USA Today had a story the other day about an Applied Research Center study of school vouchers. The Applied Research Center is a liberal think tank that claims California’s voucher proposal would essentially benefit affluent white kids while harming poor black kids. The claim is that since the vouchers are only worth $4,000 and some private school tuition is more than $4,000, the only people who will take advantage of the vouchers are affluent whites who probably send their kids to private schools anyway.
Clint Bolick of the Institute for Justice did an excellent job refuting this claim telling USA Today that,
Public schools are the greatest engine of racial inequality in our society today. They are segregated both by race and economic status. School choice, by contrast, gives low-income and minority kids a real opportunity to access high-quality educational opportunities. This study substitutes ideology for scholarship.
As Bolick pointed out, the $4,000 voucher actually represents a larger opportunity to poorer families than to wealthier ones. That $4,000 would help send a lot of kids whose families otherwise would have a very difficult time affording a private education to a better school (I know we’ve got families in my neighborhood who would be able to send their kids to much better alternatives if they had this sort of program available).
Regardless, though, Bolick is right that there is nothing more racist than public schools which repeatedly fail minority students and leave many black Americans unprepared to excel in college and professionally.
Source:
Vouchers’ ‘racist impact’ predicted. USA Today, October 11, 2000.