Much soft-headed Republican talk about school choice raises the issue of what education in a free society might look like. Certainly school vouchers would be banished.
Teachers unions hate the idea, taken to be a good sign.
But the Devil is in the details, which are Satanic indeed. The funds, of course, are public, either from state treasuries or, in the Bush plan, from federal coffers as well. Only its taxpayers do, and they have no choice about footing the bill. Of course, the productive sector already subsidizes the education of the poor. There is little difference between giving the poor access to public schools supported by more affluent taxpayers, and giving them the money it takes to run those schools.