Vouchers: Our tax money or their (voucher parents’) money? Our tax money is not intended to be a rebate to individuals for vouchers.
The voucher champions proffer talking points such as:
  • parents have the right to choose (at public expense)
  • money should follow the student (public money for public purposes)
  • poor kids should have the same advantage of a private education as rich kids
  • it’s the parent’s money to do with it what they want
In the pro-voucher world, tax money for education is their (parents’) money, not our money for the constitutionally-required system of common schools. Our money is for the public common school system, not for the private use of parents shopping for education.
The claim that it is the parents’ money is one that will come back to bite the pro-voucher folks. Some future public officials will figure out that if our money is collected and spent for the private education of their children, then taxes for education should be eliminated and parents should pay for the education of their own kids.
The father of the American school voucher scheme, Economist Milton Friedman, in the 1950’s, advocated for government-supported school vouchers, with no further government involvement in education. In 2006, speaking before the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Friedman indicated that public education was a mistake and that parents should pay the cost of education for their own children.
The reason Libertarians such as the Koch family support vouchers is that they reject the concept of government support for education. The voucher scheme is the interim step between government support for the common school and parents paying for the education of their own children.
Learn about EdChoice Vouchers: An Existential Threat to Public Schools
VOUCHERS HURT OHIO