Sen. Jim Rubens, an Etna Republican who is running for governor, sponsored the bill. The amended version passed the Senate along party lines, with every Republican and one Democrat, Allen Whipple of Claremont, supporting it. Under the plan, local districts would set how much money they would give the parents of each student who attended school elsewhere. As evidence that choice won't hurt public schools, Rubens points to parental choice programs in Minnesota and in school districts like Cleveland, Ohio, and Milwaukee, Wis., the two high-profile districts using vouchers. They are improved.
Competition is extremely healthy for public schools.
It's been shown that the test scores in the public schools newly subjected to competition rise promptly. We need competition. It drives improvement into public education faster than any other policy reform available to us. . . All of the claims made by opponents that it will cause a mass exodus or turn the public schools into dumping grounds, all of that has been disproved in other states and cities. These days, the issue is no less divisive - as the debate in New Hampshire shows.