Clive R. Belfield and Henry M. Levin
National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education
Teachers College, Columbia University
December 2002
Those expecting to find practical advice for superintendents in this report will be disappointed. Instead, Belfield and Levin have written a paper - thinly disguised as advice - that presents the case against vouchers and gives only minimal credence to the arguments in their favor. Instead of explaining to superintendents how vouchers might affect school funding and enrollments, or suggesting ways by which traditional public schools can compete more effectively in the voucher era, the authors soothe the fears of their putative readers by suggesting that, despite the Zelman decision, vouchers are unlikely to spread because they have so little public support. (Note that this paper was produced in conjunction with the American Association of School Administrators.) The report does have some value, as it points the reader toward a bit of the existing evidence on vouchers' effectiveness. It also neatly summarizes the challenges of building support for voucher programs, including a few subtle ones, such as the possibility that the terrorist attacks will renew interest in public institutions at the expense of privatization. In the end, however, its point of view is clear: vouchers don't seem to work and, if they did, they would damage our notion of "public" schooling. If you'd like to read it anyway, you'll find a copy on the NCSPE site at http://www.ncspe.org/keepout/papers/00063/914_AASAfinal.pdf.
