School Vouchers Gain Ground

NCPA:

The Louisiana state legislature has approved a new school vouchers system that, when signed by Governor Bobby Jindal, will be one of the largest in the country. The move caps 18 months of extensive expansion of voucher programs nationwide and broadens the national argument about the future of public education, says the Wall Street Journal.

With growing systems in Florida, Virginia and Indiana joining older programs such as those in Washington, D.C., and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the use of vouchers has increased rapidly since 2010.

• Nineteen states and Washington, D.C., have either voucher systems or "scholarship" programs that provide tax benefits to individuals and businesses for contributions that help pay for students to attend private school.
• The vast majority of these programs are targeted at specific groups of at-risk students, such as low-income or those with special needs.
• The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, an organization that advocates vouchers, estimates that about 220,000 students are currently enrolled in the programs nationwide.

The Louisiana program would add hundreds of thousands of students to the voucher camp, and would also implement several innovative policy provisions that would help put the program at the cutting edge of education.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at April 24, 2012 2:25 AM
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