Vouchers couldn't make things worse

TEMPE, Ariz., Oct. 22 (UPI) -- There is no evidence vouchers and other school-choice policies segregate America's public schools, a new study concludes.

That's because public schools are already "bastions of inequality," according to an article in this month's issue of Education Policy Analysis Archives.

"Alert and aggressive parents already work the bureaucracy to get the best for their children," said Paul Hill, co-author of the study.

In fact, Hill and co-author Kacey Guin, both of the University of Washington, argue the kind of parental jockeying for favors that takes place under school-choice programs is at least more "transparent" than the hidden special treatment routinely secured by savvy and connected parents in most public school systems.

"Choice should be compared against the real performance of the public-education system, not its idealized aspirations," said Hill, who is director of the Evans School's Center on Reinventing Public Education. "The burden of proof has been misplaced."