President Trump’s choice of Betsy DeVos to be the U.S. secretary of education has focused national attention on one of the big questions facing American schools.
Should tax money be used to pay for private-school vouchers?
That’s our Question of the Week for readers.
DeVos, whose nomination faces a close confirmation vote in the Senate this week, is a Republican activist best known for her advocacy of school choice and voucher programs in her native Michigan.
Arguments about her suitability for federal Department of Education have largely broken along party lines and turned on opinions about the virtues of private vs. public schools.
With American K-12 schools in need of much improvement, many people think solutions lie in giving parents more freedom to choose their children’s schools, in part by giving parents money — in the form of vouchers — to spend on charter, private and sometimes religious schools. The competition, and room to operate free from public-school bureaucracy and union constraints, should spur innovations in schools.
But opponents contend expanding school choice programs would destroy public education by diverting much-needed tax money from public to private schools. Critics also say that where school choice programs have been enacted, one result has been increased racial segregation as wealthier, white families leave public schools.
DeVos was grilled on this and other questions — including her own background and qualifications — in a confirmation hearing before a Senate committee last month.
Trump’s campaign platform included a plan to redirect $20 billion in federal spending toward school vouchers for poor families.
Would expanding voucher programs give more kids better educations? How does your experience shape your opinion? Does DeVos have the right ideas?
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