Abstract

School vouchers have been one of the most politically divisive and sensitive public policy issues relating to education in modern times. This is reflected by the results of the 2000 National Annenberg Election Survey which found that 45% of Americans supported providing tax credits or vouchers to help parents send their children to private schools (Gelman, 2009).  Only a few years ago the future of vouchers was one of the highest visibility public policy debates and once voucher advocates won the Supreme Court case of Zelman v. Simmons-Harris which established the constitutionality of the voucher program in Ohio, the future of vouchers seemed bright.  Nonetheless, vouchers are no longer a central aspect of the policy discussion, and have been marginalized as a tool for reform as NCLB and charter schools have taken center stage.  This paper details the political history of school vouchers and aims to provide an understanding of how vouchers fit into the current political landscape.

Politics of Vouchers