School Choice & Charters

Transparency Time For Vouchers?

By Erik W. Robelen — March 31, 2009 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Aiming to “restart” the dialogue on accountability for publicly funded voucher programs, a Washington think tank argues in a new report that voucher proponents need to “wake up—and catch up to the educational demands and expectations of the 21st century.”

The report—released last week by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, which long has backed private school vouchers—suggests a sliding-scale approach. The idea is that the more voucher students a particular religious or secular private school enrolled, the greater would be its obligation for both public transparency and accountability.

“We think the time has come for the school voucher movement to come to terms with the idea of accountability for participating schools,” said Michael J. Petrilli, the vice president for national programs and policy at the Fordham Institute.

About a dozen tailored voucher programs operate across the country, from the $14 million federal program for low-income students in the District of Columbia to a $10 million Louisiana program launched last year for low-income New Orleanians.

The report notes that of all the arguments that critics of voucher programs advance, the one that may carry the most weight is whether the schools are held publicly accountable, especially in light of the increase in demands imposed on public schools by the federal government and states.

Fordham consulted 20 experts who are generally supportive of school choice in producing the paper, and outlined their stances on some key issues. The majority of experts surveyed agreed that participating private schools should not face new government regulations regarding their day-to-day operations, the report said.

The experts generally agreed that voucher programs as a whole should be evaluated by third-party researchers. But consensus broke down on the issues of making schools’ academic results and information from financial audits public, the report said.

The think tank said in the report that its “‘sliding scale’ model won’t please everyone and likely won’t thrill anyone.” But, Fordham added, “no solution is going to be perfect.”

A version of this article appeared in the April 01, 2009 edition of Education Week

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
The Future of the Science of Reading
Join us for a discussion on the future of the Science of Reading and how to support every student’s path to literacy.
Content provided by HMH
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
College & Workforce Readiness Webinar
From Classrooms to Careers: How Schools and Districts Can Prepare Students for a Changing Workforce
Real careers start in school. Learn how Alton High built student-centered, job-aligned pathways.
Content provided by TNTP
Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School Choice & Charters Spotlight Spotlight on The Landscape of Charter Schools
This Spotlight explores the dynamic and evolving world of school choice, focusing on charter schools and private school choice programs.
School Choice & Charters Opinion The School Choice Landscape Is Shifting
What could two Supreme Court rulings—one recent and one impending—mean for educators and parents?
8 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
School Choice & Charters What the Research Says How School Choice Complicates District Bond Elections
Families who transfer children out of their residential districts may be less likely to vote in bond elections, researchers find.
3 min read
Photograph of a person in jeans walking on a sidewalk and passing a yellow and black voting place sign in the grass.
E+
School Choice & Charters What to Know About the Private School Choice Program Moving Through Congress
A new federal program would offer up to $5 billion in tax credits a year to fuel private school attendance nationwide.
10 min read
Penelope Koutoulas holds signs supporting school choice in a House committee meeting on education during a special session of the state legislature Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn.
Penelope Koutoulas holds signs supporting school choice in a House committee meeting on education during a special session of the state legislature Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. While a number of states, including Tennessee, have passed new programs funding private school tuition in recent years, the first major federal foray into private school choice is now making its way through Congress.
George Walker IV/AP