The average dropout rate for large urban school districts nationwide is 51 percent. The public school dropout rate in Indianapolis is 72 percent, in St. Louis 73 percent, in Detroit 68 percent and in Atlanta 57 percent. Although the private voucher programs have many features in common, there are individual differences. Most voucher students are in grades 1 through 8, but some are in high school and many programs that award vouchers to junior high and middle school students will fund them through high school graduation. The Children's Scholarship Fund will offer scholarships for kindergarten through high school.
Some programs pay more than half the tuition cost.
Most programs base eligibility for vouchers on whether the student qualifies for the federal government's free or reduced-price lunch program. Competition for Public Schools. Although privately funded voucher programs are still a tiny part of education in the United States, they are taking innovative new approaches in an effort to determine what best meets the needs of children and encourages improvement in the public schools. Sponsors say the goal in Edgewood is not only to give low-income families a choice of schools but also to determine the overall impact of true educational choice on students, on public and private schools and on the community. The Benefits of Choice.