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> I agree with what Chuck wrote here wholeheartedly. The reason why some
> working-class parents may get attracted to voucher and other ideas that
> penalize the entire class is that many of the existing public schools have
> been purposefully made so unattractive that they want to opt out if they
> can.
Good point. Alberta ("the Trojan Horse") here in Canada has been pushing so-called charter schools for some time with the goal of making all schools charter schools in the future. It does this by deliberately underfunding and withholding money from the public school system to make the private ones look good by comparison and to set up charter schools. I suspect this is being done with the public health system too. As already pointed out on the list, there is a big difference between schools in lower and upper class neighborhoods due to the municipal tax base and the fact that the money for a lot of equipment e.g. computers, microscopes, sports stuff and textbooks must come from parents and their own fundraising efforts.The underfunding of transportation to school is a big issue in rural areas. A lot of these spending cuts have been to provide tax cuts.
Sam