Tuesday, April 19, 2005

School Choice Has Wide Support

Posted by Craig Westover | 10:51 AM |  

A site I don't get enough time to give proper attention to is John LaPlante's PolicyGuy site. It's loaded with links to fascinating research on a plethora of public policy issues, notably health and education.

In a recent post, John provides some data on the popularity of school choice based on Friedman Foundation research.

Over 90 percent of voters surveyed in Arizona support at least one of the several school choice measures now being debated by that state's legislature. Among the other findings:

More than 70 percent support increasing the current educational tax credit for personal tax filers [Arizona currently grants education tax credits to businesses that provide K-12 scholarships -- cw];

Almost half (49.5 percent) favor universal vouchers, the most ambitious of school choice plans;

Embracing school choice is a winning strategy for political candidates.

(Funny hat tip to reader Jerry Ewing who wonders "how Minnesota would turn out, if the questions were asked properly? It might be powerful political ammunition," he notes.)