In an election year centering around public opinion polls, Americans consistently rate education as the issue they worry about most. While most politicians agree that our educational system is weak, their solutions vary. However, the issue concerns more than just improving education. There are many high-quality public schools in the United States. A key part of the problem is providing equal access to quality education for all children.
School vouchers are one of the more prominent, and controversial, proposals on the table.
Vouchers essentially allow for parents to use the money that would have been used for a public school education and apply it to the school of their choice, be it private, parochial or any other. Supporters of voucher programs claim they would improve education by forcing schools to compete for students and government funds. It would be beneficial to invest in programs that unilaterally improve the quality of education rather than abandoning those students stuck in the worst schools. As children leave underfunded public schools in search of a better education elsewhere, these already impoverished schools will only suffer more. The government money allotted for vouchers would be far better suited to purchase better textbooks and educational technology as well as increase teachers' salaries, all of which would contribute to a higher standard of education provided by public schools.