In September 2010, the U.S. Senate's Armed Services Committee approved an amendment to the proposed National Defense Authorization Act. The amendment, known as Section 583, authorized a Defense Department pilot voucher program to mitigate the cost of private school tuition for special-needs children of military parents. Sen. Jim Webb, a member of…

Offers reasons why urban black parents favor educational vouchers even though many black state and local elected officials do not. (PKP)

Criticizes Michael Leo Owens's commentary on why urban black parents favor vouchers, but black leaders do not. (PKP)

Governors and other politicians are beginning to broach the issue of vouchers again. If so, the issue could generate heated debate rivaling that caused by merit pay. (Author)

Joe Nathan, author of "Free to Teach: Achieving Equity and Excellence in Schools," argues in favor of educational vouchers; Lew Finch, superintendent of the Anoka-Hennepin Independent School District, Minnesota, argues against vouchers. (MLF)

Washington is totally ignorant about what takes place in schools and would rather fingerpoint than exercise true leadership. President Bush assumes that minimal vouchers to attend expensive private schools (with selective admission standards) will make a difference, ignoring the issues of financial inequity and inadequate city services. Meanwhile,…

The Milwaukee Parental Choice Plan permits up to 1,000 low-income Milwaukee students to attend private, nonsectarian schools, paying participating schools about $2,500 for each participant. However, handicapped students received scant accommodation, and educational standards applying to public schools are not required of private schools.…

The delivery of federal Chapter 1 program services in private religious schools was held illegal by the Supreme Court's ruling in "Aguilar v. Gelton." Philadelphia and Boston dropped on-premises instruction for church-school students; New York City was granted a one-year delay, and Chicago is seeking a delay. (MLF)

John Chubb and Terry Moe believe that the failure of schools to educate children is attributable to their institutional nature. During the past 25 years, the American public school system has been expected to resolve every social inequity. Bureaucracy has had a stifling effect on education, but its removal through parental choice will also remove…

Name of Bush Administration's choice game is publicly financed vouchers allowing those already sending their children to private and parochial schools to avoid tuition fees at taxpayer expense. Although private schools administer entrance exams, public schools accept every child regardless of academic record, status, or race. U.S. Senate recently…

A former U.S. commissioner of education wonders if privatization and vouchers represent threats, annoyances, or utopias. Private contracting could hinder community involvement and the teacher professionalization movement. Profit-making goals might resolve class size policy in favor of economic efficiency, not student learning. Vouchers will reduce…

Proponents of the Chapter 1 voucher proposal claim it will give parents of disadvantaged children an educational choice; opponents claim the bill would siphon off limited Chapter 1 funds and serve fewer children. (MLF)

Rejecting the voucher concept for promoting unequal education, this article endorses the "public/private partnership" model of reinvented school governance. Under this system, teachers and administrators remain public employees but are managed by a private company. Jay P. Goldman's sidebar criticizes privatization schemes as unworkable…

Education lacks scientifically sound studies, whether researchers are examining promotion versus retention, class-size effects, or private voucher schemes. American public schools have educated the world's most productive work force, test scores are rising, and more kids graduate than formerly. Educators should demand compelling evidence before…

In Uxbridge, Massachusetts, a small working-class mill town, free-market reform rhetoric has become reality. The tiny district has adopted controversial changes, such as giving vouchers to parents of Title I students, reimbursing home-schooling parents, lengthening the school day and year, adopting flexible scheduling, allowing credit for Internet…