Friedman’s school voucher proposal launched decades of policy debate

Evidence

In Capitalism and Freedom he suggested a voucher system: “Parents who choose to send their children to private schools would be paid a sum equal to the estimated cost of educating a child in a public school, provided that at least this sum was spent on education in an approved school.” Such an approach “would permit competition to develop. The development and improvement of all schools would thus be stimulated.” This proposal inaugurated de cades of intensive public policy debates, and remained one of Friedman’s primary interests; in 1996 he and his wife Rose jointly established the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice to continue advocating for voucher proposals in the public sphere. — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 463

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Friedman deliberately targeted students as the vehicle for generational political change — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 556; School vouchers originated as subsidies for segregated white religious academies — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 752