Abstract, "School Vouchers in American History: A Summary" by Elizabeth Heymann
School vouchers, a popular educational reform effort in the late 1980's and 1990's, are a form of decentralization in public education, which attempt to use the free market and parental choice to improve the education landscape through the creation of new, excellent private schools, and the dramatic improvement of existing public schools. This paper details the origins of the arguments for vouchers as targeted reforms for low-income, urban students, and illustrates how voucher programs in the United States have been shaped by political alliances, different educational ideologies, research, and the Supreme Court.
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The Following sources may be useful for further research on vouchers and their history:
1. Special Voucher Report
http://www.rethinkingschools.org/special_reports/voucher_report/index.shtml
Series of publications from Rethinking Schools, an anti-voucher publication based in Milwaukee, about potential pitfalls of voucher programs.
2. Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice
http://www.friedmanfoundation.org/friedmans/writings.jsp
Publications from a foundation established to advance the ideals and theories of school choice espoused by Milton Friedman, the first prominent advocate of school voucher programs.
3. Center for Education Reform
http://www.edreform.com/Issues/School_Choice/?School_Choice_Research
Various research reports and evaluations of voucher programs in Washington, D.C., Florida, and Milwaukee.
4. Review of Chubb and Moe’s book, Politics, Markets, and America’s Schools
http://glass.ed.asu.edu/gene/papers/chubbrev.html
Gene Glass of Arizona State University and Dewayne Matthews of the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education review Chubb and Moe’s influential book and analyze its argument.
5. School Vouchers: Publicly Funded Programs in Cleveland and Milwaukee
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d01914.pdf
United States General Accounting Office prepared a report evaluating the success of the Cleveland and Milwaukee programs for U.S. Senator Judd Gregg.
6. Special Voucher Report
http://www.rethinkingschools.org/special_reports/voucher_report/index.shtml
Series of publications from Rethinking Schools, an anti-voucher publication based in Milwaukee, about potential pitfalls of voucher programs.
7. National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education
http://www.ncspe.org/
Columbia Teachers College’s Center for the Study of Privatization in Education provides links to research on school choice initiatives.
8. Zelman v. Simmons-Harris
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/pdf/00-1751P.ZO
The United States Supreme Court’s decision regarding the constitutionality of the Cleveland voucher program. The decision, written by William Rehnquist, concludes that allowing voucher money to be paid as tuition to parochial schools not does violate the Establishment Clause.
9. First Amendment Center
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/faclibrary/case.aspx?case=Zelman_v_Simmons_Harris
The First Amendment Center provides resources with additional information about the Zelman v. Simmon-Harris decision, including media articles and commentary.
10. School Choice: Doing it the Right Way Makes a Difference
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2003/11education_fixauthorname/20031116schoolchoicereport.pdf
This research report from the Brookings Institute and the National Working Commission on Choice in K-12 Education discusses the importance of systemic design in effective school choice programs.
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