Vouchers and regulations
School vouchers have long divided the free-market/libertarian movement.
On one hand, vouchers grant greater choice to parents regarding the education of their children and can break up the state-controlled educational monopoly in favor of a dynamic educational environment that fosters efficiency and innovation.
On the other hand, vouchers are a grant of state money and, as such, could conceivably inspire lawmakers to attach numerous conditions to their use. Many libertarians regard the impact that federal funding and loans have had in fostering an onerous regulatory framework within the higher education arena as a warning for the K-12 sector. From this viewpoint, the voucher movement is a threat to the integrity of private education.
Recognizing this divergence of opinion, Andrew Coulson of the Cato Institute has authored a new study that is the first to empirically examine the impact of voucher programs on private school regulation. Coulson's findings show that:
While vouchers impose a substantial and statistically significant additional regulatory burden on participating schools, tax credit programs do not.
This study should command a central place in the school reform debate as it indicates that reform-minded individuals should place a higher priority on tuition tax credit programs as a method of increasing school choice in lieu of direct vouchers.
Fittingly, Coulson, in a 2009 study for NPRI, has already modeled the impact that a tuition tax credit program would have on Nevada. He shows that such a program could save Nevada taxpayers $1 billion over its first 10 years of operation while dramatically expanding the choice and quality of public education in the Silver State.
