Choosing Equality: School Choice, the Constitution, and Civil Society

In this passionately argued polemic in favor of school choice, New York University public administration professor Viteritti sets forth a proposal for a tax-supported choice or ""voucher"" program that would be open only to low-income children, who would be able to choose among public schools, independent private schools or religious schools. Viteritti says his plan, which particularly aims to help black and Hispanic students stuck in inadequate inner-city schools, has much in common with the redistributive social policies usually identified with a liberal agenda. But opponents of school choice will likely peg this as a conservative program that would weaken public education, fragment schools along ethnic, cultural and religious lines and undermine the separation of church and state. To these critics, Viteritti retorts that school choice will create healthy competition, inducing public schools to shape up; that minority and poor children do significantly better academically when given a choice of schools; and that today's public education system is oppressive and antiegalitarian because it deters economically disadvantaged parents from sending their kids to parochial schools. Public education's secularist ethos, he argues, goes against the pluralism that animated the early American republic. Viteritti includes a detailed assessment of assorted choice programs, such as curriculum-enriched ""magnet schools,"" inter-district choice, black independent schools (which he endorses, while others see them as a step backward toward segregation) and state-chartered public schools that give teachers and administrators greater autonomy in setting policy and curriculum in exchange for higher levels of accountability. Voucher plans recently enacted in Milwaukee, Cleveland and the state of Florida will intensify the fierce national debate on this issue and ensure the timeliness of Viteritti's scholarly manifesto. (Feb.)