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Essay on School Choice: A Focus on School Vouchers
Choice schemes within the public education system involves the creation of specialized schools that draw students from a wide geographical area, sometimes accompanied by the lifting of certain rules that have traditionally regulated schools. These schools often established as part of plans to encourage racial integration, typically are based on a theme-such as technology or classical studies-and enroll children from throughout a school district. Such schools are an example of intra-district choice-choice within a particular district. Inter-district-transfer programs let parents enroll their children in other districts in their state. School choice programs within a state or district may also be referred to as "open enrollment."
School Vouchers, which are also known as Scholarships, redirects the flow of education funding, channeling it directly to individual families rather than to school districts (Edd, 1996). This allows families to select the public or private schools of their choice and have all or part of the tuition paid. Scholarships are advocated on the grounds that parental choice and competition between public and private schools will improve education for all children (Carnoy, 2001). Vouchers can be funded and administered by the government, by private organizations, or by some combination of both.
Discussion
Milton Friedman first proposed school vouchers in a 1955 academic article. His original idea was to provide any student who left a public school a voucher equal in value to the average amount spent per student by the local school district. In the intervening years, he has modified his position slightly, arguing that the private sectors should be able to provide schooling for less than the government (Terry, 2001). He now thinks vouchers valued at about half the per-pupil expenditure would be sufficient to entice private schools to take students from the government schools. From the start, Friedman has argued that the government’s monopoly on schooling could be challenged.............
