Even in a world awash in spin, we have to scratch our heads at the wildly conflicting storylines developing about the D.C. voucher program. In the Washington Times, vouchers are celebrated as a tremendous success, with demand far exceeding supply, especially in the middle and high school grades. But the Washington Post reports that almost one of every five voucher recipients eventually decided not to use the voucher - a sign that demand may not be as high as thought. Ourselves, we think that it's probably too early to draw any conclusions about a program that was rushed into existence in the spring and still has not fully developed its capacity to recruit potential voucher recipients. It's probably important to keep in mind that most students with the new vouchers have actually been in school less than a week at this point, so waiting a year or two before issuing dire pronouncements (or taking victory laps) might be in order. But it's an election year, when reason and temperance both hunker down for long, long naps, so Gadfly is not holding his breath.
"Private schools take new students," by Matthew Cella, Washington Times, September 1, 2004
"Many D.C. vouchers go unused," by Sewall Chan, Washington Post, September 1, 2004