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Pastimes : THE SLIGHTLY MODERATED BOXING RING -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (16565)	7/3/2002 2:30:22 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21057

You think you don't ALREADY have exactly that mentality wrt public education? I don't think it's quite the same now as it would be if people were actually handed checks. Having a library down on Main Street for your use is not the same as getting a check from the government to read twenty books a year. The other thing money changing hands does is make the discrepancies in amounts more conspicuous. People are more likely to be proud that their school system does what it does for $2K/student less than the town down the road. But if they get a check for $2K less, they dynamics change. And when the dynamics change, costs go up. Parents want a bigger voucher and the other taxpayers resist. Next thing you know there are lawsuits and regulations and voucher values go up just as there was a movement to equalize welfare payments from state to state. And welfare recipients started shopping states, etc., etc. I have yet to hear a single criticism of a voucher system that does not FULLY apply IN SPADES to the existing system. And you want to build a new system with all the problems of the old one because...? Maybe the new one won't have the problems "in spades." How much mitigation of the problems do we need for it to be worth building a whole new system rather than fix the one we have? Do you really go out and buy a new air handler for your house when the ducts get dirty and the thermostat breaks?