* CA school vouchers and the ADA
Topics: Education, Subsidy
26 Sep 1993
From: ervan
Hildegard,
This is just a short note not intending to explore these issues
in full but to make one point.
On the Americans with Disabilities Act I can understand how
people don't believe the direct subsidy I propose would be better.
School vouchers are exactly that kind of thing and make a better
example.
The purpose of vouchers is not to take education away from
the poor but instead to let them get whatever kind of education they
want. The current situation is that the state of CA spends over
$5K/student/year. The voucher proposal does not get rid of the public
schools. It merely gives parents a choice to send their kids somewhere
else. If they exercise that choice, the parents think they are better
off obviously. And, CA thinks it is better off because it saving
money. So, voucher proposals are not anti-charity they are instead
pro efficient charity.
Food stamps are another instance of this. If the goal is
to feed people, the most efficient way to do is let them buy the
food they want. Do you believe for a moment that it would be better
to have food stamp recipients shop only at government owned grocery
stores? Or to eat only at government run feeding centers? No,
of course not. Why should education be different? Why should
access for handicapped people be different? Why should access
to health care be different? They aren't. The extent to which
people 'deserve' these things is a separate question from how to
most efficiently provide it.
----Ervan
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