Letters

To the Editor:

In "Four Reasons Why Voucher Plans Lose Elections" (Commentary, Sept. 6, 2000), David Barulich claims that upcoming state voucher initiatives are "doomed to certain defeat." He may be right, but his proposed alternative is fatally flawed.

Mr. Barulich suggests that we institute "scholastic achievement grants" that would pay on the basis of scholastic achievement, rather than "seat time in private schools." His flaw is that the measurement of scholastic achievement would be based on state- developed "criterion-referenced examinations to measure what students are expected to learn at each grade...