President Clinton already vetoed school voucher legislation in Washington, D.C., and Wisconsin has had some form of vouchers for all of the 20th century. However, Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas are among other states with serious legislative proposals for school choice. Milwaukee and Cleveland have already failed with experiments aimed at providing vouchers for K-12 education. Vouchers represent using taxpayer money to help parents choose the school of their choice, even private and religious schools. Illinois has already passed tort reform which has thus far proved impossible to get through Congress and Washington. A tuition tax credit bill was already passed by the Illinois House and Senate, however, Illinois Governor Jim Edgar has yet to sign the bill into law which would provide a $500 tax-credit for K-12 education expenses. Known as House Bill 999, these and other types of legislation, like school vouchers, demonstrate the close connection of State and Federal governments. We can see with the article under review here, “School Vouchers: Expanded Choices,” that the child is not the mere creature of the state when it comes to education. Those who nurture and direct the child’s destiny involve individuals on the local, state and federal levels.
In this article by Charles L. Glenn, the author argues against popular opinion which is not in support of school vouchers because of their questionable constitutional nature (particularly separation of church and state when it comes to vouchers used for religious schools), and because many feel already economically disadvantage school districts would be shunned. However, in this article, Glenn argues that school vouchers actually empower parents and provide great social benefits. His article covers a variety of issues, but the main ones are: school choice (vouchers); parents choice; governmen
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