<p>One of my problems with vouchers is transportation. I live in an area with no public transportation (OK, that’s most of NC). If it weren’t for the school bus, lots of kids would have no way to get back and forth to school. If they’re offered vouchers, what happens if their parents can’t get them to the private school? Does the public school bus system suddenly become responsible for transporting kids to private schools on the other side of town? In a different county? Or are vouchers only usable by those kids with available transportation? This is a problem today with charter schools - many of them offer great opportunities, but I’ve seen a lot of schools where the only kids who can get back and forth to the school are those well-off enough to have a parent who does not work or only works part time.</p>
<p>@GMTplus7, I’m not sure open admissions would address all the concerns. While it would be a start, there are other issues that would take us backwards instead of forwards. There have been numerous legal battles over teaching evolution in the public schools. In most states with voucher programs, the voucher schools tend to teach creationism as an absolute truth. Even if admissions were open, many of these fundamentalist schools spend more time indoctrinating into the religion than they do teaching educational subjects - an open admission requirement would just give them a deeper pool of recruits to attempt to bring into their faith. I’m just not sure that’s the best use of tax dollars for educating our citizens. I’d still rather see the money put into fixing the problems in the public schools rather than diverting the money to (at least in NC) primarily religious schools.</p>