Sixty years ago Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman argued that just because we finance education through government that does not mean government should be in charge of education. “Education spending will be most effective,” Friedman explained, “if it relies on parental choice and private initiative—the building blocks of success throughout our society.” Today, parental choice in education includes publicly-funded voucher scholarships, privately-funded tax-credit scholarships, as well as personal-use tax credits and deductions to help offset out-of-pocket education costs. Together these programs are helping more than 1.2 million students nationwide. Meanwhile Maine clings to a 19th century schooling model that rations…
Author: Vicki Alger
Vicki Alger
Vicki Alger, Ph.D., is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, California, with a forthcoming book on the U.S. Department of Education. Alger is also author of a new MHPC report, The Future of School Choice, available at: mainepolicy.org.