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What Are School Vouchers?

Emily Yoffe
Posted Thursday, Sept. 28, 2000, at 4:14 PM ET

How to fix lousy public schools is a big issue in this year's presidential race. Just what are school vouchers, charter schools, and magnet schools?

Vouchers: You don't like your public school? A voucher gives you some of the tax money the school would have spent to educate your child and allows you to use it to pay for tuition at a private or religious school. Though vouchers are getting a lot of attention, only a few small programs exist. Those in Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Florida all target low-income families. In November, Californians will vote on Proposition 38, which would give $4,000 vouchers (called "scholarships") to any child of any income level to pay for private or religious school. Other synonyms are "parental choice," "opportunity scholarships," "full school choice," or "option of transferring."

Charter Schools: These are public schools that are not run by the public school system. A group of people, often parents, teachers, or members of nonprofit organizations, apply for a contract to create a new school. The schools can have broad leeway in teaching methods and curriculum, but students have to meet certain achievement standards and participate in statewide testing. First established in Minnesota in 1991, charter schools now exist in 36 states and the District of Columbia.

Magnet Schools: Started in the 1970s, these are public schools designed to attract students outside their immediate neighborhood. They generally have a joint purpose of racial balance and a distinctive academic focus--such as arts or sciences.

Public School Choice, Public School Option, Open Enrollment: This gives parents some ability to pick which public school to send their children to instead of being required to go to the nearest one.

Next question?

Explainer wishes to thank Nina Shokraii Rees of the Heritage Foundation and Mary Kayne Heinze of the Center for Education Reform.

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Emily Yoffe is the author of What the Dog Did: Tales From a Formerly Reluctant Dog Owner. You can send your Human Guinea Pig suggestions or comments to .
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Reader Comments from The Fray:


The "Explainer" column mentions that the vouchers or scholarships have an approximate value of $4,000 which is intended to allow poor students to attend private schools. However, it fails to point out (as Bush consistently does) that the average cost for private school is more like $10,000 per student per year. So, a $4,000 voucher is not exactly going to be bringing truck-loads of underprivileged children to private schools if their parents have to come up with the extra $6,000 a year. What it will do is give upper and middle class children a nice discount on their tuition and eviscerate public education for those who still can't afford it since underfunded schools will then have even less money to spend on their students. This is more than just a minor point to have overlooked. Not mentioning the average cost of private education as well as the value of the vouchers doesn't provide the full Explanation of the subject. We expect Bush not to mention it, but Explainer should have.

--J. Lebelle

(To reply, click here.)


The opportunity to go to a public school made a huge difference in my life, and in the lives of many people I know. Better to fix the public schools than to find ways of getting around them which will undermine them and make them worse. Has the time come for fundamental change? Perhaps we are trying to do too many things for too many different constituencies and thus we have lost focus on the main job of educating most of the kids who come through the door. Standards ought to begin with a requirement that students have to behave in a way that makes it possible for the school to function, and if they don't they should be excluded. Standards ought also to recognize individual differences: not everybody can become a rocket scientist or a neurosurgeon or a nuclear physicist, but everybody does have the potential for enjoying their own life and the responsibility for playing a role in the life of the community, for contributing through their work, or through some other activity to the good of all. The standard ought to be set so everyone works up to their potential--we seem to be saying that everyone must meet the same standard, which cannot be done honestly. Somehow you have to get people to take pride in their own achievements, in themselves, and not make them feel demeaned because they weren't chosen to be valedictorian of the class.

--Francis R.Taormina

(To reply, click here.)

(9/29)

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