Can School Vouchers and School Choice Successfully Coexist Research Paper

Can School Vouchers and School Choice Successfully Coexist - Research Paper Example Charter schools are different from school vouchers. Charter schools are subsidized by the government. The government can revoke the charter and halt funding at any time. Voucher programs date back to the early 1900s in Vermont and Maine. The two states wanted to ensure that every child had access to schools, at a time when some children were not located in a school district (CNN). It is only in the 1990s that other localities and states adopted voucher programs and sparked debate (Brown, B. 2002, 287-300). The issues presented by school vouchers have polarized Americans. Many are for vouchers, and many are against vouchers. Few are left in the middle. Proponents of school vouchers make their main case the condition of failing, inner-city schools. Varying in different programs, vouchers are offered to failing students in urban schools. The students have a choice to enrol in another public school or private school. Supporters argue that a majority of voucher recipients are poor minorities. Therefore, these poor, neglected students have a new chance in a school outside the district. In addition to providing better education to these failing students, the push for school integration is renewed (Coulson). Since school integration became the law of the land in 1954, white families have flocked to the suburbs, resulting in separation of the upper classes and lower classes (Epple, D., and Romano, R. 2003). Opponents dispute that this totally undermines public education. Learning by People for the American Way (PFAW) cites that the voucher costs drain money from public schools. This has unenthusiastic effects in its place of keeping the money inside the school budget.