Education vouchers in practice and principle : a world survey
West, Edwin G.
A tax funded voucher system exists when governments make payments to families that enable their children to enter public or private schools of their choice. The payments can be made directly to parents or indirectly to the selected schools. The usually stated purpose is to increase parental choice, to promote school competition and to allow low income families access to private schools. Some opponents object that vouchers will destroy the public system, aggravate the poverty problem and encourage segregation. Others fear that voucher-receiving independent schools will be regulated out of recognition. Evidence collected in this paper of 20 countries, provinces or states, so far offers no clear support for the negative predictions. The typical voucher system, which is one in which governments subsidize "schools of choice" in strict proportion to enrollment, appears to be contributing to the growth in quantity and quality of schooling. This type of voucher has been adopted by developing as well as developed countries and notable examples of it are found in Chile, Colombia, Bangladesh, Guatemala, Belize and Lesotho. Elsewhere the most striking cases occur in the U.S. (Milwaukee), Poland, the U.K. and Sweden.
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