"The

institution of public schooling is not the best

mechanism for advancing the ideals of public

education."

That is the

conclusion of Andrew J. Coulson, a Seattle

researcher and writer who dedicated four years of

study to the question of what kind of system

would best meet the public's educational goals. A

thorough analysis of public opinion through polls

and focus groups, plus follow-up with products of

public and private education, led him to the

following findings, published in William

Raspberry's Washington Post column in 1998:

"Free

educational markets," he said, "in

which parents have been able to choose any school

for their children and schools have been forced

to compete with one another to attract students,

have consistently done a better job of serving

families and nations than state-run systems such

as we have today."

Coulson said that,

while he can't prove it, his research convinces

him that "the free market approach,

including competition, the profit motive and the

direct cost to parents, adds value to

schooling."

Unfortunately, he

added, there is no place in the world where he

can prove his case, no place where public and

free market systems can be fairly compared today.

That's why most of his book, "Market

Education, the Unknown History," is

historical, he said.

In ancient Greece,

for example, he came across some interesting

comparisons:

Athens had a free

market education. Sparta's was a highly

centralized state system. "Athens, as anyone

who's looked at history knows," Coulson

said, "produced fine literature and

pioneering work in mathematics and art, had the

most sophisticated economic system of its time,

and left an enormous legacy of learning.

"Sparta didn't

fail utterly, but it became mainly a narrow

military society with no culture. Sparta has

given us names for high school football teams and

not much else."

A free-market

system is basically the ideal behind the subject

of vouchers, now a hot topic at local, state and

federal levels. The discussion raises more

questions than answers, by far. Issues of

accountability, fairness, sourcing and control

swirl thickly enough to obscure the goal: to

provide options in education.

Virtually every

member of the Georgia Legislature and Gov. Roy

Barnes have declared education reform to be

front-burner issues this session. Both the House

of Representatives and the Senate have

legislation pending in the current General

Assembly.

House Bill 195

describes a pilot program it would call tuition

equalization, providing for "public tuition

assistance at nonpublic schools for eligible

students of certain public schools." Its

sponsors hold forth expectations that HB 195, if

enacted, would actually save the state money

while allowing certain low-scoring students

between ages 5 and 14, or not yet through eighth

grade, to attend a private school where they

might do better.

State funds would

cover up to $2,500, or 75 percent of the tuition

charged by the nonpublic school. Disbursement of

such moneys would be administered by the local

superintendent of schools.

Senate Bill 68

offers the "Early HOPE Scholarship." It

provides that "low-income students who are

eligible to attend certain poorly performing

public elementary and middle schools shall be

eligible to receive scholarships to be applied

toward the cost of tuition at participating

private schools and adequate local schools."

Tuition, it

continues, would cover not only fees charged by

the private school or "adequate local

school" but also "the additional cost

to such parent of required uniforms, books, and

home-to-school transportation."

In another format,

now being tested elsewhere, most notably in

Cleveland, Ohio, the state simply issues

education vouchers to all parents, who may enroll

their children at whatever schools they wish:

public, charter, private or parochial.

Doug Graham, press

secretary to U.S. Rep. Mac Collins, R-3rd-Ga.,

said that kind of voucher system was designed to

give parents a choice. "It has had very

popular success," Graham said recently,

"for the same reason charter schools have

had success: Family input improves schools.

"There are two

ways to look at it," Graham said.

"Conservatives say the public schools have

pretty well failed because they have a monopoly.

A measure of their failure is that so many people

are pulling their kids out [of public schools] to

try to get them a decent education."

Proof, Graham said,

is that people are willing to pay this extra

money to educate their children even while

they're already paying taxes for the school

system - a system he likened to factory

production in former East bloc countries:

"Quotas - they had to produce a certain

number of machines. Public schools are trying to

produce a certain number of graduates.

"Those who

support vouchers want their kids to get a better

education," Graham continued. "The

Democrats will argue that [with vouchers

available] all the good students will leave. That

should tell you how lousy the public schools are

- the argument is that you're taking away

from the public school system. The answer is that

the District of Columbia has very high rates of

money going in and a terrible product."

Graham said the key

factor is local control, and that the voucher

system is working in some states where it is

being piloted. But, he added, "It depends on

which state. Generally the approach has been that

every parent in a school district gets a voucher

per kid of x-amount of dollars, usually not

enough to cover private tuition. Every parent

gets that option, but in most of the programs

working now, the proponents are leery of being

branded a welfare program for the wealthy.

"Mac believes

[the question of vouchers] should be decided by

localities," Graham said, "and not

forced by the federal government - but not

banned either. Vouchers [given to the parents]

are better than giving the money directly to the

schools."

Graham said Collins

has not sponsored educational reform legislation.

"Clinton is pretty much death on it,"

he added.

Brooks Coleman, a

Republican state representative from Gwinnett

County, cites as his credentials his own career

as an educator in nearly 20 different school

districts in Georgia, plus eight years in the

House on both the education and reform

committees. He currently teaches student teachers

at Mercer University, he said.

He said he

previewed the upcoming legislative education

package and sees the plan as basically state

money that a parent can use to send his child

anywhere he wants her to go, from pre-K through

12th grade.

Coleman is strongly

anti-voucher, but made it clear he supports the

HOPE scholarship program as it stands.

"I'm in favor

of the HOPE scholarship in post-secondary

schools, public or private," he said.

"That lottery money is for everybody. I even

fought for home schoolers to get it. I'll fight

for your right, but my whole argument is about

leveling the playing field.

"I don't think

public taxpayers' money should be used for

private and parochial schools," he said.

"For example, [nonpublic schools] admit

students based on testing - public schools

must take every child [who applies] without

testing. What provision do they have for special

needs children?"

Private schools

don't have to keep students with discipline

problems, while "it's almost impossible to

suspend a child in public school," he said.

"The better private schools take only the

children they want to take. They do not take

special ed and special needs students, and they

put up with no discipline problems."

Moreover, he added,

private schools "teach values, morals,

anything they want to teach." Public schools

may not. "With freedom of choice, are we

going to make [private schools] teach any

students that come, and not teach them religion,

and not be able to kick them out?"

It cuts both ways,

he cautioned. Not only would public money be

supporting the teaching of religious principles,

but government could regulate what private

schools teach. "Our church has a school, and

I don't want our church being told what to do.

"If you think

vouchers will solve the problem, let public

schools test [applicants]," Coleman

continued. "The really good private schools

say they don't want to go by the rules of public

schools."

Coleman said he

fears resegregation of schools on the basis of

economics, not race, because public schools will

have the poorer students. Historically, he said,

public schools that are not up to standard are

often those that serve lower income families.

Parents are not involved in their kids' school

experience - for some this may be because of

working extra jobs or not having transportation;

for others it's simply apathy.

Transportation for

the students is another concern: "They don't

have any way to get their children to private

schools. In public schools we provide

transportation."

Sheer logistics is

another factor for Coleman, even if vouchers were

limited to a school district. "Suppose in

Fayette County everybody wanted to go to McIntosh

[High School]. There'd be no room," he said.

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