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Monday, November 12, 2007

Ersatz School Choice

"Vouchers go down in crushing defeat"

That headline thundered from Wednesday's Salt Lake City Tribune, as it announced that more than 60 percent of Utahans who voted on whether to uphold the statewide school-voucher program said no. It was a big setback for the voucher movement. The Utah legislature had approved the program by one vote. But the teachers' union, which opposes vouchers, gathered enough signatures to put the question to the voters. It poured a ton of money into its successful effort to have the people veto the law. This was the tenth time in over 30 years that voters have defeated school vouchers or education tax credits, says the National School Boards Association.

It may not look like a win for the cause of educational freedom, but in the long run it might be. That depends on what we do about it.
The rest of my latest TGIF, "Ersatz School Choice," is at the Foundation for Economic Education website.

5 comments:

LarryRuane said...

Excellent column, as usual. Congratulations on being quoted by John Stossel:

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnStossel/2007/11/07/with_government_money_come_strings?page=full&comments=true

He seems to have changed his mind (although he doesn't admit doing so); as I remember it, he supported vouchers pretty strongly in his 20/20 special earlier this year.

It is good to see Stossel continuing to learn ... Maybe some day he'll make it all the way to anarchy!!

LarryRuane said...

Whoops, the blog software may have truncated that URL. Try this one:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/24nvhc

Anonymous said...

I have to admit, Sheldon, that I used to be a big fan of vouchers. That is, until I started reading your articles and your book about the separation of school and state. Thank you.

Sheldon Richman said...

Thanks, Larry and Steven. It pays to keep plugging away. And never trust the state.

Anonymous said...

"And never trust the state."

Unless, of course, it is the State as manifested in the person of Ron Paul.

Sorry, couldn't resist!