No Advantage, Unless You Count Customer Satisfaction and Price

One year after Congress created school vouchers in the District of Columbia, parents are happy to have a choice, although an academic advantage for students who transfer to private schools is not yet apparent. Even if none materializes, the private alternative looks like a bargain: Students who use vouchers each get a scholarship worth $7,500, only half of what D.C. schools spend for each student. Two-thirds of the schools accepting vouchers are run by the Catholic Church, so tuition is presumably subsidized by the church and by teachers who are willing to work for lower pay than the public schools offer. But it's hard to believe this voluntary subsidy (which, regardless of its size, is morally preferable to forcibly extracted taxes) amounts to anything like $7,500 per student.