Hoover fellow Terry Moe's new book Schools, Vouchers, and the American Public (Brookings Institution Press, 2001) takes a penetrating look at the school voucher movement and its likely consequences for American education in the years to come.
"As the new century unfolds, the most controversial issue in American education is the issue of school vouchers," writes Moe. "The voucher idea, if widely and seriously applied, is capable of transforming the entire education system—perhaps in very good ways, perhaps in very bad ways, depending on which side you listen to. This is what all the fuss is about. The controversy over vouchers is a struggle over America's educational future."
Based on an extensive, nationally representative survey, Moe finds that Americans are sympathetic to the public schools and afraid to do anything that would harm them—but that they also tend to think private schools are better and are open to the idea of vouchers.
The strongest support for vouchers, notes Moe, comes from people who are socially less advantaged, members of minority groups, and residents of low-performing school districts. These Americans—who are the ones in greatest need of new educational opportunities—provide the movement with a large, deserving constituency that holds the key to its political success.
The book's analysis—careful, detailed, and wide-ranging—presents a wealth of new information on the voucher issue. Moe finds that
• Most public school parents (52%) would be interested in private schools if money were not a problem. Of the reasons they find private schools attractive, the most compelling by far is school performance—not race or social elitism or religion.
• A widespread perception among Americans, especially among the socially disadvantaged, is that the public school system is inequitable. These equity concerns are one of the most influential reasons for their desire to go private and their support for vouchers.
• Most Americans think that, if a voucher system were to be adopted, it would make sense to start with limited programs that target disadvantaged children rather than with universal programs for the broader population.
Using this analysis as a foundation, Moe assesses how the politics of vouchers is likely to evolve in future years. He argues that the voucher movement will gain greatest political support when it moves away from free market ideals toward limited, regulated approaches that begin with the neediest children. Over time, this path to reform is likely to succeed in transforming American education-leading not to a fully privatized system of vouchers but to a mixed system of government and markets, much as we have in our economy.
About the Author
Terry M. Moe, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and professor of political science at Stanford University, is a member of the Hoover Institution's Koret Task Force on K-12 Education and editor of A Primer on America's Schools (Hoover Press, 2001). He has written extensively on American education and American political institutions and coauthored (with Hoover distinguished visiting fellow John E. Chubb) Politics, Markets, and America's Schools (Brookings Institution Press, 1990).
The Hoover Institution, founded at Stanford University in 1919 by Herbert Hoover, who went on to become the 31st president of the United States, is an interdisciplinary research center for advanced study on domestic public policy and international affairs.
