While there are compulsory attendance laws, no state compels attendance at a public school, so long as the child is enrolled somewhere. Also, public schools send an estimated 100,000 of their students to private institutions for their education. An independent study of the Cleveland voucher program found that students gained in the first year. However, public education establishment defenders instead cited the officially authorized study by Indiana University, which reported that students had not gained during the first year. When Indiana University researchers recently reported significant gains by the end of the second year, these findings were greeted with silence by those who hailed the first year's report.
Public schools are accountable to taxpayers for reporting how public money is spent.
Public schools of choice, such as magnet, alternative, and charter schools, also are accountable for results. If the courts will throw out such laws, there is no need to oppose their passage. In fact, various forms of school choice have been upheld in a growing number of court decisions. Critics charge that private schools and charter schools can do better because they don't have to follow all the rules and regulations that bind public schools. But the forces that complain about the unlevel playing field are the same ones who try to block any effort to deregulate public schools.