They are, instead, just a few more steps on the road to omnipotent government. Given Bush administration policy, it's time to reconsider school choice as well. The original idea, promulgated by Milton Friedman, sounded good. Such a plan would, we were told, force public schools to compete with each other and with private schools. They have no control over what their children are taught, even if it contradicts their religious or other deeply held beliefs.
Private schools offer an escape, and a real education besides.
But perhaps not for long. Schools that accept even one vouchered student will be subjected to massive federal regulation of their curriculum, admissions, academic standards, and disciplinary code. Frank R. Kemerer, an education law professor at the University of North Texas, Denton, points out in Education Week that private schools have long had to fight for their independence. A decade ago the Supreme Court reaffirmed Pierce when it upheld Nebraska's shutdown of a Christian school and jailing of its principal, who was also pastor of the local church. He had used parents as teachers.