This authoritative book examines the long-standing campaign that resulted in today's school voucher policies. Advocates of private school vouchers promulgated a vision of service to low-income families, students of color, and other marginalized student populations. Vouchers were sold as a way to advance civil rights. But as voucher policies grew in size and became an element of Republican orthodoxy, they evolved into subsidies for a broad swath of advantaged families, with minimal antidiscrimination protections. The approach also transmuted into forms like education savings account programs and vouchers funded through tax-credited donations. In this book, scholars and national experts untangle this complex story to show how law and policy have aligned to dramatically alter the likely future of American schooling. They offer recommendations for modifying current policies with the goal of capturing more of the originally stated vision of voucher programs-equitable access to quality schooling, protection of all students' civil rights, and advancement of the wider societal goals of a democratic educational system. Book Features: Shows how a fast-growing policy is transforming education in the United States in ways that are very different from how that policy was sold to the public. Sets the stage with a discussion of the history and legal dimensions of voucher battles, as well as the politics of policy change. Examines the basic structure of contemporary private schooling, the Southern history of vouchers, and the key federal court decisions that have opened the door to an explosion of state legislation. Offers profiles of voucher policies in two states that have made the largest efforts to support vouchers, as well as the only nationally funded program in the nation's capital. Edited by three scholars with extensive experience in the study of school choice, with chapters by national experts who have produced seminal work in the field.
Kevin Welner is a professor and director of the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) at the University of Colorado Boulder. Gary Orfield is Distinguished Research Professor of Education, Law, Political Science, and Urban Planning and co-director of the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles. Luis A. Huerta is an associate professor of education and public policy at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Contents (Tentative) 1. Introduction: Voucher Expansion and the Abandonment of Equity Kevin G. Welner, Gary Orfield, and Luis A. Huerta 2. The Segregationist Origins and Legacy of Today's Private School Vouchers Steve Suitts 3. Private School Vouchers: Legal Challenges and Civil Rights Protections Kevin G. Welner and Preston C. Green 4. Voucher Expansion and the Threat to Students' Educational and Civil Rights Derek W. Black 5. Vouchers as a Mechanism for State-Sanctioned Private Discrimination Julie F. Mead and Suzanne E. Eckes 6. Evolving Voucher Policies: Broadening Eligibility Through Rules & Schools Luis A. Huerta and Steven Koutsavlis 7. Bait and Switch: How Voucher Advocates Shift Policy Objectives Christopher Lubienski, T. Jameson Brewer, and Joel R. Malin 8. Educational Privatization in Congress From Reagan to Biden: An Ideology Unfulfilled Elizabeth H. DeBray and Ann E. Blankenship-Knox 9. School Vouchers in Indiana: Policy Shifts and Their Implications for Economically Disadvantaged Families and Students of Color Mark Berends, R. Joseph Waddington, and Megan Austin 10. A Voucher by Any Other Name: Empowerment Scholarship Accounts and the Future of School Choice David R. Garcia and Makayla Steele 11. Washington, D.C. Voucher Program: Civil Rights Implications Mary Levy 12. Private Sector Schools: Limited Scope & Stratification Jongyeon Ee, Gary Orfield, and Jennifer Teitell 13. Conclusion: Can Vouchers Be Reshaped to Accomplish Their Initial Rhetorical Goals? Kevin G. Welner, Gary Orfield, and Luis A. Huerta Endnotes Index About the Editors and Authors
"The book, in summary, warns that state educational policy actions without adequate analysis can do lasting damage, adding insult to the injury of systemic inequality...Recommended." -CHOICE
