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I understand the fear is that our freedoms would erode, but why can't we have it both ways.

Sorry... I don't think we can have it both ways.

SepSchool has a great link that address some of these issues... some of their points are below or to read in its entirety click on :www.sepschool.org/misc/vouchers.html

What about tax-funded vouchers, tax credits, and charter schools?

While tax-funded vouchers, education or scholarship tax credits, and charter schools introduce sorely-needed competition into schooling, they have at least four serious flaws which outweigh their good side.

(This article will refer to vouchers. When all the camouflage is removed, these flaws are also inherent in universal tax credits, refundable tax credits, scholarship tax credits, and charter schools.)

1. Vouchers spread the dependency attitude to independent families currently paying for their children's education.

2. Vouchers obscure the difference between parents who are willing to sacrifice to send their children to a private school from those who are unwilling to sacrifice. This means private schools will lower their standards of who gets in.

3. By creating a flow of money from the state to private schools, vouchers pave a wide road for additional regulations and controls. "When you reach for the money is when they slip on the handcuffs."

A common control is to require voucher-redeeming schools to administer standardized tests. These tests, in effect, dictate the curriculum, as the private schools do not wish to have lower test scores than the "public" schools.

4. Other than expensive prep schools, private and religious schools that refuse to accept the voucher will lose a significant number of their students to voucher-redeeming schools. Many will face the choice of accepting the voucher and its controls or going out of business.

The net result of these flaws is that private and religious schools will become more and more like the "public" schools. In effect, vouchers and other schemes of using tax funds for education will kill the goose that is laying the golden eggs of private education.

>>1. Vouchers spread the dependency attitude to independent families currently paying for their children's education.
No, vouchers put the money you are paying for your child's education out of the pockets of the government and back into yours
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2. Vouchers obscure the difference between parents who are willing to sacrifice to send their children to a private school from those who are unwilling to sacrifice. This means private schools will lower their standards of who gets in.
WOW is this an elitist attitude!!!
There is much more sacrifice to sending you child to a private school than just cash. In order to go to any of the private schools here, the parents have to commit to volunteer and attend the church a certain amount of time. If I had the money, my daughter would be there with all of our commitment. Not all parents would do that.
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3. By creating a flow of money from the state to private schools, vouchers pave a wide road for additional regulations and controls. "When you reach for the money is when they slip on the handcuffs."
A common control is to require voucher-redeeming schools to administer standardized tests. These tests, in effect, dictate the curriculum, as the private schools do not wish to have lower test scores than the "public" schools.
True.
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>>4. Other than expensive prep schools, private and religious schools that refuse to accept the voucher will lose a significant number of their students to voucher-redeeming schools. Many will face the choice of accepting the voucher and its controls or going out of business.

This is a matter of free enterprise. This won't happen if the people with the vouchers want it or do not care.
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>>The net result of these flaws is that private and religious schools will become more and more like the "public" schools. In effect, vouchers and other schemes of using tax funds for education will kill the goose that is laying the golden eggs of private education.

This remains to be seen.

"2. Vouchers obscure the difference between parents who are willing to sacrifice to send their children to a private school from those who are unwilling to sacrifice. This means private schools will lower their standards of who gets in."

There is so much troubling about this statement I don't even know where to begin.

We are currently sacrificing to send one of our children to private school. (My husband drives an early *'70s* car, for goodness' sake!) Simultaneous tuition for more is not a possibility, especially with college looming soon for our eldest. The idea that everyone can afford to "sacrifice" enough to privately school their children (or pay for a homeschool curriculum) -- if only they try hard enough -- is absurd, as is the corollary, that children whose parents cannot afford private schools are unworthy of a quality education and, indeed, will somehow taint the educational experiences of others.

I would like to add that I would far prefer to keep our tax dollars in the first place and use those dollars directly in the marketplace. That not being likely as a possibility while my children are young (!), I feel no compunctions about settling for the second-best option, receiving my money back in the form of either vouchers or being able to select a homeschool curriculum. My children will be out of the public school classroom, receiving a quality education and personal attention, while avoiding many of the educational/social problems that led us to make this choice in the first place. It is ironic that those who would call a homeschool charter "socialist" do not recognize that in using the homeschool charter we are avoiding the very socialist indoctrination they fear.

My belief is that the more educational choices there are, ranging from completely private, unregulated homeschooling to programs which compete for tax dollars, the more control parents will have over their children's education, and the more it will force traditional public schools to be responsive to the marketplace.