools disproportionately affect
  minority children many blacks now support
  school choice programs because they provide the
  greatest opportunities for their children in
  struggling communities

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One Year Later

• Voucher (choice) programs proliferating
• CO, TX, DC (LA, Compton, LA)
• Growth of Cleveland Program
• Consolidation of Milwaukee Program
• Strengthening of VT and ME town-tuitioning
  programs
• Legal challenges to State Constitutional barriers
  to vouchers
• Voucher programs prompted not only by the Supreme
  Court decision, but also by November 2002
  elections
• Proliferating is not a relative term (compared
  to home-schooling, charter schooling, and
  intra-district open enrollment programs)

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What Next?

• A lot of debate and discussion about vouchers
• But few programs, and strong regulatory control
• Understanding two puzzles

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Puzzle 1 Support without evidence

• Support for vouchers grows, but the evidence
  shows few substantial advantages
• Some gains in freedom of choice
• Very moderate gains in efficiency
• No impairment of social cohesion
• Greatest gains for low-income families
• Losses to home-owning families in wealthier
  suburbs with high quality public schools they
  now face competition/crowding and asset losses
• Solutions
• Disagreement over evidence? Ignore evidence?
  Better than nothing?
• Keep looking for compelling evidence

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Puzzle 2 Political Support

• Political support for vouchers comes from the
  Right, even though
• Biggest losses for families in wealthier suburbs
  with high quality public schools
• Political opposition for vouchers comes from the
  Left, even though
• Greatest gains for low-income families

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Answers to Puzzle 2?

• Confusion amongst constituents
• Low-income families do not realize they will gain
• Home-owners do not realize they will lose
• Differences in beliefs about efficiency gains
• Split on the Left/Right
• Teacher union power v. community power
• Libertarians v. conservatives v. religious groups
  v. special interests of producers

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Answers to Puzzle 2?

• Big Politics strategies of Right
• Acceptance of education freedom legitimizes
  freedom
• Attract new political groups
• Privatization will eventually be co-opted by
  supporters (highly educated take advantage of
  vouchers vouchers for private school parents
  equity analysis of large-scale programs differs
  from small-scale)
• Distraction of political opposition (court cases,
  political capital, internal struggles)
• Risky strategy
• Costs first
• No guarantee sufficient new supporters will want
  it (or vote for you even if they do want it)
• Traditional supporters do not want it

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The Future

• Vouchers will be part of active/urgent reform
  agenda
• Puzzle 1 Researchers seek compelling evidence
• Puzzle 2 Political agents do/dont want them
• So
• A lot of debate and discussion about vouchers
• But few programs, and strong regulatory control,
  to minimize the risks on both sides
• Both political parties moving strategically