For every decrease in the amount of funds directed to public schools, there would be a commensurate reduction in the work load and hence costs of operating public schools. If a given public school was so bad as to see an exodus of all its pupils, it could be shut down and its buildings leased or sold, actually generating income. Few voucher proponents have suggested vouchers equal to the full cost of public schooling, however. And even if some of that savings were returned to tax-payers, there would still be enough for yet another increase in public school expenditures, if that is what voters wanted. Because fewer public school students would mean a need for fewer public school teachers.
Unions protect their members' jobs.
That is what they are for and that is what they do. It would be naive to expect otherwise. Not in Milwaukee where academic results have been mixed, at best. According to a study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, voucher student reading scores increased the first year, fell substantially the second and remained about the same the next two years. Here the MEA and NEA are simply out of touch with the educational research community.