In November 2000, Californians will vote on Proposition 38, a school voucher initiative. This website looks at this initiative in detail and analyzes the arguments, evidence, and data in favor of and against this proposition.
In short, I believe this initiative is a very good idea. This initiative would allow students in the very worse public schools to escape and go to better schools. And this initiative would replace the current centralized bureaucratic public school system with an education system containing empowered parents, decentralized decision making, and lots of choice and competition. This system will allow, enable, and in fact force the public school system to make much needed internal reforms. It will also save money.
I realize that many people look at school vouchers with a lot of skepticism. Moreover, my central arguments --- that school vouchers will help, not hurt, both children who take the vouchers and children who remain in the public schools --- are not intuitive or obvious. Nonetheless, these arguments are not mere speculation. They are based on real experience with voucher programs in other states, well-accepted political and economic theories, hard data collected and analyzed by professors at universities like Harvard and Princeton, and numerous reports, serveys, and news stories. All of these show that on balance vouchers (1) improve education for students who take the vouchers, and (2) encourage, enable, and force the public schools to make much needed common sense education reforms. All of these and more (with links to websites contianing supporting reprots, news stories, and data) will be discussed in detail on this website. I would encourage anyone who is skeptical about these claim simply to take a careful look at this webiste and to keep an open mind.
Before beginning, let me first make a brief personal statement. This initiative is not about attacking the public schools or pitting public schools against private schools. I am a strong supporter of public schools. I attended public schools from kindergarden through 12th grade, and my father just retired after teaching high school in LAUSD for 36 years. I am a strong supporter of public schools, I know that there are many dedicated teachers and principals in the public school system who do a wonderful job. Unfotunately, however, these dedicated teachers and principals work in a highly bureaucratic and inefficient system that underpays them, does not reward excellence, and micromanages their decisions. As explained in detail on this website, I believe that Proposition 38 would help change that. It is because I care about public schools, not because I dislike them, that I support this initiative.
This website is still under construction, and not all of the topics below have links. But here is an outline of this website so far:
Proposition 38 Itself: The
Attorney General's Summary (with the Legislative Analyst's
Summary of the Fiscal Effects.
Proposition 38 Itself: Full
Text
Who wrote this webpage?
Milwaukee
Florida
Cleveland
Private Voucher
Programs
Improvement in Test Scores for Students
Who Take a Voucher and Switch Schools.
Reasons for
Switching
Public School
Reforms Because of Vouchers: The Data
Public School
Reforms Because of Vouchers: The Theory
The Basic Data
The Increasing
Number of Students In California
Examples of
Public Schools That Work Well
The History of
Failed Public School Reform In California
Some Successful
Public School Reforms
Excuses,
Excuses, Excuses.
Standardized
Tests?
What's Wrong
With the Public School System?
Why Can't We
Just Fix The System Without Vouchers?
Why Are There
So Few Private Schools For Middle Class Students?
Under a Voucher
Program, Will Parents Send Their Children To Bad Private Schools?
What are the Current California
Regulations of Private School Curriculum?
The Legislative
Analyst Explains That Proposition 38 Can Save Up to $2.5 Billion
Annually
Can Low Income
People Can Afford Private Schools With a $4,000 Voucher.
Under Well
Accepted Supreme Court Case Law, Vouchers Are Constitutional
Low Income
Students
Minority
Students
Handicapped
Students
Students
Remaining In Public Schools
How Will
Parents Benefit or Be Harmed Under a Voucher Program?
Under a Voucher
Program, Will Parents Sent Their Chilren To Bad Private Schools?
Can Low Income
People Can Afford Private Schools With a $4,000 Voucher.
How Will Public
School Teachers Benefit Under a Voucher Program?