Do School Vouchers Improve the Quality of Education

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Do School Vouchers Improve the Quality of Education? Part I The school voucher issue regarding improvement of the quality of education has presented a wide range of relevant arguments, both in support of and against its application. The school voucher is basically a certificate that is issued by a government to parents and guardians of students as tuition in private schools. The school voucher was introduced in a bid to reimburse expenses of private schooling, rather than assigned state schooling. The school voucher is more or less an education tax credit. Non-voucher education systems compel guardians who take their children to private schools to double taxation, since they still contribute to public schools funding. Generally, school vouchers are put in place to offset the cost incurred by families who choose to enroll their children to private schools that best fit their needs in a bid to improve their performance and quality of education (Altidor, 2005, p.15). School vouchers were first introduced with the aim of improving the quality of both the elementary and secondary school education with regards to Milton Friedman’s proposition in the 1950s. Parents and guardians seeking to provide high quality education for their children have contributed greatly to renewed interests in school vouchers. School voucher proposals seek to support households that choose to enroll their children in private schools through vouchers from the government to cover private school tuition costs either partly or fully. Arguments in support of the school voucher programs claim that through this program, households are able to encourage competition between educational institutions that would go a long way in enhancing the quality of education that is being offered among the competing schools. Arguments in support of the school voucher place emphasis on aspects that suggest
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