re: #256 wrenchwench

But vouchers don’t solve their problems. They do reduce the pressure to fix the public schools, which are a necessity for the poor and middle class.

They reduce the pressure on the public and reduce some pressure on the politicians to fix the schools, but the most problematic group out RWC’s way is the teacher’s union and vouchers do increase pressure on a teachers union in the same way US assembly plants for Honda and Toyota put pressure on the UAW: Either the union finds a way to produce greater value in its labor or it sees its membership and power erode as the public takes its money elsewhere.

Note: The above applies to LA, but should not be read as universal. Places like Mississippi might indeed be unable to make such a system work for religious and social (read race-relations reasons).