I am strongly in favor of providing as many educational alternatives to students as possible. In some school districts, the ability to follow the trend of offering charter schools as options to students may not exist. There may be a temptation, therefore, to add to student choice by awarding vouchers to private schools as an option for those students who are deemed appropriate for a true private school education.
But, I will discuss what I feel are better options emerging for school districts, and explain why private school vouchers would be a catastrophe to already stressed school districts.
First I will discuss alternatives a school district can choose to increase the diversity of educational opportunity made available to students. It can be difficult to locate and train teachers, create a curriculum, and coordinate a curriculum with educational materials that are reasonably priced. There are contract management companies, Edison Schools being a leader, who are available to come in, set up and run a charter or private school like facility, with the advantage being that the curriculum and policies are already worked out, and can be evaluated on their merit for results achieved, or not achieved in similar school districts.
The advantage to the school district of using a contract education service to provide educational alternatives is that the district can require, as part of the contract, that all students may enter, even those with learning disabilities or other handicaps. Contract education services, such as Edison Schools are aware of these requirements, and on their web site clearly indicate that they promote diversity in their educational policies.
The diversity issue is a primary challenge for school districts. Where as school districts are required by law to provide a Free and Appropriate Education ( FAPE ) , private schools are not. In almost all cases, private and parochial schools provide no special services for students with special needs. Likewise even if a student is potentially a scholar, if the school that is to provide educational opportunity has a religious affiliation that is different than the students, the student/school match would be not only unfortunate, it would violate the students constitutional and FAPE rights.
The concept of giving a voucher to a potential academic leader is based on the twin fallacies that all students cost the same to educate, and that it is fair to students on the bottom of the bell curve to be physically separated from the students at the top of the bell curve. In education, there is a concept of a students right to "Least Restrictive Environment"(LRE). This means, if a student is capable of being in a class that is otherwise appropriate for him, he must be offered a chance to be in the class with as wide a variety of student levels as possible. In other words, students at the bottom of the bell curve have a right to be in a class with students at the top of the bell curve. This is not as restrictive as it sounds to the students at the top of the curve. For example, all students may take a "biological science requirement", where as those who have decided to to on to college and even medical school, even while still in high school, can take an advanced placement (AP) biology in addition to the required biology. The AP curriculum is designed by the College Board, and presumes that students have already had some introduction to life sciences.
If the a voucher system were implemented, there would be immediate competition between private schools and the school board for tax funds. The school who could exert the most influence, politically that is would win. If we were to implement a public educational system where the most politically influential merely "win", then why bother to create a public education system in the first place? The foundation of American "equality under the law" requires that the public organizations, in this case the school board, maintain complete control of funds alloted for education, and award opportunity on the basis of student merit and need. If the school system is allowed to become a political football to be kicked back and forth between interested political parties, then the system is defeated.