Periodically, the Network for Public Education sponsors a conversation with an important voice in education policy. On January 11, I interviewed Josh Cowen, Professor of Education Policy at Michigan State University.
Josh has been an insider in voucher research for almost 20 years. It’s a small club, and he knows the research and the researchers. Josh came to the conclusion that vouchers have been a disaster for the students who leave public schools, supposedly to be “saved” by them.
But he points out that 70-80% of the students who use vouchers were never enrolled in public schools. Many return to the public schools. The political pressure for vouchers comes from politicians and parents seeking a subsidy for students already attending private and religious schools. The claim that they will help “save kids from failing schools” is a hoax to cover up the real purpose of vouchers: to transfer funds to private and religious schools.
The discussion was oversubscribed. Many people who wanted to watch the zoom were turned away. You can watch the recording here. The link is at the bottom of the page.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thanks for this. I would add to the reasons some groups–civil rights-supporting groups–supported vouchers and privatization is because they felt left out of the best public schools and relegated to the poorer ones. But another group supports vouchers and privatization as a way to undermine the “socialistic” public schools where students might learn “dangerous” ideas of equality, etc.
Thanks for posting this!!!
Thanks for the interesting discussion. Like most forms of privatization, vouchers are a scam that provide benefit to those with money at the expense of those that are needy. They allow unaccountable tax dollars to transfer into private hands for no real academic benefit. Despite their abject failure, states promote them in order to bolster racism and other forms of bigotry while often providing tax breaks to wealthy vandals like DeVos. Vouchers are a shameful waste of public funds. They are a way to fleece the common good.
BTW, I enjoyed your Houston rodeo reference. Anyone that travels to Houston in March should try to visit the rodeo. It is an awesome spectacle that that this Philly girl found quite thrilling. The cowboys and girls provide nail biting entertainment that is both skillful and dangerous. The locals dress up in their best cowboy gear. For someone not familiar with cowboy culture, it was a memorable experience.
The rodeo was a great treat in my childhood and youth.