Reconsidering Milton Friedman's School Voucher Idea

The press recently reported the news of the death of Nobel Laureat ee conomist Milton Friedman Professor Emeritus at University of Chicago. In th ee ducation field he was known as the original advocate of school vouchers in education. In 1962 in a chapter of his important work Capitalism and Freedom he too ku p education as one area of public policy and examined therole of government in education. Friedman saidthat boththe imposition of a minimumre‑ quired level of schooling andthe financing ofthi ss chooling bythe state can be justifie db ythe neighborhood effects of schooling. However he raise dq ueries abou tt he actual administra‑ tion of educationa li nstitutions by the government. Friedman proposed the idea of school vouchers as an alternative to public finance in education. He proposes the voucher plan as a simple and effective way to assure parents greater freedom to choose while a tt he same time retaining present sources o ff inance. Although Friedman's idea of vouchers attracted considerable attention among intellectuals it did not find many adherents a tt he policy level. In 1980 intheir famous book Free to Choose Friedman and his wife Rose developedthe idea of the school voucher mor ee laborately and in more practicalterms. Inthis book he criticizedthe negative attitude ofth ee ducational bureaucracy andtheir oppositionto any attemptto experi‑ ment with voucher plans. There were several experiments with vouchers in Milwaukee and Cleveland and in Florida. Discussion continues however onth ee ffectiveness and feasibility of school vouchers. In 2002 Friedman wa ss till the most fervent and most effective advocate of more choice and more opportunity for competition in education. Optimistic aboutthe future of school vouchers Friedman established a foundation wit hh is wifeto promote activities in support of educational choice. In an articlethat appeared in November 2005 Friedman maintained his unshakable con‑ viction aboutthese issues. Thetitle ofth ee ssay is: School Vouchers Turn 50 Butthe Fight is Just Beginning.