Reality of elections: It’s more than issues. Voter turnout, and voter habits and biases, affect the outcome. The good news is that the habits and biases in this case work against vouchers.
Hoover Institute fellow Terry Moe’s evaluation of the general feeling of voters toward vouchers is golden, and should be framed by anyone working the issue — about a dozen paragraphs into the article.
Moe has scrutinized much of the polling and public surveys done on voucher attitudes over the past decade and has uncovered patterns. Though Americans are inconsistent in how they view vouchers – making public opinion difficult to nail down – he has arrived at some insights, including:
* Most Americans think private schools offer a superior education.
* A little more than half of respondents would send their kids to a private school if they could afford it.
* They find public education inequitable, with people in low-income neighborhoods at a disadvantage.
* They feel parents have too little influence on their children’s education.
* Many would like their children taught moral values.
* Yet most Americans are reasonably satisfied with the performance of the public system and feel good about its ideals of nurturing citizenship. “Americans like public schools,” he says.
* They react negatively to attacks on public education.
* Though many would accept vouchers, most think vouchers should be offered to low-income families first.
* Voters think that private schools receiving vouchers should be held to accountability standards and some basic regulation by the state.
When you pull it all together, Moe says, a voucher program with the best chance of success with this huge, somewhat confused group must have characteristics that “free marketers are going to have a nervous breakdown over.”
For instance, a successful voucher approach would be aimed at low-income families and include government regulation. The Utah program includes basic oversight, including regular audits, and Utah voucher supporters argue the market would further regulate private schools because parents would choose the best and most efficiently managed schools for their kids.
But, Moe says, most Americans don’t place much confidence in the market. “We should treat vouchers like any other government economic program,” he says. “You can’t leave everything up to the market.”
Tip of the old scrub brush to Utah Policy Daily.
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