Vouchers can improve public schools

Given the recent experience in the Davis School District where the viewpoint of parents were considered to be just a nuisance to the process of running the district, I’ve started looking into vouchers.  Not so that Norene and I can remove our children from our public schools but to see if a little competition also known as market forces might help parents to receive a little respect from the monopoly of the Davis School District.  Here is some of that data:

 

Vouchers in Florida improve failing public schools
• A 2004 Manhattan Institute study published in the journal Education Next found that low-performing schools facing the threat of vouchers made significantly greater test-score gains than similarly low-performing schools not facing the voucher threat. Schools where vouchers were actually offered showed the biggest improvements, outpacing other Florida schools by a full 15 points.
• A Cornell University study published in the same issue of that journal found that schools given F grades under the A+ system made greater-than-average gains, while F schools under Florida’s earlier system (with no vouchers) made no gains relative to other schools.
• A 2005 Harvard University study confirms that students in failing schools under the A+ program made superior test score gains.

Milwaukee’s voucher program has also improved public schools
• A 2001 Harvard University study found that public schools more exposed to voucher competition had test score gains that outpaced other public schools by 10.2 percentile points in math and 9.3 points in language over three years.
• A 2003 Manhattan Institute study found that fourth grade test score gains were much bigger in schools where more students were eligible for vouchers, such that a school where 100% of students were eligible would have test score gains 15 points higher than a school with only 50% eligible.

Other voucher programs improve public schools
• A 2002 Friedman Foundation study found that under century-old “town tuitioning” voucher programs in Maine and Vermont, public schools closer to tuitioning towns had better test scores. If a town one mile away from a school decided to tuition its students, the percentage of its students passing the state test would increase by 12 percent.
• A 2003 Manhattan Institute study found that a San Antonio school district facing competition from a privately funded voucher program outperformed 85% of Texas districts in its achievement gains.

 

Source: http://www.utahtaxpayers.org/