With tax credits, educators, parents, nonprofits, religious organizations and businesses could set up new schools the day after a state approved the program. The stimulus of the tax credit alone would increase the demand for nongovernment schools. It does not address the wishes of parents who would like their children to attend schools that embody their values. It does nothing to control education costs for taxpayers. Tax credits would do all those things.
Parents have little control.
The tax credits program would increase their control significantly. An important administrative problem for charter schools or contracting out is accountability. The best mechanism for accountability is the marketplace, monitored and controlled by consumers acting in their own self-interest. Parents participating in the tax credits program would exercise consumer power, choosing the best education available for their children. Under the tax credits program, these arguments would become irrelevant because the money would not be the government's.