Inner-city parents whose schools are not performing well are desperate for solutions and the Religious Right is exploiting that frustration. In November 2000, Californians will vote on whether to change their public school system to one based on vouchers. But the public school system's failure to provide students of color with a challenging education equal to that available in wealthy white neighborhoods will not be alleviated by vouchers. This report exposes the inaccuracies and hypocrisy of proponents' claims that vouchers represent an opportunity for families of color to achieve a more equitable education for their children.
Vouchers have a history of serving racist agendas.
California's Proposition 38 allows private schools to discriminate against voucher students. Under this measure, a voucher would be no guarantee of escape from public school. They would be under no obligation to explain to students why they were rejected, and there would be no due process remedies for families who believed they had been discriminated against. Vouchers exacerbate the existing racial inequality of the public school system. Voucher experiments in other countries benefit the rich at the expense of the poor and have resulted in lower academic achievement for low-income students.