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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Vouchers For Private Schools Pay Off For Kids, Parents Say

Associated Press

Parents who used vouchers to send their children to private schools last year were more satisfied with their students’ education than parents of children in public schools, according to a report released Thursday.

The Harvard University report said 63 percent of surveyed parents in Cleveland’s schools voucher program were “very satisfied” with their school’s academic quality.

Only about 29 percent of respondents with children in public schools said the same thing, said Paul E. Peterson, director of Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance.

“The differences between the two groups are larger than any other study I have seen,” Peterson said.

Peterson has conducted similar studies on Milwaukee’s voucher program as well as privately financed voucher plans in San Antonio and Indianapolis.

The new report was authored by Peterson and researchers from Stanford University and the University of Texas.

The survey, which received financial support from the Ohio Department of Education, also found parents of children in the voucher program were more satisfied with their schools’ safety, parental involvement, discipline and class size than their public school counterparts.

A random sampling of 2,020 parents who applied for school vouchers before the 1996-97 school year were questioned for the survey this summer. About half of the parents received vouchers. The other half said they were not given vouchers or turned them down.

Cleveland’s controversial voucher program began last year. Parents of 2000 children in kindergarten through third grade received up to $2,250 to send their children to the school of their choice.

This year, about 3,000 children in kindergarten through fourth grade received vouchers.

The Ohio Supreme Court is expected to make a decision next spring in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the voucher program.

Teachers, who opposed the program, said the study simply confirmed the obvious: Parents who received vouchers are happy, but vouchers drain resources that could help the district’s 70,000 students.

Peterson said that criticism was unfair because the surveys were done after the program had been in place for a year, so parents had been given time to reflect on their decision.