The School Scramble

Letter to the Editor of The Washington Post

Michael Fletcher remains unconvinced that private schools can deliver a better education than failing, urban public schools (“Milwaukee Will Vouch for Vouchers”, March 20). But meanwhile in the same issue, a Post story declares, “there are far more children in parochial schools in Northern Virginia than there are desks for them.” Nearly 1 in 4 students nationwide already attend private, charter or magnet alternatives to their neighborhood public school, according to a 1999 study by Policy Analysis for California Education. And when the Children’s Scholarship Fund offered to fund private vouchers to give poor families a similar opportunity, they received 1,250,000 applications for 40,000 vouchers. With such high demand for private education, shouldn’t poor families be able to avail themselves of the same options?

Don Soifer is Executive Vice President of the Lexington Institute.